Dashy's cosplay tips and tutorials

Scrunching problems: While I was working on the satin fabric. I noticed it was scrunching and it's very unsightly and unpleasant to have that on my project. Time to diagnose the problem. So there's really 2 things it could be. I'd say the best way to diagnose is to sew without the machine threaded to see if it was caused by the needle or tension.

Wrong needle size (when I switched to a smaller gauge sized needle it fixed the problem). Below is the ones I need to use for my machine yours might be different according to your sewing machines manual.

Tension settings (if too tight can cause problems as well. But my tension was set pretty low between 0-2).

But I did fix the problem.

Resizing kids costumes to adult sizes:

I wanted to cosplay as Twilight from Equestria girls. The first outfit she has in the movies. Looking around for twilight costumes online I noticed they only existed in kids sizes because you know Hasbro doesn't always cater to adult fans, but they did accurately make twilights outfit here and its pretty hard for me to replicate that same look it even has the cutie mark so nicely put on there. I can easily find from other stores an adult sized blue blouse, socks, and i can use the bow from here. So in this case I only want the skirt from this kids costume.

Okay backstory aside, here is how we go about making use of this kids costume.

First we gotta figure out the size of this dress. And the label says:

Size Small Petite (4-6) 26" Chest 23" Waist 26.5" Hips 18"-20" Inseam 39"-48.5" Height 39-50Lbs (the skirt appearing to be about a height of 12")

And my measurements for a skirt would be 34" Waist, hips 38", and measuring from belly button to slightly above knee is about 20" (you're measurements would obviously be different from this so measure yourself as well)

Next separate the seams of the skirt from the kids costume using a seam ripper.

Now you need to cut out fabric pieces for the skirt to size it up from this kids size to an adult size that fits you this picture here should lay it out for you. Get as close as possible to the skirt colors. I used a shade of purple that's not too exact here but still okay. (people will only see the front anyways)

Honestly, conventions are supposed to be everyones “safe space” from people who think this way! The few times in a year where people can show off their creativity without fear of harsh judgement. This folks right here is what i call the “toxic cosplayers” or “Elitists” in the fandom. Hopefully you won't run into many people like this. I have met quite a few toxic people online that like to troll and put others down, but it does happen so i thought i should put it out there. Where someone thinks they are “above” everyone else because they are younger. PLEASE DO NOT ACT LIKE THIS AT A CON OR EVEN OUTSIDE THE CON. Cosplay is for everyone to enjoy and you can cosplay whoever you want! Regardless of age, race, body type, and gender. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. They don’t have the right to tell you, you can’t cosplay so and so for any reason!

Also while we are on the same subject. Please don’t give overly toxic commentary about someone’s cosplay as well! Calling someone’s cosplay ‘cringe’ or 'you are better off cosplaying (insert character here)’ is NOT OKAY.

So I'm sure quite a few people are wondering how i managed to make such interesting cosplays and how i was able to literally do 99% of the complicated work of making a fursuit with a wide range of colors with such ease. Well the secret is i use a site called Spoonflower.com. They have a wide variety of fabric type choices from cotton, to satin to minky to jersey. This site literally lets you use your photoshopped designs and print em out making the cosplay design process, sooo much easier. Especially because many characters outfits are definitely so complex that you gotta find unique and creative ways to make the cosplay you want. And i tried shopping around multiple sites and so far they are cheaper than most.

Although being a cosplay designer will also require at least some Photoshopping/Graphic design skills. If you don't have photoshop theres a very similar photo editing software that is free called GIMP. That has MANY of the same tools as photoshop. But if i had to compare the 2 programs photoshop is just a tiny bit more user friendly and easier to use than GIMP. There's also tutorials on their site if you are really new to graphic designing.

I also found a few alternatives for photo editing although I'm pretty sure photoshop is not free:

https://photo.wondershare.com/photo-editor/free-photo-editor.html

Making your own stenciled designs on cosplays (also very useful for applying cutie marks): I learned a technique very useful for those that don’t want to buy embroidered patches and it still makes your cosplay look awesome. It also saves a little bit of money too.

Things you will need:

At home printer and regular printer paper

exacto knife

thin crafting foam sheets

adhesive fabric glue and possibly Qtips to apply the glue on the foam and cosplays

1. So first you’ll just need to find a stencil image like this right here we’ll use Anna from frozen as an example. Print out whatever design stencil you need.

2. Using an eXacto knife cut out the stencil design on your thin craft foam sheets (side note: you might wanna find a cutting board in case you cut up something you shouldn’t or you need a solid flat surface). I used glitter foam since I thought it adds a little more beauty to a cosplay but you can use plain ones as well.