#cosplayworklog

This costume was made together with Jushiiro @nekoomata​ who cosplayed WeiWuxian. You can check out his Instagram to see the full cosplay and his other works. (Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/jushiiro/ )

Now it’s time to decorate the sleeves with the flame pattern. We recommend doing this part before sewing the sleeves closed as it will be much easier this way .First , we cut out the flame pattern on the fusible interfacing and the red fabric and then placed the fusible interfacing on the sleeve and the red fabric on top of the fusible interfacing. We ironed the pattern to the sleeve until the flames stuck to it .( Don’t get disappointed if the red fabric doesn' t stick completely to the sleeve which was what happened to us . I am assuming that either the interfacing or the iron wasn't strong enough). After that you can use a zig-zag stitch or a trim to cover the raw edges of the red fabric and connect it more securely to the sleeve.

We folded the sleeves, right sides facing and sewed them closed along with the sides of the coat as pictured (seam 3) .(You can choose not to sew the sleeves on the part marked by the blue line if you  want to and leave the front part open. ) After that we hemed the raw edges.

Collar : For the collar we cut a long strip of fabric which was 16 cms wide .We proceeded to fold and iron it in half and then iron each of the two sides in half as well. (The whole process was quite similar to making bias tape). We then "sandwiched" the front edges of the coat between the two sides of the collar and sewed as close to the edge as possible.(seam 4)

This costume was made together with Jushiiro @nekoomata​ who cosplayed WeiWuxian. You can check out his Instagram to see the full cosplay and his other works. (Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/jushiiro/ )

Materials used: 

Grey jersey fabric. Our reason for using this kind of fabric  is that it is lightweight (which is really important considering the sleeves are already heavy enough) and makes the sleeves more flowy ( which is great for photoshoots) . Moreover, it doesn't wrinkle as easily as other fabrics.

 Red fabric for the flames ( We used viscose fabric. If you are going to use fusible interfacing try avoiding fabrics that tend to get burnt easily) 

Optional : Fusible interfacing ( fabric that becomes sticky when heated with an iron.Although it's optional, we highly recommend using this to attach the red fabric more securely to the grey fabric ) 

Red trim for decorating the edges of the flames (we used about 7 metres )

Grey jersey fabric. Our reason for using this kind of fabric  is that it is lightweight (which is really important considering the sleeves are already heavy enough) and makes the sleeves more flowy ( which is great for photoshoots) . Moreover, it doesn't wrinkle as easily as other fabrics.

Red fabric for the flames ( We used viscose fabric. If you are going to use fusible interfacing try avoiding fabrics that tend to get burnt easily)

Optional : Fusible interfacing ( fabric that becomes sticky when heated with an iron.Although it's optional, we highly recommend using this to attach the red fabric more securely to the grey fabric )

Red trim for decorating the edges of the flames (we used about 7 metres )

Pattern: For the coat pattern we simply modified a kimono pattern by cutting the 2 front pieces in a way that they don't overlap.

We then placed the two front panels to the back panel right sides facing and connected them by sewing a straight line along the shoulders (seam 1)

After that we opened the two pieces as shown in the picture and placed the sleeves open on the coat. We then sewed only the edge of the armhole ( seam 2).

This costume was made together with Jushiiro @nekoomata​ who cosplayed WeiWuxian. You can check out his Instagram to see the full cosplay and his other works. (Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/jushiiro/ )

Materials used:

Black fabric (same fabric as the one used for the Zhiju)

Grey jersey fabric

Any kind of heavy fabric for the lining (we used a red gabardine fabric which provided some structure to the sash so that it wouldn’t wrinkle or fold )

Snaps for closing the sash

We cut two rectangle pieces out of the black fabric and the lining fabric and sewed them together.( We didn’t hem the top and the bottom horizontal lines since they will be covered by the grey fabric which in this case functioned as a bias tape.)

We cut two strips out of the grey fabric which had the same length as the rectangular black fabric and were  16 cms  wide.

We proceeded to fold them in half , iron them and then iron each of the two sides in half as well. (The process was similar to the making of the collar which  you can find at the second part of this worklog ). We then folded the grey fabric strips over the top and bottom part of the black rectangle  , pinned them as shown in the picture below and sewed as close to the edge as possible.

Lastly, we hemmed the vertical lines of the rectangle and hand sewed snaps on each side.

1) For the blouse I used a white cotton fabric and a simple kimono pattern  which I  cut at waist length. (The process of making the blouse is almost identical to that of the coat so if any any of the steps mentioned below confuses you I suggest you refer to the second part of this worklog).

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2) After I cut my pattern pieces I connected the two front panels with the back panel (Seam 1) .I  sewed the sleeves to the blouse (seam 2) and then sewed the sleeves and the sides closed (seam 3).

3) I used the same white fabric for the collar. The width of the fabric was 16 centimeters.  I folded and ironed it  and then folded again each of the two sides inwards. After being folded each side needs to have a width of 4 centimetres . (The process is similar to making bias tape).

4) I then “sandwiched”the edges of the blouse between the two folded sides and sewed as close to the edge as possible.

5) I sewed two pink ribbons at the two edges of the collar.

6) I then sewed  four ribbons of the same colour as shown in the picture . These  will be used to tie the blouse. First you need to tie ribbons A and B  together and then do the same with ribbons C and D.

Materials used:

Purple muslin fabric

Light pink muslin fabric (inner layer of the skirt + Lotus embroidery patch)

Bright pink satin immitation fabric (outer layer of the skirt )

Red and white fabric paint (Instead of mixing the colours you can buy a pink one right from the start  .I already had these colours from previous projects and this gave me the chance to experiment with different shades of pink)

Zipper

As I mentioned before , this is not a historically accurate hanfu, so the skirt was made in the same way as a pleated skirt.

For the top part of the skirt (the one that is supposed to sit high on your chest I cut out two rectangular pieces of the purple muslin fabric. I pinned the two pieces together and sewed the sides together while leaving the bottom part of the rectangle open as shown in the picture. I then turned the two pieces inside out and ironed them flat.

Lotus embroidery patch: I took some screenshots of the dress from the anime and edited them to create a black and white printable lotus pattern. I cut the pattern and transferred the design onto the light pink muslim fabric. I used a zig zag stich to make the outline of the flower. I mixed the red and white fabric paints together and painted on the edges of the flower. I suggest using a sponge instead of a paint brush as it is more suitable for creating an ombre effect and doesn’t leave lines on the fabric. I then cut the flower, pinned it on the purple fabric and used  a zig zag stich again to sew it onto the fabric.

For the bottom part of the skirt I used two kinds of fabric. The inner part is made of a light pink muslin fabric while the outer part is made from a silk immitation bright pink fabric. The reason for adding the second layer was making the dress more flowy. (Note: Silk immitation fabric  can’t hold the shape of the pleats as good as synthetic fabrics no matter how much you iron it . Moreover adding a second layer makes the whole process more complicated and time consuming so you can go ahead and use only one layer.)

I hemmed the bottom part of the fabrics and then proceeded to pleat them . (I won’t go into detail on fabric pleating here as there are already a lot of tutorials online that show you how to measure and make pleats  ). I then connected both skirts by sewing their top parts together.

I sewed the top part of the skirt to the bottom part as shown in the picture and then added a zipper. (The silk fabric make the whole process a lot more difficult as it kept getting stuck inside the zipper ) 

The Coat (Daxiushan大袖衫)

1)Pattern : The coat pattern is a modified kimono pattern .I simply made the front pieces smaller since they don’t need to overlap like a regular kimono does.

2) I connected the two front panels with the back panel by sewing the shoulders (seam 1)

3) I pinned the sleeves and sewed them on the coat as shown in the picture (seam 2)

4) I sewed the sleeves and the sides closed (seam 3)

5) I used a darker purple  fabric to cover the edges of the coat. The fabric was 16 centimetres wide. I folded and ironed it and then folded each of the two sides inwards. Each side needs to have a width of 4 centimetres . (The process is similar to making bias tape). I then “sandwiched”the edge of the fabric between the two folded sides and sewed as close as possible to the edge of the dark purple fabric .

After some quick online research I found that Shijie’s dress is most likely a type of Hanfu (汉服) called Qixiong Ruqun(齐胸襦裙) . It consists of a skirt  (qun裙) and  a blouse (ru襦) . She also wears a coat called Daxiushan大袖衫.

Disclaimer : My knowledge on Hanfu is still very limited and this not the proper way of sewing a historically accurate one. I treated it as a cosplay project and tried to keep the whole process as simple as possible.

Materials:

Black Fabric (I used a stretchy crepe fabric)

White Lace

Small elastic

Dress Bodice: For the bodice I used the same pattern I  used for the blouse  Butterick 3199 ( View A,B) .I had to modify the neckline since Bernkastel’s dress has a square neckline . When you are making the neckline I suggest you cut the fabric a little bit , then try it on and see how it fits. Don’t cut a lot of fabric at once since you can end up with a really wide neckline. You don’t have to hem the neckline since it will be covered by lace , however I suggest you clean the edges of the fabric to prevent fraying. I added darts in the front and the back and then proceeded to sew the shoulders and the sides.I then sewed lace to the neckline.

Sleeves: This kind of sleeve is called a “puffed sleeve”.The pattern for that kind of sleeve looks like an oversized sleeve pattern . I traced a regular sleeve pattern and then I made it bigger by 3 inches. ( The bigger the sleeve the more volume it has).  I hemmed the lower part of the sleeve  and sewed  lace on it. I then  set my sewing machine on the lowest tension and sewed a zig zag stich on the curved part of the sleeve.

In order to give the puff sleeve a bell shape I had to install an elastic in the middle part of the sleeve. For the elastic, I calculated my bicep circumference plus seam allowance. After the elastic was installed ,I  pulled the lower thread until the sleeve was small enough to fit the armhole.I then closed the sleeve and installed it  to the armhole.

Dress skirt: For the lower part of the dress I made a circle skirt that was as long as the first layer of the white skirt . I then cut the front part according to my reference picture (this took some trial and error)  and added lace to the bottom of the skirt. I connected the skirt to the top of the dress , sewed the back close , added a zipper and the dress was finished!