#crowmance

It's her city now.

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This one is of Edwin from the webcomic Crow Time (I think I may unintentionally be on a mission to sew costumes for progressively more and more obscure pieces of media)

The skirt was a bit of a challenge to figure out. I ended up having to do a great deal of math (sixths! I had to divide things by sixths!) and sewing together blue panels that were half the width of the black panels and then carefully box pleating them in. I also had to go through every episode of Crowmance so far to decide where the blue flashes were (center front, side front, side back, center back). The capelet/sleeve pieces were originally going be be sewn in like sleeves, but I realized that they didn’t actually work out like that in the pictures, so I ended up draping them on the shoulders like cape pieces to figure out how I wanted them to sit and then just whipstitching them down. The bodice itself went together very easily; I had a pattern for a princess-seamed jacket and just adjusted it to have a solid back with a center seam and a singular center front piece. I went through and screenshotted just about every fully body or clear picture of Edwin to figure out the seams for this. I was debating about putting hooks and eyes down the back, since there’s clearly some sort of line there, but since the dress is loose enough to pull over my head I decided to just leave it with a center back seam. I also debated back princess seams, since they show up in some pictures but not others, but finally decided that they aren’t super clearly there.

Some of my reference pictures:

The belt is made of two layers of heavily interfaced cotton (I know it’s a lighter color than the lining in pictures, but I didn’t want to bother getting another fabric and I think it looks good in the same light blue) with an interlining of also very heavily interfaced upholstery fabric. The pattern varies from picture to picture, so I just picked the most detailed one I could find (first of the two above pictures) and traced it on, then topstitched it, and went around the edges with a zigzag stitch for the edging. The center circle is a separate piece with hooks on both sides and the points of the belt have eyes, so they clasp together.

I already had the white shirt from my normal wardrobe, and I added the hair ribbon from my ribbon stash because a. I felt like it added a bit of extra pizzazz and b. there was no way my hair was staying in that half-ponytail with just pins and I did not want to risk a hair tie messing up the curls (my hair is actually straight, so I did not have high hopes for the foam rods I used, but I was pleasantly surprised with the volume I got. No bangs, but it’s pretty close).

I had made a bunch of hooded capes for some friends a while back, but never got around to making one of my own, so I figured this costume would be a great place to do so and made a little winter addition. I’m very happy with how the feather trim turned out. I wanted it to mirror the sleeves. I wish that the lining was a bit darker, but this was the felt that Joann’s had, and I had to work with what was available. I also added a sparky brooch I got at a flea market and just had in my costume bin for a little extra sparkle (it is a crow outfit, after all) and to hold it in place (maybe I should use a sparkly hair clip instead of the ribbon next time I wear this?)

I’m partially considering making Edwin’s wedding dress(? Fantasy dress?) in addition to this, although it might be a while before I get around to it with all my other costume and sewing projects. And, of course, it depends on if I could find an appropriate trim.