The Everyday Geeky Girl: cosplay

Her undershirt is very similar to her Resistance shirt, just made with one layer of fabric unlike the screen used Resistance shirt. For my costume, I actually used a older version of my Resistance shirt but I highly recommend the pattern I suggest above, just without the collar part.

Tunic

For my tunic, a good friend made my pattern and I altered it. But the pattern created by Sew Corellian is excellent! The only alteration I suggest making is to the back, placing the panels more side by side. Mine starts overlapped under the obi, then falls side by side.

I highly recommend making a mock up or two, as the front is very tricky to get to sit right, especially if you are busty like me! Once you are happy with your mock up, I recommend cutting your lining first, as if you make a mistake, the broadcloth is SUPER cheap to get more of. (lol I made one and was glad I cut that first!) Also, the slits on the side are not flush together, they split far enough apart so that the holster does not bunch.

Mock Up

Once you are happy with your lining, cut your tunic fabric. TAKE YOUR TIME, this stuff snags! You will want to lay your lining down as a pattern on your fabric first, the diamonds standing TALL, not wide.

Lining pinned up after adjusting (the wrap is going the wrong way lol)

I sewed up my bodice first leaving the bottom where the panels go open. This would ensure I placed my panels correctly and is I had to remove them later if the weren't falling correctly I could take apart the waist seam easily. First, you will want to sew up your lining, followed by your diamond fabric. Next, right sides together, sew the lining and the diamond fabric together. Make sure you are sealing the edges with a zig zag or surged edge as this fabric will bunch when washed because it will unravel.

Now you can sew your panels up, right sides together. Make sure you also surge these edges. Once you get all the panels sewn, place and pin them onto your bodice. Once you are satisfied, fold your raw edges in and sew.

As you can see here JUST the top of my back panels overlap, to account for my butt/hips. After about 1.5 inches, the whole thing falls side by side. My obi covers this overlap.

Now here is an optional thing. I added cap sleeves to mine as the shoulders were not wide enough with my design, and the whole thing would have sat funny on me because I am busty. NOTE: If you are applying for Rebel Legion, make sure these are covered up by your wrap, as it will NOT pass (I know, I'm a judge lol)

Wrap and obi

Remove your cheese cloth from their packets and unfold them both. Lay them flat on top of each other. If you have a hall or an large open space this will work best. Once you do that, fold the whole thing like a hot dog, so that its a about a footish wide. Sew up that side. Next get a dye bath of WARM water going of the charcoal. Do a quick dip, rinse, then let it air dry. Do that until it's a shade lighter than what you want.

While this is drying, if your obi fabric is NOT the shade you want, drop it into your charcoal dye bath, then rinse and throw it into the dryer. Repeat as needed to get the shade you want.

Next get a dye bath of pearl grey in WARM water going and do one last quick dip and rinse and let dry.

To make your obi, there is a great tutorial here to make it. I used Velcro to close mine.

All put together with belt by Aethereal Designs

Pants

My pants were a Good Will find! I highly recommend you check out thrift stores for this as you will be cutting it up!

So after looking at images, and this wonderful sketch made by a fellow Rey, I cut up the inside seam of the pant and the outside of the legs until I reached the curved seam.

I did a pin tuck down the center of the front of the pant legs until a reached where I wanted that half moon curved seam. This was also just a pin tuck into place, as well as the bottom seam below the knee. The darts were sewn on either side of the curve, but done on the inside. However recent photos look like these seam are also top stitched like the others. Now, recent photos also show that the curved seam continues to the back, which is something I will be adding. When I was done with all the pin tucks and top stitching, I sewed up the inside and outside pant seams. Last I added elastic to the bottom for stirrups, but that part is completely up to you.

Boots

My boots were a thrift store find, too, but another Rey found the same boots which I have linked above for you. See where the over the knee part is? I cut that off first. That has the faux leather on both sides. I separated the two pieces. Then on the part I initially cut, which was straight, I sewed up. I removed the straps and buckles.

Testing spat height

Next I cut them up and used them for the loops. There wasn't enough of the wider straps from the bottom, so for the last two loops on both sides, I used the thinner straps on both sides.

With loops and testing out the laces. This is before I cut down the top 1.5 inches

Realizing that for my short stature the boots were still a wee bit too high, I chopped off about 1.5 inches off the top of the boots then hot glued the layers together. Next I trimmed the bottom of the "spat" I had made to fit better over the bottom of the boot in sort of a curve. Then I used the suggested leather dye from Tandy, but if you can order the conac color, that would be closest!

Spats trimmed everything glued in place and the boots dyed

One final note

When you have your belt made or if you are making your own belt, make sure you account for about 8 layers of extra fabric!!! Otherwise your belt will not fit right!

And there you go! As always, please feel free to message me if you have ANY questions at all as I may have left out something I'm sure!

10 March 2017

Resistance Rey Cosplay

Supplies needed:

2 yards of grey herringbone wool

2 yards of interfacing

2 yards of grey flannel lining

Low loft cotton batting

2 yards ribbed knit cream colored cotton

Grey/brown pants to alter

Rit pearl grey dye

Frey Stop

Butterick B6097

Tools needed:

Permanent marker

Leather punch

UPDATE: PATTERN CAN BE PRINTED OUT HERE

After making NINE versions of this vest, I finally settled on a version I think is as close as I could come to screen accurate. Special thanks to Ladies of the Legions, The RPF, and my friend Jenna for their help and feedback with this one!

The pattern I chose worked SO well, and I highly recommend it! To alter it, I cut out all the pieces at the largest size, laid them out and matched the front parts together to get rid of the princess seams. I did the same with the back, then replaced the seam line with the correct shape. After altering my pattern to match the screen worn outfit, I cut out all my pieces, lining, interfacing, and wool. The back pieces of the lining and interfacing do NOT have princess seams. I kept them both as one piece. Then I placed my lining on the dress form, going up a half a size, and pinned the pieces to fit correctly, then trimmed as needed. I took the those pieces off and repeated with the lining. I did not do this with the wool as that would be dyed and formed next.

Bringing a pot of water up to very hot, I added my grey dye and dyed each piece of fabric for about 5 minutes until I got the shade I wanted. After cooling all the pieces off in cold water and wringing them out, I placed them on my dress form and wet formed the wool, but just for the bodice.

After wet forming it with my hair dryer, I waited for the rest or the pieces to dry. Then I trimmed and started sewing. I sewed my interfacing and lining together, to keep the interfacing from moving around between layers. Then I proceeded to sew the wool together. Now the wool was a different beast, as I had to place a layer of wool behind the princess seams and neck seam to create the "gap" between the layers. I used some scrap wool which I quickly dyed and threw in the dryer to dry. After placing the wool behind the seams, I folded the seams back to reveal the back piece of wool and create the gap, then I top stitching. I repeated this for the neck line. Next I put the whole thing together and pinned it in place.

To make the shoulder pads, I made a half circle, with about two inches seam allowance, then cut out two pieces of my low loft batting a without the seam allowance, and placed it behind it, then quilted it. After placing and pinning, I topstitched over my quilting.

Next I did all the handwork. The stitching in the gaps is a ladder stitch, and the whole thing is sealed with a closed blanket stitch.

The bottom of the vest was sealed up with a straight stitch with a very small seam allowance. Then I went back by hand and frayed the bottom by hand, pulling out the threads.

Next I worked on the gauntlets. I used a pattern I modified from my K-Stew Snow White pattern. first I made a pattern based off of screen shots for the holes in the gauntlets that makes a lacey pattern. Then I printed it out, punched the holes out, then used a sharpie to mark where I need to punch holes with the leather punch.

Once I punched the holes out, I put Frey Stop on the front and back of the holes, then dried the fabric in the microwave!

After this, I cut out my flannel lining and one layer of low loft batting. Then I created the padded area, topstitching to quilt it. Then I used the closed blanket stitch all the way around all sides but the front. For the front, I cut a scalloped edge, then sealed it with a straight stitch right over the top of the scallops.

Now I moved on to the shirt. I had to create a pattern for this from scratch, but once I was done, I was very happy. Nothing crazy was done here, except adding the "swoop" detail in the back. I'm not happy with my collar, and will be fixing that soon. A pattern that I would recommend for this one is here.

Last I did my pants. For those, I picked up a pair from Good Will, cut off the bottom of them and used those for my knee pads. I made a pattern for the ribbing by hand, then placed them on each piece of fabric, then put one layer of low loft batting below that and started quilting. When I was done, I placed the pads on the pants, folded my excess fabric in, then, cutting the outside of the pants up the side, I topstitched the pads on. Then I went back and stitched my pants back up again, leaving a small section unstitched on each side like hers.

For the belt, holster, and bag, I used EmeraldB's walk through to create them. I can't recommend it enough!

I hope this has helped out! I get questions on how I made my Resistance Rey daily, and I knew I had to do a write up on it. I'm sure I missed something, so don't hesitate to ask if you have questions!

Photos by Antler Productions

Edit by Realitysubsitutions

12 May 2016

You are loved, and let me tell you why.

I know I don't normally write like this, but something hit me this morning and I had to sit down and write about it. So, let's have a little bit of a heart to heart.

Did you know that you are wonderfully made, unique, and loved?

Let me tell you why, and the story of a girl who was bullied throughout her childhood, suffered from low self esteem and depression in high school and college as a result, and found a way out of the darkness through love.

I was always a bit dramatic! I also was always making things, such as the shorts in this photo.

When I was much younger, I was what some would call a social outcast. To this day, I really don't know why. I was made fun of, excluded, and eventually, completely humiliated. My best friends were my brothers, and I found refuge both at home and in the books I read. The day I came home in tears, telling my mother that I had found graffiti written about me in the bathroom at school, she decided to pull me and my middle brother out of public school and prayed that somehow she could afford to send us to a private school. I'm SO glad she trusted in God and did so, because for one wonderful year, I actually enjoyed going to school and made friends.

Me and my amazing brothers.

The following year, my church opened up a school and my mum moved all three of us there. For the most part, the first year or so wasn't too bad for me, and I was able to walk to the town library after school and immerse myself in books. Then the bulling started up again. It was subtle at first, and I didn't realize how bad it had got until I found myself being pummeled by rocked at recess one day. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Why did my peers dislike me so much? What had I done?

So the more I was bullied, the more I dove into worlds of scifi and fantasy. Books about unicorns that I had enjoyed so much as a kid opened doors to other fantastic worlds and stories, particularly Star Wars. Right before I turned 14, Episode I was being released, and I couldn't get enough of it. I dare say I became obsessed. This part of my personality surfacing concerned my mother, and off and on, she would let me know this. But I didn't care. It was my refuge. Reading anything about Star Wars was my escape. I researched Padme's peasant costume, made my own version, and wore it to the film. This was my first cosplay.

Little did I know that halfway across the country was a little boy who was growing up much like me.

But we'll get to that more later.

As time went on, I discovered other fandoms, and obsessed over them. In many ways, it really wasn't healthy, as it was all I thought about or talked about. It exasperated my bothers, and really concerned my parents.

As I entered high school, I started writing. I really enjoyed that escape as well. Some of it was fan fiction, some of it was stories inspired by my life. Friends started to enter my life, and I started to feel "normal." I also fell hard for a boy, and wrote poetry to express my many emotions. When he didn't reciprocate, I became depressed. Once again, I wondered what was wrong with me, and I started thinking dark thoughts. Once again, I found my escape in my fandoms.

Dressed as Jaina Solo for Hallowe'en

When it came time for me to leave for college, my parents chose where I was to go. I resented this at first, as I wanted to stay close to home, and felt like they were sending me away from them. I am so glad they decided to send me away, as it changed my whole life.

I settled in, made friends easily, and found the goth scene. Looking back at photos from that period of my life is SO embarrassing for me, because I was just trying find a way to get attention, the goth lifestyle really wasn't me. I dated several guys very seriously. All of them wanted to marry me, and I found that, starved for attention, I was being controlled by each one of them, and changed for them. When I came home with black hair and all gothed up at Christmas, I not only shocked my parents, I really upset them. I didn't resemble the girl they had left at college.

My goth years. To this day, I find it so embarrassing, because I'm SO not like that now lol.

Lovingly, they sat me down and expressed their concerns, as it was such a drastic change. And I am so glad they did. I wasn't being true to myself, I had been allowing all my peers, especially my boyfriends, to change me. All I had wanted was to be loved and accepted by others. I didn't even realize that all that time, I had all the love and acceptance that I ever needed right with my family.

As my college years went on, I started to accept who I was. A nerd. A geek. Smart. The "mom" of our group. I still struggled with depression, and I leaned on whoever I was dating at the time, still finding myself seeking to please them in order to be loved. They were hard, growing years.

I grew and changed, I went from goth girl, to Otaku, to skater chic. I still didn't know who I was. You see that guy on the far right in the first photo? I had no idea, but I would end up marrying him one day.

College allowed me to be creative though. I experimented with my wardrobe, discovered new music, movies and television shows. I made and modified clothes, like the dress in the photo above, I wrote music with my friends, and made a few friends that will always be there for me for life.

Me and my bestie. She's the kind of friend that you can pick up the phone after not having spoken for months and feel like you just talked yesterday.

After I graduated, I was dating a guy from college very seriously. He was everything I thought I wanted in a guy: tall, pale, dark curly hair, from South Africa with a gorgeous British accent. I thought we had a lot in common too. Turns out everything I enjoyed that we shared was only because he was into it. He pulled the wool over everyone's eyes initially, and when he asked for my hand in marriage, my parents gladly gave him their blessing. They even gave him a room in our large barn to room in so that he could find work before we set a date. He never did, and my parents began to see the truth: he was a manipulator, lazy, and if we were to stay together, I would be taking care of his sorry butt.

They made him go back to his family, and begged me to break off the engagement, trying to show me that he was controlling me. Finally they gave me an ultimatum: it was either him or my family. My family is the most important thing in the world to me, so with a broken heart, I sent back the ring. However, I didn't stop speaking to him. For a few months, we still conversed almost every night, hoping my parents would change their mind, and that he would find work. He never bothered looking for work, and one day it hit me that he was playing me. My parents had been right. So I changed my phone number and cut it off.

I was once again feeling so lost. Emotionally, I felt used, and the thought "who is going to want to be with a girl who has already been engaged before?" kept going through my mind. I worked two jobs to take my mind off of things and to start saving for a car. I also sought out new friends, as all my college buddies were scattered around the country, So I found a new church to attend, full of people my age, and it was there my life took a huge turn.

We went on a retreat and there were a lot of great speakers. It began to hit me as they spoke how incredibly blessed I was. Where I had come from, where I was going. And most importantly, that I was loved by an Almighty God who made me exactly the way He wanted me to be. I didn't need to change for anyone, I just needed to be me.

And for the first time in my life, I loved who I was and was content. I didn't need a guy to feel loved.

Meanwhile across the country, a man I went to college was going through the same thing I was. He was discovering the same truth. He had broken up with his fiance, who wanted him to change for her. He realized that he was loved, and that he didn't have to change for anyone. One night months later, he decided to reach out to see how his friend from college was doing.

We spent all night talking.

And the next.

After a week or so of chatting, I realized that I was falling for this guy. I wasn't sure if I was ready for that yet. So I slowed things down. However, the day we decided to webcam each other, I knew it. For the first time in my life, I was actually in love.

We got engaged a few months later and six months after that we were married. It might sound like a whirlwind to many, but I just knew that he was God's best for me, finally.

I finally was completely happy. My depression was gone, I knew who I was wholly.

But it wasn't his love that did it. It was God's. I grew up in a Christian house hold, went to church my whole life, attended both private school off and on and was sent to a Christian College. But during that whole time, even though I believed in God, and Christ's sacrifice for me, I don't think I fully got it. I had so many flaws, and so often I thought, how could He love me? It was back at that Church retreat that I discovered it: No I don't deserve His love and sacrifice, I never would. But He does love me, because He made me. He knows I will make mistakes, He knows all my flaws. And yet He. Loves. Me.

Six years after marrying my best friend, I discovered something else. Our marriage reflects that truth as well. No matter what, my husband will love me, support me. Even with all my flaws (and he knows them all, oh so well!) And you know what, even when he makes me mad or upset, I still adore him. It's all unconditional. Just like God's love for us.

My husband loves to cosplay with me and is so supportive of all I do!

I write this all, not to preach at you. I'm not not like that. I write this all to encourage you, to tell you that no matter how dark the days may get, you are loved. Unconditionally. I don't know where you are in life, you could be perfectly happy and content, or going through a hardship. Just know that you can come to God no matter where you are in life. Talk to Him. He will wrap His infinite arms around you and show you love like you have never experienced before.

Photo by Midday Enchantments

It has been a long, hard road, and blessings have been scattered throughout my journey, even when I was too depressed or self centered to see them. And it doesn't end here! Each day is such a gift!

Today I know who I am:

Nerd

Cosplayer

Wife

Mom

Daughter

Sister

LOVED

And loved my no one more than my God and Savior.

By the way, my parents love that I cosplay with my family now, and are incredibly supportive of what I do. I have learned to balance my life now, and live healthily with my passions.

If you ever need to talk, I'd love to be there for you. Just message me on my FB page Owl Feathers Cosplay