TAZ Cosplay: Patchy Reception

Who doesn't love a good embroidered patch? The designs are nearly endless, and you can put them on so many things to add a personal flair. I figured that Aubrey might like to add a little (or a lot) of her own personality to her jacket, so I've decided to deck out the lapel in patches.

Because I'm both a fan of DIY and of budgets, I thought I'd make my own. I got a rainbow pack of embroidery floss for ~$6, and a few sheets of black craft felt for another ~$1.50. That plus an embroidery hoop (mine is super cute and small!) and a few needles is really all you need. Well, that and a design! I want to fill up the entire lapel with embroidery, so I started brainstorming patches based on what I knew of Aubrey's style. (And I added a few of my own favorite things and references to the first arc of TAZ for good measure!) Here's my brainstorming page:

I've been adding steadily to it as I come up with more ideas, so perhaps some more patches will make it on the list! The Pine Guard patch is special, since it's actually explicitly referenced in the podcast. (I was so happy when it was introduced since it fit so well with my plan!). I'll be hiding that one under the lapel so that I can do some dramatic reveals with it.

Well, looks like I've got a lot of work to do! This will probably be the most time consuming aspect of the costume to make, so I'd best get started. Time to brush up on my embroidery skills!

TAZ Cosplay: Finished Choker

Finishing a lace project always makes me happy. There's just something pleasing about all those curving, delicate loops that bring me joy. And this necklace is no exception: take a look!

It looks like it came right out of a vampire's closet! I love the way the red beads glint. The only finishing that I did on the lace was to block it with water, and that's left it a little bit floppy. I might go back and starch it just a tad so that it keeps its shape instead of sagging. Overall, though, I'm quite pleased. Here, have a close up of the lacework with the beads:

Beads, beads, beads! You have to string them all onto the thread before you start, which is a huge pain if you need to follow a patterned repeat of colors. These were all the same color, though, so it wasn't too bad. And completely worth it!

TAZ Cosplay: Neck Lace

What better way to make a necklace than by putting some actual lace around your neck? I promised you that lace would be making an appearance, and I aim to deliver! I wanted to accessorize this cosplay with a black choker (even though I hate wearing chokers myself), and it was the perfect opportunity to try out some beaded shuttle tatting. For the uninitiated, shuttle tatting is a form of lacemaking where a shuttle filled with thread is used to make a series of knotted loops and chains that are connected in delicate, but surprisingly robust pattern. I get most of my tatting patterns from random internet searches and Pinterest boards, and occasionally I'll modify one or make my own. For this project, I went searching, and I came up with this lovely image:

Source: http://frivolitemuestras-maria.blogspot.mx/

Unfortunately, there was no pattern attached to the photo (though the site was in a different language, so it's possible I just missed it). I really liked the design, though, and so I thought I'd try to recreate it for myself. My first sketch and attempt went pretty well, all things considered:

Now to grab my black thread and those red seed beads and get tatting!

TAZ Cosplay: Finished Gloves

That didn't actually take too long: I just got busy with other things! Gloves really are pretty easy when you're working with such stretchy fabric. I put them on once to let the fabric run wherever it wanted to, then I turned them inside out and made a couple of stitches to catch each running thread and secure it. There was probably an easier way to fix them, but I was itching to finish and did the first thing that came to mind. A quick-n-dirty overcast stitch on the cuff was all that I needed to prevent more runs and finish them up!

I decided against lacework on the cuffs like I had originally planned. With the slightly uneven hem and rips, it didn't feel like fine lace matched up stylistically. Don't worry though, there will definitely be lace elsewhere!

TAZ Cosplay: Glove of my Life

I'm a bit of an impatient person, so I decided to start this project with the materials that I had at hand. Rummaging through my fabric bin turned up about a yard of black knit polyester fabric, just what I had in mind for a pair of gloves. Making a simple pair of gloves with stretch fabric is really easy: just trace around your hand, add a bit of seam allowance (how much depends on the stretchiness of the fabric) and sew! I wanted the gloves to be half-full, half-fingerless, so my pattern ended up looking like this:

I don't have access to a sewing machine at the moment, so I opted for hand stitching the gloves. In some ways it was preferable, since the slippery knit fabric would be a pain to sew by machine. I did a quick test glove since I had fabric to spare, and I'm glad I did, because the moment I tried it on:

Rrrrrrip! Giant runs opened up down the length of the glove, since I had forgotten to do anything to the raw edge. This is why we test things before committing! Upon review, I decided that I rather liked the look of the runs: it fit with the punk-y style of the outfit, and so I revised my plans. Instead of embroidering alchemical symbols onto the back of the gloves, I would let them run a little, and then secure the runs so the gloves didn't completely unravel. Then, I would fix the raw edge with an overcast stitch, so that new runs wouldn't form so easily. 

Oh, and I made one more alteration to the two-fingered glove design, since I was already going punk:

Perfect!