life & style // 16

Construction Site:
Diary of amad costume maker

» Tips for patterning and sewing

Brittney MacDonald
@& Life & Style Editor

B Mlifeandstyle
@theotherpress.ca

 

off last week, we have our
goal, our references and our
fabric—what do we do now?
Well, the key to any successful
costume-making adventure is
actually constructing it. We’re
headed back to basics here,
people: sewing!

I got some comments last
week concerning my use of
the term “costume making” as
opposed to “cosplay,” which
for those of you who don't
know, is short for “costume
play.’ To clear everything up,

I consider myself a cosplayer,
someone who makes and wears
costumes. But I also recognize
that there’s a weird dynamic
going on where people who
enjoy making and wearing
costumes of characters from
American and European
fandom desire to distinguish
themselves from fans of

anime and manga (Asian
cartoons and graphic novels).
As someone who dips into
both pools when it comes to
the fandom I enjoy and the
characters I dress up as, I find
this desire for distinction a
little arbitrary—but in the
name of being inclusive, and to

: promote better understanding
: for people new to the scene,

: I decided to go with a more

: generalized term.

Now that that’s settled,

: let’s move on!

Conmuing from where I left :

Constructing costumes

: can bea bit tricky, mostly

: because you probably won't

: have any pattern to follow.

: Artists and designers tend

: to enjoy making their works

: original, so that means it’s very
: unlikely you'll find a perfectly

: matching pattern coming out

: of Simplicity or New Look. The
: key word here is adaptability.

: What you can do is find

: something that looks relatively
: similar and then just change

: what needs to be different

: either by frankensteining

: (not a technical term) more

: than one pattern together,

: or free handing the changes.

: The method I use the most is

: simply draping the fabric.

Draping the fabric basically

refers to laying the fabric over
: a Judy (a sewing dummy with

: adjustable measurements), and
: seeing what you can do with it
: to make it work. It’s basically

: a form of free handing, and

: does take some experience to

: get good at. If you're new to all
: of this, then I suggest making
: a mock-up out of a cheaper

: fabric before you make your

: final version. That way you

: can work out all your kinks

: beforehand.

But almighty costume

making goddess, what if we
: don’t have a Judy?

Simple solutions are often

: the best. Though I use a Judy

: often, they can be problematic
: because they have a hard

: surface, and sometimes the

: measurements of your body

: aren't always possible. Here’s

: where that adaptability comes
: in again. If you’re working on

: a costume that’s extremely

: form-fitting, yet not made of

: spandex or any other stretch

: material, I suggest making a

: duct tape replica of your torso.
: I know it sounds odd, but a lot
: of people do it to save money

: and time. :
: Personally I used a tutorial :
: available on BurdaStyle.com

: to create my “Duct Tape Dress

: Form.” I adapted it of course,

: because I didn’t see the point

: in wasting a shirt. Basically

: what you do is you cover your

: upper body in cellophane, and
: then apply duct tape on top of
: that, mummifying yourself.

: Once finished, cut a straight

: line up the tape. Do so along

: the side, under the armpit

: area, as this will most likely be
: where you'll be able to adjust

: Seams on your garments as

: well. Peel off the duct tape case
: as one piece—the cellophane

: should have prevented it from:
: sticking to your skin—and then :

just tape the cut mark back

: upand start stuffing it full of
newspaper and batting. Once
: done, tape off the arm holes

: and the neck hole and you have :
: a perfect replica (more or less)
: of your body to work with.

If you're really having

theotherpress.ca

Image from Burdastyle.com

 

: issues check out Pinterest or

: Cosplay.com for free patterns,
: or contact a pattern drafter,

: and ask for a quote on how

much it would cost to get a

: complete sewing pattern for
; the costume you want to make.

 

Staying organized on

» Apps you need

Scott Glaysher
The Cord

martphones and their

many distractions don’t
always have to be the enemy
of a productive student. Here’s
a list of apps that will turn
your smartphone into an
organizational weapon. All
of these apps are available for
Android and iOS.

Any.do: This app is a must
for all chronic to-do list makers.
It makes organizing tasks
easy, which is the first step to
anyone’s productivity. These
tasks and to-do points can be
organized according to time,
date, theme, or priority. This
app obviously runs off a touch
interface so you can easily drag
and drop tasks into various

: categories on top of marking

: them as completed. Nothing

: can replace the classic student

: planner, but if you prefer having
: to-do lists on your phone then

: this app is for you.

Buffer: Buffer will bea

: big hit for all you social media

: lovers. It allows you to send out
: tweets, Facebook messages,

: Instagram photos and a bunch
: of other online content. You can
: schedule the posts for months

: in advance right down to the

: minute, which can really boost
: your online presence. This app
: is made more for someone

: juggling a few different social

: media platforms. That being

: said, you can get detailed

: metrics on online activity

: such as clicks, retweets, likes,

: comments, shares, mentions,

your phone

: and more.

Evernote: This is a

: cool app that you can use

across multiple platforms. It

: helps students who get too

: distracted on their laptops

: and don’t function well with

: pen and paper for note taking.
: It also allows users to take

: and upload notes, pictures,

: audio and video snippets

: and carefully organize them

: into notebooks that can be

: synced across multiple devices.
: The formatting and sharing

: options are exceptional and

: would benefit anyone trying

: to succeed at their studious

: endeavours.

If This Then That: One

of the biggest time wasters
: holding students back from
: ultimate productivity is

: Internet nonsense. Have

: you ever been just scrolling
: through all your online

: notifications trying to deal

: with them when you realize
: you've wasted three hours?
: The app will fix this in a jiffy.
: It automates tasks on your

: phone without you having

: to doa thing. You simply

: alter the settings so when

: something happens on the
: Internet involving you at

: any level, the app will deal

: with it accordingly whether
: that isa ring, a text or push
: notification.

Vlingo: This app is used

: on all phone operating systems
: but seems to work best on

: the Blackberry, and is the

: only one on this list that is

: available on Blackberry World.

All of these apps
are available for
Android and 10S.

It is essentially like having a

: mini “you” in your phone. As

: if your phone didn’t describe

: you enough already, now it can
: have fast and accurate voice

: recognition technology mixed
: with the capability to listen to
what you say. Vlingo allows you
: to say anything you want done
: on your phone. You can fire off
: a text, tweet or email simply
by speaking. This is a great

: feature for quickly connecting
: with people, businesses and

: activities so that you can get
things done while on the go.