Cheshire Cat's Shirt

Hello everyone!!! :D Well here's my tutorial for Cheshire's Shirt from Pandora Hearts. I'm not sure when I'll make a video for this one but in trying something new and putting more pics in this tutorial than in any of the others. :) Please comment and tell me which version of the tutorials that you like best! :D

STEP 1: Finding a reference picture. I don't think I'll post a link for this tutorial, but if you like go check out my other Cheshire tutorials.

STEP 2: Gathering materials, the materials that you will be needing are as follows:

• A red T-shirt, actually you can use any sort of red shirt. The only kind you can't use is one that is a button up I would also recommend that the shirt be a turtle neck so that it will be closer to what Cheshire wears than a shirt without that feature. I'll be using a scoop neck tee not a V neck. 
• Scissors
• Needle and thread (a sewing machine is optional but you'll need the needle and thread for the X's on the front of his shirt)
• Sewing pins
• White fabric
• Black yarn
• Paper
• Pen, pencil, whatever you want to use to draw your pattern with :)
• Hot glue gun with glue

STEP 3: Take your shirt, if it has sleeves like mine then you'll need to cut them off. Make sure to leave at least an inch of the sleeve on so that you can hem it. Now that you've cut the sleeves off it's time to hem the shirt. What I did was fold the extra inch of fabric in along the seam of the existing sleeve then I sewed along the edge.

On the right I have cut the sleeve off and on the left the sleeve is still intact

STEP 4: If you take a close look at Cheshire's shirt you'll see that both the front and back have a sort of V shape to it. So to get that look, cut and hem a triangle shape into the bottom of the shirt. Make sure that the triangle is centered before cutting it out. :) This step is optional, you can do this but I didn't.

STEP 5: Fold your shirt so that the newly cut and hemmed sleeves are in front and back. The front of your shirt should be folded down the middle. Before you start cutting you should probably make a pattern for the rectangles on the front of the shirt. The rectangle should be 2-4 inches wide, whatever is proportional to your body. :) Then about 20 inches long. After drawing and cutting out your pattern pin it to the shirt and make sure that you center it before cutting. Now that you have your pattern centered and pinned it's time to cut it out! 

STEP 6: After you've cut out your rectangles take that same pattern and cut out two rectangles the same size plus an extra inch. Unfold your shirt and flip it inside out. Pin your white rectangles to the insides of the two rectanglular holes on the front of your shirt. Be sure not to sew right on the edge of the hole, leave enough space so that you can stick your finger underneath a flap of fabric on the outside. Now sew the rectangles to the inside of the shirt.

STEP 7: Take your black yarn and roughly zigg-zagg it along the white rectangles. Aline however you like while you wait for the glue to heat up. After you've got the yarn lined up glue it under the flap of shirt fabric, be sure to glue the yarn to both the white and shirt fabrics. Then place the yarn the other way so that the two pieces of yarn intercet and make X's. Glue this piece into place the same way that you did the first time. This is optional, but you can also glue the yarn pieces to each other then to the fabric. I decided to not glue it at all. :D

BEFORE ---v

AFTER ---v

STEP 8: Now you're finished and ready to wear the shirt! XD If you like you can make your shirt look more like the real thing by making a turtle neck and sewing it to the neckline. I guess that's optional but I would strongly suggest that you use a turtleneck in the beginning. :)

BEFORE----^

AFTER----^

Enjoy your completed Pandora Hearts Cheshire Cat shirt! ^w^ please stick around for more Cheshire tutorials! I won't be doing a pants tutorial though, for my cosplay I'll be using a pair of form fitting yoga or dance pants. The pants shouldn't cost more than 10-15 dollars if you're buying a pair of cheap yoga pants. 

Speak Up so I can Listen

Hey everyone. If you would like me to do a tutorial for a certain Item that you can't find anywhere on the net or in the stores send me a request! I would love to get any sort of requests from anyone. So speak up now or I'm going to run out of tutorials! XD

Mini Hats on a Budget

This is a really easy and simple way to make those tiny hats that you often see Ceil from Black Butler wear. I'm not going to post a tutorial video for this one, but I will if enough people bug me about it. :)

STEP 1: You're gonna have to find a reference pic for whichever hat you want to make, but this is how I made my Magnet Miku hat that she wears on her headphones.

STEP 2: Gather your materials:

• Colored Fabric (depending on what your hat looks like you will need different colored fabric)
• An empty cake mix box or any other useable thin cardboard
• A ruler
• A pen, pencil, marker, or anything that you can use to draw out your pattern
• Scissors
• Necessary decorations for your hat
• Regular glue, hot glue, or fabric glue, maybe all three
• Duct Tape

STEP 3: Estimate how tall you want your hat to be. Mine is about 4 to 5 inches tall but I think that's a bit out of proportion for me. :) So do whatever you think is proportional for yourself. The length should be from the top crease to the bottom crease of the box, which should measure to be about 10 inches long. For the rim of the hat I used just a plain 2D circle. You can try to make an actual 3D rim but for starters just use the 2D circle. To find out how big you want the rim to be cut out and roll up your rectangular cardboard piece. Place the cylinder wherever you are going to trace out your circle and trace your circle. Make sure that the edge of the circle is about 1 inch away from the cylinder.

STEP 4: Now you have two separate pieces of cardboard, the cylinder and the circle. Before gluing these two pieces together take your fabric of choice and measure and cut out a rectangular piece for the cylinder, two circle pieces for your rim, and a smaller circle for the top of the hat. Take your two circular pieces and glue them on top and bottom of your circle. Then glue the rectangular piece to the cylinder. 

STEP 5: Take your cylinder and place a bit of duct tape inside so that the hole on the bottom is covered and the sticky side is facing you. Put a bit of hot glue around the edge of the tape then place it centered on your rim (the circle). Let the glue cool, tip the hat upside down and gently shake it to make sure that the two pieces are secure. If the cylinder falls off apply more glue.

STEP 6: Now it's time to decorate! o(^▽^)o Add any sort of decoration that your hat needs. Since the bottom of your hat doesn't have a hole it's really easy to glue it to a head band or hair clips. Just make sure to use hot glue to secure it. 

I hope this tutorial did you some good. Please leave a comment and tell me how this worked out for you. Please leave questions too, they help me improve my tutorials. Thanx everyone!

Vocaloid Arm Warmers :D

This tutorial can be used for any arm warmer needs that you have....I think....^_^; But I do know that you can use it for at least all of the Vocaloids that have arm warmers. Ex. Kagamine Twins, Miku, Luka, ect. The steps are the same it's just that you'll need to change the colors, add/take away a few things, or change the pattern a little bit. :) You can use this tutorial for leg warmers as well, just adjust the measurements add whatever you need and shoopah! Awesome leg warmers.

STEP 1: If you know who Miku or whichever Vocaloid your cosplaying as looks like then you shouldn't need one. But here's a couple anyway. ; )

http://www.giantbomb.com/hatsune -miku/3005-7367/
http://arisacosplayblog.weebly.com/hatsune-miku-default1.html

STEP 2: Gather your materials:

• Black Fabric
• Colored Fabric (The color depends on which Vocaloid you're cosplaying as I'm doing Rin, so I'll be using a yellow/goldish color)
• Elastic, preferably wide but any will do
• Flexible Measuring Tape
• Scissors
• sewing machine or thread and needle
• Clear Vinyl
• White Printer Paper
• A Pen, Pencil, Marker, or anything else that you can use to draw out your pattern
• Arm Warmer printout (Here's are links to two fairly good pics, pick whichever one you like best: http://dramakana26.deviantart.com/art/Vocaloid-Arm-Design-185960657 http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=218568)

STEP 3: Now we're going to make the pattern. The pattern shape should be composed of a rectangle and two triangles. The height of the pattern should measure up to be (for Rin) from your elbow to about where you can still see the tips of you four fingers. For Miku the sleeve should measure from about your mid upper arm down to where you can still see you four fingertips. The botton width can vary but the top will be the circumference of your upper arm plus two extra inches for seam allowance.

STEP 4: After you've got your pattern measured properly and cut out, take your black fabric, fold the fabric in half, and pin your pattern to it. Then cut out your pattern, there should be two cut-outs of your pattern (one for each arm). If you're making your whole Vocaloid cosplay, or any other cosplay that has matching arm warmers the same color as on the cosplay, from scratch I would suggest that you make sure to use fabric from the same batch or else your color shades won't match.

STEP 5: Now it's time to cut out your colored bands. First make a pattern for your bands. It should measure to be three inches high and the length of either the top or bottom of your sleeve, depending on which bands you're cutting out. When you have your pattern cut out pin it to your fabric, which should be folded in half, and cut your pattern out so that you have two bands when you unpin the pattern from the fabric. Repeat this step for the other set of bands. If the arm warmers that you're making don't have colored bands then use the same fabric for the top band and hem the bottom. If they have some other kind of embellishment or decoration shoot me a comment with a pic and I will see if I can make a tutorial for the decorations.

STEP 6: Now to sew the colored bands to your arm warmer. For the top bands I find it easier to thread the elastic through as you're sewing. Of course I do most of my sewing by hand, so if you have a machine please comment and tell me how you would thread the elastic through. Then for the bottom bands you sew straight across. Now before you actually sew the bands you'll have to fold and pin them. First, choose which side is going to be the front and which is going to be the back. Then you'll pin one edge of the colored fabric to the edge of the black fabric so that there is no colored fabric hanging off of the edge of the black and unpin then repin it in place about half an inch below the edge. Then fold the colored over the edge so that there should be about an inch and a half is hanging over the edge. Before you pin the other side, fold the unpinned edge half an inch then pin using the pins that you used for the other side. Then sew band in place. Repeat for all bands.

STEP 7: Set aside your arm warmer and get out your clear vinyl. You'll be cutting a rectangle piece for the electronic looking things on the front. Your vinyl size will depend on your arm warmer size. But you want to place it so the top of the vinyl is 2-4 inches away from the bottom of your top band and only an inch or two away from the top of your bottom band. The width of your vinyl should be about half the width of your arm warmer. I sewed mine on by hand but I think sewing it with a machine is a lot better because the vinyl on mine is kind of loose because I sewed it on by hand. Ok, when sewing you want to leave the top unsewed so that you can slip the paper into the pocket that you've made with the vinyl. 

STEP 8: Now that you've sewed your bands and vinyl to the main piece take your two edges and pin them so that they are inside out. Pin your edges and then sew along your edge. Make sure to pull the two ends of the elastic so that the upper band fits around your arm comfortably. Then cut the excess elastic though make sure to leave half an inch so that you can sew your elastic to the fabric. Sew the edges and the elastic when that's done take your arm warmer and flip it inside out so that you can see the vinyl and the seams are not showing.

STEP 9: Print out the arm warmer picture, slip it into the vinyl pocket. If it doesn't fit correctly, DO NOT RESEW! Either cut the paper or adjust the size on the computer and print it out again.

STEP 10: Repeat steps 3-9 as many times as you need/want. You might want to repeat step 2 if you're trying to mass produce for friends. :)

And there you go! A completed arm warmer just for you or a friend! I hope this tutorial has been helpful to you. It took me a really long time to write this tutorial, almost two months! So enjoy your arm warmer, comment and tell me what you liked about my tutorial. I would love to receive requests from anyone and everyone. :D

Miku's Leek :D

Alright, here is an awesome tutorial from me, awesomerichgirl$$, on how to make Miku's leek. This is something that is very easy to make and it doesn't take very much skill to complete. :)

STEP 1: A reference pic is not necessary but here's one for those of us that just need one. :)

http://psp2.psupedia.info/File%253AMiku's_Leek_Wand.png.html

STEP 2: Gathering materials, Here is a list of stuff that you will need to get:

• A Small bowl
• A bottle of Elmer's Glue (for this project you can also use paper mache if you like)
• News paper
• Office tape
• Blank White Paper, preferably printer paper because it's easier to work with
• Scissors
• Wax Paper
• A Cardboard Tube, like the ones left over after you use a roll of paper towels or gift wrap
• Dark Green, Light Green, and White craft paint
• A Craft Paint Brush

STEP 3: Take your stack of white printer paper and cut them into strips about 1 inch wide. They can range from 1-2 inches if you would like. After you have done this put your stack off to the side, we'll use them later.

STEP 4: Now to make the rough shape of your Leek, take your news paper and wrap it around your cardboard tube. You can make your Leek as long or short as you like. I would recommend it to be at least as long as your arm. Each time the news paper goes around put a dab of glue to keep the news paper from unraveling. You can either glue or tape the end of the news paper once there's three or four layers of news paper around the cardboard tube. Now make another news paper tube about half the length of your first. This tube will be the part that protrudes off to one side of your leek.

STEP 5: You should have the longer paper tube still on the cardboard tube and the shorter one off to the side. Take the smaller tube and tape it a little more than half way up the longer tube, so it looks like the shorter one is merged with the longer one. Don't worry if it looks a bit odd because in the next step we'll get rid of it.

STEP 6: Next take the Elmer's Glue and pour half of the bottle in to your small container/bowl. Take your strips of paper and coat them in the glue one at a time. After you coat one strip in glue place it on the news paper. Make sue that it's all smooth and that there's no bumps or anything like that. Keep repeating this process until there is NO NEWS PAPER SHOWING because if there's news paper showing it'll look tacky, and that's not the look that we want. ^^;

STEP 7: After you've covered the whole thing with no news paper showing I would go over and add another one or two layers just for durability. After you've done that you let it dry, you can put it outside if it's sunny, or you can leave it inside near a fan, or you can blow dry it on a cooler setting. It takes about half an hour to an hour depending on how many layers you put on. It may take a longer or shorter amount of time depending on which method you chose.

STEP 8: Now the fun part! Painting! :D I would suggest that you pair the whole thing white, then paint the connection part light green and the rest of the top dark green. Let the paint dry before taking your leek off of the cardboard tube. Keep adding layers of paint until it looks like how you want it to look. :) You can use craft sealer if you want, I don't use it personally just because I don't want to buy a thing of craft sealer, use it once and then have to throw it away because of disuse. :P

Okay! Now you have an awesome looking Miku Leek to use for whatever reason you decided to use it for. :) I will try to get the tutorial vid up as soon as I can, but I have no idea when that will be. ^-^;

Cheshire's Scarf From Pandora Hearts

Here's my tutorial for Cheshire's scarf from Pandora Hearts.

STEP 1: Find a reference pic like this one: http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=Cheshires+cat%27s+scarf+Pandora+Hearts&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=otUwn5nIIwYphM&tbnid=ay53qsgn6mM_wM:&ved=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneluna09.deviantart.com%2Fart%2FCheshire-Cat-213390550&ei=SYVpUbWWPKSQiAKk64CoDQ&bvm=bv.45175338,d.cGE&psig=AFQjCNGvrXgGLUaltcBlAuBKiVWOfwr2pA&ust=1365956298490998

STEP 2: Here's a list of supplies that you will need:

• Black material (Depending on where you live the kind of fabric will vary, If you live somewhere cold you'll need a thicker material than some who lives in the desert)
• Black thread
• Two medium or large jingle bells (the size of the bells depend on what you want, Im going to use a slightly larger bell than the one that I used for the choker)
• Red ribbon (preferably use the same shade that you would use for the choker)
• Blank printer paper or any kind of scrap paper
• Scissors
• Office tape
• A pencil, pen, or anything that you can use to draw your pattern with

STEP 3: Measure around your chest, around one side so that the tape measure goes around one shoulder and under the opposite arm. If you're female make sure to measure your chest when it's bound, or else you'll have the wrong measurements. After you've measured around your chest measure out how long you want your scarf to be. I have mine stopping just above my ankles. Now decide on how wide you want your scarf to be. Mine is about 5 inches wide, make sure to add at least an inch for seam allowance.

STEP 4: Now take your measurements and start making your pattern. I taped a bunch of different sheets of paper together to make mine. After you're done tracing your pattern cut it out and place it on a folded piece of black fabric. Then pin the pattern to the fabric and cut out the pattern, then unpin the pattern and pin just the two pieces of fabric together.

STEP 5: Now sew the scarf part, not the part that raps around your torso. Because if you do that then you will have to start all over from scratch. And that would suck for you to have to start all over and waste fabric. Before you do this next part make sure to flip the scarf inside out or else you'll have to start over, sew the top of the scarf where the wrap around part meets the scarf part. Also do not sew the bottom of your scarf, because if you look at the picture you can see that the bottom of the scarf is puffed up a bit. So to get that look you'll need to get some left over batting or something else that you can stuff the bottom of your scarf with. Here's some advice though, don't use anything that will weigh down the scarf considerably, or you won't want to wear it during any cons because you won't want to haul around all of that extra weight. Of course that's just my option, if you would like to carry around a few extra pounds with you as some sort of work out then good for you! Now to sew the top part where it wraps around I decided to just hem it and sew the ends together.

STEP 6: Now to do what I mentioned in the last step, after you've sewn everything stuff the end of the scarf so you get that slightly puffy look. It's optional to sew the ends, just make sure to leave at least two inches on the bottom because you want it to look like it's only been tied with the red ribbon. When you tie the ribbon the end of the scarf you need to attach the bell somehow. I would sew the bell onto the tied ribbon but you can hot glue it or however it works for you.

STEP 7:  You have now completed one side of your scarf!!! Yey! Now it's time to make the other side. repeat Steps 4-6 and you'll have the other side of your scarf!

STEP 8: Now take your two completed sides of Cheshire's Scarf and put them on. Make sure that they're on different sides so that they intercept to make an "X" across your chest. Have a friend help you pin the two scarf parts together so that when you take it off the "X" will still be there.

STEP 9: Now that you have your scarf parts pinned to each other, it's time to sew 'em together! Make sure that you're not sewing the front and back of the scarf together, because if that happens then you won't be able the wear your scarf. You can sew them together however you want, though I would recommend that you sew along the edges so that you get a diamond shape.

Yey! Now you're done and you have a Cheshire Cat scarf from Pandora Hearts! Enjoy, and stay tuned for more tutorials! On another note. . . sorry you guys but I haven't been able to get my videos posted yet, so just please be patient with me and I'll try to get them up as soon as possible.

Okay! Well here's the video for this tutorial. I was finally able to get it posted and as a bonus it didn't take me too long either! Since I posted the written tutorial on April 22 and I got the video up yesterday (April 23). So yeah, I will try to get the Cheshire Necklace tutorial vid up as soon as I can but until then keep checking to see if I've posted any more tutorials here on my blog! :D Alright well I have checked several times and my little video link is not working.... >_> grrrr... So I guess you'll just have to settle for a vid link. Like this one ---> www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wlqJgRgtJc Thank you to everyone that has viewed my blog and now my YouTube page. Please subscribe to my YouTube page because if you do it should alert you if I have a new tutorial for you to look at. :)

Cheshire's Bell Ribbon Necklace Thing XP

Hey everyone, I'm going to start with something really simple. This tutorial will be for Cheshire's Bell Necklace Thing from Pandora Hearts. (yeah, not quite sure what to call it =_=) This tutorial is for Cheshire's necklace as a choker instead of an actual necklace. You can still use this tutorial for it, though you can change the length of the ribbon to suit your needs. If you don't understand what to do by the written instructions watch the video that is posted and the end of the written tutorial.

STEP 1: You'll need to find some sort of reference pic if you don't know who Cheshire is or what the necklace ribbon thing looks like. Click the link below for an example:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=cheshire+cat+necklace+from+pandora+hearts&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=xJDgHWfJBABGRM&tbnid=2xXA6To-nmK-oM:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsylvia65charm.deviantart.com%2Fart%2FCheshire-Pandora-Hearts-152875277&ei=XFdjUaHYMuqwiQKiv4GoCA&bvm=bv.44990110,d.cGE&psig=AFQjCNGD0zaKXHGzIniC3Lrp7J_tKnOx8A&ust=1365551317026210

STEP 2: Supplies that you'll be needing are as follows:

• Wide Red Ribbon
• Needle and Thread (Preferably the same color as your ribbon but you can use black too, I did)
• A Flexible Measuring Tape
• Velcro, a Clasp, or something else to hold the two ends of your ribbon together
• Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue (Optional)
• Medium Sized Jingle Bell (It can be smaller or bigger if you want it to be)
• Scissors

STEP 3: Take the flexible measuring tape and measure the circumference of your neck. Then take that measurement ant add about 1-2 inches. You will use these extra inches to fold over the ends of your ribbon so it won't fray. After you have the measured the ribbon cut it to that length.

STEP 4: Make sure that you didn't make any mistakes in cutting the ribbon, wrap it around your neck to make sure that it fits. After you have done that, bend the ends of the ribbon onto itself. Then cut a small square of Velcro and hot glue it to the folded ends of the ribbon. If you're using a clasp or hook, sew one part of the clasp or hook to one of the ribbon ends and the other part to the other end.

STEP 5: If you used the Velcro and hot glue method make sure to let the hot glue dry completely before trying it on for size. Now you're going to take your medium sized jingle bell and hand sew it to the ribbon. Make sure to put on the ribbon and decide on where you want the bell to be. It should be somewhere close to the middle, right where the middle of your neck is. Then hand sew it to the spot where you would like it to be. After you finish I would dab a bit of hot glue on the inside where your thread is so then the thread won't come undone and ruin all of your work and make you have to sew the bell back on. Or worse having the bell fall off during a con. *shutter* That would be worse. =~=

Alright! Well now you're done! XD Comment and tell me if this helped you or not because through everyone's comments and such I can make my tutorials better! ^_^ If you would like to see more of my work I will be trying to get my YouTube page up and running. Right now I'm having troubles with my computer cause it won't let me post my tutorial vids on YouTube. : / Which is why you guys will have to wait to get any of my tutorial vids. So, thank you for your patience with me and my computer problems. : D

Yey! I finally was able to make the tutorial vid for this one! :D Here it is! Also, if you're not able to watch the vid from where I posted it, here's a link to the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG95LPvtyc4