Random Tip #2

The pros and cons of hand sewing and machine sewing. It may look a little bias, and it is. That's because I tend to use hand sewing a lot more than a sewing machine because I don't have one that actually works. ^^; So yeah, well here you go!

HAND SEWING

Pros:

Quiet

Easier to do small things like very detailed embroidery

Easier to work with thicker fabrics and more folds of fabric

Very portable

Doesn't cost that much

Cons:

Takes a really long time to sew large projects like Cheshire's gloves (manga version)

Very hard to keep your stitches straight

Less professional look

Can be a lot harder for beginners, but practice makes perfect!

MACHINE SEWING

Pros:

Easy to use (sometimes ^^;)

Has a more professional look

Takes a lot less time to complete larger projects

Depending on what kind of sewing machine you have or get, it can be easier to use than had sewing

Cons:

Not portable

Loud (well louder than hand sewing)

Costs a lot more than hand sewing, you can buy one at a DI or any other thrift store :)

Uses electricity which in turn can raise your electrical bill if you use it a lot

BANZAI!!! XD

Hey guys I know that this isn't a tutorial but is about cosplay and it's simple. (Sort of ^^;) So next weekend will be Anime Banzai! XD (October 18th - 20th) And I will most likely be going this year! So if you're going please come and find me! I would be so cool to meet some of you guys! ^w^ Also, here's their web site for more information. :)   http://www.animebanzai.org/

Magnet Mikuo Cosplay

Hey guys. This is going to be a really easy tutorial because I don't really have to do that much work with this cosplay. :) So yeah, this is a really simple cosplay and I bet you can probably find most if not all of the clothing  in your closet or your brother or dad's closets. :D Yep so here's the tutorial!

STEP 1: Reference Picture!! XD

You can use either of these styles. I've seen mor but these are the more common ones that are online. :)

STEP 2: Gathering Materials:

• A black, long sleeve, button down shirt or black wide strap tank top
• Black pants (jeans would be best)
• A pair of black shoes
• A pair of black fingerless gloves (optional)
• Teal tie (optional, for the button down)
• Magnet headphones of the right color

STEP 3: If you can't find any fingerless black gloves then just buy a pair of gloves then cut the fingers off.

STEP 4: For the headphones, go to the tutorial post named Hatsune Miku Magnet Headphones. The only big change will be that there's no hat on Mikuo's headphones. Other than that everything's the same. :)

And I think that's it! See how easy that was? The only real time consuming thing in this cosplay is the headphones. Other than that there's very little effort put into this cosplay. Which makes it a very good candidate for that last minute cosplay for the con next week or something like that. The only downside to this cosplay is that you have to buy most of the stuff. You can re-use some of the stuff that you already have for this cosplay in order to cut down on the cost. :)

Hatsune Miku Love is War Shirt and Armband

Hello to the world and beyond. :) This time I'll be posting about Miku's Love is War shirt and the armband. From the pics that I've looked at and found it seems like a really easy thing to make. :D So now that I've given my little message here's the tutorial! XD

STEP 1: Reference Picture!! XD

STEP 2: Gathering materials:

SHIRT:

• A black, collared shirt with breast pockets (you can probably get away without the pockets)
• Teal fabric (buy lots if you're going to make the whole cosplay cause no two bolts of fabric are the same color)
• Scissors
• Needle and teal thread
• Flexible measuring tape
• Sewing pins
• Paper and pen/pencil (optional)

ARMBAND:

• Teal and black fabric
• A needle and thread
• Flexible measuring tape
• Sewing pins
• Iron-on printer paper (for the heart)
• Paper and a pen/pencil
• Scissors

STEP 3: Take your collared shirt and measure around the outside edge of the collar. This measurement will be the length of the optional pattern that you can make. The height will be 1 inch. This strip of fabric will be the outside colored boarder on the collar. Take the newly cut strip of fabric and "hem" it aroun the outside edge of the collar.

STEP 4: Next, measure from the neckline to the end of the sleeve onto of your shoulder. This will be the length of the colored strip on the shoulder and sleeve. The width is 1 - 1 1/2 inches wide. You can make a pattern if you want to. Cut it out twice, one for each shoulder. Then take the strips and sew them to the shoulders of the shirt. Curl in the edges so that the raw edges are hidden and it has a "hemmed" look too it. When you're done with that you're done with the shirt! XD

STEP 5: Now on to the armband. Take your measuring tape and measure the circumference of you middle upper arm. This will be the length of your armband. The width should be 7 inches, is also includes seam allowance. :) When you've made your pattern, pin it to your teal fabric and cut it out again. Then unpin the pattern from the fabric. Hem the long sides of the rectangle.

STEP 6: Take the same length measurement from before but the length this time the width will be two inches. Instead of using the teal fabric you'll use the black fabric and cut out two of these. One for the top and one for the bottom. :) Fold the black strips into thirds and pin them to the top and bottom of the armband, each a half inch away from the edges. Sew them. 

STEP 7: Now onto the heart symbol. Here's a template for the heart symbol that goes in the middle of the armband:

This is the only one I could find online that wasn't colored teal. So I guess just color it in black on the computer? Well I'm not sure. Then when you have your template colored, print it out on regular paper several times, each time adjusting the size until you get the size you want. When you finally get the size right, print it out on the iron-on paper. Then iron the picture onto the armband while following the instructions for the iron-on paper. Also make sure that the heart is centered.

STEP 8: When you've ironed the heart onto the sleeve, take the ends of the rectangle that still have raw edges and line them up. When you do this, it should be folded in half and the heart should be on the inside. Sew the two ends together and flip it inside out so that the heart is on the outside. Put it on to make sure that it fits correctly. :) Resew if necessary so that the armband fits snugly around your arm so that it doesn't fall off when you move your arm. :)

Yey! Now you are two steps closer to completing your Hatsune Miku Love is War cosplay! XD View the following link to make Miku's skirt: http://simplecosplaytutorials.blogspot.com/2013/10/hatsune-miku-love-is-war-skirt.html?m=1

Hatsune Miku Love is War skirt

Hey guys! I found this tutorial a while back and have decided to post it here. You can use this tutorial for a whole range of pleated skirts and sorts. :) There are a couple of tutorials that I've found that aren't as awesome as this one but I chose this one to share with you guys. :D So enjoy!!!
How to Cosplay: Pleated Skirt

Magical Nuko ☆ Len Len Gloves

Hello everyone! This is the first of a series of tutorials for this specific Len cosplay. :) For all of the tutorials I will be using the same reference pic for all six tutorials. :) I know, it's a lot of tutorials but I'm up for the challenge! :D This tutorial will be so super duper simple that I'm not sure if I should put up a tutorial for it. 

STEP 1: Reference Picture!! :D

STEP 2: Gathering materials:

• A pair of white gloves (length: to the wrist)
• Baby blue ribbon
• Hot glue and hot glue gun
• Yellow fabric
• Needle and yellow thread
• Flexible measuring tape
• Sewing pins
• Scissors
• Printer paper
• Pencil/pen

STEP 3: Take your gloves and make sure that they fit your hands. Then take the flexible measuring tape and measure the circumference of the bottom of the glove. 

STEP 4: Take the circumference of the glove bottom (this is your width) and 1 inch (this is your height) and make your pattern. Cut out your pattern and pin it to your folded yellow fabric. Cut out the pattern of fabric and you should end up with two copies of the paper pattern in yellow fabric.

STEP 5: Take your strips of fabric and pin them to your gloves in a "hemmed" fashion. Now sew them.

STEP 6: When you're done sewing the yellow boarders onto the gloves take your ribbon and cut a foot or so. Then take the ribbon and tie it into a neat bow. Repeat for the other bow.

STEP 7: When both of your bows are tied, heat up your hot glue gun and hot glue the bows to your gloves.

OPTIONAL: If you don't want to glue the bows to the gloves then take some velcro and hot glue the hook part to the backs of the bows and the fuzzy parts to the gloves. You can also sew the velcro to the gloves and bows. Then you'll be able to remove the bows whenever you want to use the gloves for something else.

Thank you to everyone that has visited my tiny blog. :) It grows every time someone views a post or follows me. :) Yep, so I will see how long it takes me to get the tutorial vid out, so please be patient with me. My computer access is limited for some things (aka I can't get onto YouTube from my home computer. D:< ). 

Hatsune Miku Magnet Headphones

Hey guys! Here's my awesome tutorial for Hatsune Miku's Magnet Headset. :) Lets hope that it doesn't totally fail on me. ^^; I've been wanting to make these for a while because they're the only thing that I'm missing from my Miku Magnet cosplay. >:T Well actually that's not completely true, I'm also missing the gloves, but I think I can get away with not having them. :) This tutorial is for the full size bulky photo shoot headphones. I'll be making another tutorial for headphones that are more comfortable to wear at a convention. :) But yeah, here's the tutorial!

STEP 1: Reference picture!! XD

STEP 2: Gathering materials:

• A headband
• Black Sharpie
• Black paint (optional)
• Thick foam board
• A jumbo paper clip
• Hot glue sticks and hot glue gun
• Mini hat (see Mini Hats on a Budget  Tutorial for instructions)
• Masking Tape
• Paper
• Heavy books
• Elmer's Liquid Glue
• Scissors
• A pen
• Hot pink card stock
• A craft knife or sharp pocket knife (so to cut out the designs in the butterfly template)
• Pliers (option to use for straightening the paper clip)
• Magnet butterfly and earpiece templates:
  
  

  
  

STEP 3: On a Mac (which is what I use) the butterfly should be 'fit to page' and the earpieces should have both pieces on one sheet of paper. The pic itself should be 50% of the actual size. WARNING: you should probably print out the butterflies mirrored to each other. I didn't do that so I had to cut it out and color the back side black. ^^;

STEP 4: Take your templates and cut them out. Then take your craft knife or sharp pocket knife and painstakingly cut out all of the white designs from the butterfly templates. Be careful when useing a knife, they are very sharp and pointy.

STEP 5: Take your newly cut butterfly templates and glue them to your card stock. Place a piece of paper in between the flat surface, the butterflies and the stack of books. These papers prevent the glue from drying on the surface, the other 'wing' and the stack of books on top of them. Now place the card stock under a stack of heavy books and on a flat surface so that they will dry flat. Then wait for the glue to dry for the whole day and the following night. This allows the glue to dry all the way before we disturb it. :)

STEP 6: After the templates have dried completely take them and cut them out again. If your card stock is not the color that you want, you can color the designs so that it suites your taste. :)

STEP 7: When you've cut out the wings take the earpieces and cut them out if you hadn't already and glue them to your wings. But before you glue them take one of earpieces and trace it onto your foam. You'll use this foam in the next step. As an optional step you can glue them to card stock so that they have a more rigid look and feel to them, otherwise just cut them out and paste 'em. Place the earpieces (at least, if not the whole thing if you want) under the stack of heavy books on a flat surface so that they will dry flat. :)

STEP 8: Once they're dry, take the stack of books off of the wings. Now take your foam and cut out the two circles that you've previously traced onto the foam. These circles will be the base part of your actual headphone that you'll glue to the headband. Heat up you hot glue gun, while you wait put on the headband and place the foam circles under each side so that they look how you want them to look. :) Then take a pen and mark where the end of the headband is. The mark should look something like a sideways bracket - ] this is just so that you know where to glue the headband to the circles. :) When your hot glue gun is heated up take it and glue the circles to the headband then wrap masking tape around the whole thing. (I don't have a pic of this but you can see it in the vid I will try to post soon. :D )

STEP 9: Now when they dry all the way take your butterflies and hot glue them to the foam circles that you've glued to the headband. Make sure to wear the headband during this step so that the butterflies aren't off center or anything like that. :)

Color the edges of the headphones so that there's no foam uncolored.

STEP 10: Now that you've glued the butterflies to the headphones it's time to make the microphone! XD It's super duper easy to make. All you have to do is take your jumbo paper clip and straighten it out as much as you can. Then, with the headphones on, stick the paper clip into the right headphone. Have someone help you adjust it so that it's in the right position. Take out the paper clip and place some hot glue on top of the hole that it has left then push the paper clip back into the hole. Adjust it while the glue is still hot or it'll be impossible to get it at the right angle! >~< Now take the scraps of the foam and cut a small rectangle piece. This is for the actual microphone bit for the end of the paper clip. :) Color/paint it black with the two red stripes on the front. Stick it onto the end of the wire, adjust before gluing. When it's in the right place, glue it. 

STEP 11: You're almost done with your headphones! XD Yey! All you have to do now is glue the mini hat to the top of the headband and you're done! So, if look in the pics or even in other pics Miku's hat is shifted to the right so that it's off center. For this part have someone help you, so you take the hat place it where you want it and keep a mental note of where it was so that when you remove the hat you'll know where to put the hot glue. You'll place the glue in two places once directly on the headband and the other on a little piece of black ribbon. Take the ribbon and make it go across the headband so that most of the length is on either side of the headband and only a small section is actually on the headband. Let the glue cool and you've got a new set of Magnet Miku headphones! XD

Thanx to everyone who views this tutorial and all of my other ones! It hasn't been a year yet and I'm already receiving views from around the world! Please comment and such! I would love your feedback! :D 

Here's a few of the pics I took of me in my Miku Magnet cosplay. :)