White December Art xxxholic/Tsubasa Cosplay help!

This thread is archived.

  • Hello all!

    I'm planning on making all FIVE outfits from this ([url]http://static.minitokyo.net/downloads/10/32/266610.jpg[/url]) image. I'm self-taught and relatively new to making my own cosplay and I'm just really struggling to figure out how everything is put together.

    I have a few hangups though. One is the slits in Himawari's (black pigtails) dress; the seams do this kind of cascade-y thing and I'm not sure what the proper terminology is for it or how to make it. On the same dress, I'm wondering if I should do a mini-circle skirt for the part where the bodice flares out above the hips or if it should just be all one piece without the extra seam. I'm also debating making the underskirt completely out of lace or if it should just be casa satin with lace sewn on over it.

    With Sakura's dress (brown hair), I don't know if the stomacher/waist cincher should be a separate piece that actually laces up, or if the ribbon should just be sewn onto the bodice in a zig-zag pattern. For the fleur-de-lis designs, I was planning on either painting them or cutting out red casa satin and then sewing tiny beads onto them to give the dresses a little more pizzazz.

    With Yuuko's dress (black hair) my main concern is getting her sleeves to stay up. I'm going to make them super tight in the upper arm and probably use fashion tape, but I'm worried that it might not work out. Also, I have no idea what the deal is with her butt-bow; is it just circular or is it more of a bustle?

    For Maru and Moro's (pink and blue hair) dresses, I have no idea what the "bib" pieces are formally called or how to make them. Also, it seems like there is lace about halfway down their skirts, but I'm not sure how that would look.

    Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!!

  • Your link doesn't work. I would give you some pointers, but I'm not sure I'm thinking of the same picture as you are trying to replicate.

  • @Mehida: Aww nuts! I'm so sorry. It's working for me, but I uploaded it to photobucket here: [url]http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h259/makoto_mori/holictsubasa.jpg[/url] Hopefully this one actually works!

  • Okay, that is the picture I was thinking of.

    To address some of your concerns as best I can, here we go.

    Himawari: Since CLAMP doesn't really draw seams into their costumes, you can go ahead and make a bodice with a small circle skirt attached at the waistline. I would actually make that an entirely separate top and the big skirt a separate one as well. For the cascading sides, I would cut a skirt that flares out more than the underskirt and then angle the hem, that should give you some of the flowing overlay the sides have. As for the underskirt, I would make it out of something lightweight, like a cotton fabric, and then sew layers of lace around it. Making a skirt out of strictly lace isn't really going to work in your favor.

    Sakura: For the waist cincher part, you could go either way you described. Mostly it would be a matter of preference. I think for this one though, I would make it look like part of the bodice and sew the red detail down. I say this because if it functions as a waist cincher, your will have pulls on the ribbon and it won't lays as smoothly as in the picture. I would suggest good boning in the bodice though.

    Yuuko: For the sleeves, you can make them separate and use fashion tape or It-Stays, but my suggestion would be to make the dress more like an off the shoulder type. That way, your sleeves are actually still attached to the bodice and you won't have to worry about them moving down your arm, even with the precautions of tape and having them form fitting. As for the back of her dress, I would say that it's more of a bustle. I would actually make a short apron drape in the front (since you can see it isn't a long, Victorian style one) and then have it drape over the back. I would suggest the use of a bustle pillow to get the full effect.

    Maru and Moro: For the bib front, that's actually a term for it. You don't necessarily have to make it a real one. You could simulate it with red fabric cut on a bias and sewn down. You need it cut on the bias so that it will have the stretch to make the curves without bunching. As for the lace on the bottoms of the skirts, you could do two things. The first would be to make your skirt the full length you want it out of your main white fabric and then stitch down the lace in layers to the bottom and maybe put white ribbon or white bias cut fabric around the top edge to hide the top of the lace. The second would be make the main skirt to that length and then make the bottom part out of something lighter weight (like I described for Himawari) and then stitch the layers of lace to that and then join it all to the bottom of the skirt, hiding the edge of the lace.

    That's just my quick thoughts off the top of my head. I hope some of them might be useful.

  • Thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it! This is going to make sewing this a lot easier.

  • No problem. I hope the advice I gave will help you create all those costumes.