Monster High Fearleading Cosplay - Frankie Stein

The final costume of the Monster High cosplay trio that I designed was my own character Frankie Stein :) As with Draculaura and Deuce Gorgon's costumes, I designed mine from scratch, hand screening all the trims, body coverings and using a vector rendering of the MH logo I'd drawn for the chest. I had never modified a wig before this project so that was a HUGE accomplishment. I'm so happy with it I think I'll likely do a post just to show it close-up :) I made it stable enough that it hasn't changed since I first put it on! This costume between the uniform, arm and leg coverings, and the f/x makeup was a huge amount of work and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

I made the earrings from scratch using my long-lost childhood sculpting skills with Fimo/Sculpty and created Frankie's skull earrings. My ears are stretched larger than a normal gauge plus a normal ear piercing wouldn't be able to handle the weight of these so I opted for the clip-on earring backs. They were nearly impossible to find in the city! I could not believe the amount of store employees that gave me brain dead stares when I asked if they carried them. Who would have known they were so rare!

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

The f/x makeup was done by myself. I made the cheek stitches from scratch, actually sewing through the semi-completed prosthetic while it was on my face. It turned out great! I loved being able to incorporate some authentic elements into something like this.

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

Monster High Casketball Cosplay - Deuce Gorgon

Ah, Deuce Gorgon. Putting the Deuce in seduce ;) This year I was very excited to have my partner join me for his first time cosplaying! After debating which Monster High character he wanted to be for Fan Expo Canada we decided on Deuce Gorgon. I had a heck of a time figuring out how to translate his snake hair and initially planned on doing an insane f/x prosthetic. In the end there just wasn't the time to execute it so I came up with an alternative plan and it worked beautifully. I designed a hat and hand screened a gradient print that was a larger scale pattern to what Deuce's hair looks like. Instead of opting for the Casketball hair version where his snakes are sticking up, I opted to go with the flipped down style of his Dawn of the Dance hair. This was more fun anyways since my partner got to flip it from side to side and put a snake in front of his eyes like a loose curl when he felt like it :)

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

I made the uniform from scratch, hand screening the trims and drawing a vector MH logo for the chest. I also made the socks and hand screened the pattern on them. The glasses were painted with stained glass paint to make them green.

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

Monster High Fearleading Cosplay - Draculaura

After attending SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) this year and meeting Garrett Sander, creator and design manager of Monster High I knew I HAD to do this group cosplay for Fan Expo Canada 2011. Initially the friends I usually do a group cosplay at Fan Expo Canada were all going to join in this Monster High epicness (I'm the official costume maker for the group) but a large number of them couldn't attend this year! Regardless of that, we represented with a group of 3 and I don't think it could have be more epic :)  

This is the lovely Draculaura in my original Fearleading uniform costume design. I made the uniform from scratch, even hand screening the trims. Many many many yards of trim! I also created a vector logo in Illustrator for the MH logo on the uniform chest. Draculaura made her own wig and did her own f/x makeup, all for her first time. I think she looks great!

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

I made the earrings from scratch too, free-handing the design on shrinking plastic and then making them into earrings. If you've seen my blog before you know how much I like to play in the area between 2 and 3 dimensional props so I liked the idea of using these for her costume instead of real safety pins :)

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

Monster High Cosplay - Fan Expo 2011 PREVIEW - UPDATE!

UPDATE! I've now published three new posts about my Monster High Fearleading (and Casketball) cosplay designs for Frankie Stein, Deuce Gorgon, and Draculaura! Check them out :)

I can't resist posting this one.. 

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

(ORIGINAL POST)
I attended SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) this year and one of the many highlights was meeting Garrett Sander, creator and design manager of Monster High at the official MH booth! The experience along with all the amazing doll prototypes pretty much decided it for me.. I was determined to cosplay as Monster High characters for Fan Expo Canada 2011!

I'll be doing a long post for these costumes but this is a sneak peek! I designed the entire costumes from scratch for Frankie Stein, Deuce Gorgon, and Draculaura (minus her wig which she did herself). So excited to do a post on these, they were a huge amount of work but I am so happy with how they turned out! Can't wait to do more ;)

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

Claude Purse from Bleach!

This was a purse that I started designing probably two years ago that got shelved for so very long. I finally had a chance to finish it! This is a Claude, a character from the anime series Bleach! The plan was to wear this purse with an Orihime cosplay but I'm not quite finished that yet. When I do, I promise to post pictures :) It zips up in the back and an actually hold a fair amount of things inside.

Photo Credit: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

TUTORIAL: Reconstructed Men's Shirt to Button-down Tank Top! (surgery prep)

Last summer I underwent major surgery on my torso which resulted in a prolonged period of the inability to lift my arms. This, combined with the warm weather, made wardrobe prep very important! I was told I needed button-down shirts or things I didn't need to lift my arms up to put on. Alas, I found availability in stores for anything remotely cute and season concious lacking..

This led me to create a simple design which converted second hand men's button-down dress shirts into cute tanktops that could be worn in more than one way. I kept it simple in the hopes that someone going through any type of surgery on their torso or mid-section who knew sewing basics would be able to use this tutorial to create their own version :) Or someone who wants to make something sustainable and girly! Feel free to email me if you have any questions!

All Photo Credits: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved. 

ON TO THE TUTORIAL! (Click the Link Below)

Studio: Deconstruct/Reconstruct Sustainability Project

For studio class this semester we had to create a sustainable garment out of vintage or second hand garments. The goal was to use 100% of the materials to create an upcycled clothing piece. As I hate the crunchy patchwork style that is commonly associated with reconstructing second-hand clothing I knew I needed to do something that directly spoke to my own aesthetic. This led me to conceptualizing the idea of using unsustainable fabrics to design fetishwear! The fabrics used to create fetishwear are typically quite bad for the environment and the idea of 'sustainability'.

Over 33 million of tons of PVC is produced annually and it emits toxic compounds from manufacture to disposal. The shiny lovely durability it boasts is unfortunately also its downfall-> It is not biodegradable or degradable, which means all the PVC that gets dumped in landfills either just sits there for decades.. Or it is burned and releases toxic fumes like hydrogren chloride gas and dioxin :/ I knew I wanted to use PVC garments for this project for just this reason.

My first order of business was to find some interesting PVC material and I immediately thought of children's raincoats. They had fun patterns and didn't have excessive amounts of material or lining! I picked up three coats and opted for this Mickey Mouse version because it reminded me of my childhood adventures in Disneyland :) From there I also knew I wanted to make a corset so I found a kilt in my closet that I didn't mind parting with that would work for the lining.

It was a huge amount of work but I was very happy with what I produced. I started with 651.5 grams of fabric from my garments which included the weights of all extra embellishments that were needed, such as the boning and eyelets. And *drumroll* I ended up being able to use 100% of the original garments! I even saved the thread from the original constructions.. I swear, there was method to my madness! lol The fruits of my labor are posted below. I constructed an underbust corset, Minnie ears, a pair of spats, a purse, and a little neck tie :)

The construction process was VERY long and painstaking and contains many pictures! For this reason, I'm not posting it directly here. If you'd like to read more about my adventures click below!

Archived - Toronto Fan Expo 2009

This has been long overdue because I was hoping to have done a shoot with the ladies to post here but I figured it was about time! At Toronto Fan Expo 2009 I designed 7 Merlotte's waitress costumes, of True Blood fame, for me and the ladies! I styled myself as Sookie Stackhouse, bites and all :) We also had a guy with us who was styled after Sam Merlotte!

I made all the aprons from scratch modelling them directly off the style worn in the show. I also created iron-on decals with the logo and applied them to each t-shirt our group members provided me with. For my own costume I converted a pair of pants into short shorts and also picked up a pair of white canvas sneakers like Sookie wears in the TV show.

Photo Credits Above: TM 2011 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

Toronto Underground Cinema's Tales From the Underground

This was a project I was involved with back in July 2010. The Boys at Toronto Underground Cinema decided to create a three short films for Edgar Wright's The Wright Stuff which happened the first weekend of August 2010. For those of you that don't know what that is, Edgar frequently programs series of film screenings in various theatres around North America and the UK, films that have inspired him throughout his life. TUC hosted his latest Toronto event which was in honor of his newest film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World being released that same week.

I was the costume designer for this project which was so much fun! The second film was particularly costume intensive and the one  I spent all my time on. Part 2 was inspired by the 1980's film Flash Gordon, one that I love particularly because of the campy costumes and character design :) I was hoping to get some detailed construction shots but unfortunately that hasn't happened yet so I'm posting some shots the boys took on set!

For Alex's costume I was inspired by Prince Vultan, who was the prince of the bird-like Hawkmen in the film. I created a leather breastplate with shoulder guards and matching leather bracers. I don't have a shot of the back but there were two buckled straps going from the shoulders that created a harness with two horizontal buckled straps across the back. Additionally, I got a set of baby black angel wings that tied to the back harness and a viking hat.

Photo Credit: TM 2010 Toronto Underground Cinema. All Rights Reserved.

Evil Emperor Dark Nigellus was kept in the theme of Flash Gordon's villain, Emperor Ming the Merciless. I created a long hooded cloak from red satin and Nigel accessorized with copious amounts of eyeliner and faux facial hair! 

Photo Credit: TM 2010 Toronto Underground Cinema. All Rights Reserved.

The love interest in this mini-epic was Belinda played by Christine. I was inspired by Ming's daughter in the film, Princess Aura and her memorable gold costume. This costume was all about the bling so I picked up some vintage antique white lace with beading/sequins and repurposed it for the bra portion of the costume. I created gold beaded/sequined shoulder pads that had loops to attach them to the bra strap which I also added gold trim to. The skirt was a wrap with a thick gold elastic band (that was a really big pain to find!) and an interlocking metal buckle. I also picked up some strands of clear seed beads for a necklace and a Celtic knot elastic headband.  

Photo Credit: TM 2010 Toronto Underground Cinema. All Rights Reserved.

The last costume was for Charlie and inspired by Flash Gordon himself. I created a t-shirt from scratch, adding the contrasting red arm and sleeve ribbing. I then screened the FLASH logo on the chest and the lightning bold on the back. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it but you can check it out in the film below! :)