Easy-peasy Sailor Collar stripes.

Sailor collars, they all have stripes and there are so many ways to attach them.

You can sew them down by hand or by machine.   I sewed the Soutache braid stripes on this collar by machine. If it is wobbly it is because this is one of my first cosplays from 2005.

The stripes on my  Escaflowne movie Hitomi cosplay (one of my first!) sewn down by machine.

You can glue them down, which works great with vinyl! just make sure to clean up your edges and don't use too much, (I used too much here because this was maybe my second or third ever cosplay!)  Glue
can be messy and sometimes hard to get off, plus over time the glue may dry over time and start to peel away, but if that happens, just re-glue it.

The details on my PGSM Dark Merucry collar, done with glue. (Probably my 3rd cosplay ever)

Over time I found that best product to attach the trim is Steam-a-Seam or Heat-n-Bond.  I prefer Steam a Seam, but both would work. Both can be found at fabric stores or online. Heatn' Bond is sold by the meter and Steam-a-Seam is by the meter, in sheets and in rolls.  I used to cut the strips to size for my ribbon details from the sheets or from a meter, but I found thought I'd try this beauty this time:

It's already pre-cut into strips and comes on a roll like tape! My life just got easier!  I just used it to put down the red stripe on my Sailor V costume. My ribbon was wide enough that I had to run two strips of the steam-a-seam side by side. I did each edge separately and cut the steam-a-seam off at the corners, but I did not cut my ribbon! That stayed in one big strip off my spool until I had done all 3 edges. The last thing I wanted was to accidentally cut it too short.

The steam-a-seam is sticky like a post-it-note, so until you iron it down it can be moved around, but it also means the ribbon sometimes comes un-tacked, so I did it one edge at a time. When I got to the corner, I did a mitered corner. Which is a fancy way of saying that I sewed it on an angle so I'd have a pretty corner.

This is what that mitered edge looks like when it is done. I then proceeded to run the ribbon along the bottom edge till I got to the next corner and mitered the other corner.  Once everything was tacked down I cut the ribbon off the spool.

Finally I ironed my ribbon down, and here is the finished product!

Sailor V top mock up!

I mocked-up my Sailor V shirt today!  Over all it turned out pretty good. I will be taking the collar in 1-2 cm along the back, I find it too big.  And I think i will be shifting the sleeve (not pictured) so the split between the red and white will be more even.

The front looks good. I *may* widen the collar opening (not 100% sure yet) and I think I may need to take it in a bit.

In the name of the Moon!

Because Sailor V does say that before Sailor Moon.  Yesterday, I started drafting the patterns for Sailor V from the Sailor V Manga and later the Sailor Moon Manga. V is one of 3 costumes I am making for myself to wear to Anime North 2016.  The other two are of course Sailor Venus and Princess Venus.  I've even got a white cat lined up to borrow for photos!

Behold! The early 90's glory of her costume!

The makings of a Magical Girl.

 Ah, pattern drafting.  The pattern math is like school, the cutting like art class and the mess left on my hands from all that graphite dust, and eraser shavings collateral damage.

Seriously, it looks like it snowed on my cutting surface.

 I'm going to mock up the top tomorrow.  It's a simple crop top, but I want to make sure it is long enough for my torso and that the collar looks the way I want it to before I sew the actual thing.

Top parts.

I finished the patterns today. I think this is one of the fastest costumes I have ever drafted and one of the smallest.

YAY!