Belldandy Wings!!! -flutter-

Need help with sewing techniques, or making a 10 ft sword? Seek help from other cosplayers here!
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Luarîn
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Belldandy Wings!!! -flutter-

Post by Luarîn » Fri Nov 12, 2004 6:10 pm

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The wings are the sticky-outey thingies behind her. I want to stuff them with 1/2 inch upholstry foam (where do I GET this?!) and hand-sew each triangle on. What patterns should I use? D-d-do....do I have to m-make my o-own? If so, HOW?!

Thanks,
Rin

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Sterling
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Post by Sterling » Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:26 pm

Make your own for that is best. They not only seem easy, but you can also add on to it that way.

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Dark_Tiger
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Post by Dark_Tiger » Fri Nov 12, 2004 11:44 pm

Jo Ann's is usually good for that kind of foam, but that looks too thin to me for 1/2" foam.

It'd probably take less time to make that freehand then to modify a pattern.
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Post by Luarîn » Sat Nov 13, 2004 11:03 am

How do you make a freehand pattern? The cosplayers who did this costume before are blowing me off.....
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Tia
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Post by Tia » Sat Nov 13, 2004 2:43 pm

Looking at the front and back views, I'm not exactly sure about them being wings. It might be easiest for you to use regular material interfaced with duck cloth. The trim with the little triangles looks like it should be made in one piece, but it could be done separately. I can't figure out how the cosplayer did it. But I would use the shiny lycra stuff since it doesn't fray nearly as bad as lame. And just stick it on there with some heat bond. Use the kind that comes in sheets. Make sure the whole piece you're going to heat bond is ironed before you do it, though. I think you should make the bodysuit first and then the other two pieces so you can see how it's going to lay on top of it. You're going to have to have your bodysuit seams where the gold bits are and use more of the shiny gold lycra there. You can kind of make your own bias tape out of it by taking a small strip and folding it in half and then sewing that into the seam so the folded side shows. I don't know about the boots, though. That seems like one of the more difficult things about the costume. Unless you want to get a pair of those white ankle boots from payless and somehow make the bodysuit so the white part will go over it like a boot cover. I'm not entirely sure how to do a pattern for that part, though.
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Post by Luarîn » Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:33 pm

Tia-- this is my second cosplay and I'm 15, gimme a break here ^^ I'm sure I could put your info to use MAJORLY. Can I have that again, simmered down? (And I'm not going to connect the boots, BTW. That would be WAY too hard ^_~)

My plan as of -checks clock- 8:00 EST::: The "wings" are going to be made from 1/2 inch upholstery foam with the designs hand painted/sewed on. I have my wig idea set straight. For the vest-ish thing--custom pattern (again, HOW?) with boning. The gauntlets X.x I'll probably modify some pattern or eyeball them with no pattern. I'll bone them, too.

Iffy Stuff:
  • Red jewels
  • Attatching the red jewels
  • The wings, still
  • Inserting upholstery foam into the wings.
Dark Tiger is making my staff ^^

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Hope that helps......and thanks a millz for givin' me a hand. -hugs you all-
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Shinigami-X
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Post by Shinigami-X » Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:35 pm

I dunno if this will work, but I've heard of people using starch to hold parts of their costumes up.

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Post by Hemuloki-sama » Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:53 pm

But there wouldn't be any reason for the costume to stick up because Belldandy's doesn't....at all. So no reason for starch.

Also, maybe I'm just not seeing this but do you guys think that those blue things are actually her wings?.....Cause yea, if you guys do, you peoples are insane! Those are still her clothes, her robes if you will! The battle suit is designed off the main Belldandy goddess dress so the tails that hang down for her dress/jacket, they are represented also in the battle suit.
Last edited by Hemuloki-sama on Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Shinigami-X » Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:56 pm

Well, not exactly up, but to keep it stiff. It'll still be kinda flexible but you can't bend it too much. I guess the foam would work though.

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Post by Tia » Sat Nov 13, 2004 7:22 pm

Ah, I'm sorry. Whoa, this is your first costume??? I kinda assumed since you were attempting to do such a difficult costume that you had a bit of practice. *twitch* This is a very complex first outfit to make.

Okay, I'll try to explain in more detail. What I would use for the pieces hanging down in the back is whatever material you're using for the v-neck type bit in the front. Probably a nice mid-weight material like peachskin, moleskin, or satin. I see a lot of Belldandys using satin. You'll want to use a double-layered method and put duck cloth in between the two layers. It's very sturdy stuff that you can usually find at wal mart near the lace or Joann's next to the vinyl and shiny lycra. You cut out two pieces of the material and one of duck. You have the material pieces with the good side touching each other and the duck on top. Then stitch all but one side of that together with a zig-zag stitch and a normal stitch so it doesn't fray so bad and trim it. Then pull it inside-out.

Heat bond is this iron-on adhesive that comes in sheets and one side is sticky and you stick it onto the fabric you would be attaching and then iron the other side onto the fabric you are attaching it to.

The bodysuit is rather complicated, though, to get the gold seams right. I'm not certain how I would do it. You'd need to somehow make the pieces larger than what you'd need for your body to allow for the seams with the gold pieces and then cut it apart into the various pieces. I don't really have enough time to explain it right. I hope this post has been more understandable. The techniques I'm talking about are pretty standard practice for cosplayers, though. It's easier to learn them slowly with many costumes and then eventually doing something like this than to force yourself to learn how to do all of it really quick for one costume.

The Galaxy Angels cosplayers I've talked to said they used something called "fishie gems" for their gems and they look pretty much identical to the ones for Belldandy. You know those little shiny gems that you put in vases or fish tanks? Yeah, those. I counted them and there's 18 on this outfit. 0.o; I'm not certain about attaching them, though, sorry. She did say that you have to compensate for the weight somehow.

With patterns, you just have to kind of look at the design and try to work it out in your head how it would be done. You can go by head size to try to get the dimensions right. A lot of times you can go by the way clothes look in real life, but unfortunately that's not the case with Belldandy. Try to break it up into shapes and sketch it out on paper. I find doing a scaled-down test with paper helps a lot to visualize 3D elements.

Try making them in two separate pieces and making that back clasp in another piece and then attaching them all together.
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Post by Hemuloki-sama » Sat Nov 13, 2004 7:25 pm

Tia, they said it was the second costume....btw.
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Post by Tia » Sat Nov 13, 2004 8:54 pm

Ah, Gomen nasai. Well, I guess that's not too bad. Ah my Goddess costumes are just really detailed and time-consuming to make. I think you could do it, it's just the gold on the bodysuit that still seems difficult.
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Post by Luarîn » Sun Nov 14, 2004 5:05 am

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. What material should I use?

Thanks for your "tutorial", Tia!
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Post by Tia » Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:18 pm

You're welcome. Wish I could've written more, but I have a physics lab I am *still* behind on. They keep messing with my weekends. There is this gold 2-way stretch lycra stuff that I love that I think you should use for the gold in the bodysuit and the triangle appliques (all the gold stuff on the costume). I found mine at Joann's, but it has kind of a diamond texture to it, so I don't know if that would be okay or not. It didn't show too much on my sailor scout, but if you want another way of getting gold lycra, there is always Lycra House. http://www.lycrahouse.com They have a couple different gold colors under the shiny lycra. Here is what the Joann's stuff looked like on a costume I made: http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=220851 Sorry, but that is the best close-up I have. I'm thinking that it would probably show if somebody was like standing right next to you and staring at your costume, but the pattern wouldn't show up in pictures. It's only a seasonal fabric, though, at Joann's, so you'd have to make sure you were able to get enough first. Also, it stretches down the length of the fabric, so if you're trying to save money and cut the fabric the other direction, you can't stretch it. So because it'd be for a bodysuit I think you'd probably need to buy a bit more fabric than you'd think. On the plus side, though, the other bits of fabric left over from cutting out the long strips would probably be enough for one of the appliques.

For the neckline, I think you should make it so it's not attached originally, then add the trim, and then somewhere in the middle where you want it to pull together add a hook and eye or snap or something. Probably a hook and eye because the two sides don't really overlap too much. The thing that I'm still not sure on is how to get the seams in there and make the bodysuit be tight on you. What I'm thinking is maybe you could buy a white bodysuit online that is bigger than you need and then cut the lines into it and make the seam allowances however much it takes for it to be tight on you. Because bodysuits are really difficult to make. Anything that fitted is really a bear.
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Post by Luarîn » Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:48 pm

Thanks a friggin lot! I can probably do the bodysuit now.

Crap, I still have to do the wings >.<
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Post by Tia » Sun Nov 14, 2004 2:42 pm

You're welcome. I think the difficult bit about those pieces is making the actual pattern. But I think you could do it comparing her proportions with yours with a little imagination. It's the v-shaped thing in front that goes under the wings that'd be the most difficult I think. I would make that a separate piece. And the wings two pieces. Get some cheap muslin and just start trying to piece it out by writing down where the lengths and widths should go and then just tracing smooth curves. There isn't really a set way to making patterns from scratch. It's kind of an art.
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