Enchanted Cloak and Cape

I love making cloaks and capes! I made two in one night using the same aqua velvet crush fabric.

ENCHANTED CLOAK ~

First up is a cute off-the-shoulder short hooded cloak. I wanted to make the cloak kid-friendly so I used Velcro for the closure and hid the stitches under a pair of pretty gold buttons.

The cape is short or half-length on an adult. But it would be a nice long cloak for a kid. The back of the cloak is squared (pointed corners).

I added a charm at the point of the hood. It's a nice detail and the added weight keeps the point hanging down properly.

View the Enchanted Cloak on AvalynArtistry.com

ENCHANTED CAPE ~ 

Next I made a simple cape that fastens in front with a little snap. Again, it's a short style for an adult, but it would be nice and long on a little princess.

This cape is rounded at the bottom instead of being square-edged like the cloak. I left the neck opening huge so it drapes down the back. This also gives the option to pull it up and tie it in front instead of using the snap.

Or, I suppose you could wear a pair of wings on your back and have them poke out of the back opening from your shoulder blades.

Note: Both the cloak and cape are pictured with my Shimmering Mage Blouse.

Winged Backpack

It's wings AND a lightweight drawstring back pack AT THE SAME TIME.

I made this with convention cosplay in mind.

Drawstring backpacks are my favorite way to carry things when I am in costume if I don't have a back or purse that matches my costume, because the strings are slim and subtle and the bag isn't bulky or heavy; it hides well in photos. Then I figured, why not take it one step further and make it a part of the costume by sticking wings on it? Viola! Instant cosplay for any cute dress.

View the Winged Backpack on AvalynArtistry.com

Creatures of Fantasy

I made a Venn diagram that compares unicorns, Satan, and Your Mom. Because it had to be done.

And hey, if you want it on a T-shirt, I can oblige.

A Wee Unicorn

Here's a little drawing I made.

I started with a pencil sketch, scanned it into my computer, and then inked and colored it digitally using my Wacom tablet.

Here is the original pencil sketch on a scrap of paper.

Midnight Fantasy Quilt

Once upon a time a weirdo named Avalyn decided she wanted to make a quilt. Avalyn had never made a quilt before, but she didn't think it could be very difficult if she chose to use a patchwork pattern that was all straight lines. Really, how hard could it be?

And so Avalyn sketched out a basket weave pattern for her quilt on graph paper. However, she made two bad decisions: first she decided to make a QUEEN-SIZED quilt instead of starting with something small like a pillow or baby blanket. Second, she thought it would be awesome to button-tie the whole blanket instead of using yard or stitching-in-the-ditch. between each square

What she failed to realize was how PAINSTAKINGLY LONG it would take to complete this project.

But there was a happy ending! Two years later, Avalyn finally sewed on the last button!

The blanket small enough to cover a twin bed but large enough to look good on a queen-sized bed as well! It now adorns a bed in her guest room.

Cosplay Week #4 - Empress Tomoyo from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

So this cosplay comes from the year that Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle has already been out in Manga form for 2 years and was about to release the Anime.   Here is the shitajiki (a board that is placed under paper to create a smooth writing surface) that served as my inspiration.



I wanted to do this character because her outfit was so beautiful, but I didn't know what the coloUr schemes where, so I made a 'manga version' of this character



The headpiece looks fancy but I wasn't that hard to make.  I used a thicker stiffer craft foam to cut out the shape.  I bought a toy crown that had a comb in it to wear in my hair and glued it to the face of the crown.  Slip it onto my head and I had this perfect Empress Tomoyo headpiece.



Ok about the HeadPiece.  This costume is suppose to be of ancient China.  I've never seen a headpiece like this  . . . until I watch The Lion Roar (a Hong Kong Comedy) where the Chinese Princess (actress Fan Bing Bing) comes out with a very similar head piece.  So Wow I guess they did really wear these, ok to be picky I thinik I think Clamp did do some minor mistakes, but it's just a manga/cartoon and the artists aren't Chinese. 

I couldn't find a good full profile pic of her headgear since this character isn't a main character of the movie, but here's something



Anyways on to playing with the picture.

Let's turn it black and white



Add the background



And alter the size of the charater and add a moon.



What do you think? Looks similar to the original art.

-SmallRiniLady

Cosplay Week #3 - Eowyn

What if Eowyn was brunette? HAWT.

I probably would have made a more convincing Arwyn, but I really love the white dress Eowyn wore in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

I made this costume back in college on a limited budget. It was my second movie costume and the first dress I ever made so I used purchased patterns to make the dress: Simplicity 9891 for the sleeves and McCalls 3861 for the dress train. I used a T-shirt as a guide to make the front/top of the dress and then trimmed the neck to a V shape.

For the fabric I went cheap and used polyester. Being a college student at the time I balked at the thought of purchasing 8-9 yards of wool! And while I had found the perfect wool at Hancock Fabrics, they only had 3-4 yards of it. I found this nice slightly off-white polyester of the similar weight and texture for only $2/yard at Walmart. I used a cheap polyester lining, too, of a cream color (you can tell the lining of the dress in the movie is darker in pictures of it billowing in the wind).

I found an awesome gold and white braid for all of the lining details around the neck and sleeves... and when I saw the movie again it looked like I used the EXACT same braid that they used! It's thin and flat, with a white squiggle over gold. The embroidered ribbon at the neck isn't the same embroidery as the original, but I came as close as I could... I don't have an embroidery machine and purchased trim is faster anyway.

For the sleeve lining I actually didn't find a good brocade or silky goldish-cream fabric, so I overlayed a gold tulle. It was hard to sew though! However, the awsome thing about this dress is that even though the bottom hem gets really dirty whenever I wear it, I can just throw it in the wash and it comes out perfectly clean and I don't even have to iron it! No trips to the drycleaners!

I love how the belt turned out. It's not perfect, mostly because I couldn't fit in all 21 of the round pieces so they're a little spread apart, but it took forever to put together and I got tons of compliments on it.

For the belt, I started with white cross-stitch canvas, which made it easy to place the beads. I sewed on a string of gold beads (from JoAnn's) with gold thread... by hand, counting the squares like cross-stitch in order to keep the design symmetrical and even over the whole belt.

For the circle pieces, I used wooden disks which I painted with silver acrylic paint. On top of each I glued a star of craft foam, painted silver, then I used silver wire in a circle around that and gold wire for the petal shapes, and gold beads attached with beading wire. The center piece is similar, except I used an orange juice can lid instead of the wooden rounds and foam stars, since the center round is bigger and more intricate. I made that one first. The center piece is attached to the top of the vertical drape piece, which loops over the around-the-waist belt piece and attaches to itself with velcro on the back. The around-the-waist belt piece is separate, fastening with a wide buckle in front, which is hidden by the hanging piece where it wraps over it.

I wore this costume to WesterCon, Comic-Con, and a local movie viewing, and it held up very well!

If I thought a long blonde wig would help I would wear one, but I look funny with blonde hair.