sewingoflove

This is really an awkward part of the cowl. How do you make them…poof out like that?! Oh Paul Dini, PHYSICS! She defies the laws of PHYSICS! Awwhh oh well, I suppose we have to be cannon, eh?

How to do this is TOTALLY up to you. Here are the options I’ve heard/done/seen.

1.    Stuff it using fabric scraps. Make sure you’re using SMALL scraps, so chop ‘em up if you have to. Use a chopstick to get the scraps down to the bottom of the curve.

2.    Stuff it using cotton stuffing, like in a stuffed animal.

3.    Hand sew horsehair braid into the curves so you can adjust its size. Stuff in some way if you must.

4.    Slip pipe cleaners or a short metal rod into the curve so you can adjust it.

5.    Construct a metal spiral that will hold size/shape.

Honestly, I stuff mine using fabric scraps because I’m a cheap-ass. xD Cotton makes the  most sense to me, because its soft and will bounce back to shape if its moved or pressured, stays stuffed nicely, doesn’t make unattractive bumps and ripples in your curves, and doesn’t need special care during transportation.

That’s all! You’ve finished your Harley cowl!!! Questions? Post ‘em! Comments? I’d love to hear ‘em! Pictures? Please!

Happy Stitching!

So you’ve got your cowl all done, but it doesn’t fit quite right. Honestly, this is the EASIEST part! Even stuffing the ear pieces is more difficult

 Ever make a dart before? Yes? No? Well it’s what we’ll do here. Turn your cowl inside out and put it on again. By each temple, pinch the fabric and pin it together so it creates a triangle whose base is the side by your face. Do this again around the jawline. Adjust the amount of fabric and length of each dart until the cowl fits properly. This is something that’s easily done with a friend, but totally possible to do alone.  Sew each dart, making sure you use a straight stitch (even though this is stretchy fabric!) and that the end of your stitches is right alongside the fold of the fabric. A pretty good introduction to darts can be found here (will open in a new window.)

 That’s it! Try your cowl on again and make sure the darts are right. If something bunches or bags somewhere, adjust your darts or the fabric with your fingers before pinning it back and re-sewing the dart. It’s worth the time because then it won’t slide around on your face when you’re wearing it.

You can see the darts in my the cowl nicely here on the black one. I used red thread, and then colored over it with Sharpie to give it a redblack look ;)  I ended up darting even further back on the black under the jaw, and up by the earbit on the red.

 Any questions? Post ‘em!

 Happy stitching!

Back again! Here’s how you’ll construct your cowl using the pattern you made with the last tutorial

 Cut out each piece of your main pattern in black and red, as well as the forehead pieces. Take close note of your reference pictures–the BLACK goes on HARLEY’S LEFT side. The RED is on HARLEY’S RIGHT. The reference picture here is the Harley from Gotham Public Works. Keep this in mind as you’re making the piece!! It’s really embarrassing for me to spot Harl cosplayers who’ve switched up the colors at one place or another >.<;; Make sure your red is cut opposite from your black basically

The forehead piece is the easiest—just sew the pieces together to create a half-circle that will fit across your forehead. Pin the left and right head pieces together along the back of the head, the back of the neck, and the front of the neck. Sew these. Go ahead and take the pins out and try the cowl on inside out. Have a friend pin the back of the cowl closer to your head so you don’t have folds or too much fabric back there. I noted on my cowl here with chalk so you can clearly see where I sewed and cut. Sew along these pins. Make SURE that you sew forward and reverse securely over where your first seams meet the ones you’re sewing now to prevent unraveling. Cut off the excess fabric. Try it on again and make sure it fits. Trim triangles out of your curve on the head to smooth the seam.

 Next is time to make the ear bits. I really need to find something new to call these! Make sure you cut two black, two red. As with the rest of the costume, be sure your red is cut opposite from your back. Pin the two black pieces together and sew along the curved edges. Do NOT sew the half-circle that fits into the cowl. Take this piece (inside out) and the cowl (right-side out) and pin them together like a shirtsleeve. Make sure that when you flip the ear right side out that the curve is in the right direction and the seams are on the inside. I generally put the seams facing up and down, so I know for sure the curve is what I saw when I drew it out. Sew the opening like a shirtsleeve, and then flip it over and do the same for the red. It’ll look kind of depressed, but yes, it’s right!

Now you can pin the forehead piece in to where it belongs. It can be kind of difficult, but just stretch the fabrics and be patient until you can fit it. Here’s where it can get difficult—make SURE your forehead piece will NOT slide down or connect to the cowl on the sides so far that it will interfere with the mask. What I ended up doing was folding up the bottom of this piece by about half an inch and sewing it to the cowl this way. You’ll have to fuss with the sides if you pin the half circle before fitting the straight edge.  You can see here that I made mine much longer than it needed to be, so I just turned the end up and sewed a small seam Sew these pieces right onto the rest of the cowl.

 Now you can try this on properly. Turn the cowl right side out and use a chopstick to get the points of the earbits all pointy and such. Make sure the general fit is right. If it’s a little loose around the face, don’t worry-we’ll fix that in the next tutorial.  Stretch material does that! Turn in the hems all around the face and sew these into place. I didn’t do more than a centimeter here. When you get to the right angles, cut a small indent in towards the neck so you’ll end up with a right-angled shape OUT of the hem on the inside. You can see it the picture here. Do a couple of straight or hand stitches across this gap to secure it and prevent unraveling.

 That’s it! Next post is how to tailor your Harley cowl As always, any questions, leave a comment!

 Happy stitching!

(OM NOM NOM!)

My computer is fixed! Horray!!

 Anyway, right down to it! Making Harley’s cowl is a bit of a trial-and-error approach for me. You might want to have a friend with you to help your measurements. Remember that for this technique to work, you MUST use stretch fabric. If you do not have stretch fabric, you’ll have to be a WHOLE lot more careful on your measurements and placements, and will have to install a zipper on the back seam of the cowl. My pattern is designed to be pulled over the top of your head. Oftentimes, I pull mine on and let the ear thingies dangle in front of my chest while I do my makeup. Then I spin it around and pull it up over my hair, which is in two buns right underneath the ear bits. As always, right click and choose “View Image” to see the pictures bigger

 I started by taping together four pieces of paper to be around the size of my head. Half the head anyway. I measured from the center of the head down the side to approximately where the opening for the face ends, and drew a line that length down the middle of my paper. Try to tape (or hold) this measuring tape in place on your head. I called this Line 1 on my diagram. Make a note as to where this line ends. Add on two or three inches for the neck piece. Using a second tape, measure several times from the middle of the back of your head to the measuring tape and draw these lines on your paper in accordance to the first measurement. You’ll end up with a shape that looks like half a face, with a pointed back. Go ahead and use this, cuz you’ll cut the point off when you fit it on your head. Measure the circumference of your neck, and draw this piece on the bottom. Remember to measure and note carefully the distance from the front of the line (your stabilized measuring tape) and what is behind it. You can see what the shape should resemble in the picture to the side. Right click to view it bigger. Add your seam allowances.  When you cut the right angle from the head meeting the neck, make sure you cut an additional Cut this pattern out and hold it up to your head, and have your friend note where the “ear” pieces come off. Approximate a circle there, about two inches in diameter. Cut the circle out, but keep half the circle in good condition.

Go back to your measuring tape, and, keeping the harlequin mask in mind, measure halfway across your forehead (Line 2), and the length from the beginning of the first measuring tape to the measurement you made across your forehead (2b). Draw these measurements out. It will be a quarter-circle shape. Add seam allowances and cut the pattern.

Using the circle that you kept from cutting out of the main cowl piece, trace it onto your paper and draw out how you want your ear tails to look. Make sure you add seam allowance. You’re using the circle to make sure the tails will fit the cowl properly when you get there. Think of looking at it in profile view.  You’re going to cut two of each color of this piece, so you only have to make it look how you want it to from the front. The longer these are, the more “droopy” they’ll be.

 That’s it for the pattern! Tune in next post for construction and fitting woes Any questions? Leave me a comment!

 Happy stitching!

Hey guys,

My computer COMPLETELY putzed, right when I was about to type up my tutorial on Harley Quinn’s hatpiece D: Hopefully it’ll get restored by Wednesday, but until then I don’t have access to a computer that will take my camera memory card for the pictures I’ll write out the tutorial itself, so whenever my computer is back up and running I will be able to post just about right away. So…hopefully that’ll be soon! Thanks to everybody whose come by. <3

As always, let me know if you have any questions or want to know how to make something ^^

Happy stitching!

Sewing with friends—seems like it’ll be kind of cumbersome to do, doesn’t it? I thought it would be interesting, so I gave it a shot. I sat down to sew yesterday with my friends Lauren and Alice. Unfortunately the sewing machines that were available….actually didn’t work. Two were from the 50’s, the kind that are half table, half machine, with a skull-sized motor underneath. One was an 80’s Baby Lock, but the pedal was missing! And the last…was a serger. I have never used a serger. I spent most of our time cleaning out and rethreading the machine. Alice ripped apart Lauren’s dress and re-marked the lines for the new seam locations so the front panel can be made to work right for her costume.

More than anything, we just had a FUN time. We were there for an hour and a half and it honestly felt like not even half an hour. We were joking and making fun of each other as well as using one another’s bodies for sizing, fitting, drawing on seam lines…it was really productive! If you can find a sewing buddy, it’s so fun and makes the time really go by faster. The best part about it was that we each were able to fit our garments that we were working on to ourselves, and rather than pinning and drawing on ourselves, we were able to have a friend do it for us. We’ve already made plans to do it every week (though I’m bringing my own machine) because it was so productive!