Fairy Cosplays ( I do a lot of them): Zarina Progress 4

Zarina has been pushed into maximum overdrive, I now have a deadline. Metrocon has invited me to a Disney Cosplay group photoshoot, meaning I can either wear my Hipster Think (as usual) or I can debut my brand new Zarina cosplay.  Killing 2 birds with one stone I decided to cosplay Zarina, this means I can shell out a new costume, get some press, and also cosplay a Disney character for the photoshoot. Ok, three birds, same concept.

Anyway, this also means that I have to get the rest of the costume done in less than two weeks. I can do it right? right?
I ran to Joanne Fabrics yesterday and spent way more than I was hoping to, however I picked up absolutely everything that I needed to A. finish Zarina and B. get more done on Astrid. When I was there, I happened to see these little bottles that screamed pixie dust, since Zarina is a Pixie Dust Alchemist and Dust Keeper Fairy (I do my research) I found it most fitting that she carry pixie dust. Plus it might be enough of a cute detail to give me an edge over any other Zarinas that might show up to Metrocon (I might be a bit competitive when it comes to costumes). I also picked up a glitter sample pack of various colors, the gold fasteners for the corset, vinyl for Astrid and Hiccup, fur lots and lots of fur, some fabric for Hiccup, more pearls for Zarina's belt, white shirting material for Zarina's shirt (duh), and various other buttons, zippers, and crap. So much money had to be spent, cuz you know "drugs would be cheaper". Btw I tried to look for some stuff at thrift stores, sometimes it just can't be done. Like when you are looking for fur in the middle of summer…oh well. I did have lots of coupons and even student discounts, that's about the best it got for me there.
Anywho, I got home and decided to work, I finished the shirt already and the pixie dust.

Here is how I made the shirt:
I got a 1 and 1/2 yards of a cotton blend white shirting fabric, Butterick pattern B4658 (shirt B), and some thin white elastic.
I cut out the pattern and placed it on the fabric, then I cut out of the fabric the pieces so listed on the pattern. Except for 4. This is where I start to modify the pattern in order to make it perfectly what I need for Zarina. I pin the pieces together and sew up the sides of the front and back, as stated in the pattern. I take the sleeve pieces (3 in the pattern) and pin them to the arm holes in the torso part. Sew them in. I then take the elastic and measure just enough around my shoulders, because Zarina's shirt is off-the-shoulder. I then stretch the elastic tight to fit the huge neck hole, use a zig-zag stitch. When you sew it and let go of the elastic it should create a beautiful ruffle on the neckline. Do the same with the end of the sleeves. However, these do not need to be so perfect, they will be tucked under to give the sleeve a piratey feel.  No need to hem because the shirt goes right under the corset and skirt.
This shirt was so easy and quick, I got it done in an afternoon.

Then I made the bottles, these were easy! The actual glass bottles themselves I picked up, as I said before, at Joanne's in the jewelry aisle. The glitter came in little packets not too far away from where I found the bottles. I cut the corners of the packets and slowly poured them into the bottles, all of the bottles had varying heights of glitter, to make it seem more real. I then took a cosplayers best friend E6000 super glue and put a small amount on the tops of the bottles, putting in the stoppers and letting them dry. This should seal them.

…That is of course unless you are like me and drop one of them. I had 6 bottles full of different colors of glitter, the most important one being the blue glitter. The blue pixie dust in the story is the most powerful, it makes the regular gold pixie dust blossom and flow. Yet that is the one I drop…

This created a huge mess, and all my dogs ( I have 3) barked their heads off when I pulled out the vacuum. But I guess it is ok, because in the Pirate Fairy movie Zarina gets a little crazy with all the pixie dust and spills some creating a huge mess for all of Pixie Hallow.  So in a way I have felt more like Zarina today than I probably ever will, I call it 'getting into character'.
All that's left to do for Zarina is the belt, which I am still looking for materials for. Pray for me, I need it, less than 10 days until Metrocon, I am really hoping I can get this done.
Thanks for Reading!
Sparkle on! Just not on the floor…
Rennie 

Fairy Cosplays (I do a lot of them): Zarina Progress 3

Well, my friends, it has been a long and super annoying journey but Zarina the ever evading Pirate Fairy is almost complete. I have just finished sewing her skirt into final position (cuz I promised myself I would not tear it apart again) and I am super thrilled with how it turned out.  It needs a few more tweaks but considering for days I had no clue how to go about making it at all, I think being able to put it on and finally assess it as a whole is great progress.
My problem was trying to bustle it as one whole piece of large green fabric, when really if i just stepped back and did it in strips it would come out how I wanted.
And yes, that means I put it on and took some pictures of it. Seen here:

Pay no attention to the chair on top of the dog cage...

Now keep in mind that this picture is not final. I have zero makeup on and I did not receive my wig in the mail yet. The shirt is on my sewing machine as we speak so I couldn't try it on, thus I am wearing a shirt from my closet. Plus I have no belt on because it is in a pile of red beads on my table. Despite all this though, It is so close to being done that I can taste it. The corset is done and boned, It just needs the adornments, the skirt will be done tonight with some final fixes, the belt is almost done it just needs to be properly strung on the wire, which I will do tonight as well. Everything else is on its way. I am proud of this outfit so far, and I am hoping to wear it to Metrocon here in Tampa in July.  

I will keep you posted as I finish up the other pieces of this costume. Also, more blogs to come about more costumes I am working on. Here are some that are in the works!
Astrid and Hiccup from How to Train your Dragon 2
Alisa from Tekken 6
Nora from RWBY
Stay tuned and Sparkle on!
Rennie

Fairy Cosplays (I do a lot of them): Zarina Progress Part 2

Ok, back to Zarina. In my ever-infuriating journey with this costume, I have fought the good fight and I believe I have found the evading solution to all my cosplay-induced woes.  As some of you may remember, Zarina's skirt was so half-hazardly placed into the wrong position, nay not just wrong but complete opposite from where it was shown in the picture.  This was no one's fault but my own.  Once I realized this fact I raged-quit and refused to go back to it for another couple of hours. That is when inspiration struck in my darkest hour and I rose up to sew once more!
Yeah that was dramatic, but what do you expect? I'm a cosplayer and performer by trade.
None the less, I fixed the Zarina skirt and decided to keep my blog updated with this info and some pictures.

So this is the skirt and top and partial belt after everything was fixed. The skirt in this picture is just pinned and not totally sewn yet but I will work on some of that later today.  

Thanks for the happy thoughts and prayers. I will get this working!

Sparkle on!

Rennie

Fairy Cosplays (I do a lot of them): Hipster Tinker Bell

Tinker Bell is my spirit animal. More specifically, hipster Tinker Bell.  I mean it, I'm pretty sure my patronus would be a coffee-sipping, blonde, book-reading fairy…with glitter. A few years ago, I was invited to go to a convention here in Tampa, however my friend Jorge is extremely last minute on just about anything he does, so I knew about this con the day of.  Me being a cosplayer, I would never turn down an opportunity to dress up in costume.  So I came up with an idea…Tinker Bell….but out of things I already own.  I drew up a sign and voila! Hipster Tinker Bell was born.

Now this costume became instantly famous, solely because it was something no one had done before. I do give inspiration credit to Traci Hines (Hipster Ariel) and some random easy costume ideas on Pinterest, but for the most part Hipster Tink was my brain child.  She is basically just an extension of myself. Also the fact that my sign dissed Twilight and all it stands for might have helped my popularity at said con.
Anyway, I bring all this up to maybe help someone out there who might want to get into cosplay but not sure how.  Making a deviation of a famous character, but brought into modern day life, is an awesome way to get started. Here is what I did:
Step 1: Think of any clothes you currently own that maybe that character would wear. Remember to stay in the color scheme of that specific character, also do the right hair color. Iconic things like colors really help the audience to know whom you may be cosplaying.
Step 2: Make a sign. This works really well in pictures and gets the point across that this isn't just a normal version of said character.
Step 3: Rock it out.

Anyway, just felt like sharing some of these ideas with the whole of humanity. Thanks for reading!
Sparkle on!
Rennie

Fairy Cosplays (I do a lot of them): Zarina Progress

So if you follow me on literally any social media site (twitter being my favorite) you will know that I am currently making Tinkerbell's newest friend Zarina the Pirate Fairy from the brand new Disney Movie.

"What a cute and simple costume"I thought to myself one day. "Certainly this will be easy to make, comfortable to wear, and I can put it on and walk around the con floor with ease!" ….so far this is not the case. Now of course she is cute and I love the character, however I just about gave up today when the brand new skirt I had made was, get this, completely backward.  That's right, I somehow managed to put the slit and the pattern on the opposite side from the picture. So needless to say (especially with me being a detail-oriented, OCD, perfectionist) I scrapped it and started over.  I haven't gotten the guts to go back to it as of yet but I will return and when I do, this skirt won't know what hit it! mwahaha.
In other news, the corset is beautiful and the belt is coming together just fine. I already own the wings, and I am extremely tempted to somehow make that sword…

Yes, this is the picture before I destroyed the stupid backward skirt.

Basically, the corset I made from cheap pleather I already owned, it did have a shininess to it that would work for a fairy. It is properly boned, as a corset should be. I need to add the gold buckles on the corset and possibly weather it to make it look like it was out at sea. 

The belt was made out of pearly 16 mm beads I purchased at Joanne Fabrics, I spray painted them the perfect color. I now need to add the metal separators into the belt, which I will probably end up casting and molding myself.  

I obviously haven't made the white ruffled shirt yet, but never fear, I will get to it. I just need to find the right material.

I have a feeling that once all of this comes together, and I finally dawn the costume, the wings, the makeup, the wig, and all I will love it. At this moment however, it is exceedingly frustrating and I really want to take up another project instead, but I will stay strong and make sure this gets done. 

Anyway guys I will post again soon! Thanks for reading.

Sparkle on!

Rennie