SALE: Handmade Cosplay - Shinsengumi Haori

UPDATE (2/25/16): SOLD

Here's a cosplay related announcement! I have finally started to clean out my cosplay items in my room. To start off the year with some cosplay clean out: I will be selling my Shinsengumi haori. It is handmade. In addition, I will be sharing some details about the process of the costume making, because, who knows, maybe someone can find this helpful and decides to make this! 

The fabric: it was originally a white cotton blend fabric; then it was dyed blue using Rit Dye Royal Blue. Make sure to follow instructions and add desired amount to achieve desired results. Please note, since its self dyed, do expect some imperfections. You might find slight spots of the dye - but they are not that visible as they do not show in the right side of the fabric/garment. 

The details: the triangle designs on the sleeves were painted on using fabric paint purchased from Michaels. Make sure you are using a stencil to paint the triangles on the sleeves - if you want them to be perfect, I mean Ahem! lol Please expect that because fabric paint was used, texture of the triangles is slightly rougher than the fabric. Another detail, back slit (refer to reference picture below) - make sure to not sew the back all across.

The assembling: the garment sewing pattern was derived by using an actual sewing pattern from McCall's M2940

• You may find this sewing pattern at your craft/sewing/hobby store, I usually would buy sewing patterns from eBay:
• http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/181348338348?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82 

Care: being that it is a handmade garment, if possible, spot clean it or if it is necessary, carefully hand-wash it with cold water and line dry.

The story: this haori/jacket was made with a group of friends whom I got the pleasure to cosplay together for our then favourite anime show, Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan. I cosplayed Saito Hajime. The production of the haori/kimono jackets was a week long project, where we met at a friend's place and work nonstop. Once we created all the haoris for the group, we then each got our Shinsengumi uniforms assigned to us and we hand sew our character's name and our name on. Please be advised that you will see 'Saito' somewhere in the garment (that is if you decided to purchase it from me). 

The history: it was worn twice for convention going,once at Anime Boston and once at NYAF/NY Comiccon. No damages were sustained nor any stains from wearing (only "stains" you may notice - which are, really, spots of slightly uneven dyeing job).

If you are interested, you can head over to the SALE page where you can find the link of the item or anything else I have posted for sale on my eBay store.

Until next time, live freely and lightly - be nerdy!

NYCC 2015 Report: Sunday October 11, 2015 Report

Day 4: Sunday October 11, 2015

Its shopping day for all!! Except I. My friend and I did plan Sunday as a shopping day - but we ended up spending the day at the Viz Media booth to play on the roulette event most of the day.

Viz Media Roulette Event - Each participant spins the roulette once during their turn. The higher the number the more gifts you can get. They have the numbers raging from 1-4. I keep getting 3. Both times I participated in this, I keep getting the same number, lol its not a bad number, but I guess I was just greedy. I wasn't planning to keep any of these items that I won anyway. I planned to give them away to the people I knew who didn't get the chance to go to NYCC.

Later that day, I took my friends to complete their Naruto Ninja Missions. lol Funny that we are a three-man cell, we did pretty well - less than 10 min! Got our Naruto coins (I participated again) before they ran out; staff started giving out Naruto posters when the coins ran out.


Something else happened, there was another autographing line up for the newly announced Legend of Korra comic book's artist, Brittney Williams! I, of course, lined up to meet her! We talked a bit, she said my name is nice~! *happy* She's a very nice lady, I love her Korra sketches, I wish you all the best Brittney!

Then we went to the KONAMI booth - Basically, they take a picture of you [awkwardly posing] and photoshop on to a YU-GI-OH card template and print it out and glue it onto a cardboard backing. The turn out was similar to a YU-GI-OH card quality, but with your picture instead of a monster in it. You get to choose which kind of card/ background they can print your picture on.  Mine turned out weird, so I am not going to post a picture of it...

In the end, I was able to grab a few souvenirs for some friends. Mini shopping mission - success!

My NYCC 2015 loot. Mostly Naruto merchandise.

FYI: I only kept the shirt, signed posters, Naruto manga, and Naruto coins. Other posters and freebies (not pictured) from NYCC were given away to friends and coworkers. I do biweekly purges, so who knows how long I will keep the stuff - but definitely keeping the signed posters and shirt - will normally use - may be used for Summer wardrobe.

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NYCC 2015 Rating: 8/10 (would have been a 10 if I got Kishimoto's autograph OTL)

Comments: I can't deny this year was the better NYCC year ever I had. Still can't top my NYAF years though, nor my ANext experiences. But still good enough. More so now I have had the opportunities to meet people and experience things that I have not done before.

As a cosplayer, in the past I have had only concerned myself with the cosplay community, more so closely with the friends that I had made during that time. Never actually made time to participate in any panels nor autographing sessions. My cosplay friends would always focus on walking around the convention center to showcase their cosplays - I was not too comfortable with that, however. My introvert self was surfacing more and more as demands from cosplay friends made the hobby feel like a baggage and ultimately a bigger expense. Well, I was a student back then, and living alone. Then I decided to take a break from it all.

During two years after I stopped cosplaying, I still attended conventions. I wanted to experience it from a noncosplayer point of view - I was a noob when it comes to convention going, I was till making mistakes - still missing out on things like meeting people, panels, autographing session, etc.

This year, I was able to experience the convention going culture with old friends and college friends. I am glad that I was able to feel happy going to a convention, not stressed about cosplay, make-up, pictures, drama, etc. And that happiness is what every person should feel when attending a convention, grab a friend and experience what the event offers!

Thanks for reading! ( ´͈ ◡ `͈ )