Near: The Pants

Me wearing the pants.

Hello!

So I ordered these scrub pants (I had read online in a forum that scrub pants would work for Near), and they are pretty great: Click here for the link!

When I first opened the package, I thought they'd be too big, but they actually aren't (the drawstring's a bit big, but I just have to wrap the drawstring around the back and tie it there, heheh)

The pants laid flat.

There is a lost of baggy-ness around the waist on me, but the shirt is long enough to hide it, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

So, anyway, if you think they're too big, just double check.

They're also very good because they're somewhat baggy so if it's cold on Halloween, you could wear pants underneath, provided that they stick close to your body. In the picture, I am actually wearing jeans underneath them.

So, yeah, that's pretty much it for the "costume" part of the Near costume. If you want to wear a shirt underneath the button-up one, I suggest maybe wearing a v-neck because I tried wearing a crew-neck one, and you can see it peeking out of the top (Near unbuttons the top button of his pajamas.)

Yeah! Next time on the Near costume: Finger puppets! Yay...?


(P.S.: Sorry about not posting about the Deathstroke costume, my brother hasn't really done much, we still need to get the foam, and I want a nice, long post about that costume! :D)

Near: The Shirt

Hello!
So, I looked all over for a pair of white pajamas under $20, to be as authentic as possible (and also because I need pajamas and thought, Hey! I could save money this way! :P) Unfortunately, the cheapest pair was around $85. This got me really annoyed, because white should be the cheapest color, not the most expensive.
Anyway, so that didn't work. Time for plan B.

The Pajama Shirt
Near wears white pajamas in the actual manga, but I think I can fake it pretty well by using a white dress shirt.
I would get one around 1-2 sizes too big, to add baggy-ness.
If your shirt has a pocket, you have encountered the problem I had (Near doesn't have a pocket,) but do not despair!

You will need:

• A white dress shirt 1-2 sizes too big w/ pocket.
• A seam ripper.

Take the corner of the pocket and hook the tip of the seam ripper under the thread of the seam. Pull

Take the corner and slide the
seam ripper  under the thread.

The small holes.

up. Repeat several times with the rest of the corner until you can pull and unravel part of it. Repeat.

When you're done, and the pocket is off, you may notice some very small perforations. I don't know how to get rid of these, I might try ironing it, but I don't think it's very noticeable from a distance, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Alright! That's it for today! I hope you are having a great fall so far!

2013's Costume: Near/Deathstroke

Okay, so you might have seen a post before about how I'm going to be Red, but as a last-minute change of  mind, I decided that I'd rather be Near from the manga and anime Death Note.

So, if you were looking forward to that, sorry.

Near's costume is not very complicated, so I decided to make up for that by also doing tutorials on my brother's costume, which is much more complicated. He is going as Deathstroke, a.k.a. Slade Wilson, from DC comics.

I might not post for a while because my brother needs to get some craft foam (yay! We all know how much I love that!) for his armor. A LOT of craft foam.

Anyway, happy....September!

Kind of Unsure, But I Think I'll be...

Someone from the wonderful TV show, Once Upon a Time, probably Red, but I really like the hat that the Mad Hatter, Jefferson, wears. On a whole other level, I thought about being Hawkeye (you all know that he's from The Avengers) but then I realized how cold that costume would be, so now I'm definately being something from Once Upon a Time.
It all comes down to who has the coolest costume. Alright everybody, happy holidays (and I'm including Halloween, even though it's not considered a "happy holidays" holiday. I mean, Nightmare Before Christmas was about Halloween and Christmas.)

How It Went: 2012 (Halloween)

 

Yay! Okay, so the first thing I'm going to say is whether anyone recognized me, and the answer is: no. But that's what I expected. Someone did take a guess though, they guessed "Joan of Arc" which could may or may not be interpreted as a good guess.

My costume held up very well, (not as badly as last year, I was Batgirl from TheBatman™ and my thigh-high boots completely fell apart at the last minute!), except that my hood kept falling down, but it was very windy. Also the stomach armor kept coming out from the belt, but other than that, it held up pretty well.

As for the candy, well, I don't really like candy, but I got some Hershey's™ chocolate that was pretty yummy, so I think that's good. Yum...chocolate....

Anyway, that's the basic review of my Halloween. All-in-all, I loved it. I hope my ideas gave you some for your costume. If not, I'm sorry. Maybe next time.

I will post a new blog post when I have decided what I am going to be for next Halloween.
Until then, Happy Halloween!

Sif: Hood Completed!

Hi!

Alright, so my father helped me make the hood, but I'm not going to say how we did it because it was very complicated, and probably not the best way to make it, either. We bought too little fabric, and so had to figure out how to use as little material as possible. I think we did a rather nice job!

Another thing is that I was mistaken, and trick-or-treating is back on for today because of sudden weather changes.

I will post a picture tomorrow of the finished costume!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Sif: Finished Dress, Abdominal Armor

Me as Sif.

Hi!
Well, the only thing I have left to do is make the hood.
Where I'm living, they re-scheduled Halloween because of Hurricane Sandy, so that gives me some more time to make the hood.

Anyway, here is a picture of me wearing the entire costume so far (abdominal armor not shown because it still needs to be tacked on the dress.)

Abdominal Armor
This is the armor that covers Sif's stomach. We looked closely at the concept art for Sif's costume, and discovered that there are only two plates to the armor that looks like abdominal muscles, not six as I supposed.

The finished abdominal armor.

The key is that there are three twisted pieces of fabric that come around two long plates and attach at the sides.

If you want to make this correctly, start by gluing the fabric strips (not twisted yet) onto the inside of the plates. Then, twist it up (not too tight; let some of it loosen up before you glue it down,) and glue it in place (going up towards the top corner away from it.)

You'll notice that there is a lot of excess fabric hanging down. This fabric will not be shown, and is not necessary. But! Don't cut it too short, because then it might come out the top of the skirt and it would look bad.

A Word On the Armor

The chestplate is more than just the front. I had to make a harness in the back so that it would be tight enough. I made it out of craft foam, but using strong webbing can work, too.

Make sure you get the straps exactly to your measurements, otherwise it will be loose and it won't curve very well (you can also apply heat to the foam, then bend it to fit you, but I don't recommend this, because it might be a bit time-consuming.)

Alright! That's all for today, next: Hood! Yay!