Progress (Day 645)

I made a considerable amount of progress on Christmas Chi today. First, I finished turning the top into a shawl. I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out. As mentioned before, this outfit was originally a children's dress, which I stitch-ripped into two pieces. For the top, I removed the arms and opened the sides, leaving only the shoulders connected. I re-sewed the shoulders back on and then sewed the sleeves down the sides. I had to round out the odd-looking corners that connected the shoulders to the sides. Then I roll-hemmed the sleeves to make them even with the rest of it. I also turned the shawl around backwards so that the button and the seam are in the front. I'd prefer the seam to not be there, it'd look better as a zipper, but there is no way I'm putting in a zipper in one day.

On the skirt, I hemmed the top, which got rid of one of the lace parts. It wasn't entirely intentional, I like the lace parts, but I really needed to hem the top, it was coming apart from where I had trouble stitch-ripping it. I also added belt loops to keep the belt in place. The loops create an awkward pulling on the skirt, but I think that's just what belt loops do. The loops were made with leftover velvet from an old project (Mello from "Death Note") that is luckily almost the exact same color and texture as the costume fabric! It also reminded me that I can use that jacket when I wear Christmas Chi.


After that, I quite literally ripped apart the shorts that I used for my Amaterasu (Okami) costume. I needed white fake fur, I didn't want to buy any more, and I want to remake Amaterasu anyway. Underneath all of that fake fur was a pair of jean shorts, by the way. They would be a nice pair of shorts if they weren't covered in hot glue remains. Does anyone know how to cleanly remove hot glue from jeans? It's really stuck on there.

The white fur was mostly intended to be for the trim on the skirt and shawl, but I also used it to make a pair of fuzzy Chi ears! I really love one of them, though you can't see the pink on either, but the other came out kind of odd-shaped. I'm going to work on fixing it before the gathering, but I'm not really sure what to do, apart from taking the whole thing apart, which sounds less than fun.

They don't completely cover my ears (the backs of my ears stick out), but I think the combination of the wig, hat, and these will keep me sufficiently warm. The headband piece is a little big on my head, but fits pretty well with the wig on. Pardon my horrible face(s), these were taken at about 2am.

I also have a few other ideas for staying warm in this costume. I'm going to wear two pairs of tights and two shirts, one elbow-length, one tank-top. Also as I mentioned earlier, I'm going to bring along my (very innacurate) Mello coat for even more extra warmth. I'll also be wearing gloves, though mine will either be black or white, as I don't own red gloves, don't want to look for or spend money on them, and don't have time to make them. I'd like to make the fuzzy cuffs seen in the reference picture, but I don't know how much time or materials I'll have for that.

I also played with makeup some today, trying to get the "big anime eye" look without looking too unnatural. Of course, by the time these pictures were taken, it had all but completely smudged off. I'm pretty sure I succeeded in what I was attempting to do, and I'm going to be making a video tutorial for what I did once I start doing vlogging (some time this month). Again, don't take these pictures as an example of my makeup experience, it was 2am, and it was a long day. Tomorrow, I try to fix the ears, add the trim to the shawl and skirt, and style the wig.