Alice in Avalon

So my first project on my new Pfaff 360 certainly had to be Yukishiro Enishi's pants. The cosplay will be worn by my friend Kureno, who also was kind enough to give me this machine as a gift. Our group has decided for Fanime 2013 to make a fun Rurouni Kenshin group, and initially I was supposed to be Kaoru until our plans changed and I selected Tomoe instead. I actually am really excited about being Tomoe since I love the simplistic design of her kimono. I admit however, I've never made a kimono but there's a first for everything! I made the plan to work on Enishi first since he is much more straightforward and I actually really enjoyed the color blocking design in the pants. These pants personally feel like they are tempting to make out of athletic knits, but in keeping this cosplay a bit more accurate to its time period, I stuck with more cotton-based fabrics. We wound up finding a nice, thick cotton and slightly thinner cotton that I could double up for the blue stripe...

So I have not updated in a little while, mainly due to the fact that I was pretty sick (and still am) with the flu. I've been getting proper rest and also resting my back since I haven't been the best with it as of Anime LA. I am happy to say that I am doing loads better with my back!  My first update is the blessed news of a new sewing machine!  It is a (new) Pfaff 360 machine, and it is the most awesome present from my close friend and fellow cosplayer, Kureno! We went a few weeks ago to shop for our new Rurouni Kenshin materials for Fanime, and my friends have long known my woes about my poor other machine, which has been severely overused throughout all these years. I hold such a sentimental attachment to it as well, so I wouldn't want to get rid of it even if it was ever broken, but we did need something sturdier to get the job done. We looked around the fabric store for some models they had, but then we went to a repair shop and found a lovely set ...

This is a cosplay I wanted to make last year but I simply didn't have the time to do it. Ironically, I didn't think I had enough materials either back then until I this year while unpacking my Anime LA items, I discovered to my surprise that I had more than enough fabric to make Madoka's uniform top (and naturally, all the others girls' uniforms) and if I could find a nice plaid to work with, I'd make the skirt for it. I had been considering to be Homura/Moemura for quite some time, so I loved the idea.  I went to the fabric store and discovered to my surprise that they had 1.25 yards of this plaid that resembles her uniform skirt closely. It's not exact, and I didn't think of spending the time to custom order it, so I went with this lovely plaid. I have seen some doujinshi designs for Madoka with this kind of plaid, and it's a much better alternative than using an old Persona 4 Yukiko skirt.  Usually I assumed that I required more fabri...