Cosplay help! Sewing on designy-thingies

[minakichan]

Heyyy, so I'm a complete cosplay noob who knows nothing about anything =_=; Starting out has been fun and I've learned a lot! But I've kind of hit a wall right now, can someone help me out?

The character I'm trying to cosplay (Odin from Romeo X Juliet http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/minakichan/odin_4.jpg ) has these designs on her vest; in reality, they're probably embroidered, but there's a lot of them so I don't think I can do that. Instead, I bought some fabric that's that color, but now I'm not sure how to actually attach it... If I just cut it out and sew it on, won't the stitches be highly visible, and won't the raw edges look really messy? Is there an alternative or some supaa sekrit technique to making it look decent?

Thanks~ =D

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Embroidery is difficult anyway. What you're looking for is applique. Here. I've found a little tutorial for you. ^-^

[minakichan]

Ooooooooooh~ Wow, this is pretty cool. Thanks!

[GhostontheNet]

Don't even bother trying to do this sort of thing, even if you managed to make it it, it probably wouldn't look right. What you are looking for is a silk brocade fabric, which are more expensive than other fabrics, but they have elegant designs pre-embroidered on them. Some examples of brocade fabrics can be found here (and no, I am not hotlinking to the images themselves). Indeed, it looks to me like the character you linked to is in a silk brocade dress.

[Aka-chan]

I guess it really depends on you. Brocade looks really nice, but sometimes it's hard to find exactly the design you want. Applique can look really good, but it depends on the time you're willing to put in--it can be quite costly time-wise. I can't tell exactly how much pattern there is, though--it would help if you could give us a full-body shot.

[minakichan]

Oh sorry, I actually linked the wrong image (*HEADDESK*):
http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/minakichan/?action=view¤t=odin_3.jpg is more accurate.

I can't go for brocade since the design thing is so specific (but it's my fault for posting the wrong pic ><). The time-consuming aspect of applique is a little scary to me-- AniBos is in about 3 weeks, hope I'm not completely screwed. Obviously, I'd like it to look nice, but I sort of am beginning to understand that as a cosplay noob with limited time, that'll be difficult ;_;. Thanks for all y'all's help~

[GhostontheNet]

[quote="minakichan (post: 1203160)"]Oh sorry, I actually linked the wrong image (*HEADDESK*):
http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/minakichan/?action=view¤t=odin_3.jpg is more accurate.

I can't go for brocade since the design thing is so specific (but it's my fault for posting the wrong pic ><). The time-consuming aspect of applique is a little scary to me-- AniBos is in about 3 weeks, hope I'm not completely screwed. Obviously, I'd like it to look nice, but I sort of am beginning to understand that as a cosplay noob with limited time, that'll be difficult ]

Yep, with this costume a brocade would be entirely inappropriate. The material used in this pic looks like it is made out of a rougher and more durable material like canvas. Fortunately, since the artists kept the shapes of the designs on this vest fairly basic, stitching these patterns on will probably not be as difficult as they looked on the first picture. I'd venture to guess that the designs could be cut out from a material similar to the vest and then patched on.

[Debitt]

Personally, I'd go for applique, but if you're pressed for time, maybe you could try painting/stenciling the designs on with fabric paint? There are several brands of acrylic-like fabric paint out there that can be ironed to make the paint somewhat permanent. Obviously you'll have to be somewhat careful while working so it doesn't look painted, but I don't think that would be TOO difficult, since the patterns aren't big or complicated.