RE: BurdaStyle: Where do you find sewing inspiration?

Well as is one of my usual habits, I was zipping around BurdaStyle checking out the new stuff, when I found THIS. Well, as not my usual style I decided to comment. I rarely ever say anything over there, so no one even knows I’m there half the time! LOL! Anyways, here is my answer:

***Where do you find sewing inspiration?***

EVERYWHERE! My mom was a seamstress, sew I was already sewing at age 6. I was 16 when I graduated from a fashion design college. In the 20+ years since, I have created tons of patterns and sew all my own fashions.

I not only create my own patterns, but I also design my own fabrics as well. I paint up watercolors and than get short runs of the fabric printed up. I get ideas for a lot og my designs from nature: birds, cats, the sky, waterfalls, trees – everything inspires me to paint. Than the fabric made from the paintings inspire the flow of the dress pattern as well.

Erte is my biggest inspiration. Much of my designs are reinterpretations of his designs. I just love his art deco and flapper styles.

Also, Japanese Kimono, esp those from the Momoyama period (1500′s). I love sewing kimono, because the lines are simple and allow for display of big bold fabric prints, which thus allows me to create huge print fabric designs as well.

***What magazines, websites, books do you look at for project ideas?***

Dover Books are my #1 source of inspiration. You see, I’m a life actor, which I means I CosPlay 24/7/365 and have for years. My daily wear consists of recreations of garb from the 1500′s – 1800′s as well as the 1920′s. Dover reprints tons of French, fashion illustrations, vintage paper dolls, Goody Lady, etc. Of course they are the ones who reprint Etre’s fashion prints as well.

National Geographic and Smithsonian Museum books are huge sources of inspiration as well. I get lots of ideas from cultural photos and antique paintings. I enjoy creating ethnic and historic bases patterns.

And than of course there’s my #1 source of inspiration: comic books. Yep, you heard me: comic books! I’m a huge fan of comic books, manga, graphic novels, super heroes, etc, and well, like I said, I’m really big into CosPlay, so of course a lot of what I design was inspired by comic books.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

Obsessed? I’m Not Obsessed… REALLY, I’m not!

When Next You See Me I’ll Look Like This:

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If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Categories: About me · Anachronism · Anachronist · Business · CosPlay · Gothic · Life · Lifestyle · Maine · Old Orchard Beach · SCA · Wendy C. Allen · comic books · cosplay in public · costume making · costumer · costumes · creativity · cross dressing · crossplay · drag queen · dressmaking · fabric · fashion · fashion design · fun things to do · inspiration · interesting facts · life blogging · medieval · my thoughts on… · painting · pattern making · patterns · sewing · sewing a costume · sewing a kimono · sewing advice · theater

Tagged: About me, Anachronist, Black Bobcat Fashions, BurdaStyle, CosPlay, cosplay in public, dressmaking, EelKat, Erte, inspiration, Japan, kimono, pattern making, Purple Peacock Patterns, sewing, The Rabbit Hole, Wendy C. Allen

Waiting for Emmett to come.

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Glomping Ruins Costumes…. but Do People Get Hurt Too?

I was just searching the forums for “Sesshomaru” info, and came back with lots of various posts and comments that made me cringe. I am seeing the same comments being said over and over again, by every single CosPlayer who has done Sesshomaru, which basically boils down to this:

They walk through the door, get mobbed (or rather tackled the way some of them are putting it!) by fangirls, who with in seconds ruin the entire costume.

YIKES!

At first I started worrying about my costume getting damaged, because, this thing is setting me back a couple of thousand dollars, and I’d really hate for it to get ruined. It took me 3 months just to locate the antique silk I’m using to make the kosode.

Than I started to thinking, the one I’m making, is not only very expensive, but it’s more or less historically accurate: real silk, real embroidery, real fur, and…. real armor, with real metal spikes, which, I’m not to concerned that a fan girl could damage my armor, but it occurred to me, that if what these posters are saying is true, than if a crazed fangirl made a mad dash to hug me, she really could end up with a punctured lung… literally.

That sudden thought worries me, and got me to wondering, has anyone here ever gotten hurt, from glomping someone or being glomped by someone? or ever seen someone else get hurt?

Is there some way to keep people from glomping you?

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Glomping Ruins Costumes…. but Do People Get Hurt Too?

I was just searching the forums for “Sesshomaru” info, and came back with lots of various posts and comments that made me cringe. I am seeing the same comments being said over and over again, by every single CosPlayer who has done Sesshomaru, which basically boils down to this:

They walk through the door, get mobbed (or rather tackled the way some of them are putting it!) by fangirls, who with in seconds ruin the entire costume.

YIKES!

At first I started worrying about my costume getting damaged, because, this thing is setting me back a couple of thousand dollars, and I’d really hate for it to get ruined. It took me 3 months just to locate the antique silk I’m using to make the kosode.

Than I started to thinking, the one I’m making, is not only very expensive, but it’s more or less historically accurate: real silk, real embroidery, real fur, and…. real armor, with real metal spikes, which, I’m not to concerned that a fan girl could damage my armor, but it occurred to me, that if what these posters are saying is true, than if a crazed fangirl made a mad dash to hug me, she really could end up with a punctured lung… literally.

That sudden thought worries me, and got me to wondering, has anyone here ever gotten hurt, from glomping someone or being glomped by someone? or ever seen someone else get hurt?

Is there some way to keep people from glomping you?

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Glomping Ruins Costumes…. but Do People Get Hurt Too?

I was just searching the forums for “Sesshomaru” info, and came back with lots of various posts and comments that made me cringe. I am seeing the same comments being said over and over again, by every single CosPlayer who has done Sesshomaru, which basically boils down to this:

They walk through the door, get mobbed (or rather tackled the way some of them are putting it!) by fangirls, who with in seconds ruin the entire costume.

YIKES!

At first I started worrying about my costume getting damaged, because, this thing is setting me back a couple of thousand dollars, and I’d really hate for it to get ruined. It took me 3 months just to locate the antique silk I’m using to make the kosode.

Than I started to thinking, the one I’m making, is not only very expensive, but it’s more or less historically accurate: real silk, real embroidery, real fur, and…. real armor, with real metal spikes, which, I’m not to concerned that a fan girl could damage my armor, but it occurred to me, that if what these posters are saying is true, than if a crazed fangirl made a mad dash to hug me, she really could end up with a punctured lung… literally.

That sudden thought worries me, and got me to wondering, has anyone here ever gotten hurt, from glomping someone or being glomped by someone? or ever seen someone else get hurt?

Is there some way to keep people from glomping you?

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

What Is The Best Thing About CosPlay?

When it comes to picking, creating a persona, creating a costume, wearing a costume, and acting out your character, what is it about costuming and CosPlay that you like the most?

For me it’s all about making the costume. I love the thrill of the challenge of doing a harder costume than the last one, and drawing up the patterns, and hunting down the supplies. I esp love it if I have to hunt down some rare hard to find item, even more so if it sends me to antique shops to look for it… it’s like a scavenger hunt, trying to find just the right item!!!!.

I love hand embroidery work and bead-work, so I always look for projects that need a lot of both.

As a general rule the harder the project is, the better, and if it’s not too hard to do, than I’ll find ways to change it and make it more advanced and harder to make, just for the sake of giving myself a bigger challenge.

Historical accuracy is my thing I get all hung up on. I can not make a costume, until I have first done a massive study into the character… their fictional cannon history, and than the history of what they SHOULD have been like had the been real and not fictional.

Than I write up an essay detailing the life history of the fictional character vs how they should have been in real life, and lastly I start designing the costume by combining elements of the fictional character, with elements of real historical figures. When I get done I have a costume for a fictional character that is also historically accurate, though for some characters it’s a bit more difficult to pull this off… but just because people tell me it can’t be done, doesn’t mean I’m not going to go ahead and make a darned good attempt at it. In fact… the more people tell me that what I am doing can not be done, the more I’m going to fight to prove them wrong! LOL!

After all the work that goes into my costumes, I do not always end up wearing them. Some of them, I have put so much work into that I end up treating them like museum pieces and never wear them, at all!

It’s not so much important for me to have an item to wear so much as it is for me to be able to say: “OMG! I can’t believe I actually made that myself!!!”

I guess you could say, that for me it’s all about the journey and not the destination.
_________________

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

What Is The Best Thing About CosPlay?

When it comes to picking, creating a persona, creating a costume, wearing a costume, and acting out your character, what is it about costuming and CosPlay that you like the most?

For me it’s all about making the costume. I love the thrill of the challenge of doing a harder costume than the last one, and drawing up the patterns, and hunting down the supplies. I esp love it if I have to hunt down some rare hard to find item, even more so if it sends me to antique shops to look for it… it’s like a scavenger hunt, trying to find just the right item!!!!.

I love hand embroidery work and bead-work, so I always look for projects that need a lot of both.

As a general rule the harder the project is, the better, and if it’s not too hard to do, than I’ll find ways to change it and make it more advanced and harder to make, just for the sake of giving myself a bigger challenge.

Historical accuracy is my thing I get all hung up on. I can not make a costume, until I have first done a massive study into the character… their fictional cannon history, and than the history of what they SHOULD have been like had the been real and not fictional.

Than I write up an essay detailing the life history of the fictional character vs how they should have been in real life, and lastly I start designing the costume by combining elements of the fictional character, with elements of real historical figures. When I get done I have a costume for a fictional character that is also historically accurate, though for some characters it’s a bit more difficult to pull this off… but just because people tell me it can’t be done, doesn’t mean I’m not going to go ahead and make a darned good attempt at it. In fact… the more people tell me that what I am doing can not be done, the more I’m going to fight to prove them wrong! LOL!

After all the work that goes into my costumes, I do not always end up wearing them. Some of them, I have put so much work into that I end up treating them like museum pieces and never wear them, at all!

It’s not so much important for me to have an item to wear so much as it is for me to be able to say: “OMG! I can’t believe I actually made that myself!!!”

I guess you could say, that for me it’s all about the journey and not the destination.
_________________

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

What Is The Best Thing About CosPlay?

When it comes to picking, creating a persona, creating a costume, wearing a costume, and acting out your character, what is it about costuming and CosPlay that you like the most?

For me it’s all about making the costume. I love the thrill of the challenge of doing a harder costume than the last one, and drawing up the patterns, and hunting down the supplies. I esp love it if I have to hunt down some rare hard to find item, even more so if it sends me to antique shops to look for it… it’s like a scavenger hunt, trying to find just the right item!!!!.

I love hand embroidery work and bead-work, so I always look for projects that need a lot of both.

As a general rule the harder the project is, the better, and if it’s not too hard to do, than I’ll find ways to change it and make it more advanced and harder to make, just for the sake of giving myself a bigger challenge.

Historical accuracy is my thing I get all hung up on. I can not make a costume, until I have first done a massive study into the character… their fictional cannon history, and than the history of what they SHOULD have been like had the been real and not fictional.

Than I write up an essay detailing the life history of the fictional character vs how they should have been in real life, and lastly I start designing the costume by combining elements of the fictional character, with elements of real historical figures. When I get done I have a costume for a fictional character that is also historically accurate, though for some characters it’s a bit more difficult to pull this off… but just because people tell me it can’t be done, doesn’t mean I’m not going to go ahead and make a darned good attempt at it. In fact… the more people tell me that what I am doing can not be done, the more I’m going to fight to prove them wrong! LOL!

After all the work that goes into my costumes, I do not always end up wearing them. Some of them, I have put so much work into that I end up treating them like museum pieces and never wear them, at all!

It’s not so much important for me to have an item to wear so much as it is for me to be able to say: “OMG! I can’t believe I actually made that myself!!!”

I guess you could say, that for me it’s all about the journey and not the destination.
_________________

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Have You Ever Worn a Costume, That No Body Recognized, and Every One Thought Was Someone Else?

A few years ago, I made a humanized version of Scrooge McDuck (I just couldn’t get into the whole feather and duck bill thing), which at first, everyone mistook as me just being a Victorian gentleman, and giving my having already done all the women from Sense & Sensibility, every one thought I was now making the men, but than after the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie came out, everyone thought I was Willy Wonka. As it turns out the only time anyone ever gets this costume right is when I’m shopping at the Disney Store… the workers recognize it as Uncle Scrooge instantly.

My Uncle Scrooge costume is my most worn outfit, and the one which most locals recognize as my “signature look”, as I’ve been wearing it as part of my daily street wear for some 5 years now.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Have You Ever Worn a Costume, That No Body Recognized, and Every One Thought Was Someone Else?

A few years ago, I made a humanized version of Scrooge McDuck (I just couldn’t get into the whole feather and duck bill thing), which at first, everyone mistook as me just being a Victorian gentleman, and giving my having already done all the women from Sense & Sensibility, every one thought I was now making the men, but than after the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie came out, everyone thought I was Willy Wonka. As it turns out the only time anyone ever gets this costume right is when I’m shopping at the Disney Store… the workers recognize it as Uncle Scrooge instantly.

My Uncle Scrooge costume is my most worn outfit, and the one which most locals recognize as my “signature look”, as I’ve been wearing it as part of my daily street wear for some 5 years now.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Have You Ever Worn a Costume, That No Body Recognized, and Every One Thought Was Someone Else?

A few years ago, I made a humanized version of Scrooge McDuck (I just couldn’t get into the whole feather and duck bill thing), which at first, everyone mistook as me just being a Victorian gentleman, and giving my having already done all the women from Sense & Sensibility, every one thought I was now making the men, but than after the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie came out, everyone thought I was Willy Wonka. As it turns out the only time anyone ever gets this costume right is when I’m shopping at the Disney Store… the workers recognize it as Uncle Scrooge instantly.

My Uncle Scrooge costume is my most worn outfit, and the one which most locals recognize as my “signature look”, as I’ve been wearing it as part of my daily street wear for some 5 years now.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

How Long Does It Take To Make a Costume?

It depends on what I’m doing. Most average at 1 to 3 months. Simple things can take as little as a week or 2.

For my current project, I’m planning on 9 months to 3 years, because besides sewing the basic parts of the outfit, it involves hand embroidering 4 different kimono, each of which I’m also hand sewing, plus making leather armor, and casting the metal spike plates that go over the armor, and than since I can’t find the wig I need, I’m going to have to make one myself.

Yesterday I hand drew the embroidery designs onto the silk for one of the kimono… that took 8 hours to do, and I’m still not finished with it. (I’m copying the designs off a real Noh kosode from the 16th cen., so it’s an over all embroidery pattern, covering nearly every inch of the kimono)

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

How Long Does It Take To Make a Costume?

It depends on what I’m doing. Most average at 1 to 3 months. Simple things can take as little as a week or 2.

For my current project, I’m planning on 9 months to 3 years, because besides sewing the basic parts of the outfit, it involves hand embroidering 4 different kimono, each of which I’m also hand sewing, plus making leather armor, and casting the metal spike plates that go over the armor, and than since I can’t find the wig I need, I’m going to have to make one myself.

Yesterday I hand drew the embroidery designs onto the silk for one of the kimono… that took 8 hours to do, and I’m still not finished with it. (I’m copying the designs off a real Noh kosode from the 16th cen., so it’s an over all embroidery pattern, covering nearly every inch of the kimono)

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

How Long Does It Take To Make a Costume?

It depends on what I’m doing. Most average at 1 to 3 months. Simple things can take as little as a week or 2.

For my current project, I’m planning on 9 months to 3 years, because besides sewing the basic parts of the outfit, it involves hand embroidering 4 different kimono, each of which I’m also hand sewing, plus making leather armor, and casting the metal spike plates that go over the armor, and than since I can’t find the wig I need, I’m going to have to make one myself.

Yesterday I hand drew the embroidery designs onto the silk for one of the kimono… that took 8 hours to do, and I’m still not finished with it. (I’m copying the designs off a real Noh kosode from the 16th cen., so it’s an over all embroidery pattern, covering nearly every inch of the kimono)

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Historical Accuracy VS Lord Sesshomaru

For those interested in making Lord Sesshomaru’s outfit historically accurate, it should be noted that, if you attempt to do so, you will be taking and already difficult and advanced costume, and turning it in an extremely advanced, and very difficult project. You must also keep in mind that as it is, Sesshomaru’s outfits are NOT historically accurate and an attempt to make them so, means a complete redesign of the costume, and an end result that will look a bit different from what is seen in the books and on he show.

One of the problems with making Lord Sesshomaru’s wardrobe historically accurate is his age, his history, and his lifestyle.

First off his exact age is unknown. To determine his age we have to look at the information we are told and make an educated guess. Early in the series, Rumiko indicates the Sesshomaru is 250 years old. Than a few years later, we are told that he fought in a war 700 years in the past, making him at least that old. Even later in the series we are told that Sesshomaru is not a normal demon, but is some sort of immortal being and has been around for a very long time, with the mention of “thousands of years” being thrown into the conversation.

Samurai armies that attack Sesshomaru, come at him with rifles. We know that rifles were invented in 1557, and that the series tells us they were just recently invented. The series follows a time span of approximately 3 years. This dates the InuYasha series at being from 1557 – 1559, most of which taking place in 1558.

So, if we use that information in order to find a date, we come to the conclusion that Lord Sesshomaru was born at some point prior to 800 A.D. How far prior is unknown, because we do not know for certain how old he is.

Why is this important? Well, if you want to go the historically accurate road, than you are going to need to research, who was wearing what, and when they wore it, and than change Sesshomaru’s outfit to match.

In researching the history of various elements of Lord Sesshomaru’s outfits, we find that each item comes from a different time period in history, and from a wide range of cultures. Items that in real life history would not have been worn together. This posses problems for someone bent on historical accuracy, and gives you one of two choices:

1) One you can instead study what a fuel lord of 1558 would have worn and make that outfit.

2) You can go with #1, but assume you are dealing with a well traveled and quite eccentric fuel lord, and make each item historically accurate to their time period and culture, and than wear them all at once. This would be more accurate to staying in keeping with Lord Sesshomaru, but less historically accurate.

When we look at what Sesshomaru wears, and consider each item and when and where it should have been worn, we are reminded, that Sesshomaru is very, very, very old. At some point in history the item was in fashion and he started wearing it, but with humans fashions die quickly and new fashions replace them. Sesshomaru, though a fashionable creature in his own right, does not stay current with human fashions and apparently once he starts wearing something he likes to wear, well continue to wear it for centuries, even after the rest of the world had stopped wearing them centuries ago.

In other words, what we see Sesshomaru wearing by the time we see him in 1558, is a mish-mash of items he collected up over a period of many centuries and during his travels across Asia, and the result is a very out-moded, old fashioned, and eccentric outfit, that screams bohemian.

While age posses a problem with Sesshomaru’s costume being historically accurate, his lifestyle posses an even bigger problem. In looking at his wardrobe, we can come to only one conclusion: Sesshomaru is an anachronist. He wears cloths out of time and out of culture.

The biggest problem for the costumer, is that they head into this project assuming that because Sesshomaru comes from a Japanese series, that he must therefore be wearing Japanese cloths. This is the farthest things from the truth, however. Sesshomaru wears a Japanese kimono or kosode, and pretty much nothing else of his wardrobe is Japanese. To find the reason for this we must look into his life.

Rumiko tells us that Lord Sesshomaru took over his father’s empire when his father died. She tells us that his father was the Ruler of the Western Lands, the title now belonging to Sesshomaru, and the reason we call him “Lord”.

At first we assume that The Western Lands are someplace in the Western side of Japan, but a closer study of the series, suggests otherwise.

Throughout the series, InuYasha battles a wide variety of demons. Every once in a while a demon will show up, wearing an outfit, oddly familiar to Sesshomaru’s. Each time a demon of this sort shows up they are greeted with discontent, and the question “You’re from the continent, aren’t you?”. Through out the series, we see that the Japanese demons do not take a liking to any demon that came to the island from the continent. To clarify this, we must remember that in the series, Japan is always referred to as “The Island” while China is always referred to as “The Continent”. Oddly such Chinese demons, are mentioned as coming from the Western Lands.

Ah-Huh! Now we are getting somewhere. Most of Sesshomaru’s outfit is Chinese not Japanese. He looks quite out of place among the other Japanese characters, however, taking into account that The Western Lands are in China and NOT Japan, makes his Chinese mode of dress, quite natural for him.
Another thing to consider is this: InuYasha a half breed, is outcast for being a half breed, which is unusual in the series as many other half breed demons are fairly well accepted. Most half breed demons are, half Japanese Demon and half Japanese Human. But looking at the general contempt for Chinese demons in the series, (who are always portrayed as being very evil, btw) we must ask the question: Is InuYasha not only half demon, but also half Japanese?

The Dog Demons Tribe, as we have already determined, are from China. We know that there was such a hatred for InuYasha, that the day of his birth, the empire revolted against their Dog Demon leader, stormed the palace, burnt it to the ground, and slaughtered everyone inside. Sesshomaru survived because he was not home when this happened, and InuYasha and his mother survived, because his father protected them so she could escape, but he died doing so. She took her only minutes old baby InuYasha and fled back to her homeland of Japan.

We must ask why she fled back to her homeland, and why, the empire rose up against their leader for taken a Japanese Human as his second wife. It seems therefore more accurate to assume that The revolt was caused not by a demon marrying a human, but by a Chinese Demon marrying a Japanese Human.

Another thing to note, is that in real mythology, the tales of dog demons come from Chinese mythology, not Japanese mythology, thus making it even more logical (and historically accurate) to assume that Sesshomaru is Chinese rather than Japanese.

We now have an answer as to why Lord Sesshhomaru’s outfits look so very Chinese. Now we must ask, how did he come to live in Japan, by the time of the InuYasha series?

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Historical Accuracy VS Lord Sesshomaru

For those interested in making Lord Sesshomaru’s outfit historically accurate, it should be noted that, if you attempt to do so, you will be taking and already difficult and advanced costume, and turning it in an extremely advanced, and very difficult project. You must also keep in mind that as it is, Sesshomaru’s outfits are NOT historically accurate and an attempt to make them so, means a complete redesign of the costume, and an end result that will look a bit different from what is seen in the books and on he show.

One of the problems with making Lord Sesshomaru’s wardrobe historically accurate is his age, his history, and his lifestyle.

First off his exact age is unknown. To determine his age we have to look at the information we are told and make an educated guess. Early in the series, Rumiko indicates the Sesshomaru is 250 years old. Than a few years later, we are told that he fought in a war 700 years in the past, making him at least that old. Even later in the series we are told that Sesshomaru is not a normal demon, but is some sort of immortal being and has been around for a very long time, with the mention of “thousands of years” being thrown into the conversation.

Samurai armies that attack Sesshomaru, come at him with rifles. We know that rifles were invented in 1557, and that the series tells us they were just recently invented. The series follows a time span of approximately 3 years. This dates the InuYasha series at being from 1557 – 1559, most of which taking place in 1558.

So, if we use that information in order to find a date, we come to the conclusion that Lord Sesshomaru was born at some point prior to 800 A.D. How far prior is unknown, because we do not know for certain how old he is.

Why is this important? Well, if you want to go the historically accurate road, than you are going to need to research, who was wearing what, and when they wore it, and than change Sesshomaru’s outfit to match.

In researching the history of various elements of Lord Sesshomaru’s outfits, we find that each item comes from a different time period in history, and from a wide range of cultures. Items that in real life history would not have been worn together. This posses problems for someone bent on historical accuracy, and gives you one of two choices:

1) One you can instead study what a fuel lord of 1558 would have worn and make that outfit.

2) You can go with #1, but assume you are dealing with a well traveled and quite eccentric fuel lord, and make each item historically accurate to their time period and culture, and than wear them all at once. This would be more accurate to staying in keeping with Lord Sesshomaru, but less historically accurate.

When we look at what Sesshomaru wears, and consider each item and when and where it should have been worn, we are reminded, that Sesshomaru is very, very, very old. At some point in history the item was in fashion and he started wearing it, but with humans fashions die quickly and new fashions replace them. Sesshomaru, though a fashionable creature in his own right, does not stay current with human fashions and apparently once he starts wearing something he likes to wear, well continue to wear it for centuries, even after the rest of the world had stopped wearing them centuries ago.

In other words, what we see Sesshomaru wearing by the time we see him in 1558, is a mish-mash of items he collected up over a period of many centuries and during his travels across Asia, and the result is a very out-moded, old fashioned, and eccentric outfit, that screams bohemian.

While age posses a problem with Sesshomaru’s costume being historically accurate, his lifestyle posses an even bigger problem. In looking at his wardrobe, we can come to only one conclusion: Sesshomaru is an anachronist. He wears cloths out of time and out of culture.

The biggest problem for the costumer, is that they head into this project assuming that because Sesshomaru comes from a Japanese series, that he must therefore be wearing Japanese cloths. This is the farthest things from the truth, however. Sesshomaru wears a Japanese kimono or kosode, and pretty much nothing else of his wardrobe is Japanese. To find the reason for this we must look into his life.

Rumiko tells us that Lord Sesshomaru took over his father’s empire when his father died. She tells us that his father was the Ruler of the Western Lands, the title now belonging to Sesshomaru, and the reason we call him “Lord”.

At first we assume that The Western Lands are someplace in the Western side of Japan, but a closer study of the series, suggests otherwise.

Throughout the series, InuYasha battles a wide variety of demons. Every once in a while a demon will show up, wearing an outfit, oddly familiar to Sesshomaru’s. Each time a demon of this sort shows up they are greeted with discontent, and the question “You’re from the continent, aren’t you?”. Through out the series, we see that the Japanese demons do not take a liking to any demon that came to the island from the continent. To clarify this, we must remember that in the series, Japan is always referred to as “The Island” while China is always referred to as “The Continent”. Oddly such Chinese demons, are mentioned as coming from the Western Lands.

Ah-Huh! Now we are getting somewhere. Most of Sesshomaru’s outfit is Chinese not Japanese. He looks quite out of place among the other Japanese characters, however, taking into account that The Western Lands are in China and NOT Japan, makes his Chinese mode of dress, quite natural for him.
Another thing to consider is this: InuYasha a half breed, is outcast for being a half breed, which is unusual in the series as many other half breed demons are fairly well accepted. Most half breed demons are, half Japanese Demon and half Japanese Human. But looking at the general contempt for Chinese demons in the series, (who are always portrayed as being very evil, btw) we must ask the question: Is InuYasha not only half demon, but also half Japanese?

The Dog Demons Tribe, as we have already determined, are from China. We know that there was such a hatred for InuYasha, that the day of his birth, the empire revolted against their Dog Demon leader, stormed the palace, burnt it to the ground, and slaughtered everyone inside. Sesshomaru survived because he was not home when this happened, and InuYasha and his mother survived, because his father protected them so she could escape, but he died doing so. She took her only minutes old baby InuYasha and fled back to her homeland of Japan.

We must ask why she fled back to her homeland, and why, the empire rose up against their leader for taken a Japanese Human as his second wife. It seems therefore more accurate to assume that The revolt was caused not by a demon marrying a human, but by a Chinese Demon marrying a Japanese Human.

Another thing to note, is that in real mythology, the tales of dog demons come from Chinese mythology, not Japanese mythology, thus making it even more logical (and historically accurate) to assume that Sesshomaru is Chinese rather than Japanese.

We now have an answer as to why Lord Sesshhomaru’s outfits look so very Chinese. Now we must ask, how did he come to live in Japan, by the time of the InuYasha series?

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Historical Accuracy VS Lord Sesshomaru

For those interested in making Lord Sesshomaru’s outfit historically accurate, it should be noted that, if you attempt to do so, you will be taking and already difficult and advanced costume, and turning it in an extremely advanced, and very difficult project. You must also keep in mind that as it is, Sesshomaru’s outfits are NOT historically accurate and an attempt to make them so, means a complete redesign of the costume, and an end result that will look a bit different from what is seen in the books and on he show.

One of the problems with making Lord Sesshomaru’s wardrobe historically accurate is his age, his history, and his lifestyle.

First off his exact age is unknown. To determine his age we have to look at the information we are told and make an educated guess. Early in the series, Rumiko indicates the Sesshomaru is 250 years old. Than a few years later, we are told that he fought in a war 700 years in the past, making him at least that old. Even later in the series we are told that Sesshomaru is not a normal demon, but is some sort of immortal being and has been around for a very long time, with the mention of “thousands of years” being thrown into the conversation.

Samurai armies that attack Sesshomaru, come at him with rifles. We know that rifles were invented in 1557, and that the series tells us they were just recently invented. The series follows a time span of approximately 3 years. This dates the InuYasha series at being from 1557 – 1559, most of which taking place in 1558.

So, if we use that information in order to find a date, we come to the conclusion that Lord Sesshomaru was born at some point prior to 800 A.D. How far prior is unknown, because we do not know for certain how old he is.

Why is this important? Well, if you want to go the historically accurate road, than you are going to need to research, who was wearing what, and when they wore it, and than change Sesshomaru’s outfit to match.

In researching the history of various elements of Lord Sesshomaru’s outfits, we find that each item comes from a different time period in history, and from a wide range of cultures. Items that in real life history would not have been worn together. This posses problems for someone bent on historical accuracy, and gives you one of two choices:

1) One you can instead study what a fuel lord of 1558 would have worn and make that outfit.

2) You can go with #1, but assume you are dealing with a well traveled and quite eccentric fuel lord, and make each item historically accurate to their time period and culture, and than wear them all at once. This would be more accurate to staying in keeping with Lord Sesshomaru, but less historically accurate.

When we look at what Sesshomaru wears, and consider each item and when and where it should have been worn, we are reminded, that Sesshomaru is very, very, very old. At some point in history the item was in fashion and he started wearing it, but with humans fashions die quickly and new fashions replace them. Sesshomaru, though a fashionable creature in his own right, does not stay current with human fashions and apparently once he starts wearing something he likes to wear, well continue to wear it for centuries, even after the rest of the world had stopped wearing them centuries ago.

In other words, what we see Sesshomaru wearing by the time we see him in 1558, is a mish-mash of items he collected up over a period of many centuries and during his travels across Asia, and the result is a very out-moded, old fashioned, and eccentric outfit, that screams bohemian.

While age posses a problem with Sesshomaru’s costume being historically accurate, his lifestyle posses an even bigger problem. In looking at his wardrobe, we can come to only one conclusion: Sesshomaru is an anachronist. He wears cloths out of time and out of culture.

The biggest problem for the costumer, is that they head into this project assuming that because Sesshomaru comes from a Japanese series, that he must therefore be wearing Japanese cloths. This is the farthest things from the truth, however. Sesshomaru wears a Japanese kimono or kosode, and pretty much nothing else of his wardrobe is Japanese. To find the reason for this we must look into his life.

Rumiko tells us that Lord Sesshomaru took over his father’s empire when his father died. She tells us that his father was the Ruler of the Western Lands, the title now belonging to Sesshomaru, and the reason we call him “Lord”.

At first we assume that The Western Lands are someplace in the Western side of Japan, but a closer study of the series, suggests otherwise.

Throughout the series, InuYasha battles a wide variety of demons. Every once in a while a demon will show up, wearing an outfit, oddly familiar to Sesshomaru’s. Each time a demon of this sort shows up they are greeted with discontent, and the question “You’re from the continent, aren’t you?”. Through out the series, we see that the Japanese demons do not take a liking to any demon that came to the island from the continent. To clarify this, we must remember that in the series, Japan is always referred to as “The Island” while China is always referred to as “The Continent”. Oddly such Chinese demons, are mentioned as coming from the Western Lands.

Ah-Huh! Now we are getting somewhere. Most of Sesshomaru’s outfit is Chinese not Japanese. He looks quite out of place among the other Japanese characters, however, taking into account that The Western Lands are in China and NOT Japan, makes his Chinese mode of dress, quite natural for him.
Another thing to consider is this: InuYasha a half breed, is outcast for being a half breed, which is unusual in the series as many other half breed demons are fairly well accepted. Most half breed demons are, half Japanese Demon and half Japanese Human. But looking at the general contempt for Chinese demons in the series, (who are always portrayed as being very evil, btw) we must ask the question: Is InuYasha not only half demon, but also half Japanese?

The Dog Demons Tribe, as we have already determined, are from China. We know that there was such a hatred for InuYasha, that the day of his birth, the empire revolted against their Dog Demon leader, stormed the palace, burnt it to the ground, and slaughtered everyone inside. Sesshomaru survived because he was not home when this happened, and InuYasha and his mother survived, because his father protected them so she could escape, but he died doing so. She took her only minutes old baby InuYasha and fled back to her homeland of Japan.

We must ask why she fled back to her homeland, and why, the empire rose up against their leader for taken a Japanese Human as his second wife. It seems therefore more accurate to assume that The revolt was caused not by a demon marrying a human, but by a Chinese Demon marrying a Japanese Human.

Another thing to note, is that in real mythology, the tales of dog demons come from Chinese mythology, not Japanese mythology, thus making it even more logical (and historically accurate) to assume that Sesshomaru is Chinese rather than Japanese.

We now have an answer as to why Lord Sesshhomaru’s outfits look so very Chinese. Now we must ask, how did he come to live in Japan, by the time of the InuYasha series?

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Pattern Making Software and Selling Patterns?

I do a lot of sewing of things for which their are no patterns, and so I usually end up drawing up my own patterns (all hand drawn on paper, of drawn directly onto the fabric, just using my own measurements.) I do a lot of what would classify as costumes or fantasy or period type stuff, and got to thinking that I can’t be the only one frustrated by the lack of patterns for these items, I should sell these patterns. Problem is, I have no idea how to get my patterns printed up.

I’ve been thinking of starting a pattern making business for a few years now, but was never sure how to go about it. Today I was looking up some stuff and I cam across this software program for folks who want to make patterns to sell. And so, I was wondering has anybody here ever tried the Pattern Maker Software program? ( http://www.patternmakerusa.com/PatternMaker%20Store/gradever.html ) If you’ve ever used it, could you tell me, how does it work, and what exactly does it do? Would you recommend it? Or if you have tried a similar software by a different company, could you tell me about that one and why you like it?

If anyone has any type of advice they could offer as to how to go about making patterns for selling, or printing them up I’d love to hear it.

Also if there is anyone here who already sells their own patterns, could you tell me how you got started? Do you have any advice for someone just starting out?

Thanks!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Pattern Making Software and Selling Patterns?

I do a lot of sewing of things for which their are no patterns, and so I usually end up drawing up my own patterns (all hand drawn on paper, of drawn directly onto the fabric, just using my own measurements.) I do a lot of what would classify as costumes or fantasy or period type stuff, and got to thinking that I can’t be the only one frustrated by the lack of patterns for these items, I should sell these patterns. Problem is, I have no idea how to get my patterns printed up.

I’ve been thinking of starting a pattern making business for a few years now, but was never sure how to go about it. Today I was looking up some stuff and I cam across this software program for folks who want to make patterns to sell. And so, I was wondering has anybody here ever tried the Pattern Maker Software program? ( http://www.patternmakerusa.com/PatternMaker%20Store/gradever.html ) If you’ve ever used it, could you tell me, how does it work, and what exactly does it do? Would you recommend it? Or if you have tried a similar software by a different company, could you tell me about that one and why you like it?

If anyone has any type of advice they could offer as to how to go about making patterns for selling, or printing them up I’d love to hear it.

Also if there is anyone here who already sells their own patterns, could you tell me how you got started? Do you have any advice for someone just starting out?

Thanks!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Pattern Making Software and Selling Patterns?

I do a lot of sewing of things for which their are no patterns, and so I usually end up drawing up my own patterns (all hand drawn on paper, of drawn directly onto the fabric, just using my own measurements.) I do a lot of what would classify as costumes or fantasy or period type stuff, and got to thinking that I can’t be the only one frustrated by the lack of patterns for these items, I should sell these patterns. Problem is, I have no idea how to get my patterns printed up.

I’ve been thinking of starting a pattern making business for a few years now, but was never sure how to go about it. Today I was looking up some stuff and I cam across this software program for folks who want to make patterns to sell. And so, I was wondering has anybody here ever tried the Pattern Maker Software program? ( http://www.patternmakerusa.com/PatternMaker%20Store/gradever.html ) If you’ve ever used it, could you tell me, how does it work, and what exactly does it do? Would you recommend it? Or if you have tried a similar software by a different company, could you tell me about that one and why you like it?

If anyone has any type of advice they could offer as to how to go about making patterns for selling, or printing them up I’d love to hear it.

Also if there is anyone here who already sells their own patterns, could you tell me how you got started? Do you have any advice for someone just starting out?

Thanks!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

Pattern Making Softwae and Selling Patterns?

I do a lot of sewing of things for which their are no patterns, and so I usually end up drawing up my own patterns (all hand drawn on paper, of drawn directly onto the fabric, just using my own measurements.) I do a lot of what would classify as costumes or fantasy or period type stuff, and got to thinking that I can’t be the only one frustrated by the lack of patterns for these items, I should sell these patterns. Problem is, I have no idea how to get my patterns printed up.

I’ve been thinking of starting a pattern making business for a few years now, but was never sure how to go about it. Today I was looking up some stuff and I cam across this software program for folks who want to make patterns to sell. And so, I was wondering has anybody here ever tried the Pattern Maker Software program? ( http://www.patternmakerusa.com/PatternMaker%20Store/gradever.html ) If you’ve ever used it, could you tell me, how does it work, and what exactly does it do? Would you recommend it? Or if you have tried a similar software by a different company, could you tell me about that one and why you like it?

If anyone has any type of advice they could offer as to how to go about making patterns for selling, or printing them up I’d love to hear it.

Also if there is anyone here who already sells their own patterns, could you tell me how you got started? Do you have any advice for someone just starting out?

Thanks!

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

More Info On My Business Plans

I was just posting a comment on some one else’s blog and it got so long that I’m copying it to here:

I have been mulling a similar idea of my own… I even had a blog I started just for randomly posting my “start my business” ideas on, so I could see them on screen and sort out what I did and did not want to do. I think I made like 5 posts on that blog and than never went back! LOL! I need to go back and throw some more ideas around.

Well, I got my own “business” to the point where I had written up a basic business plan, not very detailed though, I need to rewrite it. And I have a portfolio of my designs that I want to do. Plus I have the business name all set up and a logo. But that’s as far as I got.

What stopped me? Well, money for one. I had originally planned on opening a shop and selling direct to the public, of both custom made costumes and the patterns for said costumes to those who wanted to make their own instead of buying ready made, but after doing research into the cost of a shop rental in Portland’s theater district, that was going to require a minimum of $200,000 (more if I wanted a shop on Main street instead of a side alley) because rent for a store is so high and they required a 3 year payment up front! So I temp. changed my idea from a store selling costumes and patterns to just selling patterns online, at least until I had enough money to do the store thing.

My next problem, was I had no idea how to get my patterns printed up so I could sell them! I checked with local print shops, but none of them did this sort of thing, and I couldn’t find any online either. So I was sunk for a while and have not yet found a way to do this. I’m still researching my options though.

While I am stuck on the pattern making part, I’ve still been working towards my goal in other ways. Firstly I’ve been researching “my target audience”, trying to figure out, who they are (age group, lifestyle, income, etc. etc. etc). For me, my target audience falls into the 18 – 40 age group, and are in the Goth, CosPlay, or Historical Reenactment lifestyles.

Secondly, I’ve been doing marketing research… where do my target audience types hang out in real life and online? How do I get word of my product out to them? How much are they gonna be willing to pay for my product? Who are my competitors? How are my patterns/designs different from theirs? How are they the same? What can offer my customers that no other patterns comp offers? etc. etc. etc.

I’ve got a big binder filled with my notes and ideas, and research, and stuff… about 300 pages filled so far. I’m trying to plan out every aspect I can think out, so that I can be prepared once I get started.

(I would love to hear what others, who have started their own pattern comp did to get their patterns printed and envelops made and stuff, like that, if anyone has any tips or links they could share, it’d be a big help. Cause I’m really stuck on that and Google has NOT been helpful at all. Thanks!)

I’m not planning to go big and compete with the likes of Simplicity or those guys. Though I would like to get, say about as big as Folkwear Patterns. I plan to start out with 12 or 15 patterns, and than slowly expand over time, until I have a collection of say 200 designs.

Another aspect of my goal is, I would like to do a line of books with patterns, (aimed at CosPlayers, mostly), plus a couple on embroidery.

Well, lets see what I can answer of your questions:

My proposal:
– Patterns would be in english and french.

great!

- They could be printed as booklets, because the papers never want to go back in the envelopes anyway.

ugh! fighting with paper vs envelope is such a nightmare! I like the booklet idea

– The steps would have to be clearly explained and illustrated.

always good… I often find illustrations easier to understand than the instructions, so the more illustrations the better, I say

What I still don’t know:
– Should they be basic designs to be modified by the user, or artsy personal designs?

maybe you could have a line for each? one line of simple “create your own style” patterns, and a second line with the designer originals created by you?

when I’m using a pattern I never stick with the pattern no matter how simple or hoe fancy it may be, cause I like to add my own personal touches to everything.

- Should I focus on styles that are not usually represented by major pattern brands (gothic, lolita, punk, etc.)?

If that is the style design you have a passion for, than: YES! YES! YES! OMG! It is sooooo hard to find patterns for these styles. It’s the lack of patterns for these style that resulted in me making my own patterns in the first place! With the “business” I was planning my goal was to design patterns for Gothic, Lolita, and CosPlay because those are the patterns I end up designing because no one sells them.

My advice is, do styles that you would find yourself wearing, sewing, buying, because if you would use it yourself, you’ll be more likely to “get behind” your product and really go all out with the sale pitch.

- Should I include a few costumes as well? Historical or fantasy (or else)?

It can’t hurt. The more the merrier I say. For me, my focus would be largely costume and fantasy, because I planned the patterns I wanted to sell to be aimed mostly for CosPlayers and LARPers and SCAdians, all of whom are into the whom fantasy costume thing, so those were the target audience I was aiming for.

Again, however, only add these types of things, if it is something you really believe in and feel good about having in your collection. It’s no good selling a product that you added just because you thought it would help business, but you didn’t really believe in the product yourself.

And most important: do I have any chance of selling any? I’m aware that I do not have any example of my apparel work on the net, but do you think the concept could work?

I don’t have any of my apparel work on the net either.

I think it would work (otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to do the same thing! LOL!) I think there are enough folks out there who can’t find goth type patterns who would love to buy them once you had them listed for sale.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

More Info On My Business Plans

I was just posting a comment on some one else’s blog and it got so long that I’m copying it to here:

I have been mulling a similar idea of my own… I even had a blog I started just for randomly posting my “start my business” ideas on, so I could see them on screen and sort out what I did and did not want to do. I think I made like 5 posts on that blog and than never went back! LOL! I need to go back and throw some more ideas around.

Well, I got my own “business” to the point where I had written up a basic business plan, not very detailed though, I need to rewrite it. And I have a portfolio of my designs that I want to do. Plus I have the business name all set up and a logo. But that’s as far as I got.

What stopped me? Well, money for one. I had originally planned on opening a shop and selling direct to the public, of both custom made costumes and the patterns for said costumes to those who wanted to make their own instead of buying ready made, but after doing research into the cost of a shop rental in Portland’s theater district, that was going to require a minimum of $200,000 (more if I wanted a shop on Main street instead of a side alley) because rent for a store is so high and they required a 3 year payment up front! So I temp. changed my idea from a store selling costumes and patterns to just selling patterns online, at least until I had enough money to do the store thing.

My next problem, was I had no idea how to get my patterns printed up so I could sell them! I checked with local print shops, but none of them did this sort of thing, and I couldn’t find any online either. So I was sunk for a while and have not yet found a way to do this. I’m still researching my options though.

While I am stuck on the pattern making part, I’ve still been working towards my goal in other ways. Firstly I’ve been researching “my target audience”, trying to figure out, who they are (age group, lifestyle, income, etc. etc. etc). For me, my target audience falls into the 18 – 40 age group, and are in the Goth, CosPlay, or Historical Reenactment lifestyles.

Secondly, I’ve been doing marketing research… where do my target audience types hang out in real life and online? How do I get word of my product out to them? How much are they gonna be willing to pay for my product? Who are my competitors? How are my patterns/designs different from theirs? How are they the same? What can offer my customers that no other patterns comp offers? etc. etc. etc.

I’ve got a big binder filled with my notes and ideas, and research, and stuff… about 300 pages filled so far. I’m trying to plan out every aspect I can think out, so that I can be prepared once I get started.

(I would love to hear what others, who have started their own pattern comp did to get their patterns printed and envelops made and stuff, like that, if anyone has any tips or links they could share, it’d be a big help. Cause I’m really stuck on that and Google has NOT been helpful at all. Thanks!)

I’m not planning to go big and compete with the likes of Simplicity or those guys. Though I would like to get, say about as big as Folkwear Patterns. I plan to start out with 12 or 15 patterns, and than slowly expand over time, until I have a collection of say 200 designs.

Another aspect of my goal is, I would like to do a line of books with patterns, (aimed at CosPlayers, mostly), plus a couple on embroidery.

Well, lets see what I can answer of your questions:

My proposal:
– Patterns would be in english and french.

great!

- They could be printed as booklets, because the papers never want to go back in the envelopes anyway.

ugh! fighting with paper vs envelope is such a nightmare! I like the booklet idea

– The steps would have to be clearly explained and illustrated.

always good… I often find illustrations easier to understand than the instructions, so the more illustrations the better, I say

What I still don’t know:
– Should they be basic designs to be modified by the user, or artsy personal designs?

maybe you could have a line for each? one line of simple “create your own style” patterns, and a second line with the designer originals created by you?

when I’m using a pattern I never stick with the pattern no matter how simple or hoe fancy it may be, cause I like to add my own personal touches to everything.

- Should I focus on styles that are not usually represented by major pattern brands (gothic, lolita, punk, etc.)?

If that is the style design you have a passion for, than: YES! YES! YES! OMG! It is sooooo hard to find patterns for these styles. It’s the lack of patterns for these style that resulted in me making my own patterns in the first place! With the “business” I was planning my goal was to design patterns for Gothic, Lolita, and CosPlay because those are the patterns I end up designing because no one sells them.

My advice is, do styles that you would find yourself wearing, sewing, buying, because if you would use it yourself, you’ll be more likely to “get behind” your product and really go all out with the sale pitch.

- Should I include a few costumes as well? Historical or fantasy (or else)?

It can’t hurt. The more the merrier I say. For me, my focus would be largely costume and fantasy, because I planned the patterns I wanted to sell to be aimed mostly for CosPlayers and LARPers and SCAdians, all of whom are into the whom fantasy costume thing, so those were the target audience I was aiming for.

Again, however, only add these types of things, if it is something you really believe in and feel good about having in your collection. It’s no good selling a product that you added just because you thought it would help business, but you didn’t really believe in the product yourself.

And most important: do I have any chance of selling any? I’m aware that I do not have any example of my apparel work on the net, but do you think the concept could work?

I don’t have any of my apparel work on the net either.

I think it would work (otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to do the same thing! LOL!) I think there are enough folks out there who can’t find goth type patterns who would love to buy them once you had them listed for sale.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

More Info On My Business Plans

I was just posting a comment on some one else’s blog and it got so long that I’m copying it to here:

I have been mulling a similar idea of my own… I even had a blog I started just for randomly posting my “start my business” ideas on, so I could see them on screen and sort out what I did and did not want to do. I think I made like 5 posts on that blog and than never went back! LOL! I need to go back and throw some more ideas around.

Well, I got my own “business” to the point where I had written up a basic business plan, not very detailed though, I need to rewrite it. And I have a portfolio of my designs that I want to do. Plus I have the business name all set up and a logo. But that’s as far as I got.

What stopped me? Well, money for one. I had originally planned on opening a shop and selling direct to the public, of both custom made costumes and the patterns for said costumes to those who wanted to make their own instead of buying ready made, but after doing research into the cost of a shop rental in Portland’s theater district, that was going to require a minimum of $200,000 (more if I wanted a shop on Main street instead of a side alley) because rent for a store is so high and they required a 3 year payment up front! So I temp. changed my idea from a store selling costumes and patterns to just selling patterns online, at least until I had enough money to do the store thing.

My next problem, was I had no idea how to get my patterns printed up so I could sell them! I checked with local print shops, but none of them did this sort of thing, and I couldn’t find any online either. So I was sunk for a while and have not yet found a way to do this. I’m still researching my options though.

While I am stuck on the pattern making part, I’ve still been working towards my goal in other ways. Firstly I’ve been researching “my target audience”, trying to figure out, who they are (age group, lifestyle, income, etc. etc. etc). For me, my target audience falls into the 18 – 40 age group, and are in the Goth, CosPlay, or Historical Reenactment lifestyles.

Secondly, I’ve been doing marketing research… where do my target audience types hang out in real life and online? How do I get word of my product out to them? How much are they gonna be willing to pay for my product? Who are my competitors? How are my patterns/designs different from theirs? How are they the same? What can offer my customers that no other patterns comp offers? etc. etc. etc.

I’ve got a big binder filled with my notes and ideas, and research, and stuff… about 300 pages filled so far. I’m trying to plan out every aspect I can think out, so that I can be prepared once I get started.

(I would love to hear what others, who have started their own pattern comp did to get their patterns printed and envelops made and stuff, like that, if anyone has any tips or links they could share, it’d be a big help. Cause I’m really stuck on that and Google has NOT been helpful at all. Thanks!)

I’m not planning to go big and compete with the likes of Simplicity or those guys. Though I would like to get, say about as big as Folkwear Patterns. I plan to start out with 12 or 15 patterns, and than slowly expand over time, until I have a collection of say 200 designs.

Another aspect of my goal is, I would like to do a line of books with patterns, (aimed at CosPlayers, mostly), plus a couple on embroidery.

Well, lets see what I can answer of your questions:

My proposal:
– Patterns would be in english and french.

great!

- They could be printed as booklets, because the papers never want to go back in the envelopes anyway.

ugh! fighting with paper vs envelope is such a nightmare! I like the booklet idea

– The steps would have to be clearly explained and illustrated.

always good… I often find illustrations easier to understand than the instructions, so the more illustrations the better, I say

What I still don’t know:
– Should they be basic designs to be modified by the user, or artsy personal designs?

maybe you could have a line for each? one line of simple “create your own style” patterns, and a second line with the designer originals created by you?

when I’m using a pattern I never stick with the pattern no matter how simple or hoe fancy it may be, cause I like to add my own personal touches to everything.

- Should I focus on styles that are not usually represented by major pattern brands (gothic, lolita, punk, etc.)?

If that is the style design you have a passion for, than: YES! YES! YES! OMG! It is sooooo hard to find patterns for these styles. It’s the lack of patterns for these style that resulted in me making my own patterns in the first place! With the “business” I was planning my goal was to design patterns for Gothic, Lolita, and CosPlay because those are the patterns I end up designing because no one sells them.

My advice is, do styles that you would find yourself wearing, sewing, buying, because if you would use it yourself, you’ll be more likely to “get behind” your product and really go all out with the sale pitch.

- Should I include a few costumes as well? Historical or fantasy (or else)?

It can’t hurt. The more the merrier I say. For me, my focus would be largely costume and fantasy, because I planned the patterns I wanted to sell to be aimed mostly for CosPlayers and LARPers and SCAdians, all of whom are into the whom fantasy costume thing, so those were the target audience I was aiming for.

Again, however, only add these types of things, if it is something you really believe in and feel good about having in your collection. It’s no good selling a product that you added just because you thought it would help business, but you didn’t really believe in the product yourself.

And most important: do I have any chance of selling any? I’m aware that I do not have any example of my apparel work on the net, but do you think the concept could work?

I don’t have any of my apparel work on the net either.

I think it would work (otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to do the same thing! LOL!) I think there are enough folks out there who can’t find goth type patterns who would love to buy them once you had them listed for sale.

What’s your take on this? I’d love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

————-
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

All about Lord Sesshomaru’s garb & Making a Lord Sesshomaru Costume. Plus, Sesshomaru & Rin and making Rin’s Costume; and this is for anyone who needs help Creating Character Profiles for their stories or for their SCA persona.

Thank You for reading my blog’s RSS feed. Don’t forget to come to my blog and check out the links in my blogroll too!

More Info On My Business Plans

I was just posting a comment on some one else’s blog and it got so long that I’m copying it to here:

I have been mulling a similar idea of my own… I even had a blog I started just for randomly posting my “start my business” ideas on, so I could see them on screen and sort out what I did and did not want to do. I think I made like 5 posts on that blog and than never went back! LOL! I need to go back and throw some more ideas around.

Well, I got my own “business” to the point where I had written up a basic business plan, not very detailed though, I need to rewrite it. And I have a portfolio of my designs that I want to do. Plus I have the business name all set up and a logo. But that’s as far as I got.

What stopped me? Well, money for one. I had originally planned on opening a shop and selling direct to the public, but that was going to require a minimum of $200,000 because rent for a store is so high and they required a 3 year payment up front! So I temp. changed my idea from a store selling costumes and patterns to just selling patterns online, at least until I had enough money to do the store thing.

My next problem, was I had no idea how to get my patterns printed up so I could sell them! I checked with local print shops, but none of them did this sort of thing, and I couldn’t find any online either. So I was sunk for a while and have not yet found a way to do this.

Well, lets see what I can answer of your questions:

My proposal:
- Patterns would be in english and french.

great!

- They could be printed as booklets, because the papers never want to go back in the envelopes anyway.

ugh! fighting with paper vs envelope is such a nightmare! I like the booklet idea

- The steps would have to be clearly explained and illustrated.

always good… I often find illustrations easier to understand than the instructions, so the more illustrations the better, I say

What I still don’t know:
- Should they be basic designs to be modified by the user, or artsy personal designs?

maybe you could have a line for each? one line of simple “create your own style” patterns, and a second line with the designer originals created by you?

when I’m using a pattern I never stick with the pattern no matter how simple or hoe fancy it may be, cause I like to add my own personal touches to everything.

- Should I focus on styles that are not usually represented by major pattern brands (gothic, lolita, punk, etc.)?

YES! YES! YES! OMG! It is sooooo hard to find patterns for these styles. It’s the lack of patterns for these style that resulted in me making my own patterns in the first place! With the “business” I was planning my goal was to design patterns for Gothic, Lolita, and CosPlay because those are the patterns I end up designing because no one sells them.

- Should I include a few costumes as well? Historical or fantasy (or else)?

It can’t hurt. The more the merrier I say. For me, my focus would be largely costume and fantasy, because I planned the patterns I wanted to sell to be aimed mostly for CosPlayers and LARPers and SCAdians, all of whom are into the whom fantasy costume thing, so those were the target audience I was aiming for.

And most important: do I have any chance of selling any? I’m aware that I do not have any example of my apparel work on the net, but do you think the concept could work?

I think it would work (otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to do the same thing! LOL!) I think there are enough folks out there who can’t find goth type patterns who would love to buy them once you had them listed for sale.

Work From Home, Is It Possible?
The Goldeneagle
How to Start a Publishing Company
Self-Publish vs Vanity Press vs Traditional Publisher

All donations to Star Log go to The Rabbit Hole Fund. The Pidgie Fund buys food for pets in Southern Maine.

More Info On My Business Plans

I was just posting a comment on some one else’s blog and it got so long that I’m copying it to here:

I have been mulling a similar idea of my own… I even had a blog I started just for randomly posting my “start my business” ideas on, so I could see them on screen and sort out what I did and did not want to do. I think I made like 5 posts on that blog and than never went back! LOL! I need to go back and throw some more ideas around.

Well, I got my own “business” to the point where I had written up a basic business plan, not very detailed though, I need to rewrite it. And I have a portfolio of my designs that I want to do. Plus I have the business name all set up and a logo. But that’s as far as I got.

What stopped me? Well, money for one. I had originally planned on opening a shop and selling direct to the public, but that was going to require a minimum of $200,000 because rent for a store is so high and they required a 3 year payment up front! So I temp. changed my idea from a store selling costumes and patterns to just selling patterns online, at least until I had enough money to do the store thing.

My next problem, was I had no idea how to get my patterns printed up so I could sell them! I checked with local print shops, but none of them did this sort of thing, and I couldn’t find any online either. So I was sunk for a while and have not yet found a way to do this.

Well, lets see what I can answer of your questions:

My proposal:
- Patterns would be in english and french.

great!

- They could be printed as booklets, because the papers never want to go back in the envelopes anyway.

ugh! fighting with paper vs envelope is such a nightmare! I like the booklet idea

- The steps would have to be clearly explained and illustrated.

always good… I often find illustrations easier to understand than the instructions, so the more illustrations the better, I say

What I still don’t know:
- Should they be basic designs to be modified by the user, or artsy personal designs?

maybe you could have a line for each? one line of simple “create your own style” patterns, and a second line with the designer originals created by you?

when I’m using a pattern I never stick with the pattern no matter how simple or hoe fancy it may be, cause I like to add my own personal touches to everything.

- Should I focus on styles that are not usually represented by major pattern brands (gothic, lolita, punk, etc.)?

YES! YES! YES! OMG! It is sooooo hard to find patterns for these styles. It’s the lack of patterns for these style that resulted in me making my own patterns in the first place! With the “business” I was planning my goal was to design patterns for Gothic, Lolita, and CosPlay because those are the patterns I end up designing because no one sells them.

- Should I include a few costumes as well? Historical or fantasy (or else)?

It can’t hurt. The more the merrier I say. For me, my focus would be largely costume and fantasy, because I planned the patterns I wanted to sell to be aimed mostly for CosPlayers and LARPers and SCAdians, all of whom are into the whom fantasy costume thing, so those were the target audience I was aiming for.

And most important: do I have any chance of selling any? I’m aware that I do not have any example of my apparel work on the net, but do you think the concept could work?

I think it would work (otherwise I wouldn’t be planning to do the same thing! LOL!) I think there are enough folks out there who can’t find goth type patterns who would love to buy them once you had them listed for sale.

Work From Home, Is It Possible?
The Goldeneagle
How to Start a Publishing Company
Self-Publish vs Vanity Press vs Traditional Publisher

All donations to Star Log go to The Rabbit Hole Fund. The Pidgie Fund buys food for pets in Southern Maine.