#1092 - sewing the puffy parts

More about the sewing of this Anime costume.

Some parts are very sculptural, specifically the padded sleeves and hip roll. Let me show you how I made these ...

Each sleeve is made up of 2 identical pieces in order to create the long columns that will be stuffed. Sew the bottom edges together first and turn to the right side for a clean finish on the bottom. Then stitch the two layers together from the outside along the lines marked on the pattern to form the shaped columns.

Stuffing has to be pushed into each column. I used the eraser end of a brand new, unsharpened pencil to do this. (no chance of graphite getting onto my snow white satin) I find that the rubber of the eraser grabs the stuffing while pushing it into place. A chop stitch or other narrow pointy thing will work, too. But, the stuffing tends to slip away from the ends of those implements and make the process slower.

After stuffing, machine sew the ends of the stuffed columns closed. Notice there is no stuffing under the arms and at the top of the sleeve.

This is for comfort under the arm and to allow the collar to lie flat on the shoulder.

Now the little short underarm seam can be sewn up. 

Ease the top edge of the sleeve so it can be pinned to the armscye ready for sewing.

Which is a little awkward because of the bulk and stiffness of the sleeve!

AND, there is this nice padded roll that gets inserted in the low waist seam.

The double skirt needs to be made first and sewn to the finished pantie part of the costume. The pantie is made of spandex and it will be stretched to fit the woven fabric of the skirt. This is so the costume can be pulled over the hips and no zipper is needed.

Then polyester batting should be loosely piled onto the piece that will become the padded roll.

Bring together the long edges of this piece and pin 5/8" from the cut edge for the seam allowance.

Continue this way down the length of the piece, being careful not to allow it to get twisted.

Machine stitch the long edge closed to keep the stuffing in place. A zipper foot needs to be used for this step to get close to the roll.

Now the prepared padded roll can be pinned to the skirt which is sewn to the pantie. Matching notches is REALLY important here.

And, again, a zipper foot is needed to get close to the roll and sew it on.


I would LOVE to see what some of you do with this pattern.  If you ever want to share your work with me. You can send images to this address

scheweandrea@yahoo.com 

I'm thinking of starting a gallery of costumes made using my patterns here on the website.