Catherine Cosplay-Simple Hand Sewing How-To
I present to you another cosplay article by yours truly. Cosplay how-to’s tend to be incredibly popular here on Ogeeku, and as the residing cosplayer, it’s my job to show you what I have to offer. This time, I’m going to take you into a small world of hand sewing. Sometimes, sewing machines just don’t exist in certain households. Or if you’re like me, yours broke a long time ago…
Yes, hand sewing definitely takes longer and is probably tougher on the hands, but that has never stopped me from doing what I love. I have acquired some pretty impeccable sewing skills over the years. My stitching tends to come out pretty sturdy and long lasting. This time, I’m going to show you what it’s like to hand sew lace to a few items, each of different material.
This year for Anime Expo, I’m making two cosplays. One of which, is Catherine, from the game Catherine. For those who have been living under a rock for a year, Catherine is a game unlike any other. To put it simply, it’s an independent block and puzzle game with amazing anime cut scenes. The primary character, Vincent, must make a choice between his long-time girl, Katherine, or this new one who’s caught his eye; appropriately named Catherine. The game is intense and visually striking and considered to be in the horror genre.
I am incredibly excited for this one because my cosplay skills are going to be put to a high test. I am going to have to pull off blonde hair and blue contacts. My friend and fellow Ogeeku, Esali, will be cosplaying as Katherine. But aside from that, first comes the costume itself. Below you will see some photos of my Catherine top and a description on each. To get a better look, click on the photo to enhance it.
Supplies:
Simple White Top
White Bra
Choice of lace
White Thread
Needle
Red Ribbon
Double Sided Velcro
Catherine’s top portion consists of a white top with a red ribbon tied around and a lacy undershirt. Since my breasts are on the larger size for my body style, I skipped the undershirt and laced the top portion of a white bra and the bottom of the short to give the illusion of the undershirt. Doing it this way not only provides more comfort, but it offers a more flattering figure.
Here, we start with a basic, strapped white top. I placed it on a towel since surfaces can be dirty and I’m too lazy to clean them. That straying white piece on the top was one of two pieces connect atop the bra portion. A simple de-threading tool took care of that.
The next thing I did was sew the lace onto the bra. I forgot to take a photo before the lace, but I assume you all know what a bra looks like. Sewing the bra turned out to be more difficult than I though. The material was pretty thick and I pricked my finger a few times. I traced the bra all the way around and since the bra has spacing between the front and back, I threaded the needle in and out of the bra without piercing completely through. The lace I picked up is pretty strong while still being very pretty. As you can see, I didn’t sew the end of the lace exactly with the top of the bra. Catherine’s bosom isn’t overthrown with lace to make room for some cleavage.
As you can see, no stitching in the front. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, I pricked my finger a few times so there’s a tiny blood spot. Nothing a little Oxy Clean wont cure though.
Next, I pinned the lace around the bottom of the top to get the right alignment.
This top also as spacing so I was also able to thread it without piercing all the way through. The back of it doesn’t have spacing but does have it’s own stitching and I was able to disguise my own stitches.
This is the meeting of the front and back. The two pieces pushed away from each other and looked a little tacky.
A simple solution: I took some thin thread and laced them together. Looks pretty good, eh?
Catherine has lacy straps on her undershirt so I sewed a smaller piece of lace on both bra straps to give it a little more of a feminine look.
Not the best photo, but this gives you an idea of the the top almost completed.
As you know, Catherine is nothing without her giant red bow tied under her bust. I wore the bow around and had an unlucky streak of it falling off. So, I added double-sided velcro to the top and the ribbon to keep it in place.
And here we have a final product. Don’t worry, that ugly bow-job (haha) isn’t final. The bow wont be officially tied until Anime Expo. But you get the idea.
Did you enjoy this article? Would you like to see more like it? Well I have more to come. Keep checking back for more cosplay updates and how-to’s. Thanks for reading!
