Quorra TRON: Part 3 R3CONFIGUR3D

"Hey Jackie, are you going to build anything new or are you just going to keep re-doing the same stuff you've done over and over again?"

A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B....
I like getting things right the first time and in this hobby that doesn't always happen especially when you're trying new materials and processes for the first time. That means I have to re-do them until I'm happy with it!
Quorra has been a lesson in that. Mistakes. Failures. Success. Rinse. Repeat. Oh and lights, lots of lights.
This time I think I am 99% happy with the outcome. I'm mostly done with the sewing and about to hand it off to G to do the lights.  Oh and we bought a helmet from a guy on the RPF named Crimson490 after our mold broke last year right before con. The guy does some great work, I am super pleased with this helmet. (when I find if he has a FB or something I'll link it) I have also passed that on to G to put lights in and shine up. G gets to do all the dirty work.

I was (and still am) working with limited quantities of material and trying to stay on a "budget" since con is approaching and I'm actually trying to make more money than  I spend this year.
I tore apart the old Quorra costume I had as a pattern (QV.2 RIP) and made it a little bigger just in case. When working with limited materials, better to have to cut more off than not have enough. I was also going from a not stretchy material to a 4way fabric so I wanted some room to mess around with the fit.
This is my most favorite part of this whole costume and of sewing in general. The fitting!! I feel like I'm sculpting with fabric. I pinned my material down in it's appropriate spots, wrong side up and started pinning and tucking. I do it this way so I can draw on it if needed with chalk and so when I pin everything and go to sew, my seams are all done for me and I don't have to flip everything the opposite direction.

 

I was beyond ecstatic to be using a 4way stretch material this time instead of the kind-of-maybe-on-a-good-day-stretches-a-little-bit vinyl I used the last two times. This is a matte 4way and it looks perfectly rubbery which fits what I was going for exactly. I waited to sew the general fit of the whole suit before I cut out the chest pieces so I could draw that part on there once everything was the shape it was going to stay. When you have cut outs like this, you don't want anything changing how they lay or are positioned.

Sewed that all up. Did some fittings on myself and the dress form with the shirt underneath and then it was time to fit the disc mount. Garrick made a new buck for his vacuform table that was more even this time. Cut that out and fit it to where I wanted it. I decided to keep the whole underpiece of the disc mount since she looks like she has a tiny "turtle" pack under her disc.

I have since made it a little tighter fitting (my dress form has wider shoulders and "ribs" than I do even thought I set it to my measurements. Just a quirk I guess) so it would have less ripples in it. I also didn't want to make it too tight since when the lights go on it a lot of the stretch will be disabled do to the EL tape. I also am going to be putting the skirt part on after the lights go on since I had some placement issues do to doing the skirt first last time.

I did try something new with this. I was really concerned about using too much velcro around the neck area and having it be bulky looking but I needed a way to stabilize that area from stretching too much or at all. So I decided to try out some fusable interfacing! Never used this stuff before since I've never made a collar that's needed it. It's weird. It's also awesome. I wasn't expecting it to stretch in one direction so I had to plan around that. I also wasn't expecting the test piece to stick to my steaming cloth. I think the directions should have been a little more specific. Or I need to learn how to read...who's counting?! No more moving or puckering on that cut out! Whoo hoo! I did put some velcro in two spots to keep it held down, but not nearly as much as I thought I would.

This is on the back side of the fabric btw

I am using the same boots because they're awesome, the same pants (they are also awesome), and gloves (they need a repair but are thirdly awesome). I'll post more updates when G does the lights and helmet.

I know I usually post music I was listening to while I work and I'm still going to do that, but I don't know if Quorra would really listen to it. I needed some motivation and inspiration lately and this completely UN-likely source did the trick and gave me a new favorite artist. Macklemore is a really inspiring guy who is not afraid to call out his entire genre on their prejudices and inconsistencies. Thank you for reminding me that I do like hip-hop when it's not all about strippers, blow, and gold. Although he does have a song about gold, not feeling that one, but you get what I mean.
Quorra might like him, who knows :)

Back to Deadpool and Monarch repairs now....
I'll show you what G and I have been working on for Meredith when he puts up his post. She just launched her kickstarter for Hinges, check it out here.
Here's a preview of what we are working on:

Raksa the paper tiger

One Red Deadpool

Let's sum up what's happened since my last post....

I broke myself on a trampoline, twice. I spent two weekends laying on the couch in a percoset daze since the second time was my neck taking it's Revengeance on me for bouncing and bending my back the wrong direction the week prior. (Yes I sound old...I'm not. My health and my cat habits just make me seem that way)

I have been planning a charity event with our friends in Project Hero to help out the victims of the shooting in Aurora. We got the good folks from Aurora Rise on board for it too. They are having their big event this weekend. Check them out they are doing a great thing and I hope to add to their efforts in September.

I have a few commissions I have been trying to work on.

I have gotten a TON of interest in Deadpool lately. Thanks for all the excitement everyone! I DO have one request. If you have a simple, quick question that's fine ask me here or on Facebook. If you have questions about commission pricing etc, please go to our "Like" page on Facebook and in the notes section is a commission form, PLEASE fill this out before you send us an email. I love the interest in what we do, but remember I do work another 40hr a week job, have a side job (this), a blog (also this), house, husband, and cat that all need my attention as well and I don't have a lot of time to try to decipher requests. The commission form has everything I need to know to give you a quote. Remember I am visual too, I love when people send me lots of pictures to explain their ideas. :)

I know I have said this before am seriously considering making an additional link on here called "Deadpool's Corner" or "One Red Deadpool" just to put all of my posts for him.
I am almost done re-doing Garrick's X-Force Deadpool. I did it to show my very patient and awesome customer commissions the updates I wanted to make to it before I did it to theirs and asked what they thought. This is a situation where the phrase "It's better to ask for forgiveness after than permission first" does NOT apply! I am making some different changes to Garrick's that I will show when I am all done and I think they're pretty B.A. if I do say so myself....and I do say so...myself.  Expect some more Deadpool posts in the near future.

Greypool before with the vinyl

Shoulders with the vinyl

Re-done "athletic-cut" shoulders with matte metallic spandex

Re-done torso black parts pinned waiting for top stitching. The red lines are where Deadpool's  black normally extends to. I made it cover more for Garrick to hide the seam ripping from the vinyl and to create more heroic proportions. Commission 1 wanted the black to not extend past the red lines, see I told you I like visuals!

I had another idea awhile back and I just decided to put it on here. I usually listen to Pandora when I sew. I don't like silence when I'm trying to be creative. Every once-in-awhile I here a song that I feel the character I am working on would have on their personal playlist. this first happened when I was making Black Cat. Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart" ft Ludacris came on and for whatever reason, I just felt this would defiantly be something she would listen to. It fit her "love em' and leave em' mentality and if I were a thief I would want a good beat to steal to ;).

Speaking of Black Cat and what super heroes would do in real life, check out Meredith's latest post in her gallery section for what they would look like. She took a few of the more famous DC and Marvel ladies and drew some more "real world" outfits and based their body-types off of Olympians. I'm in love and have been fan-girling over this for a week now. Remember, Meredith is the one that we worked with on the Wasp re-design. She's awesome on concepts and well, art in general.

Having Deadpool be the subject of most of my time lately, I feel he could be anything goes. This song is also a clue to the version I am basing Garrick's Greypool off of as well. Deadpool would probably go from something ridiculous to something hard and heavy. This week is ridiculous, Carley Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" Don't even tell me you can't see him dancing to this!
Is this nerdy? Yes. Am I maybe going through Glee deprivation? Yes definitely. Lots of things I do don't make sense or even go together, get over it.

More projects to come! I think I've got enough to post weekly for a while, woohoo!