Books I Refer to When Making Cosplays

This blog post is going to focus on books I use a lot when working on different cosplays. I wouldn't say that this will be useful to beginner sewers, but if you have an understanding of basic sewing then this will be helpful.

A lot of my cosplay requires skills like modifying patterns and
designing your own patterns, to bead work and hand embroidery.

1) Threads: Sewing Guide by Taunton Press

This book has everything. I mostly got it to understand any problems I have with my sewing machine and serger, but it has a lot of details on creating garments. There are chapters on patterns, shaping garments, closures, inner parts of garments and embellishments.

Once I actually started to read other chapters, I found two especially interesting to use. The first one was a section on shoulder pads. It is only three pages, but it tells you about different ones and how to make your own! I use shoulder pads a lot, since I mostly do male characters. The shoulder pads help give me a stronger look in photos and in person. The other chapter is on Construction Techniques, which talks about sleeves, collars and pockets! Though all of it was helpful, learning about different pockets was amazing, since we all want working pockets in our cosplays! I learned how to make welt pockets with this chapter.

So I definently recommend having this in your library if you are starting to sew or already know the basics and want more details on techniques and construction.

 

2) How to Use, Adapt, and Design Sewing Patterns by Lee Hollahan

As I have stated before, I knew how to sew at a young age. So reading patterns was something I already knew before getting into cosplay. However, when I did get into cosplay, I had to learn how to find new ways to use my patterns. This book was so very useful in understanding how to alter paper patterns. The first third of the book goes into great detail in explaining patterns you find in stores and how to properly read and use them with fabric. What I mostly focused on was the rest of the book. It showed me how to adjust the patterns to fit you better if your measurements didn't match the back of the pattern envelope. 

Closer to the end of the book it talks about making your own patterns and pattern blocking, but I rarely use that section since a lot of it focuses on women's clothing. 

I think this is a great book to own, especially if you've never used a pattern before and are not sure how to read or use it properly.

3) The Royal School of Needlework: Book of Embroidery by Search Press

This is pretty much a lot of The Royal School of Needlework books condensed in one. You can buy each one individually, but I think it is worth just getting this large book to save money. I used this book to help me understand silk shading, goldwork and bead embroidery. My hand embroidery isn't the best, especially when it comes to using different colors of thread, but I have gotten better at the bead and goldwork. I spent a year practicing before I decided to try my hand at using some techniques in my cosplay work.  

Some of the bead embroidery can be seen in my friend's Marishka (Van Helsing) cosplay I made and in my personal Sword Dance Yona cosplay. I am now focusing more on beading and a little bit of goldwork in a secret Mo Dao Zu Shi (MDZS) cosplay. I've learned with this book on how to use felt and cotton string padding to make 3D embroidering textures. This is one of the new techniques I am using in the MDZS cosplay.

The book has a lot of examples of techniques you can try with step by step photos. However, I would say this is more of an intermediate to advanced style book. You need to have some basic knowledge on how to embroider to understand certain parts of the book.

4) A~Z of Embroidery Stitches by Search Press

I own both book one and book two in this collection. It was the first set of books I bought when I decided to get into hand embroidery. They are all very detailed with photos on how to do hundreds of different threading patterns. I usually flip through them when trying to find something I can use in designing a piece for my cosplays. 

These books don't have a project where you have to use what you learn to make a final piece. They're more of a guide on the different stitches you can use in your embroidery and how to make those stitches, which is what I needed when I was just learning and practicing. I use a lot of different stitches for outlining my finished 3D works or making a guide outline for the start of my bead embroidery. A lot of this will be seen in my secret MDZS cosplay.

These are great beginner books for someone who might decide to add some little touches to their cosplay.

5) Bead Embroidery: The Complete Guide by Jane Davis

I got this book to learn how to do bead embroidery, with most of my focus on beaded fringes and edgings. It has diagrams of how to create certain styles of beadwork, and arrows directing which way you need to sew the beads on. This was a lot of help with my Sword Dance Yona, which used a lot of beaded fringe on the hat. 

At the back of the book, there are projects you can make. You can learn to make anything from an elaborate pin cushion to a purse, which could be useful if you wanted to take a practice run before using the techniques in the book on your final project.

If you decide to get into bead embroidery, I believe this book will be helpful in adding a nice touch to your projects.

6) Chinese Knotting: An Illustrated Guide of 100+ Projects by Cao Haimei

I've recently been in a traditional Chinese clothing making hell. Been making hanfu left and right from The Untamed and Mo Dao Zu Shi. This book has given me so much understanding in Chinese Knotting. It has actually become quite relaxing to work on the knots. 

The book starts with a breakdown of knots and how they were named. Then it has a very brief chapter on the history of Chinese knots. It also has a chapter dedicated to all the materials one can use in Chinese knot making. It lists the proper cords you can use, the different style beads seen in accessories, and how to attach tassels. There are a lot of projects that I have been able to use or modify for my cosplays, with clear step by step photo instructions. 

I love this book, but unless you are creating a lot of traditional Asian clothing or making jewelry, it's not needed in your collection. If you ever decide to try something relaxing though, I say give Chinese Knotting a try! 

This is the end of my blog post. I hope the information I have shared is useful to your future project. It was a lot of fun to write about some of the books I use. Maybe in the future I can talk about others. Until next time, take care!