In the previous post, I laid out how to describe different aspects of fabric when trying to find a good fabric for your costume. This post will go over ways to apply those terms and actually pick out a fabric for your costume. I will attempt to teach by examples.
4 Avenues of Research
- Cheat!
I mean...look at other cosplays. You can often find images of photoshoots which make for better references than illustrations. If you are lucky, the costume maker may have posted a journal about how they made their costume or at least list the materials they used. - Check for Suggestions in Sewing Patterns
Sewing patterns will list suggested fabrics to use for the costume. Pop those terms into a search engine and see the results. - Historical, Cultural, or Real Life Examples
With a search engine or books, you can find out about how clothes were made back in the day or what materials are used around the world. You can also check the tags on your clothes to see what it's made of. - Narrow down to a Fabric Family
This is where you identify features of the fabric (like weight, fibers, stretch, etc) and pick a grouping of fabrics that share all or most of those features.
Fabric Families
So the descriptors I gave in the previous fabric post are meant to help you narrow down your choice of fabrics from millions to a select few. You can categorized fabric into "families" like scientific classifications. For example, Cotton can include broadcloth, quilting cotton, t-shirt cotton, jersey knit, etc. (Some of these are cotton blends.) There's probably an official listing of these fabric families, I know the fabric sites I use list them all but the ones I'm familiar with are:
- Cotton
- Linen
- Silk
- Wool
- Bamboo
- Nylon
- Spandex
- Vinyl
- Polyester
- Faux Fur
- Netting (sub-set of nylon technically)
Knowing the features of these fabric families are what you can use to narrow down a fabric for your costume.
The point of the research is to give yourself some options to choose from. Ultimately, what you end up choosing may be more determined by budget, comfort, availability of the fabric, or your own interpretation of the character.
Now lets get dug into some examples.
3D Animated Character
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| Princess Zelda Twilight Princess |
It is also a well patterned costume, even having a copyright claim safe commercial pattern by Simplicity and a good amount of Indie patterns on Etsy. You can often check the recommended fabric for these patterns without purchasing the pattern.
When it comes to historical and cultural, Legend of Zelda is a medieval fantasy as interpreted by Japan.
But for the sake of fun, let's go through some of my descriptors and see what we come up with. I will focus only on the WHITE dress.
- Fiber: Natural. Based on the game's setting, it has to be a natural fiber.
- Stretch: Non-Stretch. While it LOOKS form-fitted this is done through tailoring because you see the seams.
- Weight: It is either a light or medium weight based the suggested movement in the image.
- Drape: Loose
- Finish: Sheen/Slight Shine
Now, we can look for our holy grail of fabrics that meet these requirements. And based on these qualities, the white dress must be in the SILK family or some Linens may work.
Silk is a natural fiber, often lightweight, non-stretchy and has a loose drape. It is known for its sheen. Linen is also a lightweight, natural fiber. But to get the sheen you may be looking at a blend.
But now we have to get into our own design/decision process. Silk would be the choice if you want to go for accuracy. However, real silk and many silk synthetics are expensive and not easy to sew with. (It's slippery. Oh boy does it slide around on a sewing machine!) Consider your desired outcome for the costume. Is it for competition? A formal occasion? A Halloween party? We can pick and choose the descriptors to focus on. Maybe you'd prefer to use a stretch fabric or you don't want a shiny dress.
By the way, in my making of this costume, one of the suggested fabrics was silk dupioni. However, I wanted a comfortable stretchy fabric and didn't care about the shine. So I went with Jersey Knit because it's my "default" matte fabric for a comfortable fit. I was also trying to budget myself. I'm not made of money.
2D Animated Character
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| Prince Lotor from Voltron |
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| Kyojuro Rengoku from Demon Slayer |
/sigh/ Well, it's a common fabric to use but let's get into it before clocking out.
2D characters are illustrated with "art shortcuts" to give an idea of how the fabric is behaving even if it is set in a complete fantasy or alien setting. But one of the most ANNOYING shortcuts (especially to me) is the lack of visible seams, zippers, or attachment points. Prince Lotor and many super hero characters basically have a costume that's "painted" on. No visible seams. But I will point out too that Rengoku's shirt may have buttons...but what is being buttoned together? WHERE'S THE SEAM!!!!???😖😖ðŸ˜
The art shortcut to focus on are folds, creases, wrinkles, and lighting. These things are clues to help determine the descriptors of fabrics.
Again...you could check other cosplays. There are commercial patterns for space man body suits or Taisho era hakama. While there is not a historical reference for Lotor, Rengoku is from a period fantasy anime that you can research. So...let's go through the descriptors.
First for Prince Lotor:
- Fiber: 100% Synthetic. (Or a blend.) You can assume anything from the early 1900s and onwards has the potential to be made from synthetics. But the future is full of it.
- Stretch: Very stretchy. 4-way stretch at least.
- Weight: Everything looks like a light-weight fabric in 2D. I'd pick a light or medium weight for my own comfort. Although you could argue it's heavy because it's a battle suit.
- Drape: Loose. (This is something you'd see more when the fabric is in motion or how it wrinkles in certain positions. The tailcoat had soft edges which is a shortcut for loose drape.)
- Finish: Flat/Matte No shine from the jumpsuit
You'd be looking at a spandex style fabric for sure. It fits all the criteria. You could look into different blends. You could even do a Jersey knit.
Now with Rengoku:
- Fiber: Blend. The historical setting is the DAWN of nylon and synthetic fabric so you could go down a synthetic route.
- Stretch: Non-Stretch. Everything is baggy to provide the wide range of motion.
- Weight: Medium - Heavy. Again...kind of basing this on the lore that the "battle uniform" is made to withstand demon claws and fangs and some such. The cape is light to medium because it flutters easily. Dramatic cape is dramatic. 😱
- Drape: Stiff drape for the uniform. Loose drape for the cape. This is a nice contrast example of the art shortcut. Sharp angles and lines are used on the pants and shirt to depict stiff creases. Especially the bunching at the knees. But the cape has curves and conforms to the shoulders. (It's an effen magic floaty cape so it's not following ALL the rules.)
- Finish: My gut says flat or matte, but you could argue that because of the high contrast shading the fabric is slightly reflective. Although it is a stylistic thing to do in manga illustration or anime to make black clothes with high contrasting shading. 🤷
It is likely to be made from a Silk (some silks do have a stiff drape), but it could also be a Polyester. (And I KNOW polyester. Wore a Catholic school uniform from pre-school through high school.)
The cape would be a softer silk or linen. These would match the descriptors.
However, it might be more economical to go with a cotton blend, linen, lightweight wool or even bamboo! While these are lighter fabrics, it would be more comfortable. (It's also the suggested fabric from my Hakama pattern by Folkwear which is good for recreating cultural/historical garb.)
Live Action Character
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| Armoress from The Mandalorian |
So the fun thing about live action characters is the fabric IS real. It does exist and follows the laws of nature! You can with enough digging learn what they made the actual costumes for the film out of. And in many cases, there are commercial patterns available. (Actually found one for this character strangely enough.)
Looking at the grey clothes we can determine the following qualities:
- Fiber: Blend. This is real life many fabrics are a blend.
- Stretch: Non-stretch. It's not form-fitting and makes room for movement.
- Weight: Medium - Heavy. The size of the folds makes me think it is heavier. (Plus her job makes me think that she needs thicker cloth for protection.)
- Drape: Loose drape. If you're not in the Empire, you have a loose drape outfit. Or you could look at the nature of the bunching fabric. It seems rounded, not sharp.
- Finish: Matte. No shine. Weather-worn.
These would fit something in the wool family. (And Star Wars costumes in the films often use a wool blend fabric for things. Especially Jedi robes.)
However, you could also go the route of using a cotton t-shirt fabric or sweat pants. (Which is totally what I did. Taking the easy way out.)
Original Concepts
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| I'm making a fancy kimono! |
The descriptor method isn't really necessary for these kinds of costumes. It's better done through the other research methods or you pick your favorite fabrics.
Original stuff is also a great chance to take a gamble and try something new. In my case, this is the first time I'm using Peachskin Silk (which is 100% synthetic). I'm using it as a practice with silk-type fabrics which, as I mentioned, are a bit tricky to work with. It takes practice...but it can be expensive practice.
And that's what I got for ya. This should give you something to start with at the very least when researching what to make your costume out of. It's important to get familiar with lots of different fabrics and learn your preferences. You can't do this without actually using the fabric.
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