Creative Cosplay: Selecting & Sewing Costumes Way Beyond Basic

by Amanda Haas

An inspirational guide to sewing cosplay Boldly enter the world of cosplay and gain the confidence to design the costume of your dreams! Award-winning cosplayer Amanda Haas helps you translate your ideas from fiction to reality as you research costumes, shop for fabrics, mash-up patterns, and present your cosplay at a competition. A gorgeous photo gallery will have you frantic to join the cosplay community, while the author's seasoned advice will give you the courage to take the first step. Bonus Sew a bum bag to carry your keys and other essentials to a con. Learn the art of making and wearing designer-quality costumes that will transform your persona.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crafts, Sewing

128 pages, Paperback

Published September 25, 2020

Reviews

[Ingrid Tiffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction for anyone interested in creating their own cosplay. Concentrates mainly on the sewing aspect but does touch on other things involved in the world of cosplay. Amanda gives a quick overview on fabrics and their differences to help with the selection when creating. She does a good job with this without getting overly technical but yet stresses that fabric selection is important. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to enter the world of creating their own cosplay.

[Abby Wu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book for cosplayers! Especially ones that are just starting out and want to learn some basics. Amanda focuses a lot on the sewing aspects of cosplay, which I greatly appreciate. She explains things thoroughly and intentionally. Even though I've cosplayed quite a bit in the past, I am not much of a sewist. So her book will greatly help me when it comes to tackling my next cosplay! Also, the photos are so lovely and wonderful to look at. This is a very inspiring book!

[Olivia Haas · Rating 5 out of 5]

My sister wrote this book!!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it! Photos were gorgeous and pages were thick. Content was targeted at me - I own a sewing machine but have to look up how to turn it on. Very very basic to include a buy list like pins and pattern weights. Also basic on cosplay to include different types of cosplay competition naming meanings (masquerade vs craftsmanship etc). You would need to buy a separate book to really go into how to sew but to step into cosplaying world I think this is good. Explains the lingo and gives beginners the answer to “I like the idea of cosplay, what do I do next????” Even gave helpful stuff like YouTube channels to look at and Facebook groups to join.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more of an overview of cosplay--what to consider when planning an outfit, where and how to get the most of your photo-shoot, what to expect at conventions and how to plan for the conventions. There is one small but useful pattern in the book. The prose is clear and easy to understand. It's a good place to start if you are considering getting your feet wet in the wonderful world of cosplay.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not involved in the cosplay world, but I have a friend who is, and I thought that it would be interesting to read about it. The book features lots of cool photos, practical advice for navigating projects and conventions, and detailed information about fabric types, sewing, and costume design basics.

[Mishqueen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is extensive in the breadth of topics it covers (culture, sewing, pattern making, embellishing), but simple in the depth it digs down. Like a dictionary of terms and supplies. Addresses sewing more than armor.

[Raygun ∆ Gothic · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't say this was helpful. The information gathered in this is pretty random. it's mostly a photo album. This is in no way a guide to anything.