About The Cosplayer
My name is Chrissi, I was born in Germany in 1988, I use she/they pronouns and I’ve been sewing and cosplaying since 2009. That’s all the basic info you need about me, to be honest, but let’s talk for a bit about what got me into sewing/cosplaying and the tools that I’m using to make my cosplays happen.
As I’ve said, I started cosplaying and sewing (both happened at the same time and for the same reason) in 2009 when I was preparing a costume for the book fair in Leipzig, a local convention. Since I had recently discovered the Harry Potter books and movies for myself and I loved Helena Bonham Carter’s performance as Bellatrix, I decided that that was going to be my costume to wear at the book fair. Judging by my own standards today, the dress turned out horrible and didn’t really fit me, but it was the very beginning of a long learning curve.
While I’ve had a project here and there over the years and improved my sewing skills with each one, my love for cosplay was rekindled when I discovered Doctor Who. While I mainly collected screen-accurate clothes that my favourite character wore on the show, that eventually became boring, too, and I decided to look for new challenges. I found them again in sewing.
In 2019, I received two wonderful sewing machines for my birthday, the Singer Ultralock and the Singer Curvy after my old sewing machine almost made me tear my own hair out by messing up the threads. Those sewing machines were among the best birthday presents I ever received and they’ve been in regular use ever since because they inspired me to look for more challenging projects.
I’m still far from being a professional in that field and even though my grandma taught me the basics of sewing, I’m mostly self-taught and she claims I’ve become better than her at it. When I work on a new cosplay, I try to make it recognisable while also remaining as affordable as possible (I have a dog to feed). My process of making a new cosplay involves a lot of research, a lot of thinking and planning and I’ve created quite a few cosplays by now that I’m really proud of wearing and showing off. They’re not perfect, but to me, cosplay and sewing are a hobby – not a contest.
In this blog, I’m sharing my progress with you in the hopes that you will find it helpful. Maybe, it’ll inspire you to make your own or speed up your planning process.