u/Dependent_Concert_49 — reddlx

Hello! I've been handsewing a cosplay of Aventurine's boss form from Honkai: Star Rail and I came upon a problem of making this golden frame/lines on his vest and the tails of his coat.

Initially I was trying to fold a golden bias tape over the edges, cut into it, bend it according to the curves and then sew it down. But the result turned out to be... not the best, to say the least. I could cut the needed forms out of golden fabric so that it lays flat but then I would need to close the fabric edges by satin stitching so that it doesn't fray. Considering I'm handsewing, satin stitching so much fabric is just not an option – it would take forever and I can't promise the result to be good.

Recently I was looking at DokiDoki's SR cosplay of Aventurine's regular form (in this form he has a similar golden frame on his coat). And I noticed that this golden frame is some glossy leathery-looking material that seems to just be sewn down with regular stitching, no satin stitching on the edges; and it flows just like fabric. To me it doesn't look much like leather either. Does anybody know what this 'fabric'(?) non-fraying material could be?

Hi there! This is probably a pretty hard and abstract question but I'll try to explain it as much as I can.

I have this kind of love for experimenting, I love trying new techniques when making a cosplay. If I succeed in making a piece with a technique – great! If I don't, well, it's okay and at least I had fun. But recently more and more, – since I started actively finding and following more and more local and non-local cosplayers, – I finish some piece of mine but then I watch their progress photos/videos, see an interesting technique (for example, they made a golden accessory literally out of melted metal, or they crocheted something out of embroidery floss!) and want to try it for myself. But my piece is already finished! It's not bad but it could be so much better if I used that other technique. Sure, I could just remake it but in the long run, if I do that often, it's just gonna be a waste of materials, time and money. It would be better if I'm in the process of planning, I could just look through a databse for inspiration for a technique to be used on a specific piece of costume.

So I was wondering: is there some kind of online list or database that has listed all the techniques that have been or could be used to make a cosplay clothing/prop/accessory, etc.? Probably even divided in some kinds of categories like fabric (appliqué, smocking, etc.), crochet (amigurumi, doily, etc.), metall working, etc. etc. ~~My categorization is very messy but just so that you know what I mean.~~

I've been trying to make my own database but searching for new techniques which I don't know of and categorizing them is not that simple as it seems, and it's gonna take several years with my pace. Having an already existing database would be great.