Mega Ampharos Costume

Hello Lovely People !!!

I have finally posted the finished mega Ampharos costume (I actually thought I posted this before but I guess not)

I wore it to AN in Toronto in summer of 2015.

essentially all of it I hand-sewed minus the wig used for the hair, shoes and bow-tie.

I was originally going to make it a onsie so that I had yellow legs too, but in the end, I had to cut the legs short and make a skirt because of fabric issues, the skirt worked out well enough.

I know you can't see it very well but the skirt is pleated, this was made by sewing folds on the inside seam.

Step 1: Assemble the Ingredients !

what you need:

- red acrylic paint

- yellow acrylic paint

- black acrylic paint

- paint brush or 2 / water bowl

- 8 medium/ small styrofoam balls

- 5 large. medium styrofoam balls ( large if you're using 8 medium, and medium if using 8 small)

- yellow fabric

- white fabric

- fabric scissors

- white belt

- fluffy stuff (i.e stuff to make pillows with)

- needle

- yellow thread

- white thread

- button pins (i.e broach pins or ones for buttons) 5 small pins

- hot glue gun/ glue

- toothpicks

- hair band

Step 2: Hair Band

MAKING THE HAIR BAND AND BALL FOR HEAD, not the wig, I bought the wig at value village (new for about $10-15) (see pic 1)

HAIR BAND :

1. paint 4 balls yellow, 4 balls black and 5 larger balls red (see pic 2)
2. grab yellow fabric cut in strip long and wide enough to cover hair band (see pic 3)
3. sew on yellow fabric strip to hairband (see pic 4)
4. stab yellow ball with toothpick (see pic 5)
5. connect black to yellow, yellow to black and black to yellow balls with toothpicks (see pic 6)
6. Do that to the other side so you have 2 horns (see pic 7) NOTE: you may want a slight curve in your horns, I did
7. Hot glue the balls together by first putting glue on the toothpick (see pic 8)
8. Stab a hole(with exacto knife) in the fabric of head band where you want the horns to go ( see pic 9)
9. hot glue the horns into place to have a finished head band (see pic 10)

Step 3: Ball/head Prep

BALL :

1. take red ball and glue on a button pin (see pic 1 &2)
2. Assemble the head gear (pic 3)
3. put on wig and horns (pic 4/5)
4. pin on ball where you like it (see pic 6)

thats all I have so far I will up date you soon, the next project is the tail!!! Stay tuned !!

Step 4: the Tail! Ingredients

The tail was a little bit hard to think of, but I collaborated, with my mom, brother and friend on how to make it work

What you need:

-nylons

- newspaper (a lot of it)

-scissors

- white glue

- water

- flour (i find self rising works wonders because clumps eventually disappear but normal white all purpose flour works as well)

- white acrylic paint

- paint brush

- apron/ smock

- garbage bag

-fishing line

-twine

- hot glue

- 4 painted styrofoam balls

Step 5: Making the Tail!!!

the final product (pic 1)

1. grab nylons and news paper, rip news paper into roughly even squares ( pic 2)
2. crumple news paper into balls ( pic 3)
3. stuff nylons with news paper tie the ends of the nylon (pic 4 and 5)
4. stuff another one, tie it, tie the two together (pic 6)
5. braid the 4 legs of nylons ( pic 7)
6. fold where you would like it and use safety pins to pin in location (pic 8&9)
7. get news paper cut it into strips, make paper ache paste with flour , white glue and water, [Note : shouldn't be too runny or it'll take a while to dry] ( pic 10&11 )
8. cover the body of the tail in paper mache on top of newspaper or garbage bag [note garbage bag works better because if the newspaper gets wet it could leach ink on your floor ] (pic 11) [Note you may have to prop it up to get the all the spots, and let it dry, you may only get to do half of it at once, the bottom may not dry if it sits on the bag , also Note: one side takes a few hours to dry if its next to a heater but may take over night to dry if just sitting, so go to step 6 &7 -body ingredients and instructions-(to build the body while you wait)
9. do at least 2 layers so it is strong, and it fills all the cracks or holes, [Note: let a layer completely dry before you add another layer or the bottom layer may rip]
10. once you're satisfied with it's strength and appearance (i.e smooth) paint it white [Note may take a couple layers to not see any newspaper below the white] (pic 12)
11. add the belt ( hot glue it everywhere and press hard against the tail ) [ Note to reinforce the glue , fill all the holes between the belt and the tail ] (pic 13)
12. add the balls to the tail a) put hot glue on a toothpick and stab it in the styrofoam ball, b) stab hole with a small screwdriver in the desired location on tail , or cut with exacto knife c) put hot glue on toothpick and insert into hole created, d) glue areas where the ball and the tail touch (pic 14)
13. make support for tail [Note: you will need help for this step] a) measure a loop of fishing line from the corner of the tail to mid back at the angle of the tail you'd like , tie a knot at the loop, b) make 2-3 more loops of the same length, c) measure a loop of twine/string from one of your shoulders, under the armpit and down to the fish line loop , tie a knot there[note tie the knot of the twine loop when it has the fish line loops inside the twine loop], d) make a second loop the same size as the other twine loop(for the other arm) [note tie the knot of the twine loop when it has the fish line loops inside the twine loop],note if this is confusing, see pic15 diagram for more clarity
14. wrap the wire loops around the tail and you're done (pic 1 for final image)

Step 6: Body Ingredients

to make the body you'll need

- yellow fabric

- white fabric

- scissors

- needle (or sewing machine, I don't have one so i sewed it by hand)

- yellow thread

- white thread

- long white or yellow zipper

- ruler

- pencil

-sketch pad

Step 7: Plan and Draw the Body

1>measure your body

[Note: I'm 5' 6'' so these measurements are for me ]

a) height from ankle to inside of leg {60cm}

b) from ankle to hip {80cm}

c) ankle to shoulder {135 cm}

d) circumference of hips {99cm}

e) circumference of waist {87cm}

f) circumference of bust/ chest {107cm}

g) length from hips to smallest part on waist {16cm}

h) length from smallest part on waist to armpit {20cm}

i) height from shoulders to armpit {19cm}

j) length from ankle to armpit (probably optional, but it helps you know you measured it all right) {116cm}

k) length of arm/wrist to armpit {48cm}

l) circ hips /4

j) circ neck (see pic 1)

2> draw out your body on fabric [Note: fold fabric in half so cutting it out will be easier i.e both halves of body are simultaneously drawn and cut out sharing an edge so theres less sewing to do]

[Note : to draw out your body you'll need to add 4 cm to every circumference (or more depending on how loose you want) so there's enough room to move and its not tight, as well as subtract 4 cm from the a measurement so its not too tight in the crotch are either)

A)at the edge of the fabric figure out the width of leg take circumference of waist divide it by 4 then add 4 cm so the legs are loose, draw a line to where the leg width would be.

B)then start from bottom of fabric, draw a line for where a-4cm ends (from the width of leg up)

C) from the leg line just drawn draw a 2-4 cm line that will separate the legs

D) draw the other leg using the same dimensions

E) draw line from ankle to waist

F) calculate [ (circ hips/2)-(circ waist/2) ] / 2 for the distance from hips to waist, draw line

G) draw line 1-g

H) draw a curved line from g) to the edge of fabric

I) draw line 1-h , curve it to edge of fabric

J) draw line 1-i on the edge of fabric

K) repeat (g-j) on the other side

L) draw line shoulder to shoulder

M) optional- for turtle neck look calculate: [circ neck/2] +4 cm and 4 cm tall , draw in middle of fabric

(see pic 2 for more clarity)

3> cut it out (pic 3) [ Note when you cut it out leave leave 1-2 cm extra space on the outside of your drawing because fabric will fray, so you will have room to stitch it up, told later]

[Also Note: don't cut the edge that was folded, you'd just be doing more work than needed because then you'll have to sew that edge you just cut]

4> draw wings by a) drawing line 1-i b) drawing line 1-k in the middle of line 1-i c) draw a curve at the top (from wrist to elbow)

[Note : draw this on an folded edge to get two halves that are connecting]

5> cut it out and place ontop of another edge and trace it out, then cut it out (pic 4)

Step 8: Sew Together Your Body

[Note : for all edges that were cut : fold in the extra 1-2 cm of fabric on both sides to prevent from fraying later] (pic 1)

[Also Note: I am doing this in a particular order because its easier to sew everything when the 2 halves aren't connected]

1) sew the mid section (preventing fraying only not connecting yet)

2) sew the shoulders to neck (on both sides )

3) flip onsie over

4) cut a line that matches your zipper down the back (pic 2)

5) sew on zipper (pic 3)

6) draw out the white fabric tummy, cut it out (pic 4)

7) sew it on (pic 5)

8) (optional) make pockets: Option A- two pockets on either side- cut 2 identical squares/ rectangles that can fit your hand out of yellow or white fabric (depending on if you want it inside the suit or on the outside )

- for outside pockets: use white fabric if want on the tummy part or yellow for the yellow part, basically make the pocket match the colour fabric that its on top of, simply sew the 2 sides and bottom to the outside

- for inside pockets:attach to the inside of the onsie from the edges of hips, sew 2 sides and bottom. (remember to leave a hole in the fabric to access the pockets when the halves are sewn together)

Option B- Outside Tummy pouch- draw a white half circle that fits in the tummy section , sew on the top and bottom edges leaving space for your hands to fit in

9) sew on arms (pic 6)

10) sew together halves

11) sew legs [or in my case a skirt, I severed the legs and added fabric around the edges so it was longer and then pleated the fabric by making intentional folds and sewing the inside seams

12) optional put a row of black ribbon around neck for detail on pokemon's neck (pic 7)

[ Note my arms were a different colour because i accidentally bought two different colours of fabric, and there is an extra strip of yellow fabric (25cm thick my measurements were wrong it seems) on the inside of legs because i didn't follow my own advice and didn't add the extra length so my legs were too tight and i couldn't move/ bend well, I also had to cut a small line in the neck and add a 4 cm strip because i didn't give it enough room and was too tight around my neck]

then you're done :

get dressed in it and have fun (pic 8- will be here soon i just need to wait til my roommate gets back to take a picture of the full thing )