First off, don’t be an idiot like me and decide to make the costume at the last possible second. While I ordered the boots, gloves and goggles a few weeks before, I didn’t actually decide to make the costume for the convention I was going until the day before.

So…

Notes

- I’m all rumpled because I walked through Hannah to get to the con. I was never so happy to be wearing those boots.
- I still need to swap out my gloves, but I’ll get to that later.
- The wig is eating my head, but it was the only blonde wig I had on hand and the rain/wind didn’t do much for it either.
- I need to rip out the pocket and put in a new one with a proper Caduceus.
- I need to take up the hem by an inch or so and tighten the collar a bit.
- I need to properly finish my seams. Right now they’re kinda crap, but no one was flipping my hems.

Step One – I remember that there is a Villains’ Ball at this convention and decide to go for the costume after all. Fortunately I had bought the pattern (Simplicity 5386) and some decent cotton twill at Wal-Mart the week before. My accessories STILL haven’t arrived, but since I’m wearing the costume for fun, I can deal with a few pieces not-so-accurate picked up at the local hardware store.

To alter the pattern, I pinned the back yolk and back piece on the fabric fold to create a solid back piece. (Remember to account ~1″ for the seam allowances that you no longer need)

For the front, the pattern has 2 pieces for each side. I simply put together the two pieces (Again, if you use this pattern, remember to adjust your pattern for the now uneeded seam allowances) on the fold to produce the top panel (this was the only part I lined, so I needed 2 of the top panel). The under panel the front side piece plus a little extra so it went all the way to the neck line.

I ended up removing almost 3′ from the bottom of the pattern and the silly thing was still too long when completed. Then again, I’m tiny.

The neck, I just made a little longer to allow for the alight wrap and followed the pattern for the sleeves as is. The only thing I added was the little gathering belt in the back.

Step Two – Just as I sit down at my machine after pinning, the valet service slips a package slip under my door. I run down and my boots are here, hurray!

The sewing was fairly easy, but I took a short-cut on the sleeves in the interest of time. Instead of setting the sleeves in properly, I sewed the shoulder seems of the front and pack together. Then, instead of sewing up the side seams and the seam in the sleeve, I pinned the unfinished sleeve in and did that seam. Then I did the bottom sleeve seam and the side seam of the coat as one long seam. (If you have no idea WTF I’m talking about, you can read the technique here) Much easier than doing it the right way and no one ever notices unless you’re being judged on craftmanship.

Because I was rushing, I also didn’t do my button holes. I have an automatic buttonhole stitch on my sewing machine, but it takes forever to get the settings right. Instead I put in regular sew-in velcro and sewed the buttons over the top of the fabric. Honestly, no one noticed, but I’ll probably do it right before my next convention.

At this point, it was 2pm and I got another package slip, which I knew had to be the gloves and goggles. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it until after 4:30 because the valet was closed, so I decided to head out the local Wal-Mart for some paint for the goggles.

Step Three While at Wal-Mart I decided I needed a ray gun or the Wonderflonium case. I couldn’t find a good case, so I grabbed a nerf dart gun with the intention of spraying it silver.

I managed to spray paint the gun (while dodging apartment security), then picked up my packages. The goggles were the standard green PVC, but the asshole eBay seller had switched out the gloves for these hideous grey things. With no time to get new gloves, I attempted to spray paint them white, which failed miserably because a) they were fabric-ish and b) it was windy as all hell (Hannah was coming, after all).

I knew I couldn’t spray the goggles, so I took them back up to my apartment, popped out the plastic bits and sanded the body down with fine grit. Then I did them with a thick coat of matte Mod Podge. While waiting for it to dry, I sanded the logo off of my boots. The goggles then got a coat of grey acrylic paint and a coat of gunmetal silver. While that dried, I cut out my coat pocket, pinned it and then puff painted on my Caduceus.

When the goggles were good and dry, I went over them with aluminum colored acrylic with a very coarse, stiff brush. While that dried, I prepared my buttons for the extra vent and glued them on.

Then came the wig of doom. It was a mullet, but it was the only thing I had. So I grabbed my razor and just started hacking away.

At this point it was pretty late, so I just finished up my coat sleeves and did the back details.

To do the pleats in the back, I took another little shortcut. I ironed, then stay-stiched the pleats in and then sewed the belt to the back of the coat with the buttons already attached. Again, no one will notice unless they’re staring at your butt really hard.

I crashed at 10PM because I knew I had some work to do in the morning.

Step Four
First thing, I put the goggles back together and gave it a little glue to keep the edge from sliping.

Then I sewed on my pocket, double checked the fit of my coat, and then got into the rest of my clothes.

As a last step, I decided to make some Dr. Horrible campaign buttons, because I didn’t have enough work to do that morning. At least the other people enjoyed them.

-

And that’s the story of my somewhat accurate, 24 hour costume.

(x-posted at my fansite, and my Cosplay Site)

Related posts:

1. My New Favorite Dr. Horrible Shot
2. Medic – Team Fortress 2 Cosplay
3. Dr. Horrible Is Here

Anyway.

The ingredients: One elastic hair tie (any color), one split ring, one charm.

I told you this was going to be easy!

Thread the hair tie through the elastic.

Pull one end of the hair tie through the other.

Pull the hair tie tight.

… could it get any easier? Well, I suppose I could come over to your house and do it for you…

And here’s the finished product. Just thread your charm onto the split ring and you have a nice, stretch cellphone charm or zipper pull.

Related posts:

1. How to Make a Cell Phone Lanyard – Method One
2. How to Make a Cell Phone Charm (or zipper pull)
3. Make Money At Home – Cashduck

First off, this is what we are hoping to emulate.

This is what you will need to make this silly thing.

That’s a split ring, 1 or 2 crimp beads, a pair of pliers and your string. I’m using fake leather cording, but you could use waxed thread, etc.

Cut your string to double the length you would like it to hang (I generally use about 5-6″)
Thread your thread through the center of the split ring.

Thread both ends of the string through a crimp bead and crimp it close to the split ring.

Now just close up the loop by tying the string ends together and applying either a little melted wax or glue to seal it. OR you could thread another crimp bead on and crimp it close to the ends. Just make sure the loop is good and closed.

Then, thread your charm onto the split ring and you have a cell phone charm.

Yes, it really is that easy.

Look for an even EASIER alternate method tutorial in a week or so.

Related posts:

1. How to Make a Cell Phone Lanyard with a Hair Tie – Method Two
2. How to Make a Cell Phone Charm (or zipper pull)
3. Make Money At Home – Cashduck

1. Make sure you are linking to the first page of a tutorial, list or other paginated article. Some older sites lack navigational menus on every page, and its no fun when we can’t get to the beginning from where we’ve Stumbled onto a site. That and we lose the anticipation when you dump us onto the #1 item in a list.

2. Don’t link to sites with a million and one non-thumbnailed images or embedded objects that immediately load upon Stumbling. I’ve had my browser seize because of some Stumbles, and I’m running a nice computer on a fast connection.

3. Don’t Stumble one of those ridiculous Stumble Cards. Seriously. No.

4. Think if you’ve ever seen this content before on another site. That oh-so-hilarious compilation of bad accidents? Yeah, it’s been copied on dozens of sites. We don’t need you to Stumble yet another.

5. Don’t Stumble sites that don’t credit their sources. You’re often just spreading plagiarized content. If the owner doesn’t say they took those pictures, then find out where they got them from.

6. Generally speaking, avoid Stumbling sites that have yet to join this millennium. Leave blinking text, spinning .gifs, neon colored backgrounds and background midi files you can’t turn off back in 1997.

7. Pay attention when Stumbling sites with frames. If you want to Stumble a particular frame, you have to open it in a new window and then Stumble.

Bonus! 8. Just because you haven’t seen it yet, does not mean it’s not old meme.

Pretty easy tips to follow, no? Now go forth and Stumble some NON-crap so I can get back to my regularly scheduled procrastinating.

No related posts.

This tutorial has been moved to my costume site Beware of Ninja

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1. Beware of Zombies
2. Berry Good – Free eFiction 3.5 skin

It’s long and has a heck of a lot of images, so dial-up users, you might want to click the break and then make yourself some tea or something.

Step One: Get Your Stuff Together!

Step Two: Put the Button Front Together

Note that the blue assembly ring has a notch. This is the “top” of your button and you should always make sure it’s facing away from you so you don’t put it together upside-down. The yellow ring goes in with the black indentation down. Make sure that it is pushed in all the way.

Step Three: Smush and *Thock*

Flip your button assembly over (making sure that the notch is still away from you) and insert the silver die with the indented edge up. Place the green die over it. Stand up (no really, stand up) put one hand over the other and push steadily and evenly until you hear a *thock* sound. If you do not push evenly here, the plastic cover will not properly be tucked into the pin back later and you will have to chuck the button.

Step Four: Setting the Pin-Back Up

Take out the silver and green pieces and flip the assembly back over. Take the red die and place it over your button front, notched side up. Push down with steady and even pressure until the red piece no longer moves. Making sure the red die remains in place. Flip the assembly over without removing the red die and give it a little more pressure. Now, double check the edges of the back of the button front. They should be of even length around the circle and be curled slightly towards the center. Also check to make sure the edges of the plastic cover match up to the paper. If things are uneven, save yourself a pin-back and chuck this button front now.

Notice that there are handy-dandy lines on the back of the blue ring. (The notch on the front of the blue ring is still away from you, right?) Take your pin back and line up the holes so that the shaft of the pin forms a line with the two lines on the blue ring.

Step Five: Putting it all together

Now, place the green die over the pin back. Very carefully flip the entire assembly over. If you feel anything move while flipping, back up and make sure all the pieces are in place. If you don’t, the pin will not form correctly.

Place the entire assembly on your press (or in your press if you are using a hand press), lining the notch in the red die up with the moving pieces of the press. Apply slow, even pressure only until the red die stops moving. Too much pressure can snap the parts. Uneven pressure will form the button incorrectly.

Step Six: Ta-da!

If all has gone well, you can now take the button off of the assembly and show it off.

Step Seven: Uh-oh!

Common things that people screw up.

• Not applying even pressure on the green die in step three. Use both hands and cover the die entirely with your palm.
• Not applying even pressure on the red die in step four. Use both hands and cover the die entirely with your palm.
• Letting the red die slip out slightly while moving is in step five. If you feel anything at all move – check it out before you put the assembly in the press.
  
• Applying too much pressure in step five. The press amplifies the pressure, a little goes a long way.
• Putting the pin-back in “upside-down”. Not the end of the world, the button is still wearable, just awkward to put on.

Related posts:

1. Badge-A-Minit 1 1/4″ (1.25 in) Button Help
2. Take On Me – Literal Music Video
3. How to Make a Cell Phone Charm (or zipper pull)

First, your supplies:

My three favorite tools, Round Nose Pliers, Chain Nose Pliers and Cutting Pliers. If you don’t have these, you can make do with a small pair of chain or needle nose pliers, a skewer and a really sharp pair of scissors. (Don’t borrow your mom’s/friend’s fabric scissors for this unless you wish for them to disown you.)

Head pins and Cell Phone Lariats. You will only need one of each, but you will not be able to purchase just one. I recommend buying both in bulk as it will save you tons of money and you can always repackage them in smaller lots for friends who want to make their own charms. Ebay is a good bet for a deal, but I’ve actually found smaller packages in my local Wal-Mart.

Crimp or decorative beads and your big bead for the charm. Here, I am using lampwork beads, because I find them to be unique and much more interesting that something that says “Juicy” or some such pop culture nonsense.

Onwards to putting this simple little charm together.

Start your charm by settling a small crimp or decorative bead on your head pin so the larger beads don’t go sliding off. This is an important step as nothing is more frustrating than hearing the clatter of your beads coming off of your project and then having to search the floor for them.

Continue placing your beads. I’ve chosen the froggy here because he’s cute, darn it. I like my charms to be symetrical, so I’ve ended with the same pattern of smaller, decorative beads that I started with. I recommend keeping your charm shorter than 3/4″ as well, because you will have to form the wire loop to hang it on your lariat, and you don’t want a charm that is larger than the cell phone it is attached to.

Take your cutting pliers (or scissors) and clip off the excess pin. You will want to leave around 1/2″ (more if you are unsure of your wire shaping skill) . It’s much easier to trim later if you have too much than it is to redo the entire charm on a new pin because you left too little.

Form the remaining pin into a 1/4″ loop on your round nose pliers. This may take a bit of practice, especially if you are are using a skewer and chain nose pliers rather than the round pliers. When you have formed the loop, apply a little force in the opposite direction to make the loop form a straight line with the head of the pin.

Getting the charm on the lariat is the same as threading anything onto a keyring. You will probably need the chain nose pliers to give you a hand unless you want to completely destroy your fingernails in the process.

The beading process for making a zipper pull is the same, you will just attach the charm to the lariat slightly differently. Start by stringing the loop of the charm onto the thread of the lariat.

Then slip the metal of the metal part of the lariat through the loop at the end.

Then simple pull the light taut. Attach the ring to your zipper and you’ve got a zipper pull.

Related posts:

1. How to Make a Cell Phone Lanyard – Method One
2. How to Make a Cell Phone Lanyard with a Hair Tie – Method Two
3. Funs with Arts and Crafts