DIY Pikachu Fan Trainer Costume: Pokemonbounding Episode 3

     For the third installment in my Pokemonbounding series and my look for Day 2 of Pokemon GO Fest, I decided to take a stab at the Pikachu Fan trainer costume, which is a look based on this in-game avatar outfit:

If you've been following my craft blog for a while, you may recall that I made some Pikachu ears a couple of years ago.  In that post, I mentioned wanting to recreate the Pikachu Fan trainer costume at some point in time.  I did buy a shirt for that look, but at the time, I didn't get around to finishing it.  When I was thinking about my second GO Fest look, I remembered the Pikachu Fan trainer costume, and decided to see if I could finish the look.
     If you're wanting to make the ears, check out this blog post.  For the rest of the look, I have a video tutorial where I make a Pokeball keychain to go on my belt loop, as well as a failed attempt at a Pikachu image to adorn my shirt.  I ended up remedying that issue for GO Fest by using cardstock instead of vinyl for Pikachu.
     Here's the video tutorial.  Keep scrolling for the templates as well as more outfit pics and a discussion of Day 2 of GO Fest.

Templates

Here is the Pikachu template I mention in the video:

And here is the Pokeball template:

The Outfit and Pokemon GO Fest Day 2

     This is the original outfit I was starting from.  Even without the extra frills, I think it works reasonably well as a Pikachu Fan trainer look.

     This is the second iteration of the outfit, with my poor, faceless Pikachu which you can't even really see because it blends in with my shirt.  The video explains what happened to Pikachu, but the short of it is that the glue I chose didn't adhere well to vinyl.

     Finally we arrive at the GO Fest version of the look.  My Pikachu decal I made from cardstock, and it started raining basically every time I stepped out to take a picture, so I wasn't able to wear it much.  But I think the shirt looks fine without it, so that wasn't a big deal.
     I swapped out the shorts for a pair I liked better and the heels for more sensible sneakers.  I think I'd like to try this again sometime, but I'd like to get yellow laces for my sneakers to pull the look together a bit more.  Also, my socks have Pokeballs on them, but you can't see that under my sneakers, so I'd probably opt for yellow or black socks if I did this look again.
     By the time GO Fest Day 2 rolled around, I was a little tuckered out.  I'm not super into the battle aspect of Pokemon GO, so I didn't love the rocket research focus, but I did manage to get the shadow birds and Mewtwo to add to my shadow mon collection, so that was pretty cool.  I also nabbed another six shinies, including a shiny Alolan Marowak, which I had been wanting for a while.
     All in all, I enjoyed Pokemon GO Fest 2020.  I hope that in the future GO Fest will retain a virtual component, so that those of us who can't travel can still participate.  I'd also love it if they gave us new printables each year, because those were a lot of fun.  I plan to write up a post on my GO Fest decorations sometime in the not too distant future, so if you're curious to see that, stay tuned!

DIY Harley Quinn Top

     Halloween season is in full swing over here on Amber's Craft a Week Blog.  This year I decided that for one of my costumes, I wanted to dress up as Harley Quinn, and rather than buy a premade costume, I decided to make my own.  In today's post, I'll show you how I made the top.  I'm including both a video and written tutorial for this post.  I also talk a bit about my inspiration for this costume in the video, so if you want a better idea of which iteration of Harley Quinn I'm imitating, check it out.  It's just over two and a half minutes, so a relatively quick watch.  For a written tutorial, keep scrolling.

Materials:

*Black strapless bra or black top
*Red jersey sequined fabric
*Blue jersey sequined fabric
*All purpose adhesive or fabric adhesive
*Metallic marker or fabric pen (for tracing)

Directions:

*Print out the diamond shaped template given below.  Depending on the size of your top, you may have to play around with the size of the template a bit to get it to work for you.

*Trace and cut one diamond shape from the blue fabric and one diamond shape from the red fabric.

*Glue the diamond shapes to the cups of the bra or top.

Making a Meowth Inspired Look: Pokemonbounding Episode 2

     As some of you know, Meowth is my favorite Pokemon.  As soon as I started this Pokemonbounding series, I knew I had to do a Meowth look, and what better a time to don one than for the biggest Pokemon event of the year, Pokemon GO Fest?  I'll tell you a little more about my GO Fest experiences in a few, but first let's talk about the look, since that's probably what you came here for.  Also, if you're wondering about my Meowth plushie, I have the template and directions for making it in this blog post.
     Like with my Gastly Pokemonbound, I created a video tutorial for crafting the look.  However, I did also remember to snag some photos of the construction process for the ears, so this time you get both a written/photo tutorial and a video tutorial.  I also ended up changing the size of the ears and the coin partway through because they felt too small, so the finished product will look a little different from the construction pictures.  Here's the video, and keep scrolling for the photo tutorial as well as some more photos of the look.

DIY Meowth Ears

Materials:

*Cream colored headband
*Cream colored felt
*Black felt
*Light brown felt
*All purpose or fabric adhesive
*Gold cardstock
*Scissors

Directions:

*Print out three copies of the Meowth ears template, given below.  Because the template pieces overlap, you'll need one copy for each shape (ears, whiskers/antennae, and coin).  To make sure you're printing at the right scale (it should take up an entire sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper), place the headband you're using for this project over the headband shape in the template.  The two should be roughly the same size.

*Cut out the following template items from felt (shown below): two copies of the full ear shape in black, two copies of the inner ears in light brown, six copies of the whisker shape in cream, and the coin shape in black.  You'll also want to cut out a copy of the coin shape from gold cardstock.

*Glue the gold coin piece over top the black coin piece.  The black felt backing makes the cardstock a little easier to work with.

*Cut out four thin strips of black felt and glue them over the coin to make it look like the coin Meowth wears on their head.

*Glue the inner ear pieces to the outer ear pieces.

*Glue the ears to the headband.

*Glue the whiskers/antennae to the headband.  I forgot to take a picture of this stage, but see the completed headband picture at the top of this section for reference.

*Glue the coin to the center of the headband.  See the completed headband picture at the beginning of this section for reference.

*Once the glue has dried, bend up the bottom of the coin a little.  This way the headband will lie flat against your head when you wear it.

More Photos and Pokemon GO Fest Day 1

     I'm glad I ended up taking a ton of photos in advance, because I ended up being so occupied with GO Fest that I hardly took any pictures that day.  Here are some photos of the look that I took in advance.  I did end up changing shoes for the GO Fest pictures, which you'll notice, but otherwise the look remained the same.  Here are some pictures from the initial photo shoot.

     If you've seen the video already, then you know my inspiration for this look, but if not, here's what I was thinking.  I picked the dress for a couple of reasons.  The gold sequins on top look kind of like coins, and Meowth is all about coins.  They have a couple of coin throwing moves, and of course have a coin on their head.  The tulle on bottom is a brownish color, which is a big reason why this had been lingering at the back of my closet, but that worked out perfectly for this look since Meowth has brown feet and a brown tail.  I decided to finish the look with gold accessories because of Meowth's affinity for coins.

My attack animation.  I am, after all, dressing up in the style of the scratch cat Pokemon.

     And now for some AR photos :)

I kept trying to hold my hand like a cat holds its paw.  So if you're wondering why I'm holding my hand weirdly, it's because I was trying to imitate Meowth.

     Now on to Pokemon GO Fest.  It was great for me that GO Fest was virtual this year, because that meant that I finally was able to participate.  I was so excited for the day that when GO Fest started and I got the welcome message from Professor Willow, I almost cried.  I dragged Brian out a little after nine that morning so we could get pictures before GO Fest started.

     I set my buddy to Meowth for the day, and we managed to pull Team Mystic Leader Blanche away from their research long enough to snap a few pics.  Yes, I assembled a life sized Blanche for GO Fest.  I plan to write a post on the indoor decorations I made for the event (mostly the printables provided by Pokemon GO) sometime in the not too distant future.

     After that, we headed down to the gardens for a few more pics.  Blanche stayed behind to conduct more research.

     My feet were kind of covered up in some of the previous pictures, but in the picture above you can see my shoes.  I opted for brown ones to try to match Meowth's feet.  These ones were maybe a little dark, but I think they worked well enough.

     I had decent luck with Day 1, and ended up finding 10 shinies, including this shiny Swablu pictured below.  I had been looking for one for ages, so it was nice to finally get one.  I played basically for all 10 hours, although there were a few points during the day when I was not actively looking at my phone.

     My diploma arrived that evening, so here I am, holding my physics Ph.D. diploma while dressed as Meowth.  Because of course I am.

     Oh, and I painted my nails for GO Fest.  I opted for a gold polish followed by a gold chunky glitter top coat.  The gold glitter flakes reminded me a bit of coins, so it seemed fitting.

     I had a lot of fun with Day 1 of Pokemon GO Fest.  Next week I'll share my look from Day 2, as well as tell you a little bit about the Day 2 experience.  It was nice being able to finally participate in GO Fest for real, and not just in the little ways that non-ticket holders get to participate.  I hope in the future that even after big gatherings are able to be held safely again, Niantic retains a virtual ticket option, so that those of us who can't travel can still enjoy the fun.

Turning a Romper into My Wedding Dress

     For our final wedding post of the season, I've saved the best for last - my wedding dress.  When Brian and I started talking seriously about getting married in October of last year, I immediately started thinking about what I wanted to wear.  At the time, he and I were both grad students, so buying a traditional wedding dress would have strained our budget, and I've never been a white dress gal.  I had been debating whether to go for an Alice in Wonderland themed or Halloween themed wedding, and ultimately settled on Alice in Wonderland.  I thus decided that I would look for something blue to wear.
     I started googling blue prom rompers, and while there were some pretty ones, they were still pricey and there were none that I adored.  What seemed to set apart many of the prom rompers from the less fancy rompers was a tulle overskirt.  I had a pretty blue romper I had used for Alice in Wonderland Disneybounding, and I thought, I bet I could make a tulle overskirt.  So I did.
     As someone who is still relatively new to sewing, the making of this overskirt was a bit of a process, with plenty of hiccups along the way.  However, while the garment is far from perfect, I think I 100% made the right choice in constructing my own dress.  It added an extra touch of specialness to be wearing something that I had made, and I felt so beautiful in it on the day of.  I've actually worn both pieces of the look since for Disneybounds, and I still feel beautiful when I put it on.
     Here's a video of the overskirt making process.  While you could use it as a tutorial, there are probably far better tutorials out there on making an overskirt, so I would recommend watching it more as a sneak peek into my wedding dress journey.  I'm so excited to be sharing this with you, and I hope you enjoy this post!

     If you're looking for more photos of the dress, don't worry, I've got plenty :)

These first two pictures were taken right after the ceremony.  It was very bright out, so we had some trouble finding the best lighting.

We came back in the evening to take a few more pictures.  Here you can see the dress in a few different lighting situations.

     The last picture is from an Alice in Wonderland Disneybound shoot I did on my birthday.  I've reused both the romper (okay, technically the wedding romper's identical twin) and the overskirt a few times since the wedding.  Some people might find this tacky, but I'm all for reusing clothes.  Why would I want to wear something this pretty only once?
     That concludes the wedding posts.  Next week we'll be diving right into Halloween content.  I hope you're as excited for Halloween crafting as I am!

Making a Gastly (Pokemon) Inspired Look: An Intro to Pokemonbounding and Gastly Community Day

Gastly photobomb from Pokemon GO Gastly Community Day

     As I'm sure many of you are aware, I love Pokemon GO.  One of my favorite Pokemon is Gastly, although Brian will tell you that I say that about every Pokemon.  I've been doing a lot of Disneybounding these last few months (which I hope to have a post about sometime in the future), and I thought it would be fun to dress up in the style of some of my favorite Pokemon.  I'm using the term Pokemonbounding here, but you could also call it a Pokemon cosplay.
     I got the idea to make a Gastly look by layering a purple tulle overskirt over one of my many black rompers.  When Niantic announced that there would be a Gastly Community Day in July, I decided that I had to make my Gastly look to wear for Community Day.  I've included a video of the process of making the overskirt below, which some of you may already have seen on my YouTube channel.  I also ended up making a Gastly plushie to go with the look and plan to post that tutorial sometime in November or December.

     For the rest of this post, I just wanted to share some more pictures of the look, as well as some of my favorite Gastly Community Day moments.  First up we have some pics of the outfit:

Me pretending to be a ghost, since I'm styled as a ghost type Pokemon.

Conspiring with my little plush Gastly.

I was quite pleased with how this look turned out.  I think it captured Gastly's vibe pretty well, but let me know what you think.

     Next up, here are a few of my favorite AR photos from the day:

I was lucky to find a shiny Gastly within the first 15 minutes of the event, while Brian and I were out taking pictures.

Here's another photo bomb.  I thought the photo bombs were the cutest thing.

     I had a great time.  I played for probably about three and a half hours of the event and managed to snag 14 shinies.  I spent most of the time indoors playing from an incense, which was nice because it was pretty hot and humid out.  Even with the extended time window, I forgot to evolve my Gastlys, so I'll have to wait until December and hope that they do the same sort of thing as last year, where you can evolve for a special move during the December Community Day time window.
     What Community Day are you hoping for?  This may sound a little silly, but I would love to have a Meowth Community Day for better odds at finding a shiny, and hopefully some adorable photo bombs.  Which, speaking of Meowth, I'll have a post up here for a Meowth look probably next week, after Pokemon GO Fest.  Stay tuned for more Pokemon content.