How Involved are You? O:

[[Kirimasu__]]

So.. hey. <:

I would like to find out, how involved are you in making your outfit?

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?

Personally I love cosplaying, but I have no talent whatsoever when it comes to sewing. And when I look at prints, they stare back at me. D8< So I commissioned a local tailor to help. Still, I like poking about in the tailor's shop and being involved in the process such as choosing and buying fabrics, going through the designs etc.

When it comes to weapons, I make most of them on my own. They tend to be very time consuming and frustrating at times. xDD But then the end results are usually quite satisfying.

What about you?  

[ssumeragi]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
~ Everything that can be sewn. Also some extra stuff like accessories.

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
~ Well, no, I don't usually have any weapons or props.. If I do, my best friends take care of that stuff for me. ^^

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?
~ Umm. Time-wise.. I dunno, about a month? And most of the work is done like in the last two weeks before the con. X'D I'm lazy like that..
And money, hmm, it depends.. The more simple ones that I already have a suitable wig for are usually around 50 €. But I think the average cost of my costumes would be closer to 100€.. I try to do everything on budget, but of course I want to avoid looking cheap. :3

And I'll explain some more in general:
Me and my two best friends always cosplay together, and make our cosplays together. I do all the sewing stuff, one friend is in charge of props and wigs, and the other does all the painting work(We've had quite a lot of that in our costumes lately.. Outfits with details that look the best painted on). ^^  

[sakurayoshema]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own? I make it all.
2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas? I make my own. I hate wasting money on weapons that are made not the way I want them.
3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay? I spend days and even months..and what I mean is that I spend the whole summer. xD  

[La Ahna]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
I do all of my sewing and costume details, along with jewelry, shoes, and the occasional prop.

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
Not many of my cosplays have had weapons or props, but my most recent two did. For one (a mini-bazooka of sorts) I bought an art case from a store that made a good base and did my own alterations (handle, decoration, etc) from there. For the other (a spear), I bought a nice straight wooden staff but did my own work with papermache and clay to form the extra parts of it.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?
I would estimate around $50 per cosplay. A lot of that goes into wigs more than anything. I like to use stuff from thrift stores if I can, but if I'm going to sew it myself I'll spend the money to have quality fabric.

 

[blazeingfox]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
It depends, for my Tsubaki cosplay I'm making everything except for the boots (unless i can't find a pair anywhere) and the stocking. and For my houndour cosplay I'll just be modifying a tank top and making the sandals and arm warmers.
2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
I made a fail sword for my Chris Lightfellow cosplay and the little skull for houndour But unless there is something that would be impossible for me to make due to lack of access to materials i plan to continue making my own.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay? I think I end up spending somewhere from $25 to $60~ per cosplay. and I spend about 10-15+ hours per costume depending on how much of it I have to make.  

[OhNoesItsMiho]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
It depends, for my Milk-chan cosplay I made the pompoms, hat, and dress. I had white shoes and white pantyhose. For my Jonny cosplay, I'll only be making his shirt since I already have jeans and white sandals.
2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas? I haven't made props/weapons just yet, but I'm thinking about making Plank myself.
3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay? I spent $30 dollars on my material for my Milk-chan cosplay. It took a month in a half to complete. It all depends if they're having a sale on material and patterns.  

[Roxy-bear1216]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
I make my entire cosplay all by myself. It's actually relaly funny when I'm working on my cosplays because that's the ONLY time that my family wants to get involved in one of my hobbies. Then thye get butt-hurt because I don't let them help me XD

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
I just made three kingdom keyblades. I don't think that I'd want to spen 100+ dollars on a weapon or item that I don't like one bit. I'd rather make my weapons the way I want them.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?
I spend A LOT of time working on my cosplays. I spent my whole spring break fixing my Sasuke cosplay and working on my keyblades. I didn't mind since I'm underage and can't really do anything =/
I think that I've spent 175+ dollars on my Sasuke cosplay, keyblades, and Roxas wig thus far. I suspect that in total it'll be 300+ dollars for all the costume materials and paint and accessories and whatnot.  

[Kasai_Haigara]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own? None...

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas? Nope, baught or already owned items and put them together.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay? Time depends on Cosplay and what I have. So far I have only cosplayed once and had random clothes put together to be a ninja. I just baught, today, items for an Itachi Uchiha Cosplay and it was $141 total. I have no job and just earn money from chores around my house.  

[Glacirus]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
--I usually only do my hair. I can't make clothes at all..
2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
--Only bought replicas so far, but I intend to make one or two props eventually if I find time.
3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?
--80-120 USD has been the general price per costume I've bought...  

[Sadistic Rainbows]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?

Well, I'm not going to make any bit of it. My grammy is actually putting it together. I'm just giving her supplies. I'm going as Roxas (org. xiii) Then my aunt is helping me with styling the wig.

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?

Haven't made or bought one yet. I'll probably make a keyblade in the future.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?

This one, will cost about $20-$30. I'm not sure how much my wig will cost yet.
 

[Wielder of Mighty Pencil!]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?

I try to make the entire outfit myself, but recently I've been buying the pants because while the pants I make look very nice, they are not ver comfortable.

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?

I make my own. In some ways it can be more fun than the clothing itself, and I like being able to make sure the prop is the right size on me.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?

This is hard to answer. I work sporadically, so it's difficult to add up the total amount of time. It also depends on what costume it is. Vincent Valentine - for example - took a lot longer than the Meltdown version of Vocaloid Kaito did. Money also varies, but if I had to guess, I'd pick around a hundred dollars. Also, as soon as I walk into a fabric or craft store I want everything, so...

I really enjoy making my costumes (when they go right), and the one time I went to buy one I felt really guilty. I don't know why. So I tend to make them myself. It gives me satisfaction to make something myself and to know that I did it.  

[Josephine Jo]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
Everything that's sewn so far, unless I come across items that completely fit what I'm trying to go for (for instance, leather-looking black pants for only 10 bucks - not going to spend 15 bucks on pleather then!).

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
Haven't made them yet (no need to), but I'm planning on making all of my props myself, unless it's the same case as 1.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?
Not counting the pattern, sewing takes me at least a week for one article of clothing (I sew everything by hand because I'm scared to death of the sewing machine we currently have and the previous one kept dying on me). Money depends entirely on the costume; my first 'real' costume, Taiga Aisaka, cost me about 20 bucks on fabric (could've gone cheaper, but I needed real firm material for the coat I was actually planning on making), 25 on a wig, 5 on socks and 10 on shoes. My Edward Elric costume cost me 50 on fabric, 10 on those leather-look pants, 25 or 30 on the wig, 5 on the gloves and I wore 100 euro shoes that I always wear. It wasn't complete yet, though, so I'd probably need to pour in about 50+ more to get it to be to where I want to (special boots, new underjacket since the old one died, possibly a new wig if I can't find the old one anymore).

My future cosplays (Pyro and Sara Trantoul) are going to be extremely time consuming and possibly expensive; for the Pyro (TF2) I'm planning on trying to get fire resistant fabric and to work a pleather mask around a genuine gasmask, and for Sara Trantoul (Castlevania) I'm going to get quite expensive fabric and have to handsew all of the details onto it.  

[burgawinosourus]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
Everything really. Unless the character has a really simple outfit then I either just buy and modify or just buy. Though I usually don't make the shoes myself there have been times when I have to crunch something out.

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas? I tend to try and not choose characters with props. But if I do get one then I make or modify my own. Cheaper and easier that way.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay? Well I've made some pretty insanely cheap costumes before but recently I've been spending a bit more. Well on the things that I know I might need. But I'm actually a mooch. XD So most of the materials I get(not just fabric) I've gotten from others. Well mostly only one person because she's awesome. And time, well usually I tend to procrastinate until the last minute and get like 3 costumes made in a month or so. But it won't happen this time, I'm already 1/3 of the way finished on all my costumes for next year(mostly because I'm so anxious for them).

Which is sad to say for my costumes I need coming up. >_>''  

[Sugar Pucks]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
Everything except the shoes. And when I say everything, I generally mean everything, underwear and all.

2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
I've found that it's generally cheaper to make your own, and also much more satisfying. It's also usually more fulfilling to make the character's jewelry, too.

3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?
Some cosplays I can manage to finish in a few weeks or days and spend very little cash on them. Sometimes I manage to have costume work span months, and spend more than 500 dollars on materials.

(I will note that not only do I cosplay, I also do historical/period costuming, which is where a lot of the cost get accrued.)  

[ll dell Orso ll]

1. Which parts of the outfit do you make on your own?
I always make at least 80% on my own from flat materials.
2. Have you ever made your own weapons/props? Or do you buy replicas?
Yes, I always make my own props and weapons. They get REALLY pricey otherwise.
3. How much time and/or money do you normally spend on one cosplay?
Hmm... I only work on them when I'm in the mood... the best example would be that I'm just finishing up ~about one cosplay worth of work out of five that I started in the end of April, I think.
I normally spend anywhere from $50 to $75 per costume counting the price of props and wigs.
Wigs, I buy and style myself in order to save on money.
After this one, I'm going down to two cosplays a year and just re-wearing what I made this year.