First Time Cosplayer...aid?

[silver_fyrefly]

Hi everyone!

I'm a first-time cosplayer working up an Inara outfit for myself and a Mal one for my boyfriend so we can go to Otakon.  His first con, so good on him for being a sport and going with me in costume!

I'm looking for help with a few things, and I figure maybe the fine folks here can aid me?

I'm doing the Jaynestown Inara dress, the one that

Comments

[roonil_wazlib80]

Jen at the shop formerly known as Monkeyshines occasionally does Browncoat replica jewelry. while she doesn't have those for sale now, she does have some great pics of Inara's Jaynestown stuff. They'd be the ones on the left of the pictures of just the jewelry.

http://www.jlhjewelry.com/2009/05/26/companion-necklace/

Can't help on the coat; sorry!

[aviendiora]

The first thing to check for is the fabric content of the lab coat. The lab coats at work are not poly plus they have some kind of coating so these would never dye beyond a fairly pale color. But if it's cotton, then you should wash it to remove whatever sizing might be present. Washing cotton can sometimes make it look more brushed and that can give the look of suede from a distance but it depends on the fabric. As for dyeing it, Dharma Trading has a bunch of dyes and I've heard they are very helpful if you email them with questions so they can probably tell you the best dye to get the dark brown.

[thatwordgrrl]

There is a simple trick to get it to the buff color of the Independent coats -- provided the coat is made of cotton.

Dye in a big vat or pot of really well-steeped black tea. Any black tea blend will do -- so you could even use Liptons or something else equally cheap.

The trick is to use LOTS of teabags, so that you get a really good rich color going before putting in the coat. Let the coat 'steep' for a good long while.

Again, it ilkely won't get you to the DARK brown, but it will get you to at least one color of coat that will work -- and the addition of the leather facing for the sleeves will help make it look even more authentic.

[silver_fyrefly]

That sounds good, especially since the tea would give it that sort of "mottled" look too.

Unfortunately, the coat is a cotton/poly blend. I believe its 33% cotton to 66% poly, but I'm hoping perhaps it will work, particularly if I use another dye first to get it away from glaring white.

I know cotton is ideal, but according to the lady at the scrubs shop, pure cotton lab coats don't really exist. And it's such a good cut, I'm willing to give it a try.

I've heard of people using shoe polish on fabric. Do you know anything about that?

[thatwordgrrl]

Try using the tea anyway -- it will probably still work on a blend.

I've not used shoe polish (I assume like a paint of some sort?), but I have a feeling that when it dries, it may crack. At the very least, It may make the coat too stiff.

Fabric dye/tea bath are your better options IMO.

[goodwolf]

The shoe polish will most likely bleed through onto whatever he's wearing under it if he gets too hot or if it's hot. I'd use that as a last choice.