How to build a whole cosplay in 3 days

A step by step guide with rules.*

*There are only two rules.

The first is easy. Don’t crunch – sleep deprivation eyebags are easier to sleep away than to spakfill. Give yourself a firm cut off point. Something like ‘if you haven’t finished by now, quit, have a cry and go to bed – there will be another event’ or ‘if it’s wearable this point, that’s fine, you can do updates later.’

The second is harder – have all of the stuff you need to make your garment assembled ahead of time. A 3 day cosplay is actually a couple of months background work and planning so that you can slam something out in like, 23 hours (that’s a 3 day work week with a half hour lunch … or thereabouts). You need a place to store fabric and to hoard patterns and the time to do research if you want to create this way. You also need to know your strengths. 3 day builds are not the time to experiment with new techniques. I know that I can make anything out of cardboard, that I’m a damn good seamstress (mostly because I ignore my sewing machine’s complaints), and that while I’m by no means gifted with wigs, I can usually make something decent.

A 3 day build is a last resort … and it may well be a symptom of what I will one day get diagnosed as some form of ADHD hyperfocus.

The most important thing for a 3 day build is a plan of attack. If you need to make underpinnings, buy or make them first so that everything will sit properly. Work from the inside out. Shoes are also helpful as they will also change how your body stands and also dictate hemlines, and sometimes, weapon lengths.

In writing this, I have just realised that this is also how I write (or I would write, if I wasn’t COMPLETELY BLOCKED – linguistically constipated since November 2020).

Sesshomaru was a 3 day build

Shadow Sae was a 3 day build (but apparently I don’t have any images of her on my drive)

Galo was a 3 day build

Kamui was a 3 day build (most of that was the 6ft shinken)