Kaylee's Parasol (Firefly)

    Kaylee's parasol was a bit tricky but only because I'm picky. After going through images online and taking screen caps from the show I could see that the colors on the parasol (4 including the white or 'empty space') each ended their spiral in 1 of 4 points.

    Let me explain: Take the red for example. It ends or fades out, we'll say, on the top edge. Followed by the yellow on right, the green on the bottom. And lastly the white on the left edge. All four colors pretty much begin in the same spot, though.

    I drew and redrew the pencil lines to get the curves right so that the colors each had roughly the same amount of space and were evenly shaped as they fanned out. They all start small and then grow as they get to the end of their spiral- the edge of the parasol. I marked the edge for each color. (The pencil lines might be hard to see in the pics)

    Once I had the lines, I started with the red, then yellow and finally green. Even while painting I evened out the lines a bit more.

    The parasol itself I got on amazon: "AEAOA Plain Bamboo Cloth Parasol". It's not paper and the cloth is not a cotton, maybe more of a nylon? But the paint worked great on it. It's fairly sturdy but I'm also careful opening and closing it.

    This is the paint I used from Michael's. It doesn't have to be this kind I just thought these colors matched really well. The colors are called: FX Bloodline (red), FX Shockwave (yellow), and FX Green Gene (green). Each about $4.

    Overall, it turned out better than I hoped! Taking the time to get the lines right made the difference. (Also, don't feel you have to do it the way I did, I just try to get it as accurate as possible because I'm picky! I'm usually way happier with the end result, though:)) You can also add some or the rips or tears and leave it in the sun for a more worn look.

More reference images:

~stay shiny~

Thanks for reading:)

{WarriorClassStudios}

Kaywinnet Lee (Kaylee) Frye Cosplay

    Kaylee's outfit is fairly simple consisting of coveralls, a shirt underneath, boots and patches. I also added the parasol (See walkthrough in other post). She's got multiple outfits throughout Firefly and Serenity but I went with the classic, olive green coveralls with no sleeves, black boots and a flowery pink 3/4 shirt underneath.

    The coveralls are Dickies Women's Long Sleeve Cotton Coveralls in Moss Green. These were the ones that I felt matched the best even though they might be a little expensive. Go with what works best for you! The material was soft and it fit great. (It is more green than it looks in this picture. I imagine wash and wear will lighten the color as well.) These had the deep front pants pockets as well.

   

    First thing I did was take off the 'Dickies' tags and the front right pocket leaving the front left as well as the two back pockets. Then I took off the sleeves. I pulled the sleeve into itself through the arm opening so that the material would fold inward off the shoulder. I pinned it, sewed it, and then cut off the sleeve and repeated for the other side.

    For this outfit thee are three patches: the Bear, the Heart and the Flower, which I got here on etsy.

    The bear is sewn on the front left leg at an angle just below the bottom seam of the pocket with its head tilted away from the body. The sewing pattern is different in that the thread goes over the edge of the patch straight into the coveralls with each pass as opposed to remaining just on the patch. (Hope that makes sense, there's probably a name for this type of stitching pattern...)

    The heart is sewn on the front right side pocket just below the waistband. Careful not to sew the pocket shut.

    The flower is sewn on the waistband on the left side close to the middle zipper. (It wasn't until I was looking into these details that I realized that this flower patch was only put on after Kaylee was shot, and is covering the hole where the bullet went through!)

 

    The flowery pink shirt I got off etsy. There are also a few on amazon. You can probably get by with any similar floral shirt though.

    The boots don't have to be exact. Most of them can be covered by the pant legs of the overalls. I went with black shoes/boots that looked plain but could pass for futuristic/western. Go with whatever floats your boat. Er...spaceship.

    For the words/symbols on the coveralls I did a bit of searching to find some pictures that would show them more clearly. There are others who did a great job even translating some of them, but I didn't want to worry about these being perfect. There are three that go down at a diagonal along the top of the left pants pocket. One on the right leg, above the knee on the outer thigh. And one below the bear to the outer left of the knee. I used a sharpie with the square? rectangle? tip for the angled edge of the lines. I also practiced on the sleeves that I took off beforehand. It may also help to sit down while wearing the coveralls to see where the symbol should go. (I did this and put a pin in the spot so I didn't have to draw it on while wearing the coveralls. But if that's easier for you do that.)

    These next photos are not mine but from some others who shared their process, which helped!

I don't know how accurate the translation is but these helped get the general shape of them.

    Here is another image showing closer detail of the symbol on the right leg. Refer to previous pics above^ that also show some details and placement of the symbols and patches.

    There are a few other details like the necklace that I'd like to add at some point, and some finishing touches that I need to do but for the most part, it is done!

~stay shiny~

Thanks for reading:)

{WarriorClassStudios}