Top 5 Favorite Cosplay Fabrics || MangoSirene

Top 5 Favorite Cosplay Fabrics

Fabric: the bread of the cosplay world. You can laden it with your beads, lace, and trims like any great BLT, but your fabric is the foundation of your costume sandwich. And just like with bread, we all have our favorite kinds! Whether you like melonpan or minky, taftan or taffeta, pumpernickel or poplin, or maybe something more exotic like cauliflower pizza crust or "crêpe" de chine, cosplay introduces us all to a wide variety of fabric types. And after ten years, here are my personal favorites I've gotten to use while making costumes!

5. Microsuede

4. Silk Charmeuse

3. Clothing PVC

2. Spandex Moleskin

1. Cotton Sateen

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Fabric bolt thumbnail footage from JoAnn Fabrics & CC Library.

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♫ MUSIC ♫
All music was used under the Creative Commons license.

[lemonalice]

Nah, nah, please do dwell on the negative! Would love to see a "Worst 5 Cosplay Fabrics" video. It might be helpful for new cosplayers to know which fabrics to avoid.

[nighteyesiv]

Raise your hand if you have more than 6 yards of white cotton sateen in your craft room "just in case", "because it was on sale."

[blueskyciara]

I was waiting for it "When's she gonna talk about cotton sateen" god damn lol

[True_Dat]

My 5 favorites are : polycotton, polyester, spandex/4 way stretch fabrics, cotton. These are affordable with custom prints which saved me time on some cosplay that require embroidery.

[what.even.is]

I'm making an entire gown out of brocade. LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH.

(>'.')> TIP <('.'<)
Woven fusible interfacing is a great way to keep edges from fraying that either (1) shouldn't be serged or (2) need to be clipped for curves, foldovers, etc. Good seam reinforcement too for high stress areas like shoulder seams and waist seams. Especially for gowns with heavy or long skirt pieces.

(>'.')> also TIP <('.'<)
Use WOVEN fusible interfacing, not the non-woven stuff! It's weaker and it tears too easily. Woven interfacing is much stronger and will keep your garment from falling apart or losing its shape.

[CullenDraws]

Finally! I never know what fabric to use, now I at least now some names to keep an eye open for!

[hungrylikealoup]

Top 5 for me would be:
1. Microsuede
2. Peachskin
3. Faux leather
4. Linen
5. Jacquards/brocades

I also love to raid the home decor fabric section because they always have such pretty and interesting fabrics! Plus, at my Joanns, home dec is right next to the red tag section, so easy access to discounted fabric :D

[HalicanDrops]

I used to work in a fabric store and I 100% agree that cotton sateen is the best!! It's such a lovely fabric to work with and it looks so nice!

[Animekippgirl]

My favourite material is Broadcloth! It's light but still sturdy and can hold it's shape a lot better than some fabrics, but not super heavy and comes in SO many colours!

[BlackWolfCosplay]

I LOVE cotton sateen, I found it a few years ago and have lived it ever since XD it makes your costumes look so much more professional than most man made fabric. I also love slub silk for the texture and silk dupion can crater beautiful colour combinations. I tend to like natural fibres and fabric that has some kind of texture woven into it rather than completely flat material :)

[AlexanderHamilton]

Have you tried muskin (mushroom leather)? It's vegan and falls under all the other animal-friendly categories, and is more environmentally friendly than PU or PVC leather.

[prettysweet]

Your fabric videos have saved my life!

[emmagoering]

I love felt, it is great for ears and other props parts because there is absolutely no fraying and if used with hot glue it basically becomes unbreakable !! It is the perfect fabric for beginners or if you are in a pinch for a prop or something !!

[MargotdeSusanne]

YES I was looking for a video like this FOREVER

[PinkCorvid]

I love linen for any "historical" or non-modern sorts of anime. And I really like cotton twill for bold, cartoony, solid colour pieces.

[Animekippgirl]

When your email, YouTube and Twitter all go off because Mango uploaded! <3

[KawaiiKissable]

words cannot express how much this made me so happy. glad I now know the fabric type names!!! you are a godsend Nina!

[lauren]

I just bought some cotton sateen for the first time and it is so amazing. Thanks for the recommendation!!

[zaraflores-kinney]

Yay! I'm not the only one who has stressed out over brocade! The two cosplays that I have made so far have been heavy on the brocade and I now have to try lining one of them after the fact so I can enter it in a competition.

[rotteprinsen]

My fave rn is most def Wool, it's such a dream to sew in since I make a lot of historical men's costumes 💕