Final Fantasy Alternate Versions

Soooo... I had a hell of a time with the Final Fantasy deck. I don't know why, but I couldn't make up my mind on anything.  There are lots of alternates here.

The Major Arcana

 Sources:  http://crimsonsun.deviantart.com/art/She-s-my-home-203539679
                 http://robasarel.deviantart.com/art/Lightning-314258509

I had some debated on who should be Empress. Since I was excluding FF VII, VIII, IX, and X it made the choice difficult. I adore the first one, but that's Tseng and Aerith from FFVII, so that wasn't going to work. (The TsengxAerith ship is a favorite of mine. Not in a happily ever after way, in an unrequited he wants her but can never have her kind of way. It's tragic and beautiful.)  I decided on Lightning because of her protective almost motherly attitude towards Serah, and as pretty as that other picture is, the one I went with was just better.  This picture's always bothered me anyways. It's gorgeous, but Lightning would never wear a flower crown.

Source:  http://sypri.deviantart.com/art/My-Sexy-BUnny-Fran-57538551

This was simply artwork debates. Either was good, I went with the other. I may not have liked FFXII very much, but Fran was far and away the best thing about that game and there is a lot of pretty, sexy art of her.

 Source: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=20386268
I was trying SO HARD to get Kain in here.  I love FFIV and Kain is a facinating character. But obviously Gau makes a better hermit.  So it got changed.

 Source: http://mochikko.deviantart.com/art/Castle-Baron-288700938
changed this when I found the other picture of Celes and Kefka's tower. I needed to get Celes in somewhere, so that where she went.

Source: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=17277415
Another attempt to find a place for Celes.  But when I found the Kefka's tower picture I was able to change this one to a picture of Kain. So I got almost everybody I wanted in.

The Cups Suit

Good god. Final Fantasy VIII is my all time favorite Final Fantasy, and it's popular enough that there's lots of art, but for some reason, this suit was just. so. hard. By the end of this one I was so pissed off I wanted to quit.  Which is sad for my favorite game.

 Sources:  http://fyeahff.tumblr.com/post/15940515054/library-girl-zell-ffviii
                 http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=21245684

I had some difficulty with the ace.  The Zell one I made because I was struggling to find a place for Zell. The other... well look at it.  They're so happy that my eyes water whenever I look at it.  But for the meaning of the card, the one of Squall and Rinoa at the ball was really better.  I did get this one printed too, though.  I just- I just couldn't not.

  

Source: Unknown

I knew for sure that the ace and the 2 were gonna be SquallxRinoa and LagunaxRaine.  But with all the art I had for them, I just couldn't decided which would be which.  This was my SquallxRinoa version of the 2. And yes, I printed this one too.

 

 

 Source: Deleted from Pixiv

Basically I made two versions of this, one of the boys and one of the girls, and then planned to pick based on which characters needed more representation. It ended up being pretty even, so I went with the girls since I like them more. :)

Pentacles

This one wasn't too hard.  And I had plenty to choose from. Good lord there's a lot of FFVII art out there.

 Source: http://yazisthegreatest.tumblr.com/post/85011034662
I changed this when I found the other picture of Barrett and Marlene that I used for the 6. I needed to open up a slot for Cait Sith/Reeve anyways.

 

Source: Unknown

Just artwork debates. Two pretty pics of Cloud and Aerith living happily ever after, went with the other.

 Source: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=12266873

Artwork debates again.  There is an ungodly amount of gorgeous art of Aerith.  Just Aerith alone. It's overwhelming.

Swords

This one was pretty hard too. I really, really, really didn't want to put Quina in it. I never used that character, don't care for it, and found hardly any art for it. But in the end I felt bad. I felt like I should make sure that each playable character gets is.  Especially since I feel the same about Amarant, but I managed to find a place for him.

Source: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=29533652
This was where I made room for Quina.  I liked the starting out feel of this picture for an ace, but in the end, this was the only place where I could stretch the meaning of the card to at least somewhat fit with one of the pictures I had of Quina.

 Source: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=15745292

This was my first choice for the 4.  I love how sweet they look.  But I changed it because otherwise I didn't have a cute picture of Zidane and Garnet together.  I printed this anyways, though, because I think I still like this one better.

 Sources: unknown

               http://xnaxox.deviantart.com/art/Freya-crescent-308418300

the 6 changed a lot.  These were mostly just because of trying to get different characters in.  This just ended up being Eiko's spot.

 Source: Yoshitaka Amano

I wanted to use Queen Brahne, but other than screenshots, there are about four pieces of art that exist of her: This one, which is the concept art, two that are badly drawn illustrations of fanfic, and one piece with Quina that proves you can find porn of anything. I decided I'd rather have a place for Amarant.

 Source: http://puruco.deviantart.com/art/Eiko-202535436
I originally wanted Eiko to be my page, but I also knew that I wanted Beatrix to be my queen. Which left no royalty spot for Garnet, since I didn't feel like she fit in at the Knight spot, and Steiner was DEFINITELY my king.  So I changed it.  I just couldn't stand to not have Garnet in the royalty. She's a princess, dammit.

Source: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=30282627
Artwork debates.  Beatrix was easily my queen, and easily my favorite character, so picking just the right picture was the issue.

Wands

well, I thought I had some alternates for Wands, but I guess I don't. That suit wasn't as hard as the others.  Nevermind. Nothing to see here.

Cups

The Cups suit.  I think I've mentioned before, Cups is my favorite suit, and Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite Final Fantasy, so it seemed like an obvious combination, but man, did I struggle with this.  It seemed like no matter what I did I could never find good artwork to convey the meaning of the card. I don't know why this one was so difficult.  But I managed.

each Final Fantasy was matched up with each suit based on how I felt the main couple of the game fit in to the royalty of the suit. Preferably King and Queen, but that didn't always work out.

Sources:

ace. unknown
2. http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=31276494
3. http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=39789791#_=_
4. http://smallthingsdefine.tumblr.com/post/33570662450
5. concept art
6. http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=16836104
7. http://suaveli.deviantart.com/art/Quistis-Trepe-199521152
8. http://salayanara.tumblr.com/post/57458669106/rinoa-heartilly-from-final-fantasy-8-yep-im-in
9. http://djok3.deviantart.com/art/Zell-vs-Hotdog-214075203
10. http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=28650985
page. http://cetramagic.tumblr.com/post/20952687685/selphie
knight. http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=11229347
queen. http://crimsonsky.iza-yoi.net/framepagea.html
king. unknown

Halloween Costumes

So, Caleb and I had a Halloween party to go to this last weekend, so we needed costumes.  We only realized we'd be able to go a week ahead of time, so I had a week to make Caleb's costume.  Obviously I was fine, with plenty of options.  I wanted to wear Rinoa, but there was going to be drinking, and I spill things when I drink.  If I ruined my Rinoa jacket I'd probably cry for the rest of my life.  Same issue with my steampunk stuff.  I thought about Jessica Albert, but no one would have know who she is.  And Ellone, Raine and River Tam are too subtle to be interesting.  So I went with Aerith.  Did the hair and everything.

Bangs aren't quite as stand-uppy as Aerith's, but you get the idea.

For Caleb, it needed to be simple, inexpensive and fast.  He doesn't like dressing up, so I wouldn't be allowed to do anything elaborate or spend a lot of money on it, and it needed to be easy and quick to make. I also wanted to the character to appeal to him at least a little bit.  So, I went with the Great Saiyaman from Dragonball Z.

He was a very good sport about it.

He already had black pants, I bought him a black longsleeve shirt.  The vest was made using a vague shape based on a t shirt of his.  The cape is four triangles buttoned at the shoulders with functional buttons in case he wanted to take the cape off.  The helmet Saiyaman wears was not an option so we went with the other look. The bandanna is just a triangle of jersey fabric tied around his head. The sunglasses are some cheap ones we'd gotten for free from some sample site and the earpieces used to be neon orange, so I just painted them.  Those were one of our favorite parts, they're the exact same style as Saiyaman's. The belt is a wide strip of elastic with velcro sewn on and a belt buckle made of two circles of foam glued on.  The gloves were difficult cuz I've never made gloves other than my failed attempt for Shannon.  But I managed.  They're just an outline of his hand with interfacing around the cuff for support.  They just barely fit.  The boots are boot covers I made using the same principles from my steampunk spats, only expanded to fit what I wanted.  They have zippers installed in the back and the toes were extended to a point and a cardboard cone glued in.  Painted the toes gold and added the lines with a black sharpie. 

I'm pretty proud of how it turned out, all his nerdy friends knew instantly who he was and assured me that he looked great.

Hee. I got my husband to cosplay. :D

Steampunk and Cosplay Pictures Part 2!

And here's the cosplay.  Just two outfits, but several pictures.

First, Jessica Albert!
























Still a few minor details missing, like her pouch, a clip for her whip, and boot covers.  and the belt has some issues.  But the main part is done.  I've even got her necklace and earrings that she wears in the game but don't show in the official art.   Can't really see them though.  The shirt used to be a turtleneck that I cut and hemmed, and added elastic around the top.  The skirt was a curtain, and I just liked the rich color and texture of the fabric.  The petticoat is just a bedskirt with a lacy ruffle that I cut in half, sewed together and added an elastic waistband.  I layer it with my other petticoat for my steampunk outfit to fill out my bustle skirt a bit more.  The corset is an actual boned corset made from a pattern I drafted myself, which I'm rather proud of.  It's also the first time I tried binding with with the same fabric it was made of instead of store bought bias tape.  So much prettier.

And my other outfit.  I finally managed to get some decent shots of me actually in my Rinoa outfit.

New Rinoa Project

So, if you remember, I mentioned this other project when I was working on my duster.  I wanted to create this outfit of Rinoa's from some fanart I found.  I love this version of Rinoa's outfit.  And, since I ran out of black yarn RIGHT BEFORE THE END of my granny jacket and need something else to do while I wait for the rest of my yarn to ship to me, I decided to work on this.  Already have the armwarmers, obviously.  I have half a dozen black tank tops I can use for this.  I had a plain denim skirt, but it recently came to my attention that the skirt was sitting badly and causing some self conciousness issues that didn't need to be there so I got rid of it.  So I need a new one, but that's not hard.  And I have a plain black belt.  I can't tell what the neclace is, something with wings, I don't know.  I have a necklace that is a winged heart, and I decided to order a Griever necklace, even though she's clearly not wearing Griever, just cuz it's cool and would be appropriate.  I'll figure out something for the bracelet.  Her legs are hard, there's not much to see there.  it looks like some kind of leggings with zippers, or stockings, or it may even be thigh high boots.  Not sure.  I may just do my own thing with thigh high stockings and something else for shoes.  thigh high boots, while awesome, and I do want some, are a bit out of my reach.  Stockings are much easier.  The shrug, of course, I am knitting.  I found a pattern that was simple enough, and close to the right shape.  I had to sit and redo all the math for the number of stitches and rows and whatnot, cuz I'm using the same yarn and needles I did for the duster.  so now, once again, I am knitting and purling on tiny, tiny needles.  sigh....

Rinoa Heartilly

Please excuse the massive image dump, but this particular sweetheart has so much detail, I'm so proud of her.

Rinoa Heartilly!  I had this idea, and I just couldn't resist.  Now I have a matching doll to carry around when I'm dressed as her!  you know it's totally a Rinoa thing to do, to have a cute little doll of herself. :)

She's based on the Tinkerbell pattern with the alterations I made for the Sailor Moon dolls for the body. The skirt is the same, but with only like two or four increases so it fits over her hips.  Her skirt doesn't flare at all. silver buttons were embroidered on.  Her boots are the same as Jupiter's, with the little silver buckles embroidered on.  Her legs are six rounds of skin color and six of black, with the lines for the zippers embroidered.  Her necklace is two strands of embroidery thread chained on a 1.3 mm hook (SO HARD TO DO.  tiny hooks suck.) and a loop on the bottom to look like a ring.  Her arms are two rounds of skin color, three of blue, and three of skin for her armwarmers.  Her hair is Ariel's pattern with the short hair variation for the strands, and Sailor Moon's bangs, but only four on each side.  and I just embroidered the highlights on with brown.

The duster.  that was the biggest thing I created for this.  I ought to be an expert at Rinoa's duster, right?

started at the bottom, chained 15, so it would be 14 sts across.  went up until it reached her hips, decreased two stitches each on the next two rows to 10 st,  crocheted across until it reached about her armpits, sl st next 3, sc in next 4, sl st, turn, ch 1, sc in 4 previous 4 sc, turn.  I think I did four or five rows of 4 sc.  at each corner of the 4 sc bit I ch-5 and joined it to the point of the piece where it was still 10 sc across to make the arm straps.  the tails from the hains worked perfectly to tie it across her chest, and the wings are handpainted on by me, using the same picture I used for my own duster as reference.  I tried to get as much detail as possible, but it was a very small space.  I think I did pretty good though.

I think that's all the details. I had so much fun working out every part.  She is also for sale in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lynlynlora

And now I really think I need more Final Fantasy character.  Ohhh, these will not be easy.

The Official Rinoa Heartilly's Duster Pattern

 

Rinoa Heartilly's Duster and Armwarmers

 

Supplies:

Size 2 (2.75 mm) knitting needles (I strongly recommend 14” length for at least the back panel)

Size 2 (2.75 mm) double pointed needles

yarn needle

white fabric paint

two small silver buttons (The ones I used were 1/2” across)

Yarn

I used Knitpicks.com Shine Sport in Sky, 60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal® natural beech wood fiber. Anything would be fine as long as it's sport weight. For my length I used 20 skeins of yarn. Online is definitely the cheapest way to go when buying that much yarn. Knitpicks.com is an excellent source, and so is elann.com. Because of the ribbed fabric, I might recommend you use a wool yarn so you can block it flat and have it stay, but I really liked the look of the cotton yarn.

This jacket is a size medium tall, made to fit my medium sized 6' tall frame.

Gauge: 10 rows to an inch, 6 sts to an inch.

Abbreviations:

CO- cast on                   pfb- purl front and back

k- knit                            kfb- knit front and back

p- purl                            sts- stitches

The Armwarmers

CO 60 sts onto three double pointed needles.

Join, knit 2, purl 2 all the way around.

Continue until desired length. 
They took about one skein each. 

Cast off using whatever stretchy bind off you're most comfortable with. I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. (Site with description of bind off technique: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall09/FEATjssbo.php)

Mine were 11 1/4” long. It is not necessary to taper the tube to fit your arm, the ribbed pattern will keep them snug.

The Duster  

The Front Panel (Make 2)

CO 16 sts on to straight needles

knit 2, Purl 2 for 6”

start increasing here. (if you have a preferred increasing technique, feel free to use it. This is just the one I used.)

K2, p2 until the last two sts, pfb the last two stitches.

K2, p2 back across

k2, p2 until the last two stitches, kfb the last two.

P2, k2 back across.

Continue until you've increased to 44 sts. Remember to always increase on the same side. Make sure you're paying attention to whether you're starting with a knit or a purl on the next row after increasing.

At 44 sts your piece should be about 10” long.

Continue knitting without increases until piece reaches from shoulder to ankle. This was 56 ½” total for me. It took about three skeins of yarn.

( I am TALL. Although once it was done I wished it was a bit longer. Make sure you adjust this for yourself.)

I did not bind off any pieces until I had all 3 seamed together so I could make sure they were all the same length, since I didn't count rows.

The Back Panel (Make One)

This is a wide piece, I strongly recommend having 14” long needles for this.

CO 16 sts each from two different balls of yarn. to start with it's gonna be two separate pieces, doing it like this makes sure they're the same length. (Pictures are done with different colored yarn to illustrate what I was doing.)

k2, p2 across both pieces each with their own yarn, for about three inches. so you'll have two completely independent pieces just hanging off the same needle.

 

kfb/pfb depending on what's needed on the last two sts of the first piece on the needle and the first two sts of the second piece. so towards the inside, increasing the pieces towards each other. keep doing this every row until the pieces together measure about 11"-12" across together. that's about the comfortable length to go across my shoulders. I increased each piece to 42 sts.

to join the pieces, do one more row of increases, except after knitting across the first piece, instead of using the working yarn from the second piece to knit it, carry the yarn over from the first piece. pull it tight so there's no gap.

k2, p2 one row after the join to solidify it. piece was 4 1/2" long, about 11" across.

Now, you increase the outsides to go down across your back and under you arms. Increases must be finished when the piece is 10” long to match up with the front panels.

Plain row means k2 p2 across without any increases

increase means kfb/pfb the first and last stitch of that row.

plain row
plain row
increase
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
increase piece was 5 1/2" long.
plain <---- one inch

plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
plain <--- two inches (eleventh row is extra to make up the length) 6 7/8" long

increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain <--- three inches, just shy of 8" long

plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain
increase
plain
plain
plain <--- four inches. no need for an extra row. 9 1/8" long

increase 1 st on each side (to make sure we have a complete bar of ribbing)
plain
increase 2 sts on each side
plain
increase 2
plain
increase 2
plain
increase 2 <--- 10" long and 128 sts across.

I realize the increases are unevenly split on the rows, feel free to change this if it bothers you, as long as you have the same number of increases. Do not change the last inch of increases, it is important for the shape to have more increases in the last inch. This is what worked for me.

Again, make sure you're paying attention to whether you're starting with a knit or a purl on the next row after increasing. Since you're only increasing one stitch on each side for the first few inches it's going to be a little strange. Pay attention.

After the final increase row, continue to knit without increases until piece is desired length.  This took about 9 skeins of yarn.

Once pieces are done, seam together using the mattress stitch. I was very careful to pick places for the seams so as to not interrupt the ribbed pattern. This will be awkward if you didn't bind off to make sure that all three pieces lined up. Once you're sure, bind off using the same stretchy bind off you used for the armwarmers. Wash and block.

BLOCKING STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. The nature of ribbed fabric is to pull in, so these pieces will look small. Blocking will set the stitches and stretch out the ribbing so it looks nice. Blocking also provides a perfect opportunity to paint the wings on the back of the jacket.

The Wings

A few notes. I opted to paint them on because that is how it looks to me in shots from the game.

Looks like paint to me.

The image I used for my stencil can be found here: http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=129189

in the first response from Leradny she has a link to the image. I've included it here just in case. I stretched the image until it took up the entire page. That size seemed to match best to me. Also, make sure to place the wings fairly close to the neckline, they're supposed to go across your shoulder blades.

My method was to paint it on with a sponge using the stencil, but this smudged the details quite a bit. I would suggest adding a bit of water to the paint and using a spray bottle to spritz the paint on. I have a theory that this would go on cleaner. Keep in mind, I have not tried this. I cleaned up my wings by mixing a bit of blue with the white and painting in the smudged details.

Blocking is the perfect time to do this, once it's dry, because it's all pinned down, stretched out and secure.

 

 

Stitch the two shoulder straps together once everything is dry. I used a basic whip stitch.

The Trim

CO 8 sts

Knit in stockinette until desired length.
It took two and a little more skeins of yarn for all of it.

you will need three pieces, one long piece to go around the front and neckline of the jacket and two to go around the sleeve openings.

once the pieces are long enough to fit, (length will vary depending on how long you made your jacket.) stitch the two edges together with the knit side out. The fabric will be curling this way naturally because of the way stockinette curls.

Sew the flattened tubes around the edges of the jacket.

For the strips that close the jacket in front make one more small strip the same way about 6” long. This one will be the one you sew the buttons on.

For the strip with the buttonholes, make another strip with the buttonholes at 1 ½” and 3 ½”. Strictly speaking two buttonholes aren't necessary, if you just to one, center it on the piece. For my buttons I made the buttonholes 5 rows long. Vertical buttonholes simply involve switching to a new ball of yarn halfway through to row to create a separation. When I sewed the edges together on the back I simply stitched the edges to the edge of the buttonhole on the front to leave it open.

If ypu have a different method for making buttonholes, feel free. This is just how I did it.

Now you're done! Get a black v neck tank top, a denim skirt and black shorts and go save the world with your knight!

If you have any issues please feel free to contact me, either by commenting, or through my Ravelry account, which is linked in my sidebar. Have fun!