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After my ill-fated Davesprite cosplay (we salute you, wing rig), I wanted to keep portraying Dave Strider in some way, and since I couldn't find a two-tone baseball jersey with red-sleeves anywhere (buying online seemed impossible without help from my sister finding wigs on ebay), I decided I really wanted to do his God Tier outfit. Of note, however, is that save for a hand-sewn plush or two, I'd never sewn anything by myself.

So God Tier Dave became my first sewing experience! My mom showed me the basics of using our old family sewing machine, and I made my first solo trip to the fabric store to get some basic twill and broadcloth. I found a tutorial online on how to make a half-circle cape , laid my fabric flat, and traced the curve out using a piece of string and chalk as instructed before cutting it out. I learned quite a few sewing machine basics with this project; the hood was traced from one of my hoodies (and ended up a little short) and the cape was lined with the darker red broadcloth. I learned to iron seams, trimming seam allowances on curves, and how to do a hem.

The rest of the outfit was much the same process as Karkat's. I bought red pants, a long sleeve shirt and short sleeve shirt; I printed the Time aspect logo on Heat Transfer Vinyl Paper and cut and applied it to the shirt. At the time, people on Tumblr were praising Arda Wigs for its quality, so when my sister wanted to buy a wig for her own cosplay, I jumped at the opportunity to also get a blonde wig to replace the one I used for Davesprite.

I finished this cosplay just in time for Otakuthon 2013. Meeting the local Homestuck fandom was always a treat; it felt like a nerdy family reunion, and this group in particular would often host meetups outside of con season. I felt so proud walking around with my first sewn costume part; there was this strange, exciting energy at the time around the fandom with "tiers" of sorts. Homestuck did not have easily purchaseable costumes like you'd find with the ever present Akatsuki cloaks in downtown Chinatown or specialized import websites. It had, however, a slew of accessible characters where you could assemble it almost entirely out of clothes you'd find at any store and a bit of fabric paint at the minimum. In that regard, cosplayers who could sew costumes felt on another crazy level entirely, even for basic God Tier outfits like Dave's. It felt like growing as a person, to finally "access" this new tier in cosplaying.

I only wore this cosplay once, as I got swept up in making Madoka Kaname right after and just wanted to keep showing up my awesome self-made magical girl outfit. Not to mention, Dave's cape had a notable flaw; the weight of the fabric pulled it down uncomfortably around my neck, so I ended up bringing Karkat to future events instead before gradually retiring that one, too, as I got into other fandoms. But I always feel like this God Tier Dave cosplay was the push I needed to start trying out sewing things for real, while the next few projects showed me the fun of making elaborate multi-technique costumes.

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