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Welcome to the Leaf Pile!

Hello! I’m Sammy, aka LeafninCosplay, and this is my leaf pile, a collection of tutorials and helpful advice that can get you started with sewing and crafting or give you ideas for techniques. Everything in this blog can be done in minimal space. My workshop is technically the corner of my living room in a 900sqft apartment I share with my roommate. You don’t need a giant workshop or massive house to cosplay. You can craft and create cosplay in spaces as small as a dorm room!

If you’re new to making your own cosplay or not sure how to start, check out the Getting Started section on the menu. This features a collection of tutorials specifically geared towards getting started with a specific subject.

If you’re looking for something specific, the Tutorials Index is arranged by subject. Recent tutorials are located on the menu above. You can also find character-specific build tutorials on Character Builds.

Feel free to follow me on social media for updates on my latest projects, random posts about my artbook obsession, and games. And if you make something with one of my tutorials, let me know! I’d love to see your work. Remember, sewing and crafting are skills, not talent, so what are you waiting for? Let’s get started!

This blog is compatible with dark readers and images have alt text for accessibility. If there are any issues with the contrast or accessibility, let me know!

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Announcements

Site updates (3/29/25) – New Section and menu changes!

  • Patterns – Free patterns! These are images of cosplay designs, medallions, foam details, stencils, and everything in between. These are image files but feel free to use these to create vector files. You can also find pattern files matched with characters and series here.
    • Patterns FAQ – all sorts of information about the patterns
    • Patterns also has its own menu option!
  • The Tutorials Index menu option has been renamed to Cosplay Tutorials to make it easier to know what it is.

Also removed the Instagram widget as it’s no longer working.

Site updates (3/14/25) – I’ve added two new large pages

  • Competitions – a list of competitions I’ve been in, organized by year and shown by character I cosplayed. For conventions 2021 and later, there’s a good chance the competition pages also have build books. I’ve also dug really deep to find videos and stage photos as much as possible. I’m missing a number of years, but I did manage to find some photos all the way back to 2005.
  • Cosplay Gallery – a much-requested page. All of the cosplays I’m proud of and have photos to share. These pages share with Character Builds and the Competition page, so some of these have tutorials and competition info as well.

Both of these pages are listed under the About Me section on the menu

Site Updates (3/7/25) – Character Builds has been updated to a new format! This should be easier to navigate and make it much easier for me to expand with new characters! I have added two new Pokémon builds into the list too!

I have also added Support this site! If you like what I do, consider tossing a coin my way!

Site updates (2/11/25) – Time to make some updates to this site! I’ll be rearranging menus and side bars to make room for a larger variety of things. I want to add more photos, music, and possibly other fun things to the site, and the current layout is pretty limiting.

Upcoming conventions and panels

If you’ve attended any of my panels, head on over to Panels to check out the slides and my notes!

Latest panels:

  • CitrusCon – Reincarnated as a Cosplayer with a Broke-Ass Budget and Crafting Skills (orange level). 6/22 @ 3:30PST

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Latest Tutorials

bags and pouches

Big Kiki cross-body bag

When I set out to make myself a Kiki cosplay from Kiki’s Delivery Service, I thought about buying a bag. Yet none of the bags quite worked for me. They were too small, the wrong color, not enough pockets, or not enough length in the strap. Who knows what was wrong with this one. So…

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accents

Modifying metal zippers

Metal zippers just look cool and come in some very striking metallic colors, usually gold and silver, but I’ve also seen metallic rainbow as well. Bruno Bucciarati was the first time I had encountered the metal zipper. His jacket featured several metallic gold zipper accents on the sleeves, collar, and shoulders, and metal zippers make…

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fabric crash course

Fabric crash course: acrylic felt

Acrylic felt is one type of soft felt that’s both versatile and easy to work with. It may seem like it’s “just a craft material,” but those “just craft materials” have a lot of uses with cosplay and, of course, fun crafts. It’s one of the best fuzzy materials to start with given how many…

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paper mache

Decoupage drinking horn

Sometimes you just need a cool-looking drinking horn for a cosplay. Sometimes you also want to make that drinking horn, and a proper horn should be hollow and thin. You could use thin foam, but I’d be afraid of bumping the thing and crushing it. So I turned to my good friend decoupage. You may…

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sewing techniques

How to sew an irregular hem

Sometimes a hem is just irregular. It’s not a straight edge, zigzag, or even a scallop. It just borders the weird. I come across them every so often in cosplay designs, especially those that lean towards adventurer or barbarian designs. Sometimes you’ll see them at the edges of scarves too. My Barbarian Bowser look is…

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