I have been making cosplays for about ten years now. At first it was easy to keep my costumes in the wardrobe with the rest of my clothes or maybe under the bed in a box, but I learnt the hard way that it wasn’t enough. Too many times I went looking for an old build and discovered something terrible had happened to it.
I must say that I really like my things tidy, I have already shown you how I organize my fabric stash and I do keep all my materials together just so it is easier to find the bits and pieces I use to build my cosplays.
Here I will give you some tips to store your cosplays succesfully for a long and prosper life.
1. Keep your cosplay together
It may seem obvious, but believe me, I have lost many pieces of many cosplays just because I forgot where I put half of it. At the very beginning I put all the pieces of all my cosplays in the same box. When the number started to build up, I moved some pieces but forgot others. Everything became a mess and I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out which piece was from what cosplay.
That’s why I decided to get big zipper bags to store all the pieces together. You can see what is inside and it is a matter of getting the right bag each time. Right now, I am starting to store my cosplays in custom bags. I make them with fabric leftovers as I am trying to reduce plastic at home. They only take a few minutes to make and you can make them to fit your needs.
2. Be careful with the small pieces
What if your cosplay has many small pieces like earrings, hairpins, cuffs and collars? Make sure you put them all together in a little bag with your cosplay. You will easily forget they are there if you mix them with the bigger pieces and you will definitely lose them!
Organza bags are ideal to store your cosplay bits as you can easily see what’s inside but any little bag or container will do. You can use small boxes for the most delicate pieces.
3. Invest on a good box
Again, on my early days I put my cosplays on random bags that moved around my bedroom. I couldn’t really stack them and they were always getting moved and falling. Once, I lost a costume for 6 months because one of my bags had fallen behind the sofa!
To solve this, I initially decided to store my cosplays on cardboard boxes, but they got destroyed so quickly! It is worth to invest on a good plastic box. Right now all my cosplays are in Really Useful Boxes. They are in comparison a bit expensive but they stack on top of each other, they are clear and I can see what is inside. And the best part, they don’t pop open when you overload them! Because you will overload them.
They fit easily under your desk, on top of your wardrobe or under the bed and your cosplays will be sealed and secured.
4. Support your delicate pieces
There is always a cosplay with very delicate parts on it. A sturdy box will help but sometimes you may want to add some extra support. Add newspaper pages to hollow hats and cardboard around the pieces that may collapse. Make a structure around any pieces that need it and make sure there is nothing heavy on top of them.
Also, consider putting the smaller pieces of your cosplay inside the bigger ones, you will save space and they will support each other.
5. Avoid paint stains
There is nothing worse than getting a stain on your cosplay. I lied, it is worse to get the pieces stuck together and not being able to separate them. You should be giving the right finish to your cosplay to avoid this, but nevertheless you need to be careful when you store them as it may still happen.
Never store two painted pieces touching each other nor any fabric directly. This is easily solved by adding a layer of paper in between the pieces. I recommend you to use white tissue paper, it is very inexpensive and light weight and it will save you from a bad surprise.
6. Label it all
My memory is amazing, I remember I put this cosplay in this bag along with this other piece. But, wait a minute, I changed this part so I had to move it so now it is… lost? It doesn’t matter how good your memory is if you are going to store things for a long time. Believe me, you will forget.
As I said, I store my cosplays in boxes, but very often a box will be enough for several of them. In order to remember where is each one I just write the names on the boxes. If you use a whiteboard marker you will be able to modify them easily if you ever sell, retire or move any of those cosplays. Easy and practical.
7. If it doesn’t fit…
I still haven’t found a box big enough to store some of my props. But they make beautiful decorations for my room. You can keep your bigger builds around your room, they actually look really good. Personally, I tend to build lots of swords and staffs. Other people store umbrellas, I store weapons on umbrella stands.
Ready for the convention
Try to keep all your cosplaypieces together as much as you can and consider protecting them somehow if they are going to be under direct sun or in places collecting dust. Remember that no matter how well you store your cosplays it is still possible that they got some stains and they will totally get creased after long periods of time. Always check them a few days before the convention
If you follow these tips to store your cosplays you should be ready for the convention in no time. Check all those pieces, fix any closures that broke during the last con and iron it all, after that, your life will be easier and you will be able to spend more time sewing new cosplay! And if you still struggle remember to get my Cosplay Planner to make sure you don’t forget anything. Check my patterns for new cosplays too!
Do you have any other tricks to store your cosplay? What is the worst that happened to one of your cosplays when you stored them? Let me know in the comments! And if you want me to keep writing useful articles and new tutorials don’t forget to support me on Ko-Fi. No subscription needed!
