How to Make a figma Eyepatch (Kegadol style)

When Kagami broke her right arm, I decided to wrap it up to protect it like so:

It wasn’t entirely necessary, but she just looked so fragile with her… how could I put it… open wound. Then I thought to myself, hey this looks interesting… why I don’t I try a tiny eyepatch to match? I was also inspired by the figma clothing tutorials from Unpackage? which I love (and of course Ayanami Rei & Shimei Ryomou). So let’s get to it!

and stay tuned for a Kegadol photoshoot featuring the Hiiragi sisters at the end!

Tools & Materials:

• Thin white iron-on interfacing (you’ll find the iron-on & pre glued surface very helpful in comparison to using plane white fabric)
• Pair of scissors
• Clothes iron (or hair straightener as an alternative)
• Liquid superglue (or any other relatively strong glue as an alternative

Steps

1. Fold interfacing in half with the glue-coated/shiny sides together

2. Iron along the edge about 1cm from the fold. Make sure your iron is on low heat and press very gently using the smallest tip of the iron. I actually cheated and used my hair straightener which worked perfectly. Be careful no glued faces are exposed to the iron’s surface, as the glue will melt directly onto the iron itself rather than the fabric. Keep your iron turned on, you will need it later in step 5!

3. Using your scissors, cut out a square from the ironed corner of the interfacing about 7mm x 7mm. (Size will vary depending on the size of your figma’s face/eye. The size I have chosen is for the Lucky Star girls)

4. Cut out another square, but this time on a non-folded section of the interfacing, meaning it will be 1 layer thick rather than 2. Make it about 5mm x 5mm.

5. Place this smaller square glued side down onto your larger square then iron over it to attach it. (I thought I’d point out that adding this extra square isn’t entirely necessary, but it adds a nice touch & makes it look more like a real eye bandage ^^.)

6. Gently pull 4 very long threads from the raw frayed edge of the non-folded/ironed interfacing. If it is not frayed, cut off a tiny amount along one edge to make it fray. If you are finding that these threads are breaking super-easily, then you have a more delicate interfacing than I used. In that case, you can use regular white cotton thread.

7. Dip one tip of a thread into the superglue, so about 6mm from the tip is covered in glue.

8. Lower the glued tip of the thread diagonally across the back of your eyepatch. Let it sit for a couple of seconds, but if it doesn’t look like it’s being weighed down onto the fabric by the glue itself, gently press it down with your fingertip or the end of a pencil.

9. Repeat steps 7-8 for the other 3 threads.

Wait until all the glue is dry, should only take a minute, and you should have something like this (right side up):

10. Cut out another one layer 7mm by 7mm square from your interfacing.

11. Place it glue side down onto the back of your eyepatch so it covers all the glued thread tips and iron down. I originally left this step out, but as I was attempting to tie the eyepatch onto Kagami’s face I realised the scratchy glued surface might damage the paint on her eye – hence I decided to cover it with another layer of interfacing.

11. Now for the moment of truth – gently tie your eyepatch to your figma’s head. The way I did it was top right corner thread tied at the back with the bottom left thread and vise versa. You may need to remove the bangs/fringe/top part of your figma’s hair to get the thread underneath for easier tying.

This part is fiddly, and may take you a while to get right – but be patient ^^ and do not pull the threads too hard! (I got a bit impatient and pulled so tight that one of my threads broke in half, but I managed to glue it back together anyhow).

VOILA! You have a Kegadol – esque figma ^^ Follow these steps and your figma will be looking fashionably injured in no time!

BONUS – Kegadol Photoshoot with Kagami & Tsukasa!

And lastly, let me just make it clear that neither Kagami nor Tsukasa were harmed in the making of these photos. The bandages are for aesthetic purposes only ^^ A couple of you asked if Kagami’s eye was injured while I was mending her right arm but I can assure you, she’s quite alright, see for yourself: