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Alice Seno's Lotis Master costume from Yuu Watase's 7-volume manga, "Alice 19th" has been one of my cherished dream costumes to make. It is so elegant, so lovely, and so cute!
Although "Alice 19th" does suffer from some of the hallmark problems of shojo manga (cliched personalities, improbable fanservice situations, misplaced humor, illogical behavior from the characters, teen dramaz), the interesting concept behind it and Watase's marvelous artwork make up for those deficiencies. Prior to "Alice 19th," I had collected all of the first "Fushigi Yuugi," which I almost gave up on due to the immaturity and irritating nature of the female lead, Miaka Yuki. In the interim between the works, Watase did several other series, including "Ceres Celestial Legend," and "Absolute Boyfriend," (and "Imadoki!" I think) which show her immense development and maturation as both a storyteller and an artist from FY to A19. A19 is far and away a superior series to the original FY, and lately, I've been pleased to see she has continued to improve, as "Fushigi Yugi: Genbu Kaiden" displays.
I very much like the character of Alice - she is quite a departure from the usual brave, bubbly, outgoing shojo heroine. Alice is quiet and shy, friendless and uncertain, unable to tell the boy, Kyo, she likes her feelings for him until it is too late and Alice's popular, pretty, perfect sister, Mayura, has already talked him into going out with her. Lacking the courage to face her own feelings and choices, Alice's life begins to change when she meets Nyozeka, a spirit rabbit, who introduces Alice to the 24 runes of the Lotis, a powerful magical alphabet which is used to exorcise the demons of darkness from preying on the weakness of the human heart. When Alice, in an argument with Mayura, inadvertantly sends her sister straight into that darkness where the demons are waiting for her, it is up to Alice and Kyo to master the Lotis Words, journey into the heart, save Mayura, and face Darva, the ruler of the demons, once and for all - all while coming to accept their growing feelings for each other.
Alice's maturation, and development from a timid girl to a self-confident young woman throughout the story, was one of the cheif attractions I had for her character - typically, in shojo manga, character development is minor, if any, and that certainly held true for the other characters of this series. It is less common for the female lead to undergo so radical a change, and this, as much as Watase's elegant designs for the Lotis Master costumes, led me to want to cosplay her.
The Lotis Master costume is based on Alice and Kyo's school uniforms. I did actually mix the two: I opted to keep Alice's school girl skirt rather than make the actual Lotis Master skirt. My reason for this is a rather silly one: I like pleats. I like making pleats, I like sewing pleats, I like ironing pleats, and I like wearing pleated skirts - I know; I'm weird - so I wanted to keep the unique pleats of the school uniform rather than the straight a-line skirt of the Lotis Master uniform. The skirt, and the jacket/dress front is made from a red synthetic called moleskin. The jacket proper is white cotton twill, which handles very well, but has the drawback of wrinkling rather easily. Both the skirt and the dress-jacket went together very well on the first try, although there are some flaws with the back of the jacket and how the tails hang that I would have liked to be different. I was very pleased, however.
One of the most difficult parts of designing the capelet. It's more complicated than a simple sailor-suit-style backflap, since it continues all the way around the shoulders and arms to the front, and Watase-sensei is particular in her drawings about how the fabric drapes and where the seams are. For those of us who are anal retentive about details like this, replicating this drape and seam system was REALLY tough - but I got it! Without wasting too much fabric, too. Yay! Initially, I was worried that it made me look like a linebacker, but I think I got it right. The cuffs are a separate circular piece to make the slight bell flare. Mine are, unfortunately, slightly too short for my tastes.
This had a LOT of finish work, and a LOT of props. The jacket closes with a zipper hidden on the right side, with a series of 6 snaps to close the front across the red shoulder piece. These were doubly hidden by the addition of the gold trim around all the edges, which is sewn in place with two lines of stitching. For a while, it looked like I was making a band uniform. I realize that in the manga, there is no such detail shown on the trim - it appears to be a flat, straight gold border. However, I felt that this was a very ceremonial outfit: the Lotis Masters all have very formal habits they wear, and I felt that replacing a dull yellow bias tape with something more elaborate like gold braid was an acceptable substitution that added to the costume.
The next thing to tackle was the red dot-dash pattern on the cuff and tail hems of the jacket. I opted to make this pattern by weaving a red ribbon through spaced buttonholes. This meant measuring and appropriately spacing and sewing a total of 176 button holes (22 per sleeve, 132 for the tails) and weaving a 3/8" ribbon through them. Yeah. The end result was worth it, though!
Then, on to the ribbons. These were, actually, more labor intensive than the buttonholes. I simply could not find a solid gold glossy-finish or satin ribbon ANYWHERE, particularly not in a width that would serve for the extra-wide tapered section of the front "tie-style" ribbon. I ended up getting sparkly gold gauze (too thin to b e used on its own) and heat-n-bonding it to a layer of gold lining. The heat-n-bond, however, caused the gauze to completely lose its shine, so I put another layer of gauze, without bonding it, on top. The bottom layer is red satin ribbon. The colored bands at the bottom are also satin ribbon, pieced together in a quilting pattern known as a braid or French braid (somewhat similar to a log cabin quilt block). When the quilting for the top and bottom ribbons were finished, I laid these out together on top of each other, pinned them, traced the outline of the tie, sewed the trace lines, cut out the shape just outside the basting, and finished the edges with a satin stitch overcast by machine. I repeated this for the two long back ribbons and the head ribbons, and then finally for the body loop - which was easier, as it is a single width, and thus I could just use standard red satin ribbon for the back and did not need to cut it. The red under-arm ribbons were done the same way, only the white V decorations on them are glued on since they are so small and narrow.
All of the ribbons are detachable for cleaning. Under the capelet on the back, I applied two pieces of fusible interfacing and sewed the curves of two large D-rings on them. Each back ribbon is looped through a D ring and is fastened to itself by a button (2 more buttonholes!). The red underarm body ribbon fastens to the back just under the capelet by two hooks and eyes, and fasten to the back of the front tie ribbon by another button (two more buttonholes!). The ends of the front tie and the body loop ribbon are all glued to the back of the Mirror of Lota, which attaches to the front of the costume with a pin backing.
Yuu Watase is, throughout the manga, a little inconsistent in the angle of the body loop ribbon. I opted, for the sake of ease, comfort, and uniformity, to angle the ribbons so they went over my shoulders, as seen in a few images. Most often, the ribbon is a free-floating loop that hovers around Alice's upper arm or elbow, but I find that when wearing a costume in real life, that is impractical, and actually a little sloppy-looking. I I felt it looked cleaner to bring the ribbons up over my shoulders and let them loop down the back.
There are 3 symbols of Lota hand-embroidered on the capelet (two lapels, one in the back) and another on the crown of the head ribbon. The white part of the head ribbon (where the embroidered symbol is) is a rectangle that wraps around a headband and fastens to itself with two snaps, so when I break the headband (as I inevitably will), I can simply unsnap it, take it off, and attach it to a new headband again.
The Lotis rune bracelet and the Mirror of Lota were two pieces that I made months in advane before I ever started the rest of the costume. The bracelet is made of wooden beads, each one with one of the Lotis runes painted on it in gold (twice, one on each side of the bead), and strung on red embroidery yarn, interspaced with knots. The Mirror is made of an actual round mirror, and then two slats of thin birchwood each cut in the shape of one each of the two parts of the mirror frame. One shape was cut to create and open loop, and the two pieces were woven together to get the over/under effect of the mirror frame (I painted and sealed them first). The gold beads are strung on wires, the ends of which are glued to the back of the frame, and finally the mirror itself was glued into the frame.
Alice has two different length boots - one just below the knee, one just above the knee. This is highly silly, and boot covers ALWAYS look bad, so I just reused my white Haruko boots. I made two cuffs which I put on first, so the ends are tucked into the tops of the boots, then I fold the cuffs down over the top of the boots to get the red and gold cuffs.
My final two parts were the Rangu Sword (Alice invokes the 19th Lotis word, Rangu, which means "courage,") and the plushie Nyozeka (the spirit rabbit who guides Alice on her quest). Plushie Nyozeka was easy - just a sphere with ears and tiny gathered bits for paws and feet and embroidered facial features. Since I've learned something about how difficult it is to attend cons without pockets (and very few women's costumes lend themselves to pockets, hidden or otherwise) or purses, making Nyozeka was a perfect opportunity: her back seam is actually a zipper which opens to reveal a pocket where I can stash at least my phone and wallet, and, if I'm good, a small camera as well. She's got a loop on the top of her head so I can carry her, just like a normal purse or bag.
The sword was my first foray into serious, large-scale prop making, and it was quite a learning experience. It took me a very long time, with a lot of trial and error. The base is blue polystyrene extruded insulation foam, which I had intended to cover with fiberglass and resin - until I found that the resin dissolved the foam, the fiberglass wouldn't lay straight, and sanding down the hardened end result is labor-intensive and extremely hazardous, even with a dust mask. I gesso'd the heck out of it, then covered the whole piece with a paper mache-type clay pulp, which filled in a lot of the wholes and repaired a lot of the damage but which, I found, was unsandable. Over this, I applied a thin layer of Paper Clay, which gave a smooth, sandable finish. There are still some parts of the sword blade which could have been sanded more, and appear pock-marked and pitted, but I was running low on patience, and decided just to go ahead and paint it - "it" being the blade and haft of the sword. The cross hilt is made out of birchwood slat for the triangular Rangu rune and circular backing, and craft foam for the wings and spurs. The entire piece took quite a while, and some might say too long and with too much expense for a prop that appears for only a few scenes in the final volume of the series, but this, too, was worth it - even if only for the experience of learning to construct my first sword prop. I love this character, and the work was satisfying and fun.
This costume has appeared at: Anime Boston 2008
I'm not entirely certain where the idea to do Shaak Ti came from. Certainly, partially it arose from rewatching Gennedy Tartakovsky's animated "Clone Wars" series. Partially, too, it arose from seeing an Aayla Secura cosplayer at Anime Boston 07, and, as I looked into it, I found that there were several Twilek cosplayers, but Togrutas like Shaak Ti seemed to be few and far between.
Also, I wanted a light saber. I mean, really. What dork wouldn't want a light saber? As always, I gave myself a number of challenges when making this costume. First, how do you make horns and headtails in that pattern? And how do you get them to stand up on your head? And what's the best method of tinting your skin orange? And also how do you build a light saber??
The clothing parts of the costume I whipped up fairly quickly. They are not designed to be canon, but they are based in style and colors on the canon Shaak Ti costume from the Battle of Geonosis in Ep 2: Attack of the Clones. The clothing consists of a gold-bronze rough silk skirt with a black underskirt, a slate-aqua-grey shirt with beige trim and a triangular pointed hem finished with a garland of brown and beige glass beads, an obi and two attached tabards of beige suiting finished with red satin cord and wide, deep red woven tapestry ribbon, and finally a large cloak of dark brown suedecloth. Here, I ran short of material, and found I did not have enough to make a Jedi's signature over-sized hood. It then occurred to me that with her tall horns and long headtails, a hood wasn't terribly practical for Shaak Ti anyway, so I used the last of the brown fabric to make a shoulder capelet that would simulate the appearance of a hood.
The horns and head tail are made from a stretchy knit cotton/spandex/poly blend, and are made of 4 pieces - (1) the head, horn fronts, (2 and 3) the head sides, horn backs and front headtails, and (4) the head back and rear headtail. It is stuffed with rolled quilt batting to prevent bunching, and other than the stuffing (slightly more compact in the horns), there is no internal structure to keep the horns up. The entire piece sits on my head like a hat, and requires no bobby pins to keep it in place. I tuck my ears underneath, as well, and after wearing the costume for several hours, my ears end up very sore. I added the red trim circlet and jewelry to hide the seams and where the hat sits on my head, and also because I felt that there would be no reason why a Togruta wouldn't wear jewelry on these extra appendages - particularly when dressed in such a ceremonial fashion.
Although there are light sabers commercially available, or that can be commissioned, I built my light saber myself, including doing all the internal wiring - which required a crash course in using a soldering iron as well as a crash course in basic circuitry. Nearly all the saber parts came from thecustomsabershop.com, which is a great resource. It uses a 4 AAA batteries to power a 3-watt blue LED - this is not terribly powerful in the daylight, but it looks AWESOME at night.
The first time I did the makeup (most of it is Mehron liquid, grease/creamstick, or powder) it took me an hour and a half. I now have it down to just over an hour, but it still takes me a significant amount of time to ensure an even orange basecoat and, the most time consuming part, painting the white markings around the eyes. I fix everything at several points during the application process using hairspray (Suave, usually - I've found that AquaNet tends to look shiny and be a little sticky). Yes. You read that right. I spray myself with hairspray, IN THE FACE. Really, the only problem I've had with that is that occasionally it will stick my eyelashes together. Putting everything on is a bit of proceedural science. First, I put on my socks, skirt, shoes, and a bra (strapless, to prevent it from rubbing any makeup off). I pin up my hair with several bobbypins and mousse, and hairspray it into place (when I take the costume off, I can remove all the bobbypins from my head and my hair will STILL sit there like a chemical helmet). I then use a makeup sponge to apply the orange makeup to my face, ears, neck, shoulders, chest, and upper back, followed by several coatings of hairspray. I paint my eye markings in white, put on blue eyeliner and black mascara, and dust blue powder onto my lower cheekbones. Last, I use blue eyeliner to dye my lips. Then I put on my shirt and tie on the obi. I push my sleeves all the way up, and dye my arms and hands orange from the elbow down, fix with hairspray, and then carefully put on the headpiece. I once tried putting the headpiece on with clean hands and THEN applying the makeup to my arms, but I found that the tails were too difficult to work around, especially if the makeup ever spattered. Finally, I put on the cape and pick up the light saber, and then I'm ready to go.
In cold weather, such as the Saint Patrick's Day parade in South Boston I did with the local 501st and Rebel Legion, I paint only my face and neck, put on another shitr underneath, and put a brown wrap around my neck. I wear gloves and don't bother with painting my arms and hands.
This costume has been a big hit. I wore it first to Another Anime Con in Nashua, NH as a sort of "damp run," in October 2007, where I was interviewed by some indy film makers who were making a documentary on Star Wars fans (who knows if it will ever be finished), and I joined the Rebel Legion soon after. I trooped with the RL for the first time at Arisia 2008, where I was given a hall costume prize while I was still standing in line to register. When I came back to the con after changing into real clothes, no one had a clue who I was, haha! I've worn this for Halloween, Anime USA 2007 (where I had a great photoshoot with some other Jedi), and for the St. Patrick's Day Parade mentioned above. For all the difficulty and mess of getting into it, and in spite of the fact that my skin freaks out and itches for days afterwards due to the makeup, I LOVE wearing this costume. It is so much fun, and I've had a great response not only from casual fans, but in addition from more hard core fans who "can't believe someone has actually done this character!"
This costume has appeared at: Another Anime Con (Nashua NH) 2007, Anime USA 2007, Arisia 2008, South Boston Saint Patrick's Day Parade 2008.
Awards: Staff Choice Hall Costume Award @ Arisia 2008
Tags: Shaak Ti Jedi Star Wars
About the Costume: Sumomo The germ to cosplay Sumomo began, I think, with AnimeBoston06, but did not fully infest my brain until after AB07. Both years, there were an overwhelming number of Chi/Dark Chi/Freya cosplayers of varying degrees of success. So many there were, in fact, that I began wondering: what about Minoru's persocom sister Kazuki? What of Kotoko? What about all the other great cosplay opportunities in CLAMP's "Chobits" series that could be done? What about Sumomo!? Now, Sumomo is just about everything I am not: perky, adorable, perpetually upbeat, optimistic, effervescent, and, moreover, swathed in pink. ...I hate pink. Oh, it's an inoffensive color enough, but really... I have never ever been drawn to pink, and even sometimes have been known to look askance at certain wayward shades of mauve and rose. And Sumomo is all pink. This, straight from the get-go, led to some problems. Most pictures of Sumomo cosplays I saw used some form of bright baby pink satin or Casa satin for Sumomo's billowing bloomers, a bright rose for the sash (if they elected to make this distinct from the pants color at all - which it definitely is) and an even more vibrant hue of magenta for the main body. I can't handle that much pink. I wanted something lighter, or something slightly more purple (Sumomo means, after all, "Plum"), something that wouldn't make me wince when I looked at myself in the mirror. Furthermore, I was planning to debut this at ConnectiCon07 (and started work on it earnestly about 3 weeks before that), which took place in the middle of July - one of the secondary reasons, indeed, that I had elected for Sumomo: her costume would be far lighter than Haruko's orange vinyl and black pleather or Dorothy's heavy black twill. These factors of color and environment meant that fabric selection would be key. I spent days visiting my favorite haunts: Joann's, Sewfisticated, Sew-low - and finally ended up with: a burgundy matte-finished satin from Joann's for the bodice, a fabulous plum-pink 100% silk from Sewfisticated for the sash, and, after much hunting and nearly being killed from several heavy rolls of myriad fabrics, a thin pale pink light satin-like weave from Sew-Low. I also picked up a couple yards of a somewhat-too-rust-colored tassel fringe for the sash while I was there. This was my first costume working entirely without a net: that is, no commercial patterns. At all. In fact, I used almost no patterns completely. I started with the pant legs. These are really just two wide pink rectangles sewn into two tubes. I first hemmed the foot edge and folded it into a casing, inserted the elastic and tacked it in place, and then sewed up the inside seams of each leg, then gathered the top. I used a bathing suit to outline the bodice on the satin, and rapidly fell into trouble. This fabric had no stretch, and would require serious inner structure to look proper AND for me to even be able to get into it. After much thought, I finally gave up on the matte satin in dispair and annoyance, and returned to Joann's, where I found a plum-burgundy knit polyester blend material which ultimately matched my pants fabric, sash trim, and sash fabric MUCH better than the original satin did. I went back to the bathing suit and tank top to make the bodice, and I nailed the form and size on the very first try. (Go me!) Although it was possible to get it on just like a bathing suit, I decided to put less strain on the seams by putting a short zipper down the back - much better. I purchased a strapless bra from Target and tacked this at the side seams. This is to help keep the bodice from going anywhere I don't want it to go, and so I don't have to worry about an additional undergarment when I'm wearing the costume. Also, the hook-and-eyes in the back of the bra are an added line of defense if the zipper gives out, falls down, or is unzipped by some trickster otaku (or friend). The puffy sleeves are two more rectangles of the pale thin satin, done much the same way as the pants (elastic, gathered at the arms). One edge of the sleeve is sewn to the bodice, and a line of elastic through the remaining "free" portion of the sleeve keeps it up on my shoulder. After that, I hemmed the upper back of the bodice. For the front, after I was sure it was trimmed to the neckline height and shape I wanted (two more extra boob darts on top of the two I'd already put in... *sigh*), I cut a roughly "M" shaped strip of matching material by tracing the neckline, sewed this to the front, turned it to the inside, and then ran a line of finishing stitches along the whole neckline to hold it all in place. I also threaded a thin line of wire through this whole M-shaped neckline to be sure the points held their shape and didn't flop forward. I'm a little concerned, however, that the wire could rust and damage the fabric. The sash is...oh, probably 2.5 - 3 yards long, and is doubled lengthwise. The tassel trim runs along both front and back sides of both ends. I put the tassel trim on specifically so each tassel on on the front side fell exactly at the midpoint between each pair of tassels on the backside, to the effect of looking like a single row of tassels spaced very close together, when in fact, the trim spaced them an inch and a half or more apart. I freehand drew a large paper pattern version of the curlicue leaf pattern that decorates the sash, and cut two of these from the same plum-burgundy knit as the bodice. I basted one to the front of the sash, then lined up the other on the back in the exact same place and basted that in place as well. Then I satin-stitched around the entire applique, hoping to the Goddess of Cosplay that I was catching the edges of the applique on the backside as well. It worked! There was one corner of the applique on the back side that didn't get caught in the satin-stitching, and it was an easy fix. I was very pleased with myself - but not inclined to tempt fate to try it a second time, which is why my Sumomo sash has only one end appliqued, and not both. I may fix this later, but for now, the un-appliqued end is usually hidden by the rest of the tied sash, so it's not a huge detraction - and something noticable only to really really avid and detail-oriented fans.
The shoes I bought for $14 at Target. I'd hoped for plain white, but all they had were the white lace. Well, they'd do. I dyed them in Rose Pink Rit dye for about 15-20 minutes, and was horrified: they were BRIGHT PINK. No way. I picked up some Violet (Purple?) Rit dye next, and briefly dunked each shoe in for just a matter of seconds. When they dried, the shoes somehow came out the EXACT color of the silk sash. I have no idea how I did it. Dumb luck, I think, and the Goddess of Cosplay must have been watching out for me. Something about the gods protecting fools who are too witless to know when they're asking for trouble!
I bought the tambourine for about $10 from Music123.com. Originally, I had glued some remaining tassel trim around the edge, but I decided it looked stupid, so I ripped it off and tied on a handful of the ribbon I had originally thought about using as trim on the main costume itself (I'm glad I didn't use it for that). I used some leftover silk and knit to make a lined drawstring bag to carry around my wallet, phone, con badge, program, camera, makeup, and other con essentials (it's that old "Lesson of Haruko" again!). Last, the wig. Oh my. This was an ambitious undertaking for someone such as me, whose experience with wig styling is limited, at best. I bought the "Amanda" wig in light pink from Cosworx.com, and proceeded to massacre multiple mulberry sharpies custom dying it to more closely match the colors of the materials I used. (Shhhh! Those aren't streaks! Those are HIGHLIGHTS! Really!) A few times I nearly passed out from the fumes of the isopropanol I used to dissolve the sharpies in. This process took the better part of several nights over a full week. I made Sumomo's head-connection-unit/hat by gluing two styrofoam circle forms together and covering this with a circle of pale pink satin. I cut a hole out of the middle of the styrofoam form for the ponytail, then shaved down the edges of the top to make it rounded, and shaved out the bottom of the form to make a bowl shape that would conform to my head better. I cut a large circle of satin and carefully folded it over the edges in a set pattern of creases around the brim to keep it smooth and unwrinkled. The edges of the satin are glued to the bottom of the styrofoam form, as are the parts I cut through and folded down inside the ponytail hole. This was all pretty easily done in the time it took to get the wig dyed properly. Then I brushed out the hair, braided it, and chopped all the hair off at about chin length. I took the front strands to cut the bangs, and pulled some of the front top layer back from the face. I glued these strands together and tied them off with thread, then sewed them to the base of the wig itself to keep them in place. I took the braid of hair and laid it out along some leftover pale pink satin and used some glue to create a thick weft of hair and sewed this around the inner rim of the headpiece. I then attempted several times to style the length of hair around a broomstick using hot water and hairspray to get Sumomo's trademark curl, but I didn't have much luck with this. I was wary about handling the hair too much since I didn't want the dye coming off and it tangles rather easily. I then sewed the entire headpiece to the scalp of the wig, and finally styled the bob with some large curlers and Aquanet. When I wore the wig, I used 40 bobbypins to hold it to my head, and in all honesty, probably should have used twice that amount. It DID stay on very well, but the weight of all that hair pulled on my scalp all day and I actually had a bit of a headache at the end of the day! I needed more pins in the front, too, because a few times in the bathroom, as I was touching up my pink makeup (specially bought for this costume!), I found that the wig had slipped back on my head ever-so-slightly. So, how did it turn out? Awesome, frankly. I wish I'd had the time to rewatch the anime before going to the con, but I was too busy trying to get it finished to do that - if I could have, I would have done a better job cosplaying her! As it was, I got a LOT of compliments, was photographed often, and hugged more times than I could count. Everyone was thrilled to see a Chobit cosplay that wasn't Chi! I met a ton of excellent Chis, all of them great, fun people and had a blast chatting with all of them. I think it amused a few people, too, to see Sumomo rocking out at Guitar Hero. This costume has appeared at: ConnectiCon 2007, Anime USA 2007, Anime Boston 2008
This was, I think, a fairly unusual choice for my second cosplay. "Big O," although it had enough of a US following to warrant Cartoon Network specially ordering a second season, it is not particularly instantly recognizable or remotely close to things like "Bleach" or "Naruto" for popularity.
I think it was Jim who first suggested the idea of a paired Dorothy/Roger Smith cosplay - for one, he was a big fan of the show, and second, a cosplay for Roger Smith would be fairly easy - black dress pants and shoes, white shirt, black tie, and a black double-breasted suit coat. I added a white ribbon stripe down the tie with fabric glue, then changed out the buttons on the coat, adding two more buttonholes and 4 more buttons to acheive Roger Smith's 8. Jim supplied his own gold cufflinks. I'm not sure how he styled his hair, but he did it himself and managed to get it to look remarkably like the anime Roger's stylized 'do. Jim also took his non-functional Russian KGB watch and painted Roger's Big O-summoning watchface on it.
Dorothy was nowhere so easy. I used 5 different Simplicity dress, skirt, and shirt patterns to develop the lines of the dress: two for the sleeves, two for the bodice, and one for the skirt, but all were heavily modified. The patterns were used only, really, to get the vague shapes and proportions in place.
The fabric is a thick black cotton twill - Dorothy belongs to Paradigm City's wealthiest bachelor and most succesful negotiator, and she would not be wearing anything cheap or thin, but it would still be sensible, as befits a servant. The white cuffs, collar, and scarf is a thinner white cotton with a subtle pinstripe design in the weave. Although this is not illustrated in the anime, I liked the fabric and kept being drawn back to it. I decided that Roger Smith, which his penchant for pinstripes (his butler, for example, wears pinstripe grey trousers), would approve, and Dorothy would prefer something a little less bland than plain white. Both of these fabrics came from Joann's.
I began with the skirt. It's an A-line style skirt which I made deliberately oversized in order to accomodate the pleats in the front.
Oh lord, the pleats. They were something like the death of me, sheesh. Thank the powers that be for my dressmaker's dummy, otherwise I would never have gotten them at the same shape, location, and angle, EVER. There are actually 4 pleats, two on each side folded towards each other to create the line. Unfortunately, these do have the tendancy to un-pleat down lower on the skirt when I'm walking. In order to take up the rest of the skirt slack around the waist line, there are an additional 6 or 8 darts at intervals around the waistline. In order to retain some of that "poof" in Dorothy's dress, I also inserted a full gathered underskirt.
The bodice is pretty close to a rather standard dress bodice, with darts to shape the breast line and 4 additional darts at the waist lined up to match the pleats in the front and two darts in the back. This was the costume of OMG CRAZY LOT OF DARTS - in that, I suppose, the bodice was unusual. I made it v-neck to accomodate the white collar. There is a black band, folded in half to about 3/4 or 1 inch in width, finishing the raw edge of the neckline. The bodice and the skirt are both attached to a waistband. There is a second waistband, lined with fusible interfacing, on the inside to cover the raw edges of the bodice bottom and skirt top, and to add a little more crispness to the lines of the dress and definition to the waistline.
I custom designed the cuffs. Dorothy is shown with a few different cuff styles, and I opted for the simple bell curve. I used 4 cuff pieces, a front and back for each with interfacing in between to keep them crisp. I put two buttonholes in each, at the edges, and made cufflinks out of 4 white buttons and several gold jump rings. Roger Smith is definitely a cufflink type of guy.
The collar presented several problems. The first I designed - slightly larger than the pattern - was too small, and the lapels too short, so I made another, attached to the top portion of a button-down shirt - sort of like a dickey, I guess (*tee hee* ... sorry.). The next problem was getting it to sit correctly inside the top of the dress, tacking it into place and sewing it in, then removing the extra shirt material, which I found was unnecessary.
The final problem was that it was a front-opening shirt on a back-opening dress. In order to get into the costume, I have to step into the dress, pull the collar over my head, insert my arms, and then zip up the back. Other than that initial awkwardness, the dress is very comfortable, and wears pretty much like actual clothing - one of my goals when I designed it.
The white scarf is a long rectangle which simply ties once at the neck and is pinned by a black brooch made from a button with a pinback glued to it. The button for the brooch matches the buttons used on the waistband above the skirt pleats.
Finally, I bought a black headband at Claire's, new black stockings (Amusingly enough, my usual stockings are cheap, and I decided too thin for Dorothy. It took cosplay for me to buy a decent pair of nylons!), and a small black purse. I realized that my Haruko cosplay had no way to carry the necessities of wallet, phone, etc, and I took that lesson to heart. A small, all-black, tastefully elegant purse for $10 at TJ Max was perfect. My old black flats - a little cracked, but worn enough to be comfortable for all day walking at a con - was the final piece to complete her.
I lied, actually: Two days before the con, I dyed my hair dark red. THAT was the last part to complete Dorothy. It was nice not to have to wear a wig.
This costume has appeared at: Anime Boston 07.
After attending Anime Boston 06 for one day only and just as myself, my brain started teeming with all these possibilities. Seeing so many talented artists - for that is exactly what a tailor/prop-maker/cosplayer is - in one place lit some sort of fire, or whatever you would like to call it. It was, in some respects, like a challenge: how well could I reproduce a well-known character? The more I thought about it - which was often - the more I felt I wanted to have a costume in place for AB07. One of my favorite series was - and still is - Gainax's "FLCL." I hadn't seen many Harukos at AB06 - and wouldn't she just be awesome? So began my first real personal cosplay. Again, I don't consider my closet Rogues and my Elizabeth Swanns (where I never made any attempt to be accurate, or even be the character) to count. This one has the most commercially-obtained items of all my cosplays so far. The beige shirt I'd had for quite some time, purchased from LLBean a few years ago. I think what really cemented starting this cosplay was when my friend Jim stopped in at the Garment District, a funky consignment clothing store in Cambridge, MA, and found a pair of aviator goggles, just perfect for Haruko, and bought them for me. Somehow, that was like some line of commitment for me, I think. I went to the Garment District myself, and there found an excellent pair of faux-leather pants (from Paris!) for $12. Later, I went back and spent $30 on some new white pleather go-go boots they had in stock. That took care of the bottom half. When Boston Costume moved into the downstairs of the GD building in early spring 2007, I went in and found a $20 wig that served my purposes quite well. The one major project on this costume was Haruko's orange vest. I found an excellent piece of orange vinyl in the remnants at my local Joann's Fabrics, took it home along with a small bit of black faux leather, and spent a fair amount of time staring at it before I could bring myself to do anything. I used 2 or 3 Simplicity dress and shirt patterns in my size traced onto a cut-open paper bag to sketch 3 basic pattern shapes: one for the front 2 panels, one for the front side 2 panels, and one for the back 2 panels. This involved finding patterns that included some sort of curve to shape the fabric over the breast, and ones that included the raglan-style sleeve angles, and merging them all together. I then used trial and error to design the correct vaguely semi-circular sleeve caps. Using some old leftover cheap cotton, I used the patterns to whip up a mock up of the design as a whole, and was completely impressed with myself: it actually fit to a T, and moreover, it actually looked like Haruko's vest! It was too long, but better that than too short. Greatly emboldened, I cut out the pieces of the orange vinyl with my rotary cutter, and, by holding my mockup and the cut piece up to my body, marked the angles and locations of the black bars on the front side panels. Those were sewn on first - and my machine did not at all like working over those. I was a little nervous about that, but found that was only because the black vinyl was sticking to the presser foot. Once I was sewing the orange vinyl with right sides together, it was a piece of cake. In fact, I was astonished at how easy the material was to sew - I did, for the record, have in a leather/denim sewing needle. Vinyl might be easy to sew, but it is not very forgiving. I could not make any mistakes that would require my taking out stitches: the holes made by the needle would be visible. And I only had enough material to make it once - I had to get it right the first time! There is next to no give or stretch in it, either, so attempting to sew the curve of the front side to the straighter front piece to create the curve of the breast took some serious amount of careful. Also, vinyl does not iron, at all - honestly, I was worried about melting it, so I didn't even really try. This meant having to fold each seam flat and tack them down with a line of top-stitching half an inch away from the actual seam. Most of this top-stitching does not actually exist on Haruko's vest, but it actually gave the vest a cleaner, more finished look (well, in my opinion, anyway). Once I had the shell done - backs sewn together (they are separate, not 1 piece on a fold), sides sewn to fronts, fronts and backs joined and sleeve-caps attached - and did the bulk of the "internal" top stitching (everything except bottom and arm hems and collar), it was time to put in the zipper. As I had no chance of matching the orange, I opted for black, to match the stripes and the thread I was already using. The zipper was easier than I had expected, again. I lined up the outer edge of the zipper with the edge of the vest on the front side, sewed it in place, then folded the edge and zipper to the inside and ran another line of sewing/top-stitching down the front to keep everything in place. I hemmed the sleeves and bottom. To properly size and shape the gradual curve collars need to be set in place correctly, I used a piece from a Simplicity Mandarin-style shirt pattern as a base, then cut two slightly-curved pieces of orange vinyl. One was for the collar, the other for the collar lining. Setting the collar in place, while working with materials with very little flexibility, was probably the most challenging part of this, and I actually did have to rip it out and try again. There were a final few finishing touches - attaching a split ring from a key chain to the zipper pull using 4 jumprings, for example - and then it was done! There is missing, however, the small rectangular piece that closes Haruko's collar. I never got around to it. The scarf is cut from a piece of cream-colored fleece. I had no idea how to attempt to make an Atomsk handcuff bracelet, so I simply picked up a cheap silver bangle from Claire's. It's alright, but I don't *really* like it! Also, I never found leather gloves that suited me. EDIT: For Anime Boston 08, I made a new cuff out of craft foam and part of a plastic handcuff from an "adult novelty" store. I refer to it now as my porncuff. Finally, the bass! I found this on Craigslist - took me about 2-4 weeks to find what I wanted. I drove 70 miles down to Cape Cod after work one night to buy it off a teenage boy for $80 - he wanted $70, but I didn't have change, and I decided $10 means more to a high school kid living with his Mum than it does to me, aged 25 and with an actual steady income. This had been is learner bass, and he'd recently upgraded. It was scratched a little, but that didn't bother me - Haruko uses it to hit robots all the time! Of course it will have a scratch or two. The finger pick plate was actually originally black. I unscrewed the amp knobs and removed the pick guard and used white plastic spray paint to paint it white. In order to get that Rickenbacker-style white stripe around the outside, I used narrow white electrical tape - a rather inspired idea from my boyfriend (at the time). EDIT: At Anime Boston 2008, I got the back of my bass signed by the three members of the pillows, the band responsible for most of the music in the FLCL series. I was ECSTATIC. This costume has appeared at: Anime Boston 07, Anime USA 07, Page 155 of "Newtype" magazine January 08 ish., Anime Boston 2008 (AT THE PILLOWS CONCERT WOOT!)
Tags: Haruko Flcl
I suppose, when I really get down to it, Captain Jack Sparrow was the first cosplay I created. Sure, I did up Marvel X-Men's Rogue a few times for Halloween, but not with intent to duplicate her clothing authentically.
Really, my sojurn into cosplay can be blamed, so to speak, on my friend Em. Several friends, her included, were planning a trip to New Orleans for Halloween, and, highlighting her obsession with all things Johnny Depp, she teased our mutual friend Jim into going as Capt. Jack and she would go as Elizabeth Swann. Em's plans fell through, and she neither wore an Elizabeth costume nor went to New Orleans, but by that time, it was too late: I had already created Capt. Jack, v1.0. At this point, I had made only breeches and the coat; Jim filled in the shirt and vest with renfaire garb. We had chosen a cranberry colored moleskin or suedecloth (from Joann's) for the coat, so Jim was frequently hailed as "Captain Morgan" during his trip to New Orleans.
"I don't know what I was thinking, picking that color," he said later. This, combined with the number of poorly-done Sparrows we saw at many a renfaire and online cosplay site, prompted the quest for authenticity. I began work on Jack v2.0.
The new coat, based on the Simplicity pirate coat pattern with several alterations, is made from a fine weave slate-grey wool which we found - after visiting 6 fabric stores in one day - at Sew-Low Discount Fabrics on Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA. The trim came from there as well. It is fully lined in a lighter grey cotton, and on the neckline facing I hand-embroidered my company name, "Queen Mab Designs." After much discussion, debate, and scouring of the movie and replicas, Jim ordered 36 brass French mariner buttons and tarnished them with ammonia and shoe polish before giving them to me. There are 6 buttons on each cuff, 5 at each pocket, 1 at each godet, 2 each side of the riding tail split, and 8 down the front.
The pants are an olive green-grey cotton canvas also from Sew-Low, with buttons from Joann's, pattern by Simplicity and nearly exactly as written. I would really like to rip parts of this out and redo them, as I found the pattern had some sizing issues. Jim has a baggy butt as a result :( But this was one of the first parts of the costume I made, and I've polished my skills a little since then. I didn't have the confidence at the time, either, to alter the pattern substantially.
The shirt is very nearly straight from the Simplicity pattern as well. I had made one of these already, so this I whipped up in unbleached cotton pretty quickly.
The waistcoat is from the same Simplicity pattern, but altered - I wish I had altered it more, however, as it is still too short in the back in spite of lengthening it an inch or more, and that is noticable when Jim is not wearing the greatcoat. I removed the tie included in the pattern and changed it to the tabs and lacing shown on Jack's vest in the movies. It's made from a dark blue linen front, a cream-colored cotten back, and lined in a light cadet grey-blue cotton. As I did not wash the materials ahead of time, the blue of the front has bled and stained the cream cotton. This didn't bother me, but lent, I felt, a sort of authenticity and wear-and-tear to it. The front is backed with fusible interfacing, and this was a mistake to use over sew-in interfacing: ironing causes the linen fibers to expand or stretch a little while melting the glue of the interfacing, and can cause wrinkles to be stuck in place.
Jim himself ordered replica boots made from the same pattern as used for the stunt doubles, as well as styled the wig (this one is much better than the initial cheap one he bought), and found other accessories online: the hat, compass, leather belts and buckles, headscarf, hair baubles, and waist sash. Some may be recycled or ransacked from his other renfaire garb; I've lost track at this point.
The coat and waistcoat were both artificially distressed using sandpaper, baking powder, and a small file or rasp. Distressed, indeed. I now see why the crew in charge of aging props and clothing are an entirely different group than those who make them. Picking at the threads around the buttonholes of the waistcoat, I very nearly started bawling at the thought I was meticulously and selectively destroying something I had put endless hours into making as near perfect as possible. After shelling out over $200 for his boots, Jim said he felt rather the same way about having to scuff up the beautiful leather of those as well.
Jim has also become adept at blacking his eyes and darkening the hollows of his cheeks, gluing fake beard-tails to his face, and drawing "P" brands in fake scar makeup and sparrow tattoos in sharpie marker onto his right arm with his off-hand. Further, he has made it a point to study and emulate Depp's Jack-mannerisms closely, and pantomimes them uncannily.
An amusing side effect of this is that for a while, Jim owned more makeup than I did. I've had to borrow AquaNet from him to style a wig of my own, too.
The costume has made appearances at: King Richard's Faire, Carver, MA, 2005 & 2006; Connecticut Ren Faire, Woodstock, CT 2005 (?); Vermont Renaissance Faire, Guilford, VT, 2005 (?), FNX Pirate Cruise, Portsmouth, NH, 2006; New York Renaissance Faire, Tuxedo Park (near West Point), NY, 2006; Salem Pirate Faire, Salem, MA, 2006; leading the Haunted Happenings Kickoff Parade (and on TV because of it), Salem, MA, 2006; and Anime Boston 2007, Boston, MA. He has also been in the newspaper at least twice from this persona: once as the result of our leading the Salem Halloween Parade, and once after being invited to speak at a NH children's library and read to the kids.
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