Asuna Kagurazaka (V.2) - Outfit - Negima

As my 3rd costume for Otakon I decided to make an alternate outfit of Asuna's. I already had a wig, and Asuna has many, many outfits in the manga, so I thought I would make one of my favourites.

Special thanks to my mum for doing an impromptu fall photoshoot in the backyard!

I picked this one (pictured left) particularly so I could re-purpose the sheer under skirt I had originally made for her other costume! This outfit is worn during the training arc prior to their trip to Mundus Magicus, for anyone who actually knows the series.

I really like the deep burgundy colour of the blouse (dress?), but I went more saturated with my colour choice.

(There sure are a lot of orange-haired characters in this manga...)

I drafted a basic block, with a princess seam that I extended to be longer and go outward in an a-line style at the sides.

I cut out all my pieces (2 center front panels, 2 center back panels, 2 side front panels). Then I sewed up the darts, then side, back and shoulder seams. 

When this was done I finished the inner seams.

I drafted the sleeve to have a slight pouffe at the shoulder. I cinched the ruffle with a double row of basting stitches (leaving the thread ends long so I could pull on them). 


I made the collar ruffle, which was sandwiched inside the collar pieces and turned right way out. This was then attached to the neckline. 

I made the 2 front ruffles, which I stitched down to the front opening.

Then I attached the placket and finished off the opening edge and armhole seams.

Then I made a bias tape to finish off the sleeve slit, before I attached the cuffs. The sleeve pouffed just a touch at the cuffs as well.

The last thing I did was attach the bottom ruffle and do all the button holes.

Then I made the "corset". Now I say "corset" instead of corset, because this is just designed to look like an underbust corset, but does not have any of the structuring a corst would have (like boning). For all intents and purposes it is a glorified belt. Hahaha
I figured out how long I wanted ti to be, my underbust measurement, my waist measurement and natural waist measurement (where a modern pair of pants would sit). From there I was able to pattern this. Using my widest measurement I could then divide and calculate my darts.

The result was these 10 pieces (pictured left: top row is the back panels, bottom row is the front panels). 

I made a mockup, then a good version.

Then I hammered in the grommets. I couldn't find a hammer, so I used a wrench instead (my shop professor would be crying right now). It is always recommended to have a scrap piece of wood handy when hammering grommets, otherwise you will end up with dents in your table...

The grommets and lacing are just for show though, the actual closure is a row of hook and eye tape. Because it is way more secure.  Lastly I finished up the edges with bias tape! Woo!

I bought the thigh-high socks and ribbons for the costume. All of the bows on the socks were attached with safety pins, so I can use the socks for other things (and real life). The black flats are the same ones from my Alice costume.

Cosmo - Blouse & Wings - Fairly Odd Parents

Here's our first look at my Cosmo costume! This costume debuted at Otakuthon this past summer in Montreal. I also wore it to Fanexpo. :D

As a kid, I loved the show Fairly Odd Parents, and of course my favourite character was the ever wacky Cosmo. ;D Such a ridiculous character, it reminds me of the hunt! Haha!

I've seen this costume done before, but I've never seen it done well, so I made it my mission to do Cosmo justice.

Once again Mike did a fantastic photoshoot with me. This one was at the cool pink installation at the Palais du Congres. It's Wanda's colour. ;D Go here to check out the full photoshoot! I obviously take no credit for these fabulous pictures. :P

I based this shirt off the blouse pattern I used for my 10th Doctor costume. (If you want a more detailed look at how to make a blouse, you should check that one out.) My main goal behind this part of the costume is that I wanted the wings to stick out of the shirt, not be worn on top of it, but still be removable so they could be washed.

My solution here was 2 slits in the back that the wings would stick through. I decided that the wings would be 4" apart. Then I modified the pattern so that the back of the shirt was made of three panels, one a rectangle that was 4" apart between the seams. With this in place, I could finish the shirt and re-open the seams later.

I sewed up the shoulder seams, finished those, as well as a top of the two back-slit seams.

Then I attached the collar.

Beautiful! I almost considered leaving the shirt like that~!

Just kidding.

I sewed up the side seams, attached the sleeves and cuffs. Then I measured, put the button holes in, and sewed on the buttons.

At this point I also made some adjustments to the fit of the blouse at the back. Taking it in a bit at the back seams so it wasn't so wide at the lower back.

Then I started on the wing rig. I originally attempted to do wings made out of tights stretched over a wire frame, but the elasticity in the tights was too strong, and the wire was bending under the pressure.

Instead I decided to scrap that and make them out of felt. I cut 4 pieces of felt to the shape I wanted and then sewed the pairs together. I took a piece of wire that was still attached to the coil and stuck it in to the first wing, pushing it to the very outer edge. Then I sewed around the wire to keep it in place.

Then I measured and marked 4" from the base of the wing on the wire where the base of the second wing would be. (Making sure it was the right way up.) I repeated the process with the second wing. After clipping off the excess wire and joining the 2 loose ends together (making sure the wings sat 4" apart both at the top and bottom of the base) I sewed a rectangular cover over the wire frame where it would be touching my skin. This was to help keep the correct shape, have a surface to attach the straps to, and protect my back from the edges of the wires.

Using my dress form, I figured out where I wanted the wings on my back. Once I figured out the placement I made and attached the straps, which I made out of elastic. I made sure they were tight enough so the rig would sit as flush to my back as possible without cutting off the circulation to my arms.

I re-opened the back seams where I wanted the wings to be. Then I finished off the holes, making sure they were long enough to fit the wings through. I carefully stitched in some white hook & eye tape, making sure that the hooks would not bump into the wires where the wings poke out.

The hook & eye tape closes up the gap under and around the wings.

This is a clean way of having wings, without having the straps and rig fully visible over your costume.

Lastly I finished the cuffs of the shirt by adding buttons. ;D And then it was done!

I think that making the wings both detachable and not over the costume was a small detail that made a big difference for this costume.

Alice in Wonderland - Dress

Here's a look at how I made my Alice in Wonderland dress. This costume debuted at Otakon back in July. I also wore it to Otakuthon and FanExpo this past month.

(My Alice posts will be divided into three parts: the dress, the petticoats and the apron. )

Special thanks to Mike of Eleventh Photograph for the awesome photoshoot! Go here for the pictures!

This was a costume that I had wanted to make for a long time and I am really happy with the end result. This version is loosely based off of both the '60's Disney movie, the original illustrations from the book and my own designs. I wanted to go less cartoon-y and more historical.

I had a great difficulty deciding on my blue fabric. I didn't want something excessively shiny, as I find that can look extremely tacky, but I did want a fabric that had a bit of a sheen and some nice weight to it. After much scouring I eventually found this fabric at a really reasonable price and also somehow managed to miscalculate and buy almost twice as much as I actually needed... whoops.

I started to pattern this by figuring out how wide I wanted the skirt to be at the bottom. I guesstimated the circumference and divided that number by 4. Then I calculated the length of the skirt, from where I wanted it to start to where I wanted it to fall. Keeping in mind that it would puff out in the end because of the petticoats.  I drew this out on craft paper. I tapered it in at the waist, because although I wanted it to bunch and ruffle, I didn't need like 200 inches of fabric doing that at the waist...

With great care and consideration, I patterned the bodice of this dress. Basing this off my measurements, a blouse pattern and my original design I created a bodice that was well fitting. I wanted to have a button up front, with 2 seams on each side making the dress taper in at the waist. The pattern I created consisted of 12 pieces that would form the bodice (+ the placket I would add later).

I first made a mock-up to determine if my pattern worked. Some adjustments were required--I ended up lengthening it by 1/2" and I took the shoulders in a bit--but overall the fit was good.

I then cut my pieces out of my good fabric, making sure to add the seam allowances.

I sewed the front panels and back panels together. I pressed the seams flat.

I clipped and finished the tops of the seams that would be sewn in the shoulder seam. I left the rest of the seams in the bodice unfinished so I could make adjustments, but I had to do up the sides and shoulders first so I could determine the fit.

I then added the placket to the front where the button holes would go.

Once the placket was complete, I made a few more adjustments to the fit, particularly at the arms and shoulders. It is easiest to pin these adjustments when the garment is worn inside-out.

I tried it on and decided the fit was right,so I was ready to move on. (Please ignore the fact that my pants are kind of falling down even though I am totally wearing a belt...)

I then got to work on the collar. I based the pattern pieces off the blouse pattern I had from my Doctor Who costume, but I changed the shape of the collar at the front to be rounded as opposed to pointy.

I sewed the outer part of the collar together, clipped it, turned it right way out and pressed it. Then I sewed it into the inner part of the collar. After clipping and pressing that, I was able to attach it to the bodice.

I finished the inner seams of the bodice, and then attached the collar. First on the outside and then using a ditch-stitch to finish the inside. Pretty! :D

I sewed my 4 panels for the skirt together and finished the inner seams. On on of the seams I left a 2.5" gap at the top that was un-stitched. This is where it would be attached to the front opening. By having this 'slit' I would be able to easily remove the dress when it was unbuttoned, but with the overlap it would be unnoticeable when buttoned up.

I then used a basting stitch and sinched up the skirt to the correct cicumference so it could be attached to the bodice. This was pinned in place and sewn on (right sides together).

The dress so far. At this point I knew I needed to take in the shoulders even more, because even with a half inch seam allowance the sleeves would still sit too low.

I marked and pinned the dress for hemming. I had a sewing party with a friend and she hemmed the dress beautifully for me while I made gloves for another costume.

The sleeves were patterned and the sinched so that they would be pouffy. I attached them, and added a slit, which would be where the sleeve would close with a button. This slit was finished off with a bias tape made of my same fabric.

I then gathered the bottom of the sleeves and added the little cuffs. The button and loop were the finishing touches here.

The last thing I did for this costume was to add the button holes to the placket and sew on the buttons.