Making Megurine Luka's Project Diva Kimono Outfit (Long Title is Long)

Due to the stress of making two costumes in such a time crunch, I didn't get as many pictures as I'd like to for a write up. Still, I think I have enough to get my point across. Again, this isn't meant to be a "how to" or a tutorial, but if these help someone make something, or inspires ideas AWESOME!

The costume is the Project Diva Kimono outfit, and was all made from a hand drafted pattern. I had some difficulty getting the right colored fabrics for this, but in the end I'm OK with what I found.

This costume was especially fun (sarcasm) considering it incorporated two of the things I hate most in sewing.

- Sewing silky fabrics.

- And sewing sleeves.

 SIX sleeves to be exact. 

In order to get the layers she has in the ref picture, I made 6 different sleeves, basted them together, then attached them to the main torso piece which you will see here in a second. I really wasn't keen on the idea of making 3 separate tops and wearing them together, so I made 1 and faked the layer you see in the front of the top.

 Top before sleeves were attached

 After that I drafted the pattern for the Obi and bow. I used interfacing for both to make them stiff and sturdy.

I followed used the same idea for Alice's obi on Luka's. It attached at the front and was secured with velcro. I then added button snaps to the bow once it was finish and made it detachable from the main piece for better transportation.

I also got to bust out the fabric paint again for this! I was able to use leftovers from my Alice cosplay which was convenient since jacquard is expensive and my JoAnn's doesn't carry it anymore (those assholes!!)
I really didn't get a good picture of the final product when it comes to the Obi's bow but you can see it in the final picture.

For the main skirt wanted to achieve the crinkle and gradient effect I saw in the ref pics. To do this I actually hand dyed Muslin fabric, twisted it up and let it dry wrinkled.

 I dyed the first section purple, then flipped it and dyed the other part pink.

Someone suggested I used starch to keep the wrinkles from falling out which I ended up not having. They did fall out a bit during wear but I will be going back to address it.

I think one of the things I loved most about making both of these costumes was the accessories hehe ^.^ I used some extra fabric from the hand dyed piece to make my rose clip along with some satin fabric and a silk rose. Both the giant bow and rose had metal hair clips secured to the back of them.

As far as the rest goes, the other black skirt looking portion of the dress was just doubled silk fabric. My shoes were some wedge booties that I made cuffs for. My tattoo was made by me as well using Papillo tattoo paper. I used it to make my friend Linda's as well after making the design in Illustrator. If you want a good tutorial on how to use this stuff check out Vensy's tutorial. I used it, and it turned out wonderful! Vensy is so great <3

Here is the finished product after all that!

 Photo by Mike Tinsley. Miku cosplay by Linda!!

There are still a few things I'd like to tweak on Luka. Otherwise I'm happy with the result regardless of what a pain in the ass it was. Hopefully me and Linda can do a photoshoot soon with these. Once again I Apologize for the lack of photos. If there are any details I missed or if you have any questions, leave a comment or get a hold of me on one of my other profiles.

Breakdown for Echo will be on the way soon. Thanks for stopping by!

-QK

Nebraskon 2012: I Ain't Got No Panties On!

So I've been neglecting my blog and other pages quite a bit lately. The good news is this horrific year is almost over! I figured I'd do a brief recap of my Nebraskon trip before the year is over.

My last convention of the year was Nebraskon 2012 in Omaha, NE. This convention has become the best one to attend when it comes to hanging out with friends.  Pretty much everyone in all my groups of friends go's to it, making it an awesome time. Last year was a blast and this year definitely did not disappoint.

For this convention I brought 2 new cosplays. I had also intended to bring a swimsuit for the swimsuit competition, but I didn't have time to finish it.

The two cosplays I made were Megurine Luka's Project Diva Kimono outfit, and Echo from Pandora Hearts

Echo was originally suppose to be done with my boyfriend who was suppose to be Vincent. We started his, but couldn't quite get it done, so we will be going together at a future con as the two :)
I cosplayed Luka with my favorite Lady Linda who went as Miku. We have apparently made it tradition to do Vocaloid cosplays together at Nebraskon hehe ^.^

Here was my final product for Luka!

Here's Linda as Miku, Myself as Luka, and Miss Shelene as Sheryl Nome!

 We had a lot of fun together and overall I think our costumes both turned out great together.


We wore these for Friday and got some good feedback. We got to go get sushi in these as well which was fun! We got some pretty strange looks at the restaurant.

Saturday I wore Echo!

Seeing this come together was really awesome.

Linda went that day as Serah Farron's Summoner outfit (It looked amazing!). I decided to enter the cosplay competition with Echo, since I really didn't have anything better to do that evening. It was a pretty long process like most competitions. Linda was with me as well as my good friends Lulu, Tima, and others, so we kept each other entertained while we waited. The competition went well, and there were a lot of great cosplayers and skits. My walk went smoothly, although everyone told me I went WAY to fast. I was about ready to check out near the end because of how tired I was, but it is a good thing I stuck it through because I got this!

 Derpy Excited Face is Derpy

I finally won my first craftsmanship award!

Up until this point I've either been competing in a higher difficulty then I am due to being in groups, or haven't won anything. Now that I finally have this I can officially be a journeyman without any arguments!

My friend Lulu standing next to me in this won both the Masters category and best craftsmanship in the swimsuit comp. She always dominates it's awesome!!

The Pyramid Head next to me is actually my friend Adam, who won runner up in the intermediate category. I love this picture because he pointed out that we all look like we just left and outlet mall or something with our bags, and I can't get over how funny it looks now.


That night we all got out of cosplay and took it easy.

And you can probably all guess who came to visit.

That's Right.

Rainbow slut..

And she brought friends...

There weren't many pictures taken at this point, but there were some videos which may be used as black mail against me in the future..

And of course on Sunday 

We went to Wheatfields..

Hello breakfast burrito. We meet again..

As I said this was my last convention for the year. I'm spending the rest of the year spending time with family for the holidays, making gifts, and working on cosplay for next year. At the moment I'm trying to make plans to go to Katsucon but that may not happen. I'll be going to Naka as always and I'm definitely going to shoot for ACen again. I'll have a half assed write up on how I made my My Luka and Echo costume coming up here soon, as well as share what my future plans are (they are big).

 Hope everyone has had a great year! And I look forward to seeing everyone in 2013! Enjoy your holidays with friends and family and stay safe!

Oh and don't forget to do the Commander Shepard Shuffle at your office Christmas parties.

Later!

-QK