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