I originally was planning on this costume for AnimeFest, so I tried to finish it as fast as possible. Thus, I didn’t take progress photos as I normally would have liked. I will be posting details on each part, the patterns I used, and tips later on though. I’ll do an overview here.

I used a compression vest for binding:

The right one was used for Neku. Since Neku’s shirt was form fitting, the extra length helped shape my stomach area as well. Since Haku’s costume isn’t tight, I’m using the shorter ones on the left, which are size M and L. M is a bit tight; L is a bit loose, but I think I’ll use the L.

The next layer is the under garment. My previous entry shows the top in detail. I’ll go into the pants later, though it’s actually just a basic shorts pattern with an elastic waist.

The next layer is the last one. The top is held together with the purple sash and has slits at the shoulders. The pants have holes on the side and drawstrings at the end of each leg for that puffy effect. I will post patterns for these later.

The wig is a China Girl wig in the darkest brown. I still need to trim it. It’s a bit long all around. I’ve also bought flip flops to use that needs a bit of altering.

I’m glad I finished it though too bad it won’t be used yet! More details soon to come!

I decided to start on the blue under outfit first, starting with the shirt. I drafted a pattern based off of a T-shirt.

I sewed together the 2 front sides and the back first.

Then I added the collar and hemmed the bottom. I didn’t use any pattern for the collar. I just measured how much I’d need, and cut out a long strip of fabric to sew on.

Lastly, I added sleeves, which finishes it!

It stays together with ties at each end. Here it is for the outside part.

Here is the inside, and you can see where it ties on the right.

I haven’t decided where to go from here. I’ll either do the under part for the pants, or I’ll start on the white top.

Materials:
- Sheets of thin craft foam
- Thin stretchy fabric (I used spandex)
- Velcro

(Click for larger pictures!)

Hand part
1. Cut out identical pieces of craft foam (however thick you want it) that is the shape of the back of your hand. Glue them together.
2. Cut out a cover for them that extends past the bottom part (pointing at the wrist).
3. Before sewing the cover together, I take a strip of fabric, form a circular band with it, and sew it to one side of the cover, which will be the part that your hand goes through.
4. Sew the cover together, leaving the long side open.
5. Stuff the craft foam in. Sew the cover close as close to the craft foam as you can.

Wrist part
1. Cut strips of craft foam that can wrap around your wrist. Leave extra room so they can overlap.
2. Create a cover for the craft foam.
3. Sew on pieces of velcro where it comes together.

Then, I just sewed the long end of the hand part to the wrist part, leaving a little room between them.

Hope that all made sense!

These are the base shoes. I asked my friend Jess to just buy cheap heels, and she found these for $4 on eBay. I wish they were rounded instead of pointy, but it still worked.

I started by using muslin fabric and pinned it over my leg and shoe. I cut it out in that shape afterwards and used it as a pattern.

The material I used was matte vinyl. I was lucky and found vinyl scraps on sale for $3/yd. I really only needed about a yard, but took 2 incase I messed up. I had to use my heaviest weight needle and also had to buy a thicker thread. It was unfortunately a lighter color than the vinyl, but it only shows in the back.

I started by sewing the pieces together in the back and added a zipper. I underestimated how much I needed and got a zipper that was a couple inches too short.

Next I sewed the front so that it would be tight against the shoe.

The yellow stripes are bias tape that I glued to the vinyl. Part of it tucks under the cover at the bottom. Then I glued the cover to the shoe.

You can see that I made the boot taller at first. I put my feet in it, so I could see how it went up on my leg, then I cut off the extra at the top. Then I took a strip of vinyl and sewed it to the top to make the folded part. I sewed it down at the sides near the zipper so it’ll stay down. Since the vinyl isn’t 2 sided, I had to do it this way.

Tada! Here are the covers! I think they could have turned out a little better, but not bad for my first time with this material.

And here are our full costumes! (Our Shiki is the one on the right.)

Using brown and white fabric, I started constructing the cover for it. (It’s not attached to the hat yet.)

I actually made it too high at first, so I took it in both top and bottom. I also flipped it so it goes outwards near the bottom.

Next was adding the brown stripes to the white part, which is just bias tape. I also sewed a circle to the top to close it off.

The last part is connecting the cover to the hat! I hand sewed the bottom of the cover to the bottom of the hat.

The wig in the picture has already been trimmed. I cut a little off the front bangs and cut the hair to the side shorter. I didn’t take any off in the back. The wig is New Look’s Lucy in Henna Red.

I finished one of Shiki’s boots tonight. Hopefully, I’ll have the other finished soon to show!

This is before I closed the top, which I decided to do with bias tape. I kind of made the fabric too stiff and had a hard time sewing the top close by folding it. This basically took 3 rectangles. One for the back. One for the front, where I cut out a chunk of it, then I sewed in the other rectangle to fill the space back in. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a silver zipper on brown, so I had to use black.

I also lined the edges of the straps with bias tape. I’m going to go back and trim the ends off later. Both ends of the strap have button holes, so it can be taken off at either end.

Here is a look at how long the strap is.

Next time I’ll post pictures of her hat and wig!

I also added the hood. I traced the hood of one of my hoodie jackets to get the pattern. The left is the lining for the inside. The right is the outside part.

When I sewed them together, I only did it on the outside edge. I then placed the draw string inside and sewed right outside of it so it’d form a little tube to stay in.

The only thing left was to sew the hood onto the jacket. And here it is, Shiki’s jacket, finished!

I started on her jacket a few days ago, and now I’m almost done. I used a shirt pattern I had and altered it by cutting it shorter. I then added the white edges.

I’m using cotton interlock and chose polyester interlock for the inner lining. I did this by cutting out the same shape in polyester, pinning it together, sewing most of the sides together (leaving one opening), and then turned it inside out.

And here’s the jacket now!

I may have to alter it a little because the arm holes felt a little tight. Next, I’ll also be adding the hoodie.

I asked Jess to buy the shirt and skirt, so I will need to take care of:
- wig
- hat
- necklace
- bag
- boots
- Mr. Mew

Just last night, I ordered The Costume Technician’s Handbook and More Fabric Savvy. I can’t wait to get them =D Hopefully, these will help me choose fabrics and draft my patterns better!

The gloves were made with stretch jersey covered around craft foam. The wrists come together with velcro. The headband is twill that I had laying around. The length is about 80in.

The wig is New Look’s Maxine wig. I thinned it out, cut in extra bangs, and cut the whole thing shorter. I also straightened it with hot water, which I debated whether I should do. I normally let it dry for over a day, but I didn’t have that kind of time today! So, I let it sit there for a few hours before using a hair dryer on low to dry the rest.

Here are pictures of the whole costume!