Construction Details:

These costumes were made entirely from scratch, with Cimorene focusing on the base patterning and sewing and me focusing on wigs, props, accessories, finishing stitches, hand sewing, bias tape, ironing, and patterning/painting.

We had to modify the sewing patterns for the cuffs and collar on my coat and made all the piping by hand in the same velvet as Himawari's dress. Likewise, we used the velvet to make custom buttons for Watanuki's coat and pants. I hand-strung the necklace and bead arrays for the costumes out of glass pearls and Swarovski crystal drops.

Most of the time spent on these costumes was adapting patterns and tailoring. We needed to have a detachable underskirt for our skit and we had a TON of layers for both costumes. Everything was based in white sop we also had to take sweat stains and other staining into consideration. Talk about a costume you can't wear anywhere!

My pride and joy in these costumes is the painting. It took me over 100 hours to pattern out the designs for the painted pieces and I shaded between two custom paint mixes to give a 3D effect. There is paint on Himawari's skirt, blouse segment, and both upper and lower sleeves. Watanuki Had patterns on the front and side panels of the coat, collar, and cuffs.

Personal Thoughts:

This was an INCREDIBLE feat of work. My partner and I put so many hours into these costumes and it really all did pay off after we won the Otakon 2012 Best Overall Craftsmanship award in the Master Division.

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