Sailor Saga

Recently, my friends Jenny and Kimiko (both fellow members of Project Victory Cosplay Theatre) decided they'd like to put together a PGSM group, just as an excuse to sing and dance more. (Hey, works for me.) So Kimiko comissioned me to build Sailor Venus from Live Action Sailor Moon, aka Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Sure, I can be bought. Since she's Wig Girl! from our group, she'll do her own wig, and our other friend Jenny (Accoutrement Girl!) will take care of bows, collar and choker. I've also decided to build both Luna and Sailor Mercury for myself. I'm tired of waiting for an excuse - I'm just gonna go ahead and DO IT. The following notes cover all aspects of all three costumes all at once - I'm not going to delineate among the three, as that'll take too much time. Plus I might do the other Sailors as well (Moon, Mars, Jupiter, 2nd Mercury), if Kimi and Jenny get their group together.

Since I'm taking care of the main costume parts, Jenny will build the CF and butt bows, as well as the chokers and collars. (She does a great job on bows - it's definitely her strong point.) I'll be doing shoulder wings, glove cuffs, hip piping, skirts and boots. I'll also be attaching everything as needed. Purchased items are: hair jewels (excepting Venus' hair bow), choker gems, belt gems, CF bow gems, leotard bases, gloves, and watches. Per the picture book details: the glove cuffs we're going to make from foam, as well as attach the butt bows with whopper poppers. The shoulder wings are vinyl, stitched to create the channels and glued onto the vest. The vest is some sort of covered 1/4" foam, and the hip piping is a 1" diameter foam as well, covered in spandex. You can see my full costume notes here, the spreadsheet .pdf layout here, both updated 6 August 2005.

As the days pass, I will upload what I'm using, where I'm ordering from, what I'm building, and what didn't work. I'll include addresses to get stuff that worked, and places to avoid. I'll even upload pictures, so people can follow along and see what's going on.

And so we begin...(latest entries on top)

29 August 2007
I haven't been able to do anything with this project because of too much other stuff going on. This SUCKS. I now refuse to do any other cons or masqs other than Fanime - there are simply too many costumes to do, and I've put this one off for long enough.

9 August 2006
Okay, I'm gonna pass on finding cabochons, since at Costume College I discovered that I can mold our own with mixables and paint trays. Yay! It'll take some practice, but it'll be worth it, 'cause we'll get the exact colors and sizes we need, rather than simply go with whatever we can find. I'll eBay the other cabochons that I bought over a year ago. Man - SOMEDAY these'll get done! :D

19 June 2006
Whew! I've been so busy that this had been put on hold again. Yikes. No one's in a rush, though, so that's good. Meanwhile, I have almost everything I need, except for one or two detail-y bits. I'll keep my eye out for them when I go to Costume College in August.

15 October 2005
Yay! I found the perfect blue for Mercury's skirt etc! On a whim I dropped by Fabrics R Us on Berryessa, and there it was...it looked so pretty! And so cheap! I'm happy. I haven't worked on anything since the ballet started up again. It's been crazy busy at work, plus a friend of mine hired me for building a reception dress. [Insert big happy smile here!]

6 August 2005
Whew - no postings for a while. I've been collecting more material for the costumes. Went to LA for Costume College, and came back with some good stuff: Jupiter's light pink bow fabric; Luna's fabrics for inner/outer ears, underskirt/overskirt, and cuff/shoulder fur; and the best part of all - gems for Venus' and Mars' belts and everyone's CF bows. Huzzah! The only problem with the belt gems is that they're faceted. It's impossible to find 25mm cabochons that aren't a dollar or more a piece, and finding more than three. So I just got lovely acrylic bits, 6/$3.98. Much more affordable. The pink will be painted with pink pearl nail polish to mimic the originals. The CF bow gems are 35mm - not quite as large as the originals, but large enough to look groovy. After we got back, I checked Fabrics R Us, and picked up some heavyweight spandex (they hadn't any before). On a lark, I checked out the new Beverly's here in San Jose on Hamilton, and found the cobalt blue faille for Luna's collar and butt bow. Yay!

19 July 2005
Hey! The foam tubing came today. Right on. It seems a bit softer than I expected (see the pix), but I'll experiment with it to see if it will work alright. I have a sneaking susupicion, though, that I'm going to need firmer foam...

14 July 2005
Foam for vests came today. Yay! It's a touch more cream than white, but it still beats black. I like the firm hand, and wonder how it will work in the vests. Time to experiment with closed-cell foam! [Insert evil laugh of choice here.]

13 July 2005
Yay! Foam heads came the afternoon of the 11th, and my books came yesterday. Finally! I can get started on making leotards. I've traced off the pattern in my size so I can experiment with fitting. Measurement-wise, it should be fine, but we'll see where the reality lies. Also need to trace off Kimiko's size, and get her in here for a fitting. Now I just need both foams I ordered for the vests and hip piping. Both books are really quite good - the pattern cutting one by Haggar is English, which I hadn't realized when I placed the order. It's not any sort of problem. I just thought it was interesting. It's loaded with all sorts of interesting drafting and cutting information, and should be a good read. The Kwik-Sew book is a huge help, too. With both the master patterns and all sorts of building instructions, it'll be a breeze building the leos for the Sailors.

11 July 2005
On Saturday, Jenny and I went to General Bead up in San Francisco. We found the perfect cabochons to use in Venus' and Mars' belts, but found out that not only were they discontinued, but of the ones they did have left in stock, there were maybe three or four of each. ARG. But on the other hand, found some very nice sapphire blue glass cabs to use for Mercury's earrings and tiara. Ah, well. It's a trade-off. Hoping some part of my foam orders arrive today, or at least the books. I'd really like to get started on something. Maybe the foam heads will come today? Need those for my wig collection.

7 July 2005
Last night placed an order with Barnes & Noble for two things: Kwik Sew's Swim and Action Wear, which has master patterns for leos, bikinis (riiight - I'm gonna wear those ALL the time), and swimsuits; and Haggar's Pattern Cutting for Lingerie, Beachwear and Leisurewear, which is more of an industry book. Since I most likely will have to build custom leos for the Sailors, might as well go straight to the source for leo patterns. It's no biggie - leos are simply two-piece patterns which are easy to fit to the body. Plus they'll be tank leos, so no sleeves or legs to worry about. I can get the fabric at the local discount fabric house, too. The best thing about building leos is then both the leos and the hip piping will have matching fabric. Huzzah for the little things! Not worried about the glove fabric matching - think we'll all be too busy waving our hands around shrieking, "In the name of the Moon, you will be punished!" and little things like that.

6 July 2005
Met with Jenny today at the local discount fabric store, Fabrics R Us on Berryessa in San Jose. We nearly peed our pants when we discovered the perfect 60" wide matte mid-weight polyester plainweave to make our girls from. We found all colors, excepting Luna's sunshine yellow satin and purple sparkle organdy. I didn't want to spend time finding it, but I know they have it. The colors they simply didn't have in the matte poly were Mercury's mid sky blue (skirt/collar/choker), Jupiter's cotton candy pink (CF and butt bows), and Moon's fuchsia pink (CF and butt bows, choker). I'm not worrying about it, since I'll be in LA at the end of the month. I can peruse the garment district and see what they have, and I know they'll have something. Here's our rainbow of fruit flavors.

4 July 2005
Received all Catzia's goodies Saturday. Yay! Everything's there and in top condition. Am ordering both Luna tiara and plain tiara from Catzia's, since I've decided I don't want to deal with making them myself. I can glue a Mercury gem on the plain one. Need to check with Kimi re if she has a Venus tiara or not. Hope she does!

27 June 2005
First, I had to make a list of costume parts and what they're made of. Some stuff I had to guess at, others were obvious. I also made construction notes to help guide me in the building process. The good thing is some parts can be purchased, while others will have to be made from scratch. So far, I've got 1" diameter foam tubing on order to build the hip piping and glove cuffs. We'll split the tubing in half and build the cuffs that way. It's too expensive to have a company custom-make the strip - I requested quotes. Should be easy enough (famous last words): split tubing, glue to fabric base, paint.

Also ordered and received opaque shimmer tights (per reference photos) and a white leo base, both from Discount Dance Supply. The shimmer tights should be fine, but have matte opaque in my Cosplay Basix Box in case the shimmer's too much. The leotard will have to be investigated and experimented with further, as Capezio's nylon econo leo is a bit too sheer. The built-in shelf bra is good, but you can see the tights through the lower half of the body. Would like to have heavy-weight miliskin or spandex leos, ideally, but may have to build them. Don't want to, though - it's just more time.