*Suu*
Clover
Worn at: Gencon SoCal 2003, Cosplay.com Picnic II, Anime Expo 2004
Chara Info: Suu has a unique power -- she's a Four Leaf Clover, the only one in the world. She's kept locked in a cage, like a bird, to prevent her from loving anyone. Because if she learns to love someone, her powers might not be so controllable. . .
Why Her?: Suu is my favorite character in my all-time favorite manga (although woefully it is not finished and probably never will be ;_;. Damn you CLAMP, damn you). I've wanted to do a Suu costume for years, but the fact that I really don't resemble her has held me back. However. . .in in many pictures, she happens to be clothed in a lovely ivory fabric. The same color ivory, in fact, as my failed Chii dress. I was going to make that Chii dress into another Tohru costume, but it was good to stick to another CLAMP character ^_^.
The Story: I don't think I've ever had another costume garner this much attention O_O.
The entire costume is made out of Casa Collection satin, which is a beautiful low-sheen, heavyweight satin Joann sells in a bazillion colors ^_^. The shirt and shorts both followed simple patterns, and the skirt was originally the bottom of my Chii dress. Once again I used quite a bit of gold lame bias tape. The little gold "screws" you see on the skirt, shirt, and wings are leftover rhinestones from Jupiter spraypainted gold. The belt/corset is really spiffy -- it's made from a Simplicity Juniors pattern with all sorts of neat things to make, like bustiers and hats and purses ^^.
But no one cares how I made the outfit, right? It's all about the wings! 90% of the wings are made out of Lexan, a type of Plexiglas my dad has in huge quantities. The "feathers" and accents are made from 1mm, and the framework is 6mm. To create the semi-opaque look of Suu's wings, I rubbed each feather with steel wool. The casings around each feather are made of mat board. Applicable pieces were spraypainted gold.
I reworked the harness, and you can see how I did it if you read this post at cosplay.com
This costume was entered into the Gencon So-Cal 2003 costume contest, and came out with the Staff Favorite award! Hurrah! Ten hours of wearing those wings paid off! XD
Pictures
