Worn at: Chibifest 2007, Fanime 2007, Anime Expo 2007, Anime Vegas 2007

Chara Info: You already know about Haruka/Uranus if you've seen my other costumes. This is the outfit worn in Sera Myu, the Sailor Moon musicals.

Why Her?: I am a HUGE Sera Myu fan, and I have been itching to make a new Myu costume for a long time. When I visited the Fashion District in March 2006, I found the base blue and yellow fabrics and the shiny bow/glove fabrics for very cheap. I had to go for it :).

The Story: Even after years of cosplaying and lots of experience at Sailor Moon costumes, battle fuku still continue to be a difficult project. The difficulty is compounded when it's a Myu costume. I wanted to be as accurate as possible this time around with the Myu fuku, so I hope it shows.

Here's the making of each part in the order it was completed:

• Bows: Made of tricot lame and super-stiff interfacing. The trim is almost exactly what they use in the productions. (It's the right trim, but the costume shop I got it from was all out of the duller gold and I had to use orangey gold ;_;.) It was a real challenge trying to get the loops around the bows, since everything was so thick.
• Gloves: Again, tricot lame and trim. I stuffed them with polyfill instead of sewing in batting because I think the Myu glove puffies are not puffy enough :P. The white gloves are purchased.
• Wig: I started with a shoulder-length wig and cut/styled it to this. I just wish the wind didn't play havoc with the stying job!
• Boots: Like the shoes they use in the production, my boots are character shoes with attached bootcovers. The dance shoes are painted navy, and the bootcovers are made out of vinyl. This is the first garment I've constructed with vinyl, and it's made me decide I never want to work with it again >.<.
• Dress: Yes, it's a dress and not a leotard. Myu costumes, due to the fast changes they need to make, do not have bottoms. Instead, they wear cheerleading briefs underneath the dress. This is why they don't fit all that well and make the tiny Japanese actresses look chubby :P. Anyways, the bodice is doubled-up Super Spandex. I used the matte side because that part of the costume is not supposed to be shiny. The trim was pinned on, then carefully sewn on with a straight stretch stitch. The collar went through many drafts and attachments, and it's still not quite right. The sleeves were stuffed with batting and quilted to give it the puffy look, and then the trim and beads were handsewn on. By far the most amount of work went into the skirt. It's a 3x pleated circle skirt, and each pleat was painstakingly pressed in. (I do mean painstakingly. The poly twill I used does NOT like to wrinkle or take pleats!) It was sewn on to the bodice, cut to the right length, and then hemmed with horsehair braid and gold vinyl-like binding. All 8-9 yard of beads on the hem were handsewn (and I watched a lot of Animal Planet while doing so!).
• Accessories: The tiara is Wonderflex covered in gold tricot lame. The earrings, broach, and choker ornament were projects I made in a class last semester. I designed them on the computer, and they were then printed out on a 3-D printer. I then had to sand and paint them, but that was definitely easier than trying to make a 7-sided shape by hand!

Pictures

         
           

Credits: 4 by Tei; 5 by AsianSchoolboy, 6 by Lionel, the rest by Robbie