Kusuriuri - Ayakashi Horror Tales / Mononoke
Andy
Made In: 2008
Status: active
Notes
This was the first really complicated cosplay costume I attempted. Previous costumes mostly entailed altering pre-made garments or fairly basic sewing from a pattern. For this costume, I had to plan, pattern, and dye fabric to get to the final result. While there are definitely parts of it I would do differently now, it's held up pretty well. Eventually, there are some improvements I want to make, but they mostly pertain to the accessories. There's a little bit of nostalgia to this costume--most of the fabric came from a stash my great-grandmother had accumulated many years ago.
Components
Kimono
This garment has a lot going on. There is both color blocking and applique, and while it's mostly kimono-shaped, the sleeves had to be patterned from scratch. I first sketched out the design based on screen caps, color coded all the pieces, and then transferred it all to full sized pattern pieces. The big blocks of color on the sleeves are pieced, and the circles were then appliqued on top of the base fabric. The teal base fabric was dyed that shade with Rit because I hadn't been able to find what I wanted at the store.
Obi
The gold design on the obi was all hand-painted, and the obi itself is in three pieces--the part that goes around the waist, the bow, and the long 'tail ends' of the bow. There is buckram in all but the tail pieces to help it keep it shape, and it closes at the back with velcro. The closure is mostly hidden by the bow, but this is one of the pieces I intend to remake.
Accessories
The sword was molded out of clay and then cast in resin from a rubber mold. This was my first try at molding and casting anything, and turned out quite well, despite that fact. The pendant with the mirror in it was made from model magic and a mirror salvaged from a make-up compact. It's held up okay, but I want to remake it.
Pants
The black pants for this outfit were originally just a pair of long shorts I bought because I was finishing the costume in a rush. Eventually, I made a simple pair out of black cotton, with a drawstring waist. The bottom cuffs have a casing sewn in, which allows them to be tied below the knee and still have the ends free to fan out away from the leg.
New Obi
For DragonCon 2018 I decided to finally remake my obi as an actual, normal obi, and not the pre-tied style I'd gone with previously. This ended up being... a journey. I originally intended to use actual obi stiffener and red kimono fabric, but in the end, I wound up slip-covering an existing obi in order to get the rigidity I needed. There was... a lot of trial, error, and me desperately spray-gluing interfacing to my new fabric a week before the convention. The pattern was put on using vinyl stencils cut out on my Cameo, with fabric screenprinting ink painted on by hand. The end result looks good, even if making it too approximately three times as long as I expected.
