Sakurazuka Seishirou - X [wedding kimono]
Cocoa
Made In: 2006
Status: retired
Notes
The fanciest cosplay I own, probably. This owes a huge debt of gratitude to my friend Brooke, who did the painting on the outer kimono and haori in exchange for tailoring work from me on a different costume. It won a judges' choice award at Anime Boston 2005.
Components
Haori
Pattern from Making Your Own Japanese Clothes, in a black duchess satin, with exquisite handpainting from Brooke. The tie is a vintage grey silk men's haori tie from a small Japanese goods store in Providence.
Outer Kimono
White shantung silk, again painted by Brooke, and dyed grey. This was my first time working with silk at all, and I learned the hard way that shantung frays terribly on unfinished edges. The pattern was also drafted from Making Your Own Japanese Clothes.
Inner Kimono
Red cotton sateen, which I stenciled completely with a gold shippou pattern. There's a good six or seven bottles of paint there - I was buying out whatever my craft store had on the shelves fairly regularly for a while there.
Hakama
Black duchess satin, to match the haori. This was Round Earth Publishing's hakama pattern! Fun fact: I hand-hemmed the entire bottom edge twice, because the first time I made the hems too long and they dragged on the ground.
