'ello 'ello! I'm Katana, here to slowly give the blow-by-blow of the various cosplays I've done. Back in the old days of theOtaku, we had an actual Cosplay site. That was taken down. And uh...never put back up. Boo.
Anyways, I'm here to give my random tidbits and maybe helpful assistance when it comes to cosplay. I'm not an anal cosplayer - in other words, I won't berate you for a costume that isn't on the mark, because I know it's really hard to pull off some costumes. However, it is possible to get a good-looking product with limited means. You just have to be creative.
Stats:
Character: Stuffed Animal Cafe Waitress
Series: Azumanga Daioh
For: Halloween '04
Price: Around $20
Completion Time: In total, about a day, spread out over two months
This is my first ever cosplay, when I was 13 years old and in the eighth grade. Two of my friends agreed to do a cosplay with me and, with that, we started planning in August to be stuffed animal cafe waitresses from our favorite series, Azumanga Daioh.
Components:
- White blouse that buttoned at the neck (for the bow)
- Bow
- Orange skirt
- Yellow apron
- Hat
In this instance, the shoes really weren't important, nor was the red trim on the blouse. Lucky for us, we had the blouses, but also had to keep using them for other purposes, so modding them was out of the question. I'd also recommend leaving them in their original state, because I ended up using the same shirt for another costume.
The biggest ordeal came from making the hats. We were basically on our own back then, though nowadays I've seen plenty of cat-eared hats around that you can probably find a pattern someplace. Unfortunately, some mis-trials ended up with us running out felt, but the hat-maker of our trio added some pink felt for the brim. (This is where being non-anal comes in handy.)
This is the end result, sans nametag (and GAAAH I forgot the bow!):
(I've only grown about three inches since eighth grade, so the costume still fits. Lawl on me.)
Notice the hat. It sucks. XD But I love it. Not only that, but the comments we got from school, from trick-or-treating, and from the school-sponsered Halloween dance were awesome.
Despite the fact that we were young and with no experience, our spread-out skills (my friends can sew but I, um, cannot, so I did the research and made our nametags) were what helped us in the end. My advice: Don't be afraid to try.
