Photos!

[ladyofthethread]

Luckily, the weather was decent today and we made it to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Met thedreamerworld there and she and my brother took lots of photos of my Count D artbook kimono. ^_^

The cherry trees are all in full bloom now so if anyone local wants to see them, you should go this week. Unfortunately, I think they’ll all be gone by the time Sakura Matsuri actually happens in a couple of weeks. ;_; Don’t know if I’ll cosplay for the festival now since the flowers will be gone and most of my costumes are too cumbersome to take the subway in. If I can find a Japanese print fabric I like, I might just make a cute dress to wear instead.


And my brother finished his Anime Boston pics the other night.

A few more pics in the general AB album:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotofong/sets/72157623828002590/

Photoshoot of mostflogged as rock star Yoko:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotofong/sets/72157623872782634/

Plus, I have stuff to post now! :-D

Here’s my Youko costume from The Twelve Kingdoms. The construction is much like the nyosen uniform I did a few years ago. Two kimono style tops, two skirts, a sash that closes with snaps in the back, and a panel that hangs from a belt hidden under the sash. They’re hard to see in these pics but I got green contacts for this. Still want to add something to that front panel but haven’t decided what.


And my other new costume for the con was Count D’s artbook kimono. I ended up with 96 appliqués on the finished costume and used up about 6 whole spools of the gold metallic thread (around 1,300 yards) stitching them down! The designs on the appliques are handpainted and all the embellishment probably took 45-50 hours between painting, cutting, and sewing.

I went much more in a fantasy direction so the construction is not like a real kimono. I made the tops and skirts separate so that it’s easier for me to get dressed since I have no experience with wearing real kimono. The skirts are based on a half circle skirt and the black one is basically a wrap skirt that buttons together with a bit of overlap. I kind of wish I’d allowed for more overlap since it falls farther apart when I wear it than it did on my dress form. I added an extra flap to the black skirt to fake the waist fold and the obi hides the waistband.












I was telling my brother when we were taking pics that Yuuko and her wish-granting shop from xxxHolic reminded me a bit of D and his pet shop. And since this was a kimono costume for D rather than the typical Chinese robes, I tried lounging around like Yuuko. XD;

Comments

[aimeekitty.livejournal.com]

yeah, Yuuko is very D!

Both turned out great! Great to see 12 kingdoms cosplay. I'm enjoying that series right now.

I totally love how you embellished D's kimono though. It's totally gorgeous.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-) The thought of trying to applique those designs had been in my mind for a long time.

And the Twelve Kingdoms is a great series. ^_^ I've also done Renrin and Youka the nyosen in the past. Sadly, the series doesn't seem to get much cosplay though.

[sailor-asteroid.livejournal.com]

Beautiful costumes once again, as usual! <3

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-)

[furubariceball.livejournal.com]

Both kimonos look lovely! Great job!

And I've always thought XXXHolic was very Petshop of Horrors like X3

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-)

Yeah, I thought xxxHolic was similar when I read the first couple of volumes and watched the first season of anime. But I didn't like it nearly as much as Petshop and never got too much into it. ^_^;

[jezeroth.livejournal.com]

Your applique work looks great in the photos! You must feel a lot more confident in your machine applique technique after this!

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-) Yeah, definitely! I'd been worried about taking on this project because I don't do the best with curves on the sewing machine and hadn't taken on such an extensive applique project before. After this, I feel like I can probably applique most things without much of a problem!

[doorknocker-dog.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I love the last two pictures of D. You've got his personality really spot on. =3 (And of course, the kimono came out freaking awesome.)

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-)

[sarcasm-hime.livejournal.com]

I love the snowflake motifs and you look really cute in that red wig! :)

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-)

[gothic-lolita.livejournal.com]

That D kimono is lovely, the details you put in your costumes always amaze me. And yay for spreading the 12 Kingdoms love <3

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :-) I guess it's from doing so much needlework before getting into cosplay but I love embellishment work.

Yeah, Twelve Kingdoms could use more love. I only got asked for a picture by 2 or 3 people and I don't think anyone at the con knew what I was cosplaying when I wore Youko. ;_;