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Sailor Jupiter Costume: Post-Mortem

 The costume was finished on time and I was please with my approximation for this costume. I ended up not focusing on character accuracy 100% but at least recognizable. So, I'll go through the method I ended up going with for the leotard and skirt, the accessories, and what I decided to leave out. 

Leotard and Skirt

So, for the overall costume I kept the skirt and leotard as separate pieces because I thought I could use the leotard as a base for a future costume. This meant I followed the advice in the pattern except I made the leotard a lined leotard. I learned a new method of lining tops called the Burrito Method. Saves me a lot of heartache! 

The skirt also used the pattern pieces but I went off-script for this piece. I left the back seam open on the belt and upper part of the skirt. Like a fly on a pair of pants. Then I cut two "button holes in the back of the belt. The large ribbon that sits on the back I have extra ties on that I loop through the holes and tie down. It's double secured with a large safety pin and Velcro squares. So that should keep it on. 

The collar scarf and bow are safety pinned to the leotard and I added some basting stitches for a bit of security. 

Accessories

So I made the gloves, tiara, ribbon choker, hair tie, earrings and bows for this costume. The bow I made with an online tutorial and eyeballed measurements. The front bow is smaller than most other costumes I see, BUT I prefer it because this is a dance costume and the larger ribbon would be cumbersome to dance with. The larger ribbon for the back came out great! I was able to use some plastic meant for pull rug making to make the wings of the bow stay open and upright. Having extra ties was kind of an accident of inspiration but it works great as a method of attaching it to the costume. 

The hair tie was an experiment with UV Resin that turned out okay. I think the hair tie I used was too short but I think I can make it work for one night at least. I also made the earrings out of UV resin!

The ribbon choker I had some leftover ribbon from kanzashi flowers in green. Measured around my neck and was at first going to just tie it on. However, eventually I found the ribbon clasps I was looking for and was able to add a chain and lobster clasp to it. 

I successfully 3D printed the tiara in a shiny yellow PLA and added a gem made from UV resin. I also put on a rubber loop meant for glasses chains and will tie on a bit of elastic on the back. 

For the gloves I followed an online tutorial of legit just tracing my hands and sewing them. I added a bit of green trim to the edges from the same material as the skirt and kerchief collar. They fit but look a bit odd to be honest but it's done. 

Things I Excluded

In concerns for time and cost, I ended up not doing a few things. 

1. I didn't add any of the sleeves. The leotards tend to have this tube style sleeve or a bubble sleeve. While I did cut out pieces to make an approximation of a sleeve, I skipped it in part because I want to use the leotard for other things and capped sleeves make my arms look weird, IMO. 

2. I didn't really make the tube belt very pronounced. To be fair, I kind of got frustrated with the skirt...it doesn't really do the V shape very much, but the tube style belt would send me. Even flat the belt was trouble. 

3. I didn't make the trim for the gloves in that series of tube style. It's just flat color. 

4. Lastly, I didn't do anything for the shoes. I was originally going to buy new dance shoes that are a bit like ankle boots and then cover them, but they were more than I wanted to spend and I have good dance shoes. While I have the supplies to cover my dance shoes, the effort proved too much and I was worried about compromising my favorite practice shoes. I do have 1 more week before the party but I'll unlikely change my mind about making boot covers. 

What I would do Differently

In the end I didn't end up going as accurately as I intended. If that was my goal from the start I might have approached this differently. 

1. The underboob seam on the leotard is wonky and looks a bit weird until it's stretched over me. Honestly, I would change that to be a simple curve instead of the contour style shape. It would make it a better more universal leotard style. 

2. I'd make my own belt instead of using the pattern's design. 

3. I'd work on this more earlier when I had more energy and excitement about the project. Unfortunately, I started suffering from a bit of burnout. 

Reflections

I feel kind of bad I wasn't able to really put my best effort into this costume nor recreate a dance-version of it. I started having costume burn out and lost my motivation midway through the project. It was one of those perhaps adult style moments where I was questioning why I was spending so much money on something I was only going to wear for 2 to 3 hours on one night and there wasn't even a chance for a costume prize...except the popularity contest one. Had this been for a convention or something I would wear to multiple events I'd have more of the external incentive and internal peace of mind that it was okay to spend this much money. 

To the detriment of the project, stress has been accumulating slowly and I'm at the high end of "normal" stress levels. It's one of those things that kind of just slowly crept up on me without noticing but I had a lot more going on than I realized and I need to put some things on the backburner while my brain is at this limited capacity. 

This may be my last big Halloween costume for awhile since I don't have an office party to attend or a friend that hosts a party. I still want to make costumes it's fun...but I think my biggest stressor is I'm preparing to buy my first home...possibly a condo. I'm also starting to take a Japanese language course which is going to cut into crafting time. And I have overwhelmed myself with a lot of crafts. Oh and the holidays are coming up? Weee! 

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