So I decided to make my own. I simplified the design, both because I didn't want to copy them and because I had a different image in my head for how I wanted it to look. I wanted to combine the aspects of a sailor uniform and a hoodie and have them work together, having it resemble Usagi's school uniform more by skipping the colored pockets and sailor collar you couldn't see if the hood was down.
Making it was surprisingly easy! I'd already worked with the pattern to make my Amamiya Hibiya vest, so for the most part I knew what I was doing. I initially cut everything out of the same fabric and tried to dye the hood / sleeve pieces, but they turned a slate blue instead of the color I wanted, so I went back to Jo-Ann's and bought "pillowcase fabric" (according to Dad) to sew to the outside of the pieces. It made the hood and sleeves a little heavy and hard to sew, but I'm really glad I made the decision! I had to re-sew the white hoodie facing, half of the bow, and one of the sleeves, but that's honestly the least amount of mistakes I've made with sewing something from scratch.
I'm really proud of how it turned out, especially considering I essentially free-handed the whole thing from an idea I had in my mind. I had faith in my idea and it worked out in the end! (I also had fun messing around with the picture in Photoshop to get it to look like that.)
The hood turned out a little weird because of using three different fabrics for the two sides of the hood and the white facing. It definitely could've turned out worse, though. I doubt I'll be able to get it up over my head with my Usagi wig on ... but it was supposed to be the sailor collar, anyway, so that kind of defeats the purpose.
I copied the size of the bow off the screen-printed sailor sweater I bought from Anime USA. I made sure that it would line up with the necklace my friend bought for me off eBay. The right side was initially sewed on incorrectly, so it doesn't quite match up with the left even after I fixed it... I don't know if I'll ever want to try and fix it again or if I'll just leave it as is;;
I also have a pin I bought from Anime USA two years ago that's another one of Usagi's transformation brooches, but I haven't tried it out with the hoodie yet. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pin it over the zipper.
I hand-stitched the lines onto the cuffs because the opening was too small to work with my sewing machine. You can't really see the lines from far away, and I feel like I might try to replace them with thin white ribbon in the future. I've gotten better with keeping my stitches straight and uniform, though, so I'm really proud of that.
I should probably iron it in the next few weeks ...;;
All in all, the cosplay probably only cost about $25 for all the fabric. (Coupons are the best.) I already had the pattern on hand, and I'm pretty sure I used a coupon on that, too. It took me a weekend to put the hoodie together from start to finish.
This will be my Saturday cosplay for Katsucon 2015! I'm excited to finally be able to cosplay Usagi in her school uniform (kind of), which I've always kind of dreamed about since I first got into the series back into elementary school. I don't think I'll ever be entirely comfortable wearing her magical girl outfit, simply because that's more skin than I usually want to show, so I'm really really happy I found a way to cosplay her school uniform and combine it with something I wear every day. Maybe I'll even find my own Mamoru on Valentine's Day...
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