Character: Yukari Yakumo
Series: Touhou Project
Version: Koumajou Densetsu II
Debut: San Japan 2012
Awards: Best in Class (Masters) San Japan 2012
I have a few friends that are big into touhou so I get exposed to a lot of the artwork and fan fodder. While I am probably 100% terrible at the game The characters are super cute and some of their stories are pretty interesting. I had never really considered cosplaying from it though until I saw the artwork for Koumajou Densetsu. Oh man, its so gorgeous! Beautiful designs and artwork, I fell in love.
Working on Yukari was quite an adventure. For the purple part of the dress I started with a commercial dress pattern but had to alter it extensively. It was much too large so I had to take it in and create the 3 bottom panels. It was very important for the top to be fitted well due to the deep plunging neckline. The outer shell is a matte satin and the whole thing is faced with twill for added support. The front top half of the bodice is also reinforced with interfacing. For all of the designs I used fabric paint and the freezer paper stencil method. First I drew the patterns in a vector program, enlarged them to the proper size and printed them out. Then I traced them onto the freezer paper and cut that out. I used a Jacquard brand of paint (Lumiere) and a wet brush technique to recreate the painterly feel the artwork had. All of the gold bias is handmade, cut and ironed and sewn on in the ditch with invisible thread. The sleeves patterns were achieved using a heat tool to draw out the shapes, melting off the ends and sealing the fabric. This method only works on synthetics.
The deep plunge of the neckline created some problems in finding the proper undergarments for support. In the end I just made my own. I used the cups of a bra and attached them to a bodice I made using my corset pattern. I boned the front and sides using industrial zip ties and put hook and eye’s down the front for closure. The chocker piece attaches to the bra cups offering a slight amount of support. This contraption relies on both the piece itself and the very fitted purple outer piece to create the proper amount of support.
The corset is made out of ultra suede and cotton sateen. There is a layer of canvas for structure and then the lining so it totals 3 layers. I used the cable ties to bone this as well since I was not trying to achieve the dramatic waist reduction a steel boned corset would give. I also made a modesty panel using a very thick sew in interfacing.
The Skirt is almost a full circle skirt with 3 tiers of ruffles I made using my ruffler foot and finishing them with a rolled hem. Everything is finished off with a topstitch. The white panel is hand pleated. I harvested a thrift store prom dress’ petticoat to line it and give a little more shape. I use a hoop skirt as a base but need to soften the bones with a petticoat.
For the parasol I started with a bought piece and made an outer cover out of peach skin since the original fabric was very thin. To create the eyes I used a printable fabric. I photoshopped an eye photograph and then printed it on the fabric, cut the eyes out and hand tacked them down to the inner parasol. I then covered the top with my peach skin outer piece and hand sewed the two layers together, then hand stitched the lace along the edge.
Photos by: Evil Pastry Studios, A.L.P Photography, The Tentacle Guy