Character: Umi Ryuuzaki
Series: Magic Knights Rayearth
Version: Artbook
Debut: Colossalcon TX 2024
After the infamous Umi costume of 2009 and breaking the MKR curse with Hikaru it was finally time to Cosplay Umi again without all the agony. Ok but for real, last year at Colossalcon TX we won best in show and one of our prizes was a private waterpark photoshoot and we needed cute nautical themed group cosplay.
This was a pretty straight forward and simple project which was fine by me after all of the work I had put into my last build. I was able to pull some blue satin from my stash that had been sitting there since Hancock Fabrics went out of business…which is a long time. Always love it when i can use materials I impulse bough 8 years ago.
This costume is basically a seifuku so I started with the Simplicity 8160 japanese school uniform pattern. I used that primarily for the shirt with very minor alterations. I did not sew up the back darts because the art depicts a more oversized boxy fit. I omitted the sleeves and used an armhole facing to finish those off. Because I was limited on fabric I chose to sew my scarf for the collar into my sleeve seams. I just used 2 long rectangles that are pleated at the shoulder. The scarf just slips into a fabric loop sewn onto the shirt. For the white fabric I used a cotton jersey spandex and all of the blue is satin. The patches for the shirt pockets were drawn in illustrator by myself and embroidered by Sanctuary Memory.
For the skirt I just box pleated a rectangle to the correct waist measurement. I added my typical half elastic waist band, but because they are wearing belts I did have to construct a band that had belt loops. To do that the waistband was made with 2 seams that I could sew the belt loops into.
The hat is a simple beret pattern. I used the same cotton jersey, but it was interfaced. The hat was lined and then the band was attached. The shoes were simply painted with angelus leather paints.