Ryoko and Princess Ayeka

I've been forgetting over and over again to post these pictures.

Otakon 2007. Mine and my friend Sheena's costumes, Ryoko and Princess Ayeka from the Tenchi series.

These weren't so bad to make. There was just a lot to do. Since I had just moved and so close to con time I was only able to finish the Ryoko costume early enough and never slept the day before the drive to Baltimore because I was down to the wire on mine. One of the main focuses of the project was to bring plain animation to life. Since animated characters are simplified to make animation easier, we put thought into what they might have really looked like. Combining the right amount of patterned fabrics was our main tool in this and adding other decorative touches where ever we could.

Ayeka

I used one kimono pattern for the entire costume. The top coat used the entire length but no sleeves, the second was slightly shorter with short sleeves, and the third was the shortest in length with full length sleeves. I was careful to alternate solid and patterned fabrics carefully as to not make the whole thing too much of a busy eyesore. Two out of three of the patterned fabrics are actually the same pattern, just in different colors. The belt is a length of fabric folded under, raw edges sewn, and tied. The most complicated was the wig and tiara. The tiara is made of snakeskin patterned fabric sewn in the right shape and attached to an elastic band. I bought the round wood pieces in a craft store and painted them a cream color. The beads, also bought in a craft store, were strug together and glued to the wood. Now, I had bought 2 wigs, one short w/ bangs and one long w/out bangs. The short one was my main wig, while the long one would be butchered. I cut two lengths from it to represent the long hair in front of Ayeka ears and with a TON of hot glue sticks sandwiched them between the wood w/beads and the tiara. Now, I'm not a fan of Ayeka's pigtails, but I loved her hair in the Tenchi Forever movie, where it was tied in the traditional japanese low ponytail. I continued to cut and pin the long wig to the short one until I could fashion such a ponytail, complete with matching white tube wrap made from leftover white trim and a beautiful tie I bought with 3 sparkling blue jeweled flowers. So, yes, the hair is actually three parts, a short wig, a long one pinned to it, and the long pieces of hair attached to the tiara.

Ryoko

A dress patterned was followed to the T, up until it was time to created the slits in the dress, which was just a little tuck n sew. The jacket was a blouse pattern that was luckily very close to what we needed, big sleeves to tight sleeves. We added tails and fiddled with the front to make it more like a jacket. That probably took the most time. All matching fabrics were chosen for the split colored jacket and white dress. The gloves were actually taken from the Harley Quinn costume I made for Sheena earlier last year. The choker is just some extra ribbon, velcro, and a charm glued on. Black elastic bands make the sleeve bands, the obi belt was a perfect accessory Sheena already owned, and the tights have flat shoes slipped inside them, no slip grips stuck on the bottom, and pom poms leftover from Harley sewn on top.

I feel that every costume I make I keep improving leaps and bounds and this definately showed it. I was very happy with the overall result and there isn't really anything I'd change, except for maybe buying another long wig and trying the ponytail again. It didn't come out as thick as I'd hope since I had to cut so much.