Construction Details:

I worked slowly and diligently on this costume for several months so that no detail would be rushed or left to the last minute...!

The corset is steel boned with coutil. The decorative layer is a french beaded lace that was first stay-stitched to pink satin for support. I carefully placed each panel so the pattern of the lace would match up nicely. There is faux lacing in the front, and the corset laces up for realsies in the back ... soooo many grommets!

The skirt was the bulk of the work, with various trims that needed to be hand-applied to 10 yards of hem!! I dyed the red applique, sequined it by hand, and then hand-stitched it to the skirt. I made the ruffles using my serger; I used narrow hem "napkin" stitch on the bottom, then a gathering stitch to create the ruffles. I sewed a white scallop trim by hand along the top of the ruffles as an accent after they were attached to the skirt. The skirt is lined with one layer of organza (for sparkle and body) and one layer of chantilly lace, with horsehair braid in the hem for extra oomph. Lining the skirt was a difficult task just because it is SO HUGE.

The top and pansu I patterned myself and used lingerie-type finishings so they would look really girly and dainty, I'm very proud of them, they're like *real* lingerie! The headband was covered with fabric I quilted with silver thread, then accented with hot-fix rhinestones. My butt bouquet and Freya's tulle bustle both have twinkle lights in them that I soldered myself to a mini arduino board that controls the twinkle pattern. Nessa casted the ears, and we worked together to make them open and close happily ... this required quite a bit of trial and error (and magnets)!!

Personal Thoughts:

This costume was created for Kirayume Cosplay's entry in the World Cosplay Summit USA preliminaries!! When Nessa pitched her Chobits idea to me, I knew we had a special story to work with. Putting together these costumes and performance was a labor of love for us ever since then!! We poured over every detail of our costumes for months, wanting them to be as decadent and stage-worthy as possible, and really broke down every element of our performance as well, analyzing every detail to try to make it the best it could be. We loved the special "sister" relationship between Chii and Freya and wanted to portray it in an emotional and impactful way. I seriously couldn't be more proud of what we accomplished together, we were able to present exactly what we envisioned, and I couldn't be happier ♥

Styling Notes

Base wig was from Epic, and we added silver wefts that we harvested from ebay wigs.

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