ACParadise Forums

I am going to be frank and brief with this posting, because I'm sure theres a million of these. I am an avid Anime fan and make a point to keep up with the current Anime in Japan, in addition to this I am in college and in marching band so I fit the bill for expressing myself. Having said that!

I am totally new to the idea of cosplaying and conventions and want to get into it. I live in Maryland and I know Otakon is hosted in Baltimore around the beginning of August? and I want to arrive not being seen as a complete newb to the whole cosplaying thing. So as for costumes is it better to custom make them with attention to detail and if so what kinds of materials should I use? I am going to attempt to send messages to people I see who have the kinds of looks I'm going for but I figure the forum may be a good place to start. My aim for my first attempt would be to dress up as Hitsugaya from Bleach but I don't know how to approach the Captain outfit and the sword hilt and blade. Any help would be greatly appreciated and if anyone goes to the University of Maryland: College Park I would love to meet you and talk about this! (maybe if your cosplaying that convention or another I might tag along with something of the same series for a good effect.

Sorry this was so long I was trying to be brief! Thanks for reading! Feedback here or I can be emailed at neodragon0@hotmail.com if anyone has any general or specific suggestions.

I have a more in depth reply, but I need to head to work, I'll come back and let you know some good links, I've been studying the costume for awhile now and I think I know some good ideas or you may e-mail me at ladynatsukashii@hotmail.com, likewise for MSN messenger.

and e'll chat there or whatever you feel is best.

welcome to ACP I hope to help in any way possible. *bows*

Whee~! another Hitsugaya-taichou cosplayer~!

Last year for Animethon I had my mother help me make the costume. We used a Folkware kimono pattern for the top part of the uniform itself, after shortening it to knee length. For the captain's jacket, we used the same pattern, but we left out the front panels and the sleeves (in other words, a sleeveless haori). And for the hakama, we used a pattern that we found on google (I can't remember the URL for it though ^^;).

I made the sword myself, out of cardboard, using Featherweight's cardboard sword tutorial on cosplay.com (http://forums.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=76828)

For material I really sagest Twill.




Make one size smaller then your waist size on that chart

this pattern works for the kimono top but you need to alter the sleeve


I would make it only 12" or so for bleach, I used 17" for kikyo.

with this I have made

I bought and tried that pattern, I do not suggest it, it's a chinese kimono, not Japanese, there is another better pattern if you look through butterrick patterns at a local fabric store, you should be able to find it.

The obis is all wrong and isn't traditional in any way. I had to just make my own from other scrap fabric, because after I cut it out, the pattern told me to *GASP* Velcro it together. not cool.

I know it's easy for beginners, but not for an authentic look. I guess I'm just really anal about accurate cosplay being exactly like the original.

(be prepared for the most accurate portrayal of the Mai special figurine from KoF Maximum impact 2! except I won't have short hair, I'll have it styled like Mai's original pobytail, because I did not grow my hair out to cut it for a con... and short hair just looks wrong on me.)

oh, and look for images of me as Matsumoto Rangiku soon (sexy school girl!) it'll be my first time cosplaying from a popular anime.

All I did for the obi was take a really long piece of the white and wrapped it around. I wouldn't follow any pattern for it, just figure out your waist and make the obi at least 3-4 times bigger then it. Just Wrap and tie.

I like the pattern because it is very simple. Traditional Kimono dont have a shoulder seam at all but all the fabric store brand patterns do. If you wanna get amazing use the folkwear pattern, Its great.

All I did for the obi was take a really long piece of the white and wrapped it around. I wouldn't follow any pattern for it, just figure out your waist and make the obi at least 3-4 times bigger then it. Just Wrap and tie.

I like the pattern because it is very simple. Traditional Kimono dont have a shoulder seam at all but all the fabric store brand patterns do. If you wanna get amazing use the folkwear pattern, Its great.

another thing about kimono: they're all just rectangles sewn together.

I got my Hitsu costume from cosplaymagic.com it was cheap and fit very well, the wig, you can pick up cheaply off most cosplay wig stores on ebay.