I actually managed to finish this and wear it for AX, but I unfortunately had to make the wig again!!

Sailor Moon is one of those animes I feel I grew up with. I'd just moved to a new home, new school, and I wasn't fitting in and I remember this show being one of the positives in my life at the time. I think it really helped that I was about Usagi's age at the time and seeing her struggle with similar issues was really helpful to me. She's clumsy, gets bad grades, is picked on, but she loves her friends dearly and would do anything for them. It's a little corny to say, but Usagi inspired me to be a better person, to accept who I am, and to be the best person I could be, despite the naysayers. I think it's so funny that years down the line I ended up cosplaying her. Personality wise, I don't feel like I suit Usagi. I'm not nearly as energetic or as outgoing as she is, and I never really considered myself cute, but I had to cosplay her. She was the character I wanted to be when I grew up, so even if it was a little out of my comfort zone, Usagi had to happen.

The wig... Omg the wig. I actually had to make this sucker twice because I made a huge fitting mistake on the first one. Luckily though I only needed to remake the base though. The base wig is an Eowen from Arda, stubbed and sealed. The tails are two Delilah wigs also from Arda and are super heavy, but worth it to have the right length. I must have also used about three packages of wefts to make the middle part, the edges of the wig, as well as the hair buns. Overall it's one massive wig, but I am super happy with it.

The shirt for the uniform is made out of a cotton sateen and I actually made the long sleeve, the short sleeve, and the shirt for A-ko at the same time. They are all based on an old McCalls Sailor shirt pattern that I found in a thrift store. I had to modify the pattern slightly, for some reason I couldn't get the sailor collar to sit right so I just ended up making my own and I also had to add the puffy sleeves. This was also my very first time working with bias tape, which I used for the white line details. It was slow going, but certainly easier than making my own. :D

For the skirt, this was a trial and error process for sure. I did a ton of paper mock ups and then finally did a 1/4 skirt test out of butcher paper. I'm terrible at math so I figured it was better to do way more tests than necessary before I mess up the real fabric. Once I was happy with the butcher paper test I started pleating the actual skirt. I chose a blue cotton, which was the perfect color for her uniform, but it wasn't holding the pleats as sharply as I would have liked, so I actually ended up sewing down the pleats on both the outside as well as the inside. Worth it though! You can also barely see it, but I also made a cotton slip and trimmed it with a cotton lace under the sleeve.

The bow was probably the easiest part! Just two rectangles of red satin with interfacing.

The brooch is made with Worbla and resin gems. I found the moon filigree online and the beads I already had for Serenity. The pink resin gem in some shots has a star in the center and I really liked that look but wasn't sure how to do it. I ended up just painting the back of the tin foil and I think it ended up looking pretty good. I actually had to do this for the other colors, especially the yellow because it faded too much, but it ended up looking even better than it previously did!

The shoes, believe it or not, I found online and they were almost perfect. All I had to do was add a strip of vinyl for the crisscross laces.

Next Projects:
Complete Artemis Plushie
Make Crescent Moon Wand