Thursday, December 04, 2014
@5:57 PM
Chitoge Kirisaki cosplay -- Process
Strangely, I see verrryy few chitoge (from nisekoi) cosplay around the interwebs, and much less any form of tutorial. And so I shall compile all my research, which was pretty fun anyhoo.
I'm just an absolute newb who's documenting what I learnt about DIYing costumes, so there. Read at your on discretion.
1. Skirt
http://www.deviantart.com/art/Love-Live-Skirt-Tutorial-419016067
I scoured through SOOO many uniform tutorials to find this one. The good thing about this pattern is how the skirt flares out (like a circle skirt), unlike one that would look totally rectangular and boxy if you pleated it vertically down.
It actually took me real long to wrap my head around the pattern because I'm retarded. I did my first skirt totally wrong:
But soooo worth it to undo everything. (Needs an iron after moving it around so much lol)
Oh right, and as for fabric, use something more heavyweight, because you want the pleats to stay. But if they can't stay in place no matter how many years you iron it, you can stitch the bottom part of the pleat in place.
But then again, if you do this, the whole thing's going to look stiff and not flowy. What I did was to secure the 2 or 3 pleats directly in front and the back, while letting the pleats at the side go loose.
My fabric was kind of a stretchy cotton THAT WAS ONLY $4 A METER AT GREAT QUALITY. Visit Super Cheap Fabric Store in Dandenong if you live in Victoria :) As for the fabric colour, DO NOT JUDGE IT BY WHAT YOUR EYES SEE. Things look very different on camera, and even more so with flash, so be sure to whip out your phone in the fabric shop.
Top: With flash. Bottom: Natural sun light.
This fabric has some mad contrast in colour, but meh, I bought it.
2. Top
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6iVT0vPtBc&list=WL&index=18
There's actually plenty of resources on how to make a sailor fuku, but this one seems best. I bought a $5 V-collared top at target and used the same fabric as the skirt (you want the same colour, obviously). In the end, it's alot of trial and error with paper scraps; and keep in mind to keep referring to pictures for the shape of the blue cloth. I noticed it's wider and very curved at the back. The front kind of has a straight collar (see pic). Meh, you can just look at existing uniforms that cosplay shops are selling:
The video didnt show how you need to clip your seams at the curves before flipping it inside out, but I found a really useful website that explains "Clipping the valleys and notching the mountains":
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/08/sewing-tips-clipping-corners-and-curves.html
As for the bottom curve of the shirt, you need to keep in mind to buy (or make?) a white top that is long enough to chop off. Hemming a curve can be a pain, so refer to this tutorial:
http://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/11628909-nerdy-sewing-tips-3-ways-to-hem-a-curve
I prefer the ribbon method, because it ensures that the curves dont flip up no matter how much you move about. But I would just cut some white felt in the shape of the curve and use that instead of a ribbon.
To make sure your curves are symmetrical, use a paper template to guide how much you want to cut. Note that the bottom edge is just straight, so don't curve it all around!:
3. Tie
I actually bought some orange cloth and wanted to sew it into a rectangle, but I found a long orange cloth ribbon out of no where at home, so yay. Use safety pins to stick your tie in place.
You want a right proportion (not too thick or too thin), so keep measuring the tie:shirt ratio in reference pictures. Mine is 4cm wide.
4. WIGGG
After observing many pics of people cosplaying chitoge, I concluded that milk blonde was more appropriate and natural than a crazy full-on yellow.
I bought mine at ~$10 (OMG SO CHEAP??) at aliexpress. I was sooo convinced I got scammed when it didnt come after 1 month (to australia), but it came like in 1.5 months SO YAY. From the site:
It turned out to be a little more yellow, but that's ok! Actually, it'd be more accurate if you got one with light pink highlights on the bottom. Or chalk dyeing the blonde wig. But I'm sorry I'm too lazy and overwhelmed. Lol.
The quality was actually pretty good, but extremely dry and difficult to work with. But fret not, because you can DIY your own wig detangler!
http://stealthos-aurion.deviantart.com/art/Tut-HOMEMADE-WIG-DETANGLER-252023136
I was trying to skimp though, and couldn't be bothered to buy a spray bottle. So I worked some hair cream and oil into the wig while squirting water at it with my iron LOL.
I wouldn't buy a 1 meter wig ever again though. Lol. But I found it easy if you kept your wig in a loose braid, even when you put it on. Once you reach your anime convention/ photoshoot, just take off the braid and tadaaa, you dont have to brush it out again. ALSO, I ACTUALLY NEEDED A TUTORIAL ON HOW TO PUT IT ON. This was crazily helpful, especially on putting on a mega tight wigcap and a crazy long wig:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjOgBP-fIII&list=WL&index=27
I think cutting wigs are necessary. Mine had way too long a fringe so I had to cut it. Again, lots of tutorials online showing you how to cut bangs. This video (and the cosplayer) is gorgeous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjB1ydjQBsk&index=6&list=WL
I was way too much of a pussy to cut it too much, so I gave up after a while lol. Oh right, dont forget to get some hair spray/ gel to keep the bangs away from your eyes.
5. Chitoge's ribbon
This one was a pain to decide how to make. In the end, I followed this tutorial:
http://sailoranime.deviantart.com/art/Rin-s-Bow-Tutorial-212063632
Instead of fusible interfacing, you can just use a stiff felt (daiso sells a crapload of that). Here's the measurements I made (but you might want to make it longer, because the ribbon will 'sink' in pretty far down back :/)
17.5cm in length for one side and 3.9x2 cm in width
Also, you can use some wire or chopsticks to keep the bow upright if you don't want it to flop.
I also decided to just flip the bow over itself, with reference to this bow a cosplay website was selling. If you're a lazy ass, you can just use one piece of felt and do that:
As for the hair clip, I decided to place it in front of the ribbon, because it was more secure than just placing it at the base. Take note that I gave up on creating a half-ponytail at the back like Chitoge has, because the wig was way too long for me to even try tying.
The end result:
NOTE THAT THIS IS THE FRONT
Damn, this ribbon was the hardest to figure out. If clipping it on isn't secure enough, use another hair clip/ bobby pin to secure down the section of hair below the ribbon. (Did you even understand what I said) Basically, just prevent the section of hair your ribbon is clipped to from moving about when you move your head.
6. ETC
Get yourself a pair of over-the-knee socks. I found a pair at daiso, so good for me :)
Don't forget the shoes.
I'm an absolute beginner at makeup, but just scour through the many youtube tutorials and you'll be fine. I found this one great:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzimLUSamWI&index=26&list=WL
But has too much confusing stuff on the eyeshadows, so just do what floats your boat. If you suck at eyeliner or have hooded eyes/ monolids like me because you're asian, INVEST IN SOME EYELINER STICKERS LOL.
COLOUR YOUR EYEBROWS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfzC6LVzDqU&list=WL&index=28
And you're done! Here's my costest:
[UPDATE] Some photoshoot pics from AFA:
Cosplaying at AFA was wowww. It was totally weird having random people tapping your back and then asking for pictures, one after the other. But I was unprepared as to what pose to do so I was kinda stiff. I had a sense of how to pose but I had no balls to actually do it hahaaa omg. *shot*