Asuka and Rei Festival Cosplay

This is long overdue, but I'm very slow at posting all that's happened after AX. A friend of mine that I met while working at Maid Cafe and I had decided to cosplay together. She's been doing it for a while, and is much more experienced than I am. We've decided to cosplay as Asuka and Rei from Neon Genesis Evangelion in their festival outfits:

She's going to be Rei and I'm doing Asuka. I was hoping to finish the whole thing before August, but summer school didn't allow. Here are some older progress photos

 I'm completely finished with the top and skirt now. I'm almost done with her plug hair clips, but they still need some wet sanding and drilling. I sewed the green fabric on her shoes, but I'm waiting on the extra beige sole to get added. The obi along with the bow are finished.

Steps from what I can recall:
- Made the collar extra long and put aside
- Made the front/back piece and set aside
- Cut out the arm sleeves, sewed the black strips, then sewed the green lining on starting from end of the sleeve where the opening would be. This was done inside out so that when I flipped it and ironed it, you wouldn't be able to see it as in photo 3.
- Lined the front piece and sewed the sides shut, leaving about 7 inches so I could attach the sleeves.
- Attached sleeves, collar, and hemmed the bottom. In the artwork, both girls also have the extra collar piece in their prospective lining colors. I just sewed it on the collar instead of making it a separate piece which I think is how regular kimonos have them.

Ririchiyo Shirakiin

My first cosplay was Ririchiyo Shirakiin in her demon form. I don't think I knew what I was getting myself into, but it was a lot of fun to make. I didn't make every part of my outfit, but anything to do with sewing was made by me. 

The mask and horns were commissioned with detail to get it accurate. The flower was bought as well. 

The shoes after the abuse they went through at the photoshoot.

Scarf detail. I cut the patterns out and sewed them on the fabric. It's also doubled sided so I made 4 sides total.

Gloves. I seemed to have lost the other fastener somewhere.

Pleated skirt with cut outs and sash. I really wanted to get the fabric color as accurate as possible. I wish they had this color in something more light weight though. I wanted something more flowy.

A very wrinkled top and leggings. I stuffed them in the box after the shoot so they're not in the best condition. 

Haven't gotten the pictures from the shoot yet.

So things I learned for myself after my first cosplay:

- When in doubt, start early. You can never start too early. 

- Don't stress on the little details that no one will see. 

- WIGS ARE IMPORTANT.

- Don't be afraid to ask for help.

- It's not the end of the world if the cosplay isn't 110% accurate down to the T.