Lum - Tiger Yukata #1

Lum, Urusei Yatsura - Tiger Yukata figurine

COSPLAY ID
CHARACTER Lum
SOURCE Urusei Yatsura manga, by Rumiko Takahashi
COSTUME PVC figurine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COSTUME BREAKDOWN

• small yellow horns
• pointy "Spock" ears
• yellow tiger yukata
• purplish blue obi
• white juban (optional)
  
• printed uchiwa
• geta
  

When I first saw this figurine, besides craving it, this tiger yukata started brewing in my head. Lum always was a favourite character,  she's so much fun! But I wouldn't feel comfortable in her bikini. Even if I would, I wouldn't be able to wear it often. Cosplaying her in her school uniform did cross my mind, but I never really went through with it. But this was perfect for the Japanese Festival, as it's a matsuri yukata outfit.

So, I ordered the wig from Coscraft, which arrived in one week, and started looking fir materials. As yellow tiger cotton fabric is almost impossible to find (I did find some, but it was a cotton twill,  and the pattern ran sideways), I decided to paint it by hand. So, the materials were:

• yellow cotton

• purple or purplish blue cotton satin

• stiff interfacing for the obi

• Spock ear tips

• a thin headband 

• black fabric paint

• yellow acrylic paint 

• wire and cotton ribbon for the obi

• white cotton voile for a juban (optional)

I did most of the shopping in one day, downtown,  and started at Casa do Carnaval, for the ears. They had some,  and they were cheap! Then I went to my favourite fabric shop, Tavares,  and they didn't have any yellow poplin, and the cambric was too thin. But I bought the white voile for the juban, anyway. Then onto Ouro Têxteis, but no luck with the yellow poplin. I got some interfacing for the obi there. Then I went to this old and obscure store, on a beaten down 1st floor, I don't remember the name, they did have some yellow poplin, but they were out of it. I ordered some, shocked that it was proving to be very hard to find yellow cotton. Lastly, I went to Feira dos Tecidos, where they usually have a nice colour selection of cotton satin, for the obi. Unfortunately the only option they had for that purplish blue, was a very thin charmeuse satin, but I got it anyway. On a last streak of hope, I went to the cotton section, and they DID have a good yellow cotton mix! In the end, it was a good shopping spree. When I got home, I called the other store, cancelling the fabric order, but about a week later, they called me telling the fabric had arrived... the person who answered my call, didn't cancel the order... Then I went up to the Ponto das Artes art store, and got the yellow acrylic paint. I normally use Winsor & Newton.

I got electrical coated wire at the AKI hardware store, the headband, a thin metal one, coated in exactly the wig's colour at a local Chinese store. I recycled a gifted fan, removing the existing paper with hot water.

On a later shopping spree, with cosplayer friend LadyXzeus, I also bought a light blue eyeshadow (By the Pool) at NYX.

The first thing I did, was to draw the tiger stripes pattern, on Freehand, vectorial drawing software, to have it printed in big format. I also made the fan's drawing.

Me, as Lum, 2018

Then I made the horns. First I glued (with wood glue) two roughly cut pieces of a piece of insulation foam I already had, to add height. I roughly calculated the horns size, in proportion to my head, and cut the foam in two pieces. I cut the pieces with a kitchen knife I never use into cylinders, and trimmed them into a rough cone shape. Then, I filed and sanded them into a nice rounded cone shape, progressively changing the sandpaper from a rough grain into a fine grain. At last, I taped a blunt wool needle to a ruler, and marked the grooves in the horns. I coated the horns in wood glue, first painted them a light beige, and then applied 3 coats of tge more transparent cadmium yellow. Using a bit of dark grey, I darkened the horn grooves. Applied a satin finish top coat, and they're done. To attach them to the headband, I cut two lengths of coat hanger wire, bent them into a square U shape, applied woodglue to the ends, and pushed them into the base of the horns. After they dried, I slid them into the headband, applied more woodglue and let it dry. After they were completely dry and secured, I cut two circles of tan felt, and glued them to the bottom of the horns, on top of the U wire, headband and horn base.

 

To style the wig, first I cut the bangs and side hairs. I teased and fluffed the bangs, using a lot of hairspray, and did the same to the side hairs.

 

For the yukata, I first cut thd fabric into 4 strips, lengthwise, pulling the thread. I cut the strips into the kimono pieces, 2 long ones for the body, 2 short ones for the sleeves, 1, to be cut in half later,  for the overlapping panels, and one for the collar. Then I cut the tiger stripes print into a makeshift stencil. With a pencil, I marked the pattern on all the strips of fabric. It took me 2 days. I rolled each piece, labelling each, for better management, covered my drawing board with newspaper, and proceeded to paint. Fortunately it was warm weather, so I could unroll the fabric as I painted, and soon after I could roll the other painted end, as it was dry. It took me 4 days, and 6 bottles of paint, to paint the stripes. It wasn't boring, but I was running out of time. 

 

Based on a tsuke-obi (an obi in 2 parts) I have, I measured the fabric pieces and cut them. I also made the bow structure out of the coated wire. I hand sewed the interfacing to the satin, and made the obi pieces. The piece that ties into the waist is a long rectangle, I sewed all the sides, good side to good side, leaving an opening at one of the narrow ends, sandwiching the cotton ribbon ties in between. I turned it, slip stitched it closed and pressed it. The bow has 3 pieces: the bow, a fabric tube, folded in two, the bow ends, a similar, but shorter, shape to the bow, and the smaller bow knot. I first finished the bow ends, and slid them inside the wire structure stitching the middle folds. Then I did the same for the bow part, folding the open ends to the middle, and sliding the bow wire structure inside those ends. I stitched the middle folds, so they stay neat, and then sewed the back ends together, hiding the bow structure. Then I folded the bow knot piece into a tube, and rolled it on top of the middle wire structure, around the middle of the bow and bow ends. I hand stitched it in place, hiding the remaining wire, except the middle hook. I slipped the cotton ribbon in the back of the knot, and stitched it in place.

 

Finally I sewed the yukata, based on a yukata I have at home, and a few YouTube tutorials. Unfortunately I ran out of time, so I only hemmed the more visible hems, the fabric doesn't fray much, and most people won't notice. But I managed to quickly sew a kinchaku with the scraps, to put my belongings. 

I ended not having time to make the juban, but it's not the only thing I'm not happy about this costume. There's the hemming on the yukata. Since making it, I watched a very good kimono making tutorial, by Billy Matsunaga, so there are some details I wish to correct. The obi isn't stiff enough, so I need to open it and add some stiffer interfacing. On the fabric loot a friend gave me, there were a few stiff denim pieces. I plan on using that. And buy, or make some kitsuke basics, like a obi-ita, and some padding, to have a smoother waist. I may also trim the wig a bit, I think it's too long.

This brings us to today. In the middle of the pandemic, I have had a hard time bringing myself to work on costumes. I haven't sewn a stitch on the Mad Hatter costume, but I decided to tackle at least the small bits on Lum. I cut the said denim into two long strips, and hand sewn them together, forming a long strip, by overlapping them by 1,5 centimetres, and sewing two rows of back stitches. I opened one of the obi ends, and turned it inside out. Then I proceeded to slip stitch the denim to the existing interfacing. I still have a bit to sew, not much.

Me, as Lum, at the Japan Festival 2018
photo by Mind Bizarre

I wore it first to the Lisbon Japan Festival 2018, and it was fun, although I think the yukata didn't sit properly, due to the lack of proper underwear.

+ It was a fun and not very difficult costume to sew, and I especially enjoyed making the cute horns.

- It takes practice to properly put on a kimono, and, because I'm very curvy, I need some proper kimono underwear, so it fits well. The too soft obi also didn't help. So, there's still a lot to do on this costume. I also need to remake the fan, there was a swap, and I ended up with a too small fan, but I already have a bigger one to customise. 

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Finish sewing the denim interfacing to the obi, finish hemming the yukata, remake the fan and make the juban and obi-ita.