Telulu - Witches 5 #1

Telulu - Witches 5: Sailormoon S, manga, Crystal

COSPLAY ID

CHARACTER Telulu
SOURCE Sailormoon manga,  & Sailormoon S anime and Sailor Moon Crystal III anime, by Naoko Takeuchi

COSTUME Witches 5 dress

COSPLAY BREAKDOWN

• black dress with multiple thin black straps/vines, black star on the chest, and petal skirt, with green underskirt.
• green wig with 4 odangos, tied with thin black straps/vines
• pink pearl earrings
• green tights with thin black straps/vines
  
• black shoes
• Death Busters staff with black star

Telulu has been on my make wishlist for many years, it's one of those costumes, like La Andromeda Promethium, which I started, but never picked up again. I even made the earrings, from pink pearls taken from a store bought bracelet, bought, and started heat bending the staff, and bought the skin coloured mesh, and thin black elastic, to make the top part of the dress.

Meanwhile, I gained weight, but Telulu never left my plans. While watching Sailor Moon Crystal III, the urge to make Telulu came back, and new, better solutions for the dress came with it. So I decided to make a hybrid from both anime adaptations and manga versions. There are slight differences, so I'll be using a bit from each. I plan to style the wig more natural, like the Crystal and manga versions, use leaf sequins on the straps/vines, which will also help hide the stitching on the mesh shirt, and make a more pouffy skirt, like in the Crystal anime. The staff will be like in the first anime, and I plan to paint it copper. The stars will have a glossy finish, and I won't add the star to the forehead, like in the Crystal anime (or maybe I'll make one, and add it to my liking, behind the vines).

I have some heeled shoes that will fit, but I'll search for patent leather flat shoes, just in case.

I may or may not make the plant. I still have to decide if in felt, like I once saw in a Telulu cosplayer, or if I make it in a stiffened silky fabric...

denim for the bodice structure, green
and black duchesse satin, plus plastic boning.

Today I bought duchesse satin in black and green, to make the dress, but I only managed to get a smallish piece of the green from the scraps bin. I still bought it because it was the same texture as the black and the right shade of green. There was a nice knit for the tights, the same shade of green, but I didn't get it.

The dress isn't very hard to make, but it requires patience. I plan to bone the bodice, and then make a longsleeve sweater in skin coloured mesh, where I will tack the black elastic to, and then attach to the dress. Much like a figure skater's costume. I will close it in the back with a skin coloured invisible zipper. But before deciding on that, I'll make some tests to put it on like a sweater, as the collar isn't very high.  But then the dress closure will have to be separate, maybe I'll add ties, like a corset, or a corseted Lolita dress. I'll think about it... The underskirt will be attached to the dress, permanently.

I'll use polypropilen leftovers for the staff's star, which will be three-dimensional, which I will cover in black vinyl.

The only creative liberty will be the small leaves, as, a few years ago, I bought a vial of green leaf sequins, which I'll defimitely use for this (I only used a few for that project).

Now I need to pick the PVC tube up from the Batcave, and the heat gun, so I can make the staff. The rest of the old materials, the mesh and the black vinyl, are already at the Sunset House 🌇, just need to reorganize them to the to do section. And order the wig and pigtails from Coscraft, when I order my Yuuko updo wig.

+ most of the pieces are versions of things I already made, I can even upcycle some patterns, which is really good. The props are quite simple, and the sewing parts can be made in a few days.

- I'll definitely need help mark where to attach the vines, especially to the top. The wig, although not the hardest styling, will be a nightmare!

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Keep gathering materials for this costume, but I can only really pick it up after I finish Hokuto Mad Hatter and Yuuko Foxy Lady, which are THE! priority. I only gave in to the Card Girl ♤ and Miss Piggy, because they're simple costumes to get back my cosplay mojo.

I'm also starting to gather materials for Princess Saphyr, but that's for another post.

Miss Piggy - Kermit Dress #7

snout foam

In the last month or so,  I didn't do much, but I slowly sewed the second glove, which isn't finished yet, but almost, and made the pig snout and ears. I've also finally moved house, and my trusty Elna sewing machine is already here, at my new atelier.

my electric sewing machine, an Elna Lotus SP

For the snout and ears, I first hand drafted the pattern, by looking at the reference and my face in the mirror, to get some kind of proportional similarity. Then I traced the pattern on the upholstery foam, plus a sort of seam allowance for the ears. For the snout, I trimmed the foam at 45°, to glue the side piece to the front piece, and glued them together. Then, with some scissors, snipped, trimmed and cut it, so it would fit my face. I snipped two dents to make the nostrils. For the ears, I cut a rounded dart on the tip, and folded the side allowance on itself, and glued it, to form the cartilage. As for the snout, it was  bit of trial and error process, until I was happy with the shape.

foam snout - front

foam snout - back

Then I cut the pattern on the salmon felt, leaving a seam allowance at the "bottom" of the snout side piece, and at the sides of the ears. I first joined the snout pieces, front and side together, with a herringbone stitch. The side was joined at the bottom of the snout with a similar herringbone stitch. I first tested the fit, and proceeded to cover the foam. Before covering the foam, I added a bit of UHU glue to the foam "nostrils", to glue the felt to the dents. Then I pulled the felt until it would cover the snout without any wrinkling, easing the felt whenever it was needed. Finally, I trimmed the seam allowance, turned it on the inside and glued it to the foam.

covering the snout and ears with felt

For the ears, I also made a curved dart on the tip, and sewed it with a herringbone stitch. Meanwhile, I glued a felt triangle to the inside of the ears. Thinking about it now, I should have cut the triangles a few millimetres wider to overlap the fold. I fitted the tip over the foam, and marked where to trim the allowance with a pencil. I tried to sew the fold to the triangle, but the glue made the triangle felt too stiff, and I don't have a curved needle to properly catch the felt in the groove. So I carefully glued the felt only at the fold, trying to leave as little wrinkles as possible.

There were still too many wrinkles, and I was very unhappy with how the ears looked, and wasn't very keen on how visible the sewing was. So I ordered a felting kit, with a bunch of felt balls, so I could cover the ugly seams, especially on the ears.

covered snout and very wrinkly ears + felting needle and raw felt 

I first took a little of the "skin coloured" raw felt, which unfortunately doesn't 100% match the "woven" felt, to cover the snout seams. I figured I would start with the easier part. It kind of worked, the seam is still a bit visible to the naked eye, due to the colours not matching, but it looks much better. I also took a tiny bit of the pink raw felt, and added some blush to the nostrils.

double felted pig snout and ears

Before starting to add the raw felt to the ears, I distressed a few thin strips of the "woven" felt, and with the felting needle, covered the ugly grooves, where the ears cartilage meet. Then I added a bit of the raw felt on top, like I did for the snout seams. In the end, I also added a bit of pink to the inside of the ears. The ears are far from perfect, but they look kind of cute, so I'm leaving them at that. I still need to add a lining and some elastic to the snout, but they're basically done!

+ The snout was quite simple and fun to make, and I think it looks cute.

- On the other hand, the ears look messy and too wrinkly. It was a bit of a nightmare to correct them, as when the needles would punch the glue parts, they tended to bend or break. Three needles later, I decided to leave the ears like this, even if I'm not very happy with them.

THE CUNNING PLAN 

Add the lining and elastic to the snout, and test it. Finish the mini Kermit outfit. Baste the dress and hood.