Series: Angelic Layer

Year Completed: 2005

Misaki and Suzuka were both part of an Angelic Layer group costume set. I got voted into Suzuka both because of my height and because I was physically capable (at the time) of wearing platform heels while in costume without immediately falling over. Suzuka’s costume looks super simple, but it was deceptively complicated to put together. Patterning the sleeves and the and the kimono base was very tricky in order to get everything shaped correctly, and ultimately I had to hand sew a lot of the costume together to keep everything in place and laying right. Misaki was much simpler, as most of the pieces were basic shapes compared to Suzuka. It was my first time working with an inset pleat, so figuring out the best way to put those together was challenging at the time. These were also the first costumes where I made boot covers, and wound up sewing the cover bottoms around wires to help shape them around my shoes. 

Materials Used:

Suzuka was made from stretch vinyl and spandex, almost entirely. Draping stretch vinyl was an entirely new challenge for me, and I ended up learning by doing with this one. I scaled the sleeves based on character design artwork from the anime, then patterned a base structure of craft foam to get the right shape before I covered it with the stretch vinyl. I did something similar with the back bow, although that has a core of wonderflex and wire covered with fabric. I made the bow and trims out of a variety of fabric types, and was definitely more concerned with texture and color matching than ease of construction with my fabric choices. For Misaki, everything is made out of basic cotton, with a thin poly lining. I made the crown accents on the jacket and collar out of craft foam cut to shape.