The costume is done and has made its debut! The Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo also had its debut, and both were well received. With ticket sales capped, the ECEE was saved from the same mistake its Calgary counterpart suffered in April. No lockouts, no Fire Marshals, and everyone had a great time. I plan on returning next year with pre-purchased tickets, to avoid having to show up at 7am to get day passes! Yes, I did that, after hearing on Friday that tickets almost sold out during pre-sale. But I was second in line to buy my day pass, and was home by 9am to nap and get dressed!
My worries that my costume would not be recognized for what it was were totally baseless. At the very least, those who approached me knew what TV show my costume was from. A common question was "Are you Sailor Moon?" to which I simply responded, yes. But, many did actually ask "Are you Sailor Mars?" or simply exclaimed "Its Sailor Mars!" So, I would count this as a total success!
From the previous posts, it is likely fairly clear that there are many layers to this outfit. Let me show you just how many!
First, there are the base undergarments, that I will not show... I do want this blog to be family friendly! (That explains the blue towel, right?) Second, the base corset or bodice, this is the one with the million and a half pieces of boning that I made for my pirate costume.
Over this, I layer my skirts. First, the petticoat for body.
Then, the red skirt, where I have stitched a ribbon and a large button (Not visible in this photo, oops!). My little purse hangs from the ribbon, and is secured up and out of the way by the button. This way, my purse is not visible to everyone, and I am not carrying a purse or wallet that is out of character.
Next is the brown over skirt. This one has a ribbon that ties up a section of it so the red skirt is visible underneath.
The lighter bodice goes over all of this. This bodice is lacking the tabs at the bottom, so the under one is longer and helps support the weight of all the skirts. This over-bodice is lighter, has less boning, and is mostly for visual purposes.
Next, the shoulder piece. I ended up sewing the bow right to it, because it was flopping around too much. I might pull it off and attach it with snaps, so that I could change things around to different colours, but for now, this is the only Senshi I am doing, so it is sewn in place. I did put hook and eye fasteners on the bodice and shoulder yoke to keep it from shifting around as I move throughout the day.
The back bow still has pin backs. I need to be able to lace the bodice up, and sewing the bow directly to the bodice doesn't work for that. I did need help pinning the back bow to the bodice, and my husband was kind enough to do this for me! And to remove it later, because taking it off really wasn't much easier that pinning it on in the first place!
The gloves didn't like to stay in place, so I tied them to the underarm of the bodice. This kept them more or less in place throughout the day, though I was still tugging them up every now and again... I will be adjusting those to fit a little more snugly around my upper arm so they stay in place better.
The cap "topped" it off nicely (Ha ha?). Finish with earrings, bracelet, choker, boots... It was quite the ordeal just getting dressed!
So, those are the many layers of the costume. When doing anything that is historical, or at least inspired by historical costumes, there are going to be many many layers. I think this concludes my Steampunk Sailor Mars adventure. Onto the next project!
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