I was commissioned by a friend to make the pants for his Zach costume for Halloween, and while the whole last-minute asking thing was a bit of a chore, I didn't really mind, especially when he offered to bribe me with fabric of my own. XD.

Enter the much lusted-for blue floral print cotton from JoAnn's. I had seen this fabric in the store weeks ago on one of my regular stalking rounds (when I wander the halls of the store and sigh over what I can't buy) and immediately fell in love with it. I have always been a fan of the whole red/white/blue colour-scheme, especially when the red is the accent colour, and this print just begged to be made into a yukata -- or in this case, kimono, seeing as I love furisode sleeves. So I whisked it away home, along with some pretty crimson for the obi, and got to work.

Honestly, this will likely be my last time trying to line a yukata -- at least with same-weight cotton -- as it just doesn't hang/press right at all, though the final outcome is quite acceptable in my opinion. This is also my longest obi to date, and it takes me about 10 minutes just to iron the obi. x__x

Since Hiyori would go naked before she'd wear a yukata, and it didn't look right for Rukia or Yachiru, I decided ultimately to wear it with my Hinata wig and contacts because her dark blue hair just matched so prettily with it, and I had a bright red clip to boot!

The wig is my Shippuuden Hinata wig, with the back pinned up and some pretty mother-of-pearl floral clips on either side of the bangs to hold back the long strands I left free. Overall, I think the effect turned out really nice and I'm very happy with it.

Photography-wise, we were losing daylight very fast at the time, but it worked out surprisingly well by giving all of the images a bluish, moonlighty feel that I think really accents the red on the costume. All retouching was done by me after the fact and camera-credit goes to my fiance and my best friend.