After A-Kon 14 (2003), I finally sat down to really learn the basics of sewing with a machine. After a lot of trial-and-error and ripping out seams, I made the Konoha vest. I made the vest with green felt - afterall the edges don't fray. It was also a very easy cloth to work with when I was beginning cosplay.

Each pocket on the vest have 3 buckles with straps and are functional so they can be used to store various con items (camera, etc). The Konoha symbol on the back of the vest and on the blue inner shirt were made with red felt, sewed, and gone over with black fabric paint.

Initially, I made my own forehead protector, but before A-Kon 15 (2004) I purchased the official one. I wasn't sure how to work with metal at the time so I thought it would be best if I just bought one of the fancy ubiquitous ready-to-wear ones instead.

The shoes were made with cut black socks worn with black sandals. The bandages and kunai holder on my legs were kind of annoying since they kept getting loose every once in a while.

Overall, I was pretty happy with how the cosplay came out at the time. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my friends in a large Naruto group (Iruka, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Temari, Hayate). :D I also made fake plushie kunais for our group, which are very safe when battling I might add.