Ah, nostalgia. My very first “official” cosplay. I had, of course, dressed up before, mostly for Halloween and sometimes for movie premieres, but this is still what I consider my first, namely because I wore it to my very first convention, AFO 4, in 2003. Saint Tail is a pretty simple costume, and this one Gramma and I put together using what we had around the house. Now that we both have a lot more experience in costuming, I hope to remake this costume with all the little details done right. But here is the profile for Saint Tail, the eight-year-old costume that still hangs up in my costume closet.

The top was salvaged from our closets. The white undershirt was a button up shirt I had and cut off the sleeves. The suit top was a thick, stretch dress from Gramma’s closet. I watched in wonder as she took off the sleeves and cut down the skirt to make the tails in the front and back, adding interfacing into them and closing them up. I was amazed and fascinated by the power of the sewing machine. The original dress, when I wore it first for a birthday party of mine, still had the sleeves partially attached because I didn’t have long gloves, cut at the shoulders nearly all the way around, but clinging to the bottom of the armhole. I rectified that with long black gloves around Halloween time.

The original skirt was made of felt, and didn’t have a hem but had some decent body to it. It has since been remade in a nice sateen, and was one of my first goes at hand-hemming. I was not so good at making it invisible back then. It’s a simple circle skirt, with a huge, flowy hem, and I adore it so. The rest of it was all store bought specifically for the costume: the black tights, the black wedge boots, the hat with a pink ribbon tied into a bow around it, the ribbon around my neck, and the gloves. It’s an oldie but a goodie, and Saint Tail remains one of my favorite characters, to read and to wear.

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