I enjoy cosplaying Count D and wanted to do the vacation outfit from volume 8 since D with amnesia is hilarious. The page with him cheerfully calling Leon a drunk and walking into a glass wall has to be one of the funniest in the whole series! XD (Reference image here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v342/LadyoftheThread/misc/IMG_1703.jpg)

This costume was inexpensive to put together and much simpler than the ones I’m usually attracted to. I was able to finish it in about a week, which was a nice change from my usual complicated 1-3 month projects! ^_^ I’m pleased with how the costume came out, considering the relatively short time spent on it.

The pattern on the skirt looked like a simple stylized sakura design but I couldn’t find a fabric with a similar print so I decided to try painting my own. I experimented with stamping, using layers of craft foam cut out into petals and glued to a square of foam core. It made things much quicker! I was able to just brush some fabric paint on the stamp and apply it to the fabric for a light coat/outline. Then, I could take a paintbrush and fill in the marks as needed and not have to worry about uniformity. It only took about 4 hours to paint the 3 yards of fabric that way. ^_^ I imagine it would have been at least two to three times as long if I had to do all the petals one by one so it was a nice timesaver.

This was my first time making a pleated skirt and since I was doing it without a pattern, it took a good bit of calculating and marking to get the pleats even. I nearly ran out of fabric, too, because I hadn't thought it would take so much. ^_^; I was able to borrow the inner top from one of my previous costumes and had the wig from my earlier D cosplays so the only other thing I had to make was the outer top with the neckband that matched the skirt. I’ve done similar tops before for other costumes so that was relatively simple.

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