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[Shichan]

Well, I'm preparing to do a "Kick Out a Bloody Mystery" (Eien Densetsu Kaiteiban version) Minako for a group I'm with and I've run into a couple of issues. She wears her seifuku and an orange trenchcoat in the skit. Any ideas what sort of material should be used for the seifuku? What is accurate to real seifuku in Japan? I'm pondering if for the musicals they used authentic material or if it would have been too heavy perhaps? If so, what would you suggest?

Secondly, the trenchcoat. I've found a couple of Vogue patterns that might work with some modification (but, boy, are they scary! ), but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for that. I'm also not sure what sort of fabric to use for that. I was toying with using the same crepe that I would use for her top skirt if I were making her battle fuku, but I'm not sure if that would hang right (wee bit of a sewing newbie, here). Suggestions?

And my apologies that I do not have a reference picture for you all at this time, I'll see if I can grab a screen cap off of my video soon. Thanks for any and all help! ^^

[Carmila]

Most seifuku are made out of a poly-cotton blend. Honestly, I would look for a medium weight, tight weave polyester fabric. Something along the lines of a fine crepe.

[Mythril]

I made a Loki trench for my boyfriend for this years Katsu. I actually altered a pattern from an Abraham Lincoln costume from Vogue to fit my purpose. material wise, I used a nice uniform solid (craft solid) they are thick enough to hold shape and a bit of flare Goodluck!

[PorcelainSakura]

Depends on the vogue, some of thier patterns have horrid instructions and many I would only suggest to advanced sewers. So just make sure to check the difficulty level.

[Sarcasm-hime]

Not sure I'd use polyerster crepe, as it doesn't tend to take a pleat well. For a seifuku or a trenchcoat, I'd go for a medium/heavy weight plain-weave poly-cotton, maybe twill.

[Shichan]

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful tips! Luckily, Otakon is still a few months off, so I still have some time to figure this whole thing out. Joann Fabrics was having a big pattern sale this past weekend, so I picked up a couple of patterns that I thought might be helpful for me. I got McCall's 3759 for the sailor collar and possibly the body of the shirt, Butterick 3639 for the shirt sleeves, and Vogue 2449 for the trenchcoat. I'm still on the lookout for a decent pleated skirt pattern. I need to get a better look at the skirt itself, first though, because I'm not sure if it is made up of knife pleats or box pleats (I'm leaning towards knife). Oh, I also checked the difficulty level for the Vogue pattern that I chose and it says "average," which is probably way too hard for a newbie like me. ^^; Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[dani]

For the Sera Myu uniform I'm making I came up with my own skirt pattern: a huuuuuge donut. Interior diameter is 2.5 times my waist and exterior diameter is interior + skirt lenght on each side.

I made the pleats attaching the interior border to a ribbon sewn at waist size. First one point, then the opposite, then halves and halves and halves. Not sure if I'm explaining it properly, but it was easy to do.

The pleats are NOT ironed so the skirt sticks out and flows and puffs and huffs. My mockup is broadcloth but the final will be satin backed crepe.

Hope this helps...

Dani

[Maki]

Another thing is, the trenchcoats arent just one color ^^;; They split right down the middle...for instance, the one I have to make, Usagi, is half pink and half yellow, split vertically. anyone have any ideas for how to achieve that without having the seam be too visible?

[dani]

Originally Posted by Maki

Another thing is, the trenchcoats arent just one color ^^;; They split right down the middle...for instance, the one I have to make, Usagi, is half pink and half yellow, split vertically. anyone have any ideas for how to achieve that without having the seam be too visible?

The idea of splitting a pattern to have pieces of different colors is called "color blocking". I'm sure that either google or the local library can provide details.

Have fun..

Dani

[Shichan]

Originally Posted by Maki

Another thing is, the trenchcoats arent just one color ^^;; They split right down the middle...for instance, the one I have to make, Usagi, is half pink and half yellow, split vertically. anyone have any ideas for how to achieve that without having the seam be too visible?

o.O They're not like that on my version. They're one solid color in the 'Eien Densetsu Kaiteiban' tape that I have. I think the whole group needs to decide exactly what the monkey we're doing because this is just becoming too confusing.

[Shichan]

Originally Posted by dani

For the Sera Myu uniform I'm making I came up with my own skirt pattern: a huuuuuge donut. Interior diameter is 2.5 times my waist and exterior diameter is interior + skirt lenght on each side.

I made the pleats attaching the interior border to a ribbon sewn at waist size. First one point, then the opposite, then halves and halves and halves. Not sure if I'm explaining it properly, but it was easy to do.

The pleats are NOT ironed so the skirt sticks out and flows and puffs and huffs. My mockup is broadcloth but the final will be satin backed crepe.

Hope this helps...

Dani

Thank you for your help, Dani! But I'm actually doing her school uniform right now. ^^ I've been watching the progress of your Venus fuku and I can only hope that when I eventually do mine, it will turn out half as wonderful as yours is becoming! ^^

[dani]

Originally Posted by Shichan

Thank you for your help, Dani! But I'm actually doing her school uniform right now.

Oh... I've been working a bit on my school uniform too. The blouse has the sailor collar pinned and ready to be sewn.
I was very lucky with the bottom part of the uniform, because I found two pleated skirts in my closet. A dark blue and a black one. (see enclosed)That's the payoff for ransacking garage sales every saturday morning in spring and summer.

I haven't done proper pleatings myself, but I've seen threads on this board and plenty of sites about them.

Regarding splitting a pattern for colors, it's just a matter of slicing it where you want the split and adding seam allowances to each side. No other secret.

Hope this helps...

Dani

[Shichan]

Regarding splitting a pattern for colors, it's just a matter of slicing it where you want the split and adding seam allowances to each side. No other secret.

That helps a great deal, thanks! I was wondering if that was all there was to it, but I was concerned that it might actually be more complicated than that. ^^

I actually have a navy blue pleated skirt that I just got the other day that might work, but I think it's a bit too dark. I'll look for the other threads that you mentioned. Thanks! ^^