Made By A Fabricista: Slaying demons and summer heat

I have so many distinct memories from middle school of sneaking downstairs after everyone has gone to bed and watching Inuyasha on Toonami with the volume just barely above mute to see what adventures and drama Kagome and her friends get into. My favorite character has always been Sango. She's strong and fiercely loyal to those she trusts, absolute role model material! This project is a bit of a redemption for me, as Sango was the second ever cosplay I made about 16 years ago!

My fabric choices were made easy for me because there were linens all in the perfect colors for her travelling outfit and would be ideal for summer cosplaying, especially here in Arizona! Once I got my fabric all washed and pressed, the next thing I had to do was start pulling threads. For the green fabric I couldn't opt for any other method for cutting the length of the skirt since you'd be able to notice if my hemline wasn't straight, so pulling a thread as a guide was an absolute must! The green skirt came together easily after that, once I had the skirt and waistband pieces cut, I tested out the fit of the skirt and realized I'd end up with a lot of excess around my waist, so I did a series of darts to reduce the bulk at my waist, leaving out the area that would be my center front so that would remain smooth when tied on.

As for her pink dress, I got to have a little more fun since she has a bit of a patchwork design. I started by cutting my base of light pink, following the same pattern shape I made for my Toph Beifong shirt, just full length! Once I had the main body cut out, I used what I had left over of the light pink for the sleeves and collar.

Once I had all the light pink cut out I could start on the dark pink! Honestly I just used the light pink pieces I just cut out as a guide since most of the dark pink was around the yoke area, and from the scraps of that I cut some fun shapes for the hem and some rectangles for the sleeves.

For the dark pink pieces on the top of the dress, I top stitched them down before I assembled the dress. This absolutely would have been easier to do if I'd used a basting spray, but I didn't think of that until I was sewing this at 2am, so with a lot of pins and pressing, the yoke pieces were on!

For the piecing of the sleeves I took a different approach, instead of layering them I pieced them together with felled seams, making sure to tell them onto the dark pink since my thread matched that color better, and finished the ends of the sleeves with a rolled hem. To reduce the bulk from the French seam in the rolled hem, I cut out the middle section and folded the remainder of the French seam in opposite directions when I rolled the hem.

Once the individual pieces were assembled, it was time to see it all together! Since I hope to get a lot of wear out of this, I opted to do French seams to make sure I could chuck this in the washer and dryer and have no worries that they'll survive. I respect the cosplayers dedicated to hand washing their cosplays, I fear I am not one of you.

To finish the hem, I used the dark pink shapes I'd cut out to also finish the hem. I start by pressing in the raw edge on what would be the top of the dark pink in preparation for top stitching it down, then sewed the bottom of the dark pink and the bottom of the light pink, right side to wrong side, so when I flipped the dark pink up, it'd just have to top stitch it into place and the hem was finished!

Once the sleeves were set in (also with French seams) I used what scraps I had of both the light and dark pinks to make the collar. I opted to have all my collar pieces on grain and stead of the bias as I was concerned about the linen making ripples. To close the pink dress I sewed some twill tape to the bottom of the collar on either side as they end at my waist, and added a buttonhole on my left hand seam at my waist to pass one end through so I could tie the twill tape around my waist to close it!

And that's it! Sango is done, she's sooo comfy to wear, and I think I fulfilled my redemption! Let me know what you think, I'll include a pic of my original Sango cosplay, plywood boomerang and all!

 MINA  | @cosplaytology