Costume Notes: Pokemon Trainer Serena

Completed: June 2014

Hours Spent: 12-15~

Debuted: A-Kon 25

Why This Costume: Several of my cosplay friends have Pokemon trainer costumes, so I decided to make one to join them. I couldn’t figure out which one I wanted for a while, but I loved the design of Serena, and I really enjoyed playing as her in Pokemon X! Plus, Fennekin is the most adorable starter Pokemon ever.

How I made it: 

There aren’t too many pieces to this costume, and fortunately it came together pretty easily. I made the top using Sewaholic’s Alma blouse as the base. To make the blouse sleeveless, I just used the band from the cap sleeve version to finish the armhole.

While the Peter Pan collar is cute, I wanted to give myself styling options with this blouse. It’s actually a pretty good work top! I made the collar detachable by adding snaps to the underside of the collar and behind the shoulder seam of the blouse. I used a cotton sateen from Jo-Ann’s with 3% stretch, which was just enough to let me slide this on without a zipper.

The skirt is my first truly self-drafted piece! I probably made it significantly more difficult than it needed to be, but I figured if I was going to make it, I wanted it to be screen accurate. Most people I’ve seen making this costume just add an extra panel to the sides over the pleats. I only had a yard of fabric to work with, so this was my solution.

I’m planning to write an in-depth tutorial on this soon(ish), but here are the CliffNotes:

I broke it down into 4 components: front/back sides and side panels. For the front/back pieces, I measured myself hipbone-to-hipbone, and I measured the side panels from the front to the back of my hipbone. I also measured out my desired length, which was 13″ (because apparently I like short skirts). Once I had those measurements, I drafted out my pattern. I should note that the side panels flare out towards the bottom, so keep that in mind if you’re drafting this skirt. For the front/back pieces, I split them in half to get the top and the bottom pleated section. For the top, I did a double-fold of fabric and topstitched an extra piece of fabric. The bottom half is a set of deep knife-pleats. I made the buttons with the largest button kit I could find at Jo-Ann’s, but they’re still a bit small for my liking. I’ll have to figure out a better method in the future.

The thigh-highs are an upcycle project! I had a pair of leggings that didn’t fit me well, so I cut them off at the right height and added elastic to the top to keep them from sagging.

I found the shoes on eBay and used some fabric paint from Jo-Ann’s to make the Pokeball. I didn’t realize this at the time, but the paint has glitter in it!

The bag is based off of Very Purple Person’s reversible handbag tutorial. I used a pink cotton base and fusible fleece to give the bag more of a puff. From there, I sketched out the lines from the game as well as the Pokeball emblem in the center and topstitched everything down. The lining/reversible side is from a failed blouse project, but the colors work well together. The fleece made it a bit difficult to reverse the bag in the end, so if you go with this tutorial/pattern, definitely make the straps wider.

My glasses and hat were purchased off of Amazon, and I picked up my Fennekin from a con last year. This wig was originally intended for Ms. Marvel, but I didn’t like the color. It’s perfect for Serena, though! I got it from EpicCosplay.

I think this may be one of my favorite costumes from this year. Any costume that’s super comfortable is always a win in my book. Surprisingly, I felt super cute! I tend to go for more of the badass/warrior woman characters since 1) I identify with them more, and 2) I feel like I pull that look off better, but this was a happy exception.

You can see more pictures of this costume and my other costumes from A-Kon on my Facebook page!