Costume Notes: Super Sailor Chibi Moon

 How I made it: Since this is Yet Another Fuku (sorry in advance, but MORE ARE COMING!), I’m going to focus more on the elements that made Super ChibiMoon a challenge and set her apart from a standard fuku.

One of the main differences Super Moon and ChibiMoon have compared to the other senshi is the double hip rolls. A single hip rolls is ALWAYS a challenge to get clean (especially when you work with foam), but the double approach added yet another wrinkle. With our Super Moon, we originally went with the same foam we used for the rest of the senshi, but it was literally impossible to sew by machine, and still an insane challenge to sew by hand. I pricked myself sooooooo many times. My thimble was a lifesaver!

To make life a little easier for myself this time around, I picked up some upholstery piping, covered it in a layer of quilt batting so that the ridges wouldn’t show through the spandex, and then covered the whole thing in gold and white spandex. To create the tapered points, I cut the ends of the piping at an angle and covered them with tape since this piping frays like the devil. Once both sets of rolls were complete, I hand basted them together, then basted them to the leotard. While I could get the hip roll combo through the machine, I ultimately opted to hand stitch it to get as close to the roll as possible and finished up the interior edges with my serger for durability.

PockyPants’s husband, Mask Props, airbrushed the skirt and collar pieces I cut. This skirt proved an interesting challenge in terms of the hem. With circle skirts, you’re supposed to let them hang to allow the bias to stretch out (which we did prior to painting), then level the hem and finish it. Since we had to paint the skirt prior to sewing it, I had to take length off of the top of the skirt rather than the bottom while also making sure the gradient looked consistent. It’s definitely a challenge, and I still see spots that I’d like to go back and fix before our next group wear, along with the hem for our Super Moon.

 Another issue we addressed with ChibiMoon is the paint on the collar. Our Super Moon’s collar paint bled horribly on her chest armor after a full day of wear at A-Kon. Fortunately, we got most of it out, but to help prevent that issue with ChibiMoon, we hit it with a few layers of Scotch Guard. So far it’s held up pretty well!

I’m particularly pleased with ChibiMoon’s butt bow. We took our standard butt bow pattern and enlarged it by about 30%, and I also drafted the cascading tails. I picked up the same mirror organza we used for Super Moon and used French seams for durability. Super Moon’s butt bow utilized serged seams, and unfortunately the opalescence of the fabric shows all the overlock threads. A French seam this time around resulted in a much prettier and stronger finish! Can’t wait to get on a making one for Super Moon as well 🙂

We also wanted to take advantage of the sheer nature of the fabric to match the manga artwork, so we took a cue from Ohheyabear Cosplay and lined the bow with a thick vinyl. The result is lovely, albeit heavy, so it tends to droop throughout the day. Mask Props is going to rig us a clear U shape device to support the weight of the bow for next time.

 Thoughts on this build: All in all, I’m pretty pleased with how this turned out! I’m so happy I could help PockyPants embody her favorite version of her favorite character. There are some fit tweaks I want to make for next time, and I can’t wait to document those for an upcoming sailor fuku tutorial I’m working on with the Cosmic Coterie girls!