Costume Notes: Super and Regular Sailor Pluto

Completed: October 2016

Hours Spent: Approximately 30

Debuted: Anime North Texas

Why This Costume: After A-Fest, the Cosmic Coterie crew decided we wanted to switch up our fukus a bit and decided we wanted to go Super! Our affiliates expressed interest in joining us to have a full set of senshi again, so I offered to take the role of Pluto! (I got extra tall boots so we can be almost height accurate 😉 ).

I think most Moonies have a favorite inner and outer senshi. While Jupiter is my all-time favorite senshi, I have a soft spot for Pluto! I actually considered making Pluto before Jupiter back in 2014, but decided against it since I didn’t know how to build props (or who to ask for a commission) at the time.

Purchased pieces: 

• Gloves: We Love Colors
• Wig: Arda Venus Classic (Silky came out right after I ordered mine!) and Hairbun in Olive
• Tiara/Garnet Rod: MASK Props
• Brooch: Callula Props
• Earrings: UniqueCosplayForrest
• Contacts: Uniqso

How I made it: 

Note: I made regular and Super Pluto pretty much at the same time, which is why I combined these costumes into one post.

I swear, every time I make a new fuku I learn something new to improve the process. I don’t want to get too heavily bogged down in details since pretty much everything you need to know is over on the Cosmic Coterie fuku tutorials (seriously, I’ve written a damn novel at this point). However, I do want to point out a few fit tweaks that I’ve noticed since making Jupes 2.0.

One of the biggest game-changers in my fuku process comes courtesy of Katie Cosplays. She noticed a few of our fukus in the past have had issues with puckering at the point of the V. Turns out, lowering the point of bloomers fixes that problem! When I redrafted my pieces for Pluto and sewed the skirt on, I actually turned to Space Cadet Cosplay for feedback because I was convinced I’d done something wrong. It came out right on the first try (don’t mind the puckering here too much. My belt needs to be shortened by about 8″)! Normally there’s at least a little profanity and seam ripping to get the hip roll just right in my experience.

Another issue I noticed with Jupes 2.0 was skirt length. The pleats lose their shape at a certain length, and I definitely needed to shorten the hem for my Jupiter. Some of my front pleats almost look like they have puckers, and it’s just because the skirt is a hair too long. I’m finding that about 8″ from the bottom of the V to the hem and about 10.5″ in the back works well for me. This one is 7″ from the point of the V to the hem. If/when I get around to re-making this fuku (I noticed some minor holes in the base leotard last time I wore it), I’ll lengthen that to 8″. The horsehair braid is also much more effective with the shorter skirts as well.

Working on the boots for Pluto was a fun experience and great practice for my upcoming Wonder Woman! I thought about buying pre-made Pluto boots, but the ones I liked best were close to $120, and all of them looked too short for me. My frugality won out, and I decided to make my own. I used NyuNyu Cosplay’s tutorial on how to draft the toppers. My first set of boots was a pair of knee high boots from eBay. These came out perfectly, but when I tried them on, they were a bit too short for my Amazonian legs. However, I did keep them for wandering around the con days. For round two, I bought some over the knee boots, cut them down to the right length and shape, and used scrap vinyl from Huntress to create the white topper.

I redrafted the Supers clear sleeves a bit with the input of the other Coterie members. We decided to go with clear mylar for the sleeves, which we did with Super Moon and Chibi Moon. While the vinyl I used for Super Jupes was more comfortable, the Mylar definitely holds its shape better. We covered the mylar with clear glitter chiffon using 3M, which did a much better job than the spray e6000 I used for Jupes. Tutorials and pattern are available here.

Koholint Cosplay reminded me both of the joys of sewing on an interfaced collar (seriously, soooooo much cleaner than non-interfaced collars) as well as faux mitered corners. These are so much cleaner than the ones I did on both of my Jupiter collars.

I’d like to take a minute to give MASK Props a shout-out for my insanely beautiful garnet rod. He pulled this together for me in a pretty short period of time while working on another big deadline, and it’s absolutely stunning. I’m so grateful to him for taking this project on when he toooootally didn’t have to! I’m planning to hang it above my craft closet for display purposes when it’s not in use.

Thoughts on this build: All in all, I’m so, so happy that I was able to make this costume happen. Pluto’s been on my wishlist for nearly as long as Jupiter, and it’s absolutely thrilling to be part of a full set of senshi! Now that this is done, I’m looking forward to a nice long break from fukus, haha (well, aside from commissions lol). I’ll add more photos as I get them!

Do you have a favorite inner and outer senshi? Who are they?