G A R N E T " D A G G E R " T I L . A L E X A N D R O S
Final Fantasy IX
H O M U R A . A K E M I
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
The Inspiration
As soon as I watched Madoka Magica, I fell head over heels in love. I'd heard a lot of good things about it, but it wasn't until I experienced it first hand that I understand the obsessive love. I was drawn to Homura out of a group picture, even before I had watched the series. Once I watched it, that opinion was cemented in place. I wanted to cosplay from this series RIGHT NOW, but there was no way I was going to rush doing Homura's magical girl outfit for KumoriCon (less than 2 months away at the time) so after I got a friend into it, we decided to crank out Homura and Madoka's school uniforms to hold us over.
The Build
As always, starting at the top. I struggled to find a wig the perfect color, and after having some very disappointing results with some ebay sellers, found this wig -- it's an Ayanamisatoru wig, specifically for Homura. It was thinner than I would have liked, so later I purchased a second one and sewed them together. The first headband is a simple satin headband I found at a store in the mall, and glued black rhinestones onto it. Later, I found a perfect headband at the Dollar Tree near my apartment. The glasses were a lucky find, a pair of $2.50 readers I found at JoAnns.
Moving onto the actual costume, this was a collaborative effort with Kayla, so we both worked on both of our uniforms. The white top is a fake piece that fits underneath the sweater top, and was made off a Chinese dress pattern. The bows are made from red Casa Satin, and pin to the shirt. The sweater top is easily the most complicated piece -- the base started as a pattern for a sleeveless 'shift' dress, which I changed to have the points in the front, back, and the squared off neckline. The sleeves came from a completely different pattern and were frankensteined into the dress's pattern. The base fabric is a stretch ponte from JoAnns, and the trim is bias tape. The lace on the cuffs was a lucky find at JoAnns as well. The cuffs I had to draft by hand, as our patterns did not include them. The fabric is stretch enough that we're able to pull them on over our heads, so no zippers were required. Kayla put darts in our busts, to give it a more flattering fit.
The skirt is probably my favorite part. I found the fabric on ebay from a quilting-fabric seller, and it's as close to perfect as I've ever found. It's a high quality quilters cotton, which Kayla box pleated based on the pre-existing grid of the lines, to give it as close a resemblance to the source artwork as possible.
Finally, I already had some knee-high black socks and a trusty pair of brown loafers. Later, I swapped out for a pair of black tights that I bought at the local costumes shop. Tada!