I'm trying something new this time! I'm going to try and actually post progress shots and information about my cosplay this time around.
April: I have collected all of the fabrics. The only thing still needed are the beads.
First thing completed are my sleeves. White fabric was chosen with s a subtle print because most of the cloak is going to be creamy-white. The sleeves along with the hood will be lined. The main body of the cloak will not to reduce weight and to improve how it hangs. A shiny rose-burnt orange fabric was chosen for the lining, it matches in texture and pattern a green-yellow fabric chosen by my partner in crime who is going to be a matching Sakura.
The sleeve and hood trim is deep red velvet ribbon running parallel to gold curtain trim, chosen for its shade and 3D texture.
The cloak is 4 triangles of white fabric sewn together. A collar and arm holes were then cut, to attach the sleeves and hood.
--Materials--
Cloak.
7m of red velvet ribbon ($1.25/m)
24m of gold trim ($1.25m/m)
3m or thicker gold trim ($1.75/m)
8m of white fabric ($6/m)
4m orange fabric ($5/m)
All, but the white fabric was bought on sale -- half price member sales at Fabricland. The white fabric was reduced by 15% because I bought all of the remaining roll.
Beads.
9 large red beads
20 smaller red beads
All beads were glass, because I loved the shine. The moons were cardboard that was given a raised edge with 3D fabric paint (craft foam was misbehaving when I cut it so thinly).
The string was braided rather than the twisted type so it was stronger, especially when sewn.
Staff.
2m wooden shaft ($8)
Used some extra gold trim
3 sheets of foam board ($2per)
pearl and 2 shades of gold paint
To make the staff I draw a stencle for both the moon and the wing-like frame. To make sure that both sides were symmetrical I only drew half a stencle and then traced the other half. I cut out 3 wing-frames from the foam board and glued them together with a heavy book on top over night. The moon is only one layer foam board that is placed in the center of the three layers to provide depth. Along the edges of the wing-frame I glued gold ribbon to finish them and give the staff a bit of a shine when seen from an angle.
To attach to head of the staff I glued a screw into a notch cut into the middle foam board piece. Then glued the whole thing to the bottom of a small pill bottle that had its top cut off, so that the screw came through the bottom of the bottle. This allowed the screw to twist into the drilled hole in the top of the staff's shaft and the bottle provided extra support. With a piece of craft foam along the interior of the bottle slid snuggly on top of the staff, covering about 5cm to prevent any wiggling. The bottle was then built up with sculpty and spray painted to match the rest of the staff.