Sailor Jupiter

• Awards: Tsubasacon 2016 Retro Anime award, Krakencon Cosplay Day 3rd Place
• Character: Sailor Jupiter (Super variant), with alternate battle-scarred
• Series: Sailor Moon
• Worn at: Tsubasacon 2016, Sakura 360 as Guest of Honor, held at the NCCBF
• Estimated build duration: 6 months, on/off distributed in years

What started as a scout in a cosplay group ended in a premiere costume piece in my portfolio. This scout is my favorite, and evolving this piece was such a joy.

This costume was a labor of love lasting years, and along the way, I learned:

• How to fuse glass
• Serger
• Incorporating electronics in cosplays
• Working with stretchy fabrics with relative ease
• Battle-scarred makeup

The entire costume is interchangeable to any sailor scout, so I can use the same base to be any sailor scout (real or fanmade!) The hip rolls, skirt, bows, overshirt, sleeves, bows, and jewels in the center shirt and tiara are all held by snaps and hooks!

Media/Materials used

• Garment: white sportswear fabric, green gabardine, a common fabric for schoolgirl outfits to connect to her civilian roots
• Jupiter wand with lightning: PVC pipe base, with EVA foam for the star, dollar-store glass pebble for the center piece, and a small flashlight inside to shine from the star center.
• Lightning glove: Base bridal gloves, with sewn glove rolls, and EL wire hand-sewn in place
• Rose earrings: polymer clay
• Tiara: sintra with center jewel piece made of fusing hand-carved glass in a kiln.
• Ben Nye for battle-scarred version, with pantyhose mesh as an easy-to-remove base

Patterns

• My base was a white dancewear with a modified skating dress pattern to fit. 
• The individual pieces were crafted with SparklePipsi’s Sailor Moon tutorial as a guide.

Construction Notes/WIP

I fitted and constructed each component by handsewing a combination of snaps, and hooks in the correct positions. Metal snaps were placed in areas with high movement, while invisible (weaker) snaps were placed elsewhere. Hooks were used for anything that could be hung, and proved to be the most secure part.

My hair is a combination of my own hair and augmented wig parts. I sewed my own high ponytail. I also sewed on a bangs piece, and blended it with my own hair. I tried a 90’s poofy bangs look, but it didn’t flatter my face; a a more natural set of bangs made my face more oval, and was more idea.

All edges are serged, lined, and, with the case of the skirt, flatlined. No raw edges even on the inside. The dancewear was serged and edged with an elastic for durability.

Results

I’m rather proud of the costume and how it appears to all be sewn in, but it all held by notions! Try finding a snap! The mix of stretchy white dancewear and the woven green gabardine made this an added challenge! Check out below on what battle-scarred version looks like.

Image gallery