Sailor Iron Mouse's costume

1. Bunny-ear hairband [$4.00 @ WalMart] - The ears have a wire frame we bent into a round shape

2. "Slinky Pet" curls {$3.95 marked down to $1.95 each @ WalMart] - See detail photo

3. Gold Mardi Gras beads [Free from restaurant] - Cut to length and attached with thread.

4. Gold star buttons [$1 @ JoAnn's] - I had to add a bump of hot glue behind the tiara star to stabilize it - unattractive but effective

5. Sheer, black ribbon with nylon thread in edges[$1.88 per roll @ WalMart] - This was quite a find. The nylon thread kept the bows from hanging lifelessly.

6. White lining [$5 @ WalMart] - This stuff is normally used underneath/inside dresses or jackets, but at $1/yd, how could I resist? It's shiny, but not as glaring as satin, and this particular type was stiff enough to give the dress some "pouf." HOWEVER: lining is not as strong as regular fabric, so don't use it for pants or shirts that need to withstand stress. It's better suited for things like collars & cuffs, capes, veils, and other low-stress accessories.

7. Black leotard [$5.99 @ Target] - This is a great, all-purpose piece of clothing

8. Bracelets [2 for $4.00 @ Pier 1 Imports] - Brass napkin rings did the trick for creating those star seed catchers

9. White satin gloves - These were a hit-or-miss item. Some toy stores have them in the dress-up section and some don't. We found ours at Daytona Flea Market at the booth with all the kid's beauty pageant stuff. They are easier to find in adult sizes

10. White tights [$2 @ flea market] and knee-highs [33¢ @ WalMart] - See detail photo on "boots"

11. Fake fur[$2.97 @ WalMart] - We bought a prepackaged, 12x15 piece of fur and cut it to size to pin and tape in the appropriate spots. What a mess it made! Don't cut it near anything black!

12. Marabou boa tail [$4.99 @ Michael's] - Thanks to Cassie Lynch for the "how-to" on a perky tail. I haven't mastered the technique, so this tail didn't turn out as sproingy as what I wanted.

There are basically 7 steps to putting together a great costume you can be proud of:

1. Find a character you like. I think this is the hardest step because there are so many to choose from. If you're going to do a skit, *try* to be of the same personality as the character. You can't fake a Wufei or Sailor Venus, or can you? ^_^

2. Research, research, research. This is an ongoing step because you can't do it all at once. Unless you have every Manga and Anime on DVD that portrays your favorite character, the internet is the easiest place to find what you are looking for. Try typing ? sailor iron mouse into the address bar of your browser and see what comes up. The question mark tells the browser to search using the default search engine. We've bookmarked dozens of cosplay sites, the most authentic, of course, are the Japanese Cosplay web rings. At any rate, add http://www.nyx.net/%7Ewsantoso/cosplay.html to your favorites.

3. Collect all the pictures you can. I create a collage using Photoshop. This is the same sheet we hand to the judges the night of the contest. It also acts as the "shopping list" when we're out and about. Rule-of-thumb, don't buy anything at the stores without having your shopping list. If you can find a cosplay site with a photo of someone dressed up as your character, you just made things a lot simpler.

4. Set a budget. It's easy to spend over $100 on a costume. Get creative! Absolutely go to every 2nd-hand store in town. Sakuya's outfit cost a whopping $10, that includes the skirt and the long-sleeved black turtleneck. Both were bought used.

5. What about that hair? It wouldn't be anime if there wasn't crazy hair styles involved, right? We bought some White WILD STUFF Skunky styling pomade to use for Sailor Iron Mouse's hair, we just ran out of time that night and didn't use it =(. If you are thinking of a wacky hair style, go to a Sally Beauty Supply store in your area. What you'll find is probably anything you need to add length, change color, or trick-out your coiffure.

6. Get into character. Break out the 8-track tapes with all that music from the show and think about how you'll act wearing the costume. Watch those Fan Subs over and over again until you speak your characters lines fluently in Japanese ^_^

7. Pray

Curls   

We found the ideal curly hair in a pair of "Slinky Pets." After surgically removing their heads & feet, I sewed them to the mouse-ear hairband. The curls held their shape all day & night and didn't get tangled!

Florida in late spring is the wrong place and time to find boots. So we made our own using a pair of white knee-highs. Spray-on rubber for the soles gave a little traction. Add the fur trim with double-stick tape and - Voila! Form-fitting, kid-sized go-go boots.

   Boots