Worn at: Project: A-Kon 14, AnimeFEST! 2003

Cost: $50

Time to Complete: 5-10 hours

Inspiration: A-Kon 14, and my love for Angelic Layer and Tamayo (she's so crazy! XD). I also wanted to make the Eriol Academy school uniform, because it's really cool. Also, Tamayo's hair is just like mine, so I had to do it!

Description of Costume: Another school uniform! I just love them *grins* hahaha. Anyway, it actually consists of three parts: the green undershirt, the white jacket-thing on top of that, and the skirt. I didn't make the green undershirt because it would have made the costume too hot, but it's a part of the costume, nonetheless. Just a very light green, high-collared, button-down shirt (maybe long-sleeved, but probably short-sleeved since the jacket goes over it) that tucks into the skirt. Over that is the jacket, which is white, long-sleeved, and styled after a chef's jacket with the blue buttons down Tamayo's left side. A blue vest with yellow trim goes over that, showing the collar of the green undershirt at her neck, and forms a triangle in the back. A gold crown is visible inside the triangle. On Tamayo's upper right sleeve is a blue cuff, with another gold crown on it. At her wrists are blue cuffs with yellow trim. On the jacket front, there is a blue-and-gold crown pin on her right. The skirt is white, with blue sewed in between the few pleats. She wears thigh-high blue stockings, with blue-and-white boots.

How It Was Made: It was the first costume I sewed all by myself! No help from my mom or anything! *sparkle* One of the first things I made were the cuffs, since I had the material. Like months later they were actually sewed onto the jacket ^_^;; I actually did most of this costume the Thursday before A-Kon. teehee. On that day, I sewed blue strips in-between the pleats of a white pleated skirt (a VERY tedious task; the strips also aren't hemmed, so if anyone looks closely at the skirt, they can see how messy it really looks. Good thing you can't see it in any pictures!). I also cut and hemmed the bottom of a white chef's jacket I'd bought at a restaurant supply store. Then I took off the white buttons along one side and sewed blue ones in their place. The vest isn't actually sewed onto the jacket.. because it actually buttons up all the way, that would have made it impossible to get over my head. So I just safety-pinned most of it to the jacket, and had to do some complex moves to get into the costume whenever I put it on ^^;; As for the cuffs, Thursday night AT the con I hand-sewed those onto the wrists and upper arm of the jacket. I also hand-sewed the two gold crowns to the back of the vest and the shoulder cuff. My "crown pin" is actually a blue medal from Solo & Ensemble (from my band days XD). As for the blue thigh-highs, I bought them at Scarborough Faire. I never figured out how to make the boots, so I just wore my own white platform sneakers :D

Other Thoughts: Yee, it may not be the most perfect costume ever, but I think it looks pretty damn good for the first costume I sewed all by myself!! heehee, I'm so proud. I'll probably wear this again, but I better have sewn some elastic into those thigh-highs by then, cause they started falling down really easily and it got annoying FAST XO. That's why, in one of the pictures, they're down around my ankles. After awhile I stopped caring and didn't pull them up if they fell down. Except someone asked me for a picture, and I forgot to fix them ^^;; Also, for some STUPID reason, a lot of the people who took my picture and put it on their site labeled me as "Misaki" just because she and Tamayo wear the same school uniform. Helloooo, do I have Misaki hair (brown and cut short in the back with two long bits in the front)? No! Do I have Tamayo hair (short and blonde)? Hmm, let's see.. YES!! T_T