Sailor Jupiter: Part Two

Original Date: March 27, 2009

I started work on my Sailor Jupiter costume. I do think I've finally committed. Yay! The only reason I will change my mind for this point on will be if I absolutely cannot find the correct coloured fabric. But... I don't think it will come to that.

The first thing I decided I needed to do was work on the bodysuit part. I knew this was going to be difficult, because frankly, it's a very fitted piece that requires quite a lot very exact measurements. Also, because my plan to get an already made bodysuit fell through amazingly quickly.... Anyway, I took my disassambled bathing suit, traced and altered it so that it would look more like a Sailor Scout bodysuit. Unfortunately I did not have any stretchy fabric at my disposal, so I had to cut it out of broadcloth (or something similar, anyway). That made it very difficult, of course, to determine whether or not the actual thing would fit later on. But this was not acceptable. There were already clear fit issues at the bust and armscye. So, I decided I would try to draft a bodysuit pattern to my exact measurements using some instructions I found online.

It took about two hours, but the result looked fairly good, and seemed an appropriate size when held up against my body. Also, I felt a much greater sense of satisfaction. This is my first flat pattern draft! Exciting.

Next, I am going to try and pick up some cheap stretchy fabric to test it out. I'm not sure if this step will be possible, but I am still going to look anyway. Then I'm going to look for the final fabric for the bodysuit. Ideally, if not specifically, the fabric must be:

• White
• 75% two-way stretch
• Nylon lycra blend

I also noticed that the leg is cut a little too high for my purposes. I am going to try my best to lower that a little bit for some more modesty at some point. I'm not sure if I want to try adding some extra fabric to the pattern or to just draw in the extra space when I cut it out. Hopefully if I do get that test fabric I will be able to fix it at that point.