Thoughts:

I had this one on the drawing table for over a year, and I'm very pleased that I finally cracked down a did it! I wanted a new costume for Otakon 2001 so I dug up the Yuna body suit I'd made a year ago and decided to find a way to make the armor. It took about four days to complete the costume for Otakon. The puppy in the picture was my foster shelter dog at the time, Rags. ^_^ He just had to join me, which was ok by me. ^_^ Rags is just one of thousands upon thousands of unwanted dogs being put down in shelters. Spay/neuter/adopt! Do your part to save a puppy just like Rags. ^^

Construction:

Body suit: I made the leotard from blue and white lycra and used a panning technique to sew the contrasting colors together. The sleeves are white satin. I made the sleeves from a different pattern and used fabric stiffener to make them stand up.

Chest armor: I cut a pattern out of paper and then made the chest armor out of white upholstry vinyl. I then hotglued blue vinyl and white lycra on. I cut two triangles out of the corners and glued the white lycra back behind them, then glued in gold lycra. A final strip of black vinyl was glued along the center and two metal rings for detail.

Neck armor: This was also made out of upholstry vinyl and covered with blue pvc vinyl. I added velcro to the back and made white half circles out of sculpy. I painted them, glazed them, and attached them.

Gloves: In a rush to get ready for Otakon I couldn't find shiny white gloves, only dull ones. I wanted them to match my costume better so I made some from scratch. I'd never made gloves before but they came out decently. I took apart my dull gloves and used them for a pattern. The adornments on the gloves were made from sculpy.

Elbow/knee armor: I'm really happy with out these came out. They are cardboard covered with blue pvc vinyl that is bent into shape. I sewed four gold lycra balls and stuffed them with polyester fiber fill. THen I cut out an oval in each piece of armor and glued the gold lycra behind them. Silver eyelets and black marker give the finishing touches.

Hair pieces: These were made from cardboard as well and covered in a metallic red fabric. They were then put on hair clips.

Boots: I bought these horrible boots on eBay and was really happy to find a use for them. A lot of sewing, glueing, stuffing, and cutting was used to make them and frankly, it would take forever for me to explain it. ^_^'