Dodrio's Costumes

[Dodrio]

So the year is half way through and I've got maybe one more convention or so to use this year's costumes. I'm looking for suggestions, tips, and possibly new ideas for if I decide to do any of these costumes again.

Chise from Saikano
I'm like, so done with this costume but after seeing how well it turned out I wanna keep working on it. xD
I wore it to PortCon Maine 2008. I was unable to finish the gun in time, but it should be finished by the Nan Desu Kan this year. I've got to order a new skirt, the one I've got is supposed to be grey but it's navy blue instead. I also need to get better shoes, they look fine from the back but they have these metal rings on the front which I can't take off because they keep the shoe like... connected. xD The wings were originally plaster over styrofoam, attached to my back with connector clip things, like you'd find on a dog collar. But the clips broke and so last minute I built these that are larger than the original. They're made of styrofoam, covered in duct tape and then spray painted over with silver paint and then kind of layered with acrylics. They have holes drilled up the backs of them, that slide onto a wooden brace that goes in the back of my jacket. I have no straps or anything that actually attach to my body. Makes it easy because then I don't have to carry around my wings all the time, but if it gets too hot to wear the jacket, then I can't wear the wings, either. Once the gun is done, I'll post about it.

Sakura Haruno Lolita
I've been working on this since like, January and kind of finished it up all the way in like, early June I think when I sewed the final bows onto the headband. Everything except for the white wrap thing that goes around my middle was modified. I can't do stuff from scratch. The skirt originally had a second layer of lace covering the entire thing that I took off and I'm saving it for other things. Maybe make a matching... cardigan, I think it's called? The red lace on the bottom of the skirt was already there, and I just sewed on another layer of white lace. I made the bows out of ribbons and then sewed the bows on directly, instead of like what I did with the headband, where I sewed the ribbons on and THEN tied the bows. The ribbons hanging from the bows on the bottom were sewed on after roughly being measured. The space in between the bows was just eye-balled, so the spaces are slightly different, giving me reason to just do somewhat the same for the ribbons. They were originally too long so I took it a part and redid them and put them all back on. The circles on the skirt, shoulders, and back were all cut out and ironed on. They're beginning to fray ever so slightly. Ideas on how to fix it are highly appreciated. The lace on the shirt was all sewn on, as was the lace on the headband which I bought off eBay. I don't really know what to call the thing around the middle of the costume. But it was sewn on a machine kind of like a pillow case except with the ends closed off and enforced on the inside. I then went through and cut holes and my friend helped me insert... I don't even know what they're called. Like the holes on a shoe where the laces go through. Anyways, it's then laced up in the back and tied with white ribbon. All the ribbon used, I put clear nail-polish on the ends to avoid fraying. I wear black tights and black heels with the costume. I don't own white heels. Which do you guys think would be better, though? 'Cause if white, then I could go try to find a pair.

Chikorita from Pokemon
The only real thing with this one was trying to find greens that kind of went well with each other yet still matched the colors I was looking for. But I think I've got it, all the way down to the shiny green shoes and white nail polish. Not sure if I should sew on a tail or not. Worn to Portcon Maine 2008 and will be worn to the NDK this year. People were asking me if I was a pikmin. The bracelet I was wearing said 'Chikorita', hahah. The beads around my neck that were used for the...leafy things Chikorita has around its, the big ones were black-light reactive (as were the beads on my wrist) so if I went to the rave in the costume, it would look cool. You can't really see it, but the beads between the big ones (on both my neck and wrist) were glow in the dark, so even if there was no black light, they'd glow. Just to look awesome. xD I kind of want a better way to attach the leaf to that headband. I originally had it with masking tape (the color of the headband) and hot glue. But after being crammed in a suitcase for Maine and back, and probably will be again for the NDK (and even possibly Wasabi,) the chances of me needing to re-stick it are pretty high. Ideas?

And I've also got my L costume, but the only thing with that I need to fix are the jeans.
I'll probably update this sometime again later this year with other costumes when I start them. If it's in the wrong board, feel free to move it~