Wonderland Taako -Mockup and Marking

Happy Taako Tuesday, y’all~! It’s been a little while since my last post. I keep getting distracted by life (as well as getting stuck in a Fire Emblem shaped hole lol). To be fair though, I’ve had the text for this done for a while. It’s just making the post look pretty that takes a long time lol. If you’ve been keeping up my previous posts in this series, thank you so much for reading!! Please feel free to follow the “WonderlandTaakoWIP” tag for these entries! Today, we’re going to start focusing on some actual sewing for this project, starting of course with the bodysuit~

I’ve made several bodysuits over the past few years, so I think I can say with confidence that I’m pretty good at sewing them. They’re really fast and easy for me at this point and I honestly prefer working with a spandex, form-fitting suit with hella cutouts and embellishments, than having to tailor a non-stretch garment lol. The spandex is so forgiving lmao. Ironically, when I was just starting out with sewing, I dreaded the thought of sewing a skintight spandex suit. It seemed so intimidating at the time lol. Oh how the turn tables. 

My confidence in bodysuit crafting is all thanks to my tried and true pattern: KwikSew K3052.

This is literally the only bodysuit pattern I trust. It’s the one that I have used for almost all of my bodysuit cosplays. Most of the costume pages featured in this post aren’t totally public on this site yet, but you can access them through here for now! Please feel free to click on the images to learn more about each costume!

KATE BISHOP/HAWKEYE (YOUNG AVENGERS) 2014.
The first bodysuit I ever made. This was a costume made for my sister :D Photo by Nance M. Photography.

CHAT NOIR (MIRACULOUS LADYBUG) 2016
This is the second bodysuit I made and my first time doing more customization to the pattern i.e. the shoulder seams and piping. Photo by White Specs Photography.

CAPTAIN AMERICA BUCKY BARNES (CAPTAIN AMERICA) 2016
My third suit! I sewed this one up in like a week so I could meet Sebastian Stan lmaooooooo. Photo by JAYKID.

YUURI KATSUKI -EROS- (YURI ON ICE!!) 2017
My fourth bodysuit and my absolute favorite costume to this day! Photo by Clouds Cosplay Photography.

Lol as you can see, I’m a big fan of bodysuits. I have found this pattern to be so reliable. I didn’t do much to the pattern out of the packaging, other than taking in the sleeves to better fit my arms. Otherwise, I was fortunate to not have to do anything else in regards to the fit. 

In regards to Wonderland Taako’s bodysuit, I started out doing what I always do when making a bodysuit: make a mockup first. Even though I know how this pattern works and fits, I always make a mockup first, especially if I’m going to be doing customizations like cutouts or color blocking.

And mockup done~! I followed the pattern exactly as written in the sewing instructions. I skipped doing the sleeves though, since the final sleeves were not going to look like the pattern sleeves at all and I would be drafting the sleeves myself later. I was also hella lazy and skipped out on sewing a zipper in lmao. I just sewed it closed and carefully slipped into this bodysuit to try it on lolololol.

Once the mockup was made, I drew directly on the fabric to indicate where my seams will be.

LMAO don’t worry, I used a paper stencil for this while it was off my body. Doing this alone while wearing it certainly would have been a TIME.

As you can see in Wonderland Taako’s mockup, I marked where the waistband would go, as well as the large diamond cut out on the back and the diamond cutouts on the legs. I actually used paper stencils to draw the leg diamonds on so that they’d be symmetrical on both legs.

Once I was happy with the placements, I took the whole suit apart with a seam ripper and then cut out the pieces according to my markings to create my new pattern.The pieces that were cut from the mockup became the pattern. I then took those pieces to the costume’s actual fabric to cut out. Before cutting out though, ALWAYS ADD SEAM ALLOWANCE. If that part is skipped, your measurements will be off in the final product and you’ll probably have to start over :<

Aaaah the joys of cutting velvet…

Sewing is pretty straightforward, once the pattern is cut out. However, before I assembled my bodysuit, I did all my embellishments like the appliqué and the rhinestone application. It was just easier to get them on there with the pieces lying flat. I chose stretch velvet for this costume, partly inspired by figure skating costumes as I mentioned in my Introduction entry for this series. The fabric choice came to me pretty early in the designing stages and just would not leave my mind, so I guess I never considered any alternatives lol. 

And that’s it~! I’ve had a ton of practice with bodysuits, so this was a breeze for me. Writing this entry was a fun look into my process for these. I might do write-ups on my other bodysuit costumes that I mentioned earlier in this post. In my next entry, I’ll be going into my process of attaching the filigree appliqué details onto this costume. Thanks again for taking the time to read these! I’m really enjoying writing down my crafting progress. 

Wonderland Taako -Jasmine You

Hail and Well Met y’all~! Merry Taako Tuesday~! If you read my previous post in this series, thank you!! I’ve been wanting to do this write-up for a long time and I’m glad to finally have a place to do it. Thank you for visiting!! For this post, I will be talking about a very crucial inspiration that contributed pretty much the catalyst to this design. Without this piece, the design would not have come out looking the way that it does.

I had actually run into a little rut when designing this costume. As I mentioned in my last post, when given so many options, it can be a little daunting. I felt a little overwhelmed with all the directions I could go with this outfit. I was feeling stuck because everything looked so cool and I just couldn’t settle (it’s the Libra in me I guess lol). 

What ultimately did it for me was the color scheme. I had picked out a color scheme really early and while drawing, I couldn’t place my finger on it, but it had reminded me so much of something. I brushed off the feeling and continued to sketch out design options. 

While feeling stuck, I decided to look online for more sources of reference or inspiration. My aesthetic direction made me remember Versailles Philharmonic Quintet, my favorite visual kei band back in the day. 

I SWEAR, it was like a million fireworks went off in my brain. I KNEW WHY THAT COLOR SCHEME WAS SO FAMILIAR. 

Once upon a time during college years, Java fell in love with a gorgeous and elaborate visual kei band. It felt like I had just discovered them when their bassist, Jasmine You, suddenly passed away. It’s been 10 years since then...

It was like a trigger was pulled. I knew what this costume was now. I decided at that very second to make this costume with Jasmine You as my main aesthetic direction. Everything literally fell into place and I was able to finalize the design very quickly after that. 

✧Jasmine’s Influences✧

I will, of course, be talking more about each of the elements below in greater detail in their own posts in the future, but for now, here’s how Jasmine You influenced my final design for this look.

Sleeves

As seen in my very first sketch, I originally had a more full sleeve idea before this. That idea was promptly thrown out the window for poof sleeves that tapered into fitted lace, directly mimicking Jasmine’s here.

Original sketch

Finalized design.

Finished result. Photo by Ethereous Photography.

Train

I finally settled on making the garment itself a bodysuit, not just for ease and how quick it was to sew, but also because of the decision to make a long, ruffled waist train as an homage to Jasmine’s skirt. 

Photo by Allison Stock.

Headpiece

I also decided to add a removable rose and feather decoration to Taako’s hat. It is directly referenced from Jasmine’s headpiece.

Photo by Clouds Cosplay Photography.

Feather Epaulettes

The feather epaulettes were actually an aesthetic choice I personally made, but it just so happened to turn out that Jasmine had them as well. 

Photo by Allison Stock.

Makeup

My Wonderland Taako makeup. Photo by KJH Photography.

I didn’t really change my Taako makeup for this look, but I did add a few things to it, inspired by Jasmine’s makeup.

My usual Taako makeup.

Versailles doesn’t perform as much as they used to now. The band members are all off doing their own things now, though I do still follow their social media accounts. I’m happy to see that they do still greet Jasmine Happy Birthday and remember him on the day of his passing. They have long since found another bassist for the band. To this day, whenever they do perform, they honor their “Eternal Member” Jasmine You, announcing his name along with the other members and including his name on everything like CDs and merch. I don’t know if they still do it, but for a while after his death, the band would perform with an extra 6th mic stand on the stage adorned with roses.

Photo by Ethereous Photography.

One of the guitarists, Teru, holding up Jasmine’s bass at the end of one of their concerts.

The other guitarist, Hizaki, holding up another of Jasmine’s basses at the end of a concert.

I was really torn up when Jasmine passed away 10 years ago. It doesn’t sting as much anymore as it did back then. It wasn’t my intention going into this, but this costume wound up as a tribute to him. Without his, this costume probably wouldn’t exist, or at least, it would have looked very different.

Thank you, beautiful angel. I hope you’re resting well.

Wonderland Taako -Introduction

“I cast Prestidigitation, shoot sparks out of my fingers, cast Minor Illusion and put myself in a dope outfit, and start walkin’ down the catwalk with all the style and panache I can muster, which is, I should note, a fuckin’ lot.”

Hail and Well Met everyone~! If you’ve come here from either my Instagram or my Twitter, hello! Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to Part 1 of my multi-part series in which I finally explain, from head to toe and in excruciating detail, how my Wonderland Taako costume came to be. You probably found me because of this very costume and I have been holding off for forever on writing these posts. But this costume is very much a labor of love and very special to me, so I’d love to share my process for it. So let’s start from the very beginning. 

I started listening to The Adventure Zone podcast in the summer of 2017. Ever since then, I have done over a dozen or so different Taako looks for the last couple years. I wanted to have a new costume to debut for Katsucon 2018. I don’t remember exactly how my thought process went, but toward the end of 2017, I galaxy-brained and came up with the idea to do a look inspired by the “catwalk” scene during “The Suffering Game” arc of the podcast. 

Being totally audio-based, I have always taken that opportunity to take creative liberties with my take on Taako. They never really describe him in the show (other than a few signature pieces like his hat and Umbra staff), so I felt I could do whatever the hell I wanted with him. I took this costume to finally make the ridiculously elaborate costume that I have always wanted to make. 

✧Inspirations✧

Sakizo

Ah Sakizo, the OG Elaborate Cosplay Goals. I have been following Sakizo’s illustrations for years now and have always loved them. I’ve been wanting to do a cosplay of one of her gorgeous designs for the longest time, but was conflicted over which one to do first and was also unsure if I had the ability to pull off that amount of detail. I figured with my Wonderland Taako design, I could pick and choose elements inspired by Sakizo that I already know I can do. Here are a few of her illustrations that I was looking at while designing my Taako. That first one, as well as her Romantic Jewels Gentlemen series, were especially influential.

Figure Skating Costumes

When I say Wonderland Taako was inspired by figure skating costumes, I really only mean one lol. 2016/2017 were the years of Yuri on Ice. I love the anime to pieces, but it also really made me appreciate figure skating as a sport itself. I actually kept up with the 2017/2018 competitive season and it was then that I first saw Shoma Uno’s costume for his Turandot free skate program, as made by Satomi Ito. I was absolutely FLOORED the first time I saw it. I thought it was GORGEOUS and it heavily inspired me to do the all the filigree appliqué and rhinestone details that are on my costume. Thinking back on it now, this costume may have also influenced me into making the bodysuit out of velvet.

Please feel free to click on the link to the free skate program and watch it to see this stunning costume in motion! Shoma is a beautiful skater and is one of my favorites!

Lindsey Stirling’s “Swag”

Lol I lied. As I was typing this entry out, I remember exactly what my thought process was when this costume idea came to me. I was listening to Lindsey Stirling while at work one day. Her track “Swag” came on and it reminded me a lot of the music in “The Suffering Game” arc. From there, I imagined Taako stomping down the runway and vogueing to this track and that is where I galaxy-brained this costume into existence lmao. “WHAT IF I MADE A COSTUME OF THAT VERY MOMENT. THERE’S NO DESCRIPTION OF HIS ‘DOPE OUTFIT’. I CAN LITERALLY DO WHATEVER I WANT. WHAT IF I MADE IT EXTRA AS HELL, LIKE SAKIZO LEVEL OF ELABORATE. WHAT IF I HAVE IT READY FOR KATSUCON.” 

I should probably bring that runway image I saw in my head to life with a video one day maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

✧Design✧

I tested out a few different ideas with this costume before finally settling on it being a bodysuit. When given the opportunity to literally do ANYTHING that you want, the amount of options can be a little daunting haha. 

Here’s the first sketch of it when I was coming up with the design. I’m really into poofy sleeves and poofy shorts. Anyone who goes through my previous Taako looks can see that lol. As you can see in my little notes on the sides, I had come up with multiple options for how this costume would look.

I then switched to sketching out this design digitally with my tablet. It was just a lot easier than just having to draw the same thing over and over again on paper. It was also easier to mix and match each design elements because I had them all sorted into layers. You can also see that I had some different ideas with the waistband in the beginning stages of this design too.

I did ultimately settle on it being a bodysuit. I’ve made several of them by this point, so they’re really easy to me. I actually prefer making a form-fitting bodysuit over something tailored tbh. The spandex is so much more forgiving lol. I also had about a month or so to get this elaborate costume done in time for Katsucon and I knew I could get a bodysuit done really quickly. 

The color scheme I will actually talk about it my next post in this series, but what I can say now is that I knew I wanted it to be red or in that spectrum. Red is a color my mind just tends to associate with Taako for whatever reason.

And that’s it! Thank you so much for sticking through to the end if you did! I know this turned out very lengthy! I will be talking more in detail about specific design elements of this costume in my posts after this. I don’t really have a set uploading schedule for these posts. I guess whenever I get around to finishing each of them. I can guarantee though that they will be posted on Taako Tuesdays~! I will be talking about a very important inspiration for the costume’s design for my next post, so please look forward to it! Until next time!