DIY Sailor Moon Cosplay Dress Tutorial

For this witchy project I drew inspiration from my love of Halloween and Usagi from Sailor Moon! I thought it’ll be interesting to see what Sailor Moon would look like if she was in witch attire, so I made it happen! Here’s a tutorial just for you if you’re looking to be a cute witch. 

Supplies:

• McCall’s 5728
• Sailor Fuku Bows Pattern
• Circle Skirt Pattern
• Witch Hat
• 2 yards of white stretch charmeuse satin
• 3 yards of red crepe back satin
• 4 yards of blue stretch charmeuse satin
• 1 yard of red fleece
• 3 yards of elastic

Time:

6 hours

Difficulty:

Intermediate

LET'S GET STARTED!

1. We’re going to start off with making our white dress! Make sure you put pattern 7,8, and 12 on the fold before cutting. After you’re finished, take pattern 12 and pin it to the fold again. You’re going to have two pieces of pattern 12.
   
   
2. Pin both pieces of the skirt part of the dress together like shown below. Repeat the same step for the other side of fabric. Once you’re done pinning, go ahead and sew the two pieces together.
   
   
3. Next, it’s time to pin the bodice pieces together. Pin the front and back pieces of the pattern together like shown below and then sew the pieces together.
   
   
4. Now it’s time for the sleeves. For both of the pieces you’re going to fold and pin on sleeve together like shown below. Then proceed to sew the pieces together. Repeat process for the second sleeve.
   
   
5. Next, you’re going to pin the sleeves to the bodice piece.
   
   

6. After you’re finished sewing the sleeves to the bodice, it’s time to pin and sew the skirt piece to the rest of the garment.
   
   

7. Now here comes the slightly difficult part. You’re going to take ¾ inch elastic and measure it around your neck/chest to see how wide or small you want the neckline to be. This is all based on your preference. Once you decide on how big you want your neckline, you’re going to take the elastic and use it as a measuring tape. Align the elastic with the neckline of the bodice like shown in the photo below. You’re going to then fold the fabric over the elastic. Pin folded over pieces in place. You’re going to do this method until you pinned all around the neckline. Afterwards, you’re going to take the elastic out and sew the pinned areas. Make sure you leave an opening at the end so you can slide the elastic in afterwards.
   
   
   
   
8. After it’s been sewn all around, you’re going to take a safety pin and pin it to the end of the elastic strip. Insert the elastic strip inside the opening. Use the safety pin to guide your way around the garment. Once you have both sides of the elastic sticking out, you will sew the two pieces together as shown below. Repeat A7 and A8 for the sleeves. However, for the sleeves use ½ inch elastic instead of ¾ inch. 
   
   
   
   

9. This is what the dress will look like when you’re finished. The only thing I am missing from this photo is hemming the bottom of the dress.
   
   

10. Now it’s time to make the jacket. Follow the directions on the pattern. Be sure you cut four pieces of the bodice front, two pieces of skirt piece, and two pieces of the bodice back.
    
    
    
    
11. You’re going to pin the two pieces of the skirt piece of the jacket together. Once you’re finished, sew them together.  Be sure to leave an opening around the circle piece of the garment.
    
    
    
    
12. Once you’re done sewing the two pieces together, turn the garment inside out.
    
    
13. Now onto the bodice front. Follow the pattern to see where to place your pins to make the dart. Use a fabric marker to line up the dart. Once finished, you’re going to pinch the darts together like shown below and sew. Repeat the same steps for the other front bodices. Once the garment has been darted, go ahead and pin the garments together like shown below. Make sure you leave an opening at the bottom. 
    
    
    
    
    
    
14. After sewing the garments together, go ahead and flip them inside out like so.
    
    
15. Take the bodice backs and sew the “wrong side” together. Be sure to keep the bottom open just like in step B5.
    
    
16. Now it’s time to pin and sew the bodice front and back together. Again, be sure to leave the bottom of the garments open.
    
    
17. Now it’s time to pin the bodice to the skirt garment of the jacket. After you sew them together it should look like the photo below.
    
    
18. We’re going to use the red satin for the lining of the jacket. Cut out the pieces like so. Afterwards, take one of the blue and red sleeves. You’re going to pin and sew both garments together. Be sure to leave the top of the sleeve open.
    
    
    
    
19. After sewing the garments together, flip them inside out. Then fold the sleeves in half like shown below. You’re going to sew them together.
    
    
    
    
20. Pin and sew the sleeve to the jacket’s armhole. Repeat steps B9 -B11 for the second sleeve.
    
    
21. This is what the sleeve should look like after being sewing the jacket.
    
    

22. When I tried on the jacket and the dress together, I felt like it was missing something. So last minute I decided to add a skirt to the witchy look. I had my Simplicity 1039 laying around my house. So I decided to use the skirt pattern from it to add that extra flair to my outfit. Even if you may not have this pattern on you at hand, I attached a few circle skirt pattern to the supplies list. If you do have simplicity 1039, I decided to cut two pieces on the fold of the red fabric to add more fluff to the skirt. You’re going to then lay both garments flat and pin them together. 
    
    
    
    

23. Repeat what we did in steps A7 and A8 for the skirt waist.  Make sure you hem the bottom of the skirt.
    
    
    
24. Note: I had a petticoat underneath the skirt I made. It may lay a little flat if you do not own one. Shown below is what all three of the garments we made look like together.
    
    
    
25. With the remnant fabric of the red Crepe Back Satin, we’re going to make bows. Be sure you cut double for all pieces attached in the PDF. Then cut one of each on the fold using the fleece fabric.
    
    
    
    

26. The bow pattern called for heavy interfacing to keep the bows stiff and in place. However, I like using fleece because it makes the bow look fluffy. You’re going to pin the fleece to the “bad” side of the fabric. Be sure that the “good” sides of the fabrics are lined up as well. When you sew the fleece to the satin, be sure to leave an opening in the middle, just like we did for the bodice of the jacket. This allows us to turn the garment inside out.
    
    
    
    

27. Shown below is the bottom tail piece of the bow. This is what it will look like once you flip the pieces inside out. Repeat D2 and D3for the rest of the bows.
    
    
    
28. Next, we’re going to use more of the red remnant fabric to make something that will tie the front bow and back bow together. I cut about a foot of remnant fabric and folded it in half like shown in the first photo below. I then sewed it together and turned the pieces inside out. After flipping the pieces inside out, you;re going to wrap it around the middle of both of your bows.
    
    
    
    
29. Make sure you tie a knot in the middle of the bow to ensure it doesn’t move. After tying a a not. I sewed the back of the knots together like shown below so I could make a belt loop so we can attach it to the jacket. This is solely for the back bow however. For the front bow I used safety pins to it to my chest.  After this step, you will be finished with your witchy outfit!
    
    
    

YOU ARE ALL DONE NOW!