24th May 2011: Pretty much complete! I have finally completed the top today which means the costume is now done and dusted though I made need to make a few amendments. The circumference of the underskirt is too big, so need to make it smaller and the wig still needs some touch ups as I'm not 100% happy.

30th April 2011: Skirt complete Skirt is now complete although the circumference of the underskirt is abit too big, but since it still works with the costume and wearable, so I will not correct this until I complete the top and wig.

The cloud patterns on the skirt are too big, then again I thought it may not stand out as much if they were smaller. I guess proportions are to blame as I'm only a short ass @ 5ft 1" and Sakura is very tall and thin.

30th April 2011: Applique continued Applique has almost come to an end, though still got the sleeves left to do and hope my sewing machine will surivive after hours of sewing!

Also, I made the top a little bit too tight and you can almost see the shape of my big stomach! so I either have a choice to remake OR add bits of extra materials to make it wider... I guess I'll decide when I get back to working on the top again.

25th April 2011: Applique First attempt of ironing bondaweb onto fabric was a success although some of the bondaweb did get stuck onto the ironing board and I learnt my lesson NOT to leave the iron sitting on the fabric for more then a second as this causes wrinkles on the fabric.

The next step was tackling my sewing machine to sew the edges of the pink fabric which KILLED me and my sewing machine! I only completed one pannel of the skirt and it required a lot of thread and god knows how many white spools I have actually used up? On top, this took half a day o.0 Biased binding was added as the final touch.

Since I spent too many hours today on applique, I am taking a break, then will do the other skirt pannel tomorrow.

24th April 2011: Costume base and applique I am sooooo left behind with this cosplay as some members of the group has either already finished or close to finishing! Since I have a couple of days off work for Easter, I decided to use up my holiday to work on this cosplay and nothing else as I can easily predict the applique part will take up hours, especially since I am making the skirt big and poofy which requires more cloud-like design fabric then any other character *sigh* why do I have to choose this design with the most applique work? then again I wanted to be Sakura and all 3 Sakura designs are poofy so I can't win when it comes to cosplaying as her.

Right ~ Base of the costume is almost complete. I just need to add the sleeves and collar, plus add a zip on the back on the top since it has become impossible to fit into the top without an attachment, so will do this after when I complete the applique.

Left ~ Cutting out of the pink fabric and bonda web for the cloud-like designs. I have completed cutting out all the pink fabric and bondaweb, so next step is to use the iron, then get my sewing machine to do all the hard work.... I just realised that I may need to buy loads of white thread!!!!

27th February 2011: Wig WIP Well, I didn't sleep yesterday night, so I got into the cosplay mood and started to style my Sakura wig at 2am in the morning (that is some what cosplay determination) Since I own 2 Sakura wigs, I was originally going to use my oldest Sakura wig to stlye into 2 small buns, however it failed so badly because the wig is not long enough. How on earth did Sakura manage to put her hair into buns with such short hair? I had no choice but to buy a new long wig and attempt to style!

Wig was brought from Yuka and it was kind of painful to destroy the natural style of the beautiful wig. However, I don't ever think I will be able to use the wig for something else and I don't have enough money to buy a new wig, so this was the best option for me.

This was my very first attempt styling a wig and it's my weakest point in terms of construction in cosplay, but I'm glad it is begining to look more like Sakura's hair. Okay, I lied! I did style wigs in the past, but only would go as far as cutting. I never even tried to put a wig into buns, antennae (sp?) or even give the wig a little bit of volume, so this was my first ever proper attempt in styling a wig.

The buns were styled by tieing into small pigtails from both sides, then I used 2 strips of rubber and starting from the bottom of the pigtails, I wrapped it around the rubber strips until I got to the top. Next thing was to carefully glue the ends of the strips together with hot glue gun and when the glue dries, I spread out the wig layer around the rubber strips which hides the rubber and makes the buns even, then I sprayed the buns with Fructis strong level hairspray as a finishing touch, such that it helps the buns maintain their shape.

I also started to style the front of the wig by using Fructis hairspray and wax. Currently the wig needs abit more style and a lot of cutting and I hope I will get somewhere since I don't have much wig styling experince *wish me luck*

The before photos were taken at 2am in the morning and my camera plays funny with different types of colour and flashes during the night, hence the horrible colours. After photos were taken during the afternoon which pretty much shows the best colour of the wig.