Sailor Moon Queen Serenity - Part 1

It's always interesting when I get a commission from a franchise/fandom that I am not personally familiar with. It means I have to rely a lot more on the customer to clarify what details are important to them... and also to be faithful with sending them photo-updates so they can catch anything that isn't quite what it should be!

Customer Reference Picture

This Sailor Moon costume is for a repeat customer (remember the Cinderella Pin-Up?). Of course one of the biggest compliments I as a seamstress can get is someone who was happy enough with costume #1 to want to order a second one!

Customer Reference Picture

This dress was a challenge in many ways, and there were several things I would do differently were I to make it again. The first major choice I made was to cut it on the bias... which I had never done before. I thought I was confident enough to forge ahead, but it was much trickier to fit it properly... and I didn't realize that a bias cut bodice was not going to work so well without straps.

It also took almost twice as much fabric as I'd estimated! But hey, look at those lines...

Lots of pinning and repinning. First time I sewed everything, it was not fitted enough around the hips.

So we took it in some more...

It's only the underdress that needs to be so tightly fitted, so in this front-lit photo you can't see the alterations well.

On the back you can see I've removed the long train from the underdress and draped up the back of the chiffon overdress.

Here I've pulled back the chiffon so you can get a look at the fitted underskirt.

And here's a look at just how much skirt there is!

The major detail of this dress that keeps it from being too "wedding dress" is the iconic bow, which I replicated with the same satin as the underdress.

Check out Part 2 for the finished dress!