MEROKOOO!!

Meroko has been the cheapest cosplay I've ever done. The biggest reason for this was that I made it mostly from my old cardcaptor sakura cosplay. I Hadn't been  wearing it for several years and I wasn't even planning to wear it in the future. so.. Instead of selling it, I gave it a new life as a Meroko. 

The process was fairly easy. I started the costume by making a base for the hat from camping mattress, duct tape and hot glue. I had mattress left from my previous cosplay, so the total price for the costume so far was zero.

Sakura

Sakura when all the pieces are showing (except for the petticoat)

After it was done, it was time to destroy sakuras outfit. Sakuras outfit consisted of 5 parts: undershirt, underskirt, main dress, petticoat and hat. From the bottom of the dress I made a pleated skirt. The hem was tiny bit too short, so I didn't get to place the zipper the way I wanted.  The zipper used in the skirt was also from the sakuras outfit. I had to seam rip the ribbon from the bottom. I ended up shortening the skirt from the front side a little. The top of the skirt is finished with bias tape - made from the sakuras outfit~

From the underskirt and undershirt I made all the ruffling. The ruffling actually took the whole underskirt.. and most of the shirt... and If I would do it again I would probably use a tiny bit more fabric. The ruffling was hand stitched to the skirt, which wasn't the wisest way to do it. I should have consumed more time planning the skirt construction, but I just wanted this to be easy outfit, so I didn't.

Sakuras hat was transformed into merokos hat. Though I had to use Sakuras left over fabrics I had saved for several year, since there were no big enough pieces for the brim and I had to make the brim and for that reason I had to make the brim under the hat from two pieces. The hat is fully lined and the lining I used was a leftover from sheryls costume. Ears for the hat were made from fabric I got from my granny, so no money spent there either. The inner part of the ears is fleece that was leftover from some kigurumi I made ages ago. (At times like this I'm happy I have a lot of fabrics stored) There is wire inside the ears to give them shape.

Sewing lining for the hat.

The top being made

The Top was made from sakuras dress. Sakuras wings are attached to the back of the Merokos top with wire. The top opens up from the zipper at the front. The zipper was actually bought for this cosplay, but because I had my gift card, It was basically free (at least for me). The top is also fully lined (with sheryls left over lining), and it has some wadding. I also made piping for the edges by putting wool threads inside bias tape (made from sakuras outfit). 

I altered the zippers pull tap a bit with leftover craftfoam and worbla. The pull tab was the coated with wood glue and painted with acrylic paints.

craftfoam and worbla ready to transform the pull tab...

Transformation complete!

 I also made the ring/buckle for the belt with wire and worbla. Speaking of the belt, all the dark blue fabrics were from grandma. The fabric is actually knitted velvet - not quite the material I wanted to choose in the first place, but I ended up liking the results quite a bit :3 

Almost ready!

And then there are the shoes. which ended up like this:

The shoes are made from old pair of platform sneakers, which is the reason I had to cover them with fleece before covering them with the red fabric. The buckles are from old shoes I altered for Asuna. The big circle is from camping mattress.

The wig I used for this cosplay was one of the first wigs I ever purchased. I had to straighten it and make the ball curls. The ball curls were made with a lot of glue, seethrough tape and wire. They are not too neat but look decent enough. The number one reason for me to use glue was that I wanted the curls can be taken down if I want to.

The gloves were made the simplest way possible, the same way I made sheryls gloves (link). I also made safety pants, since the skirt is really short. And the socks I already had purchased for daily use before even starting this costume. 

And that's all about the costume and how I made it!

Cats always choose to sleep in the place they are most in your way.

Oh, and the final results looked like this: