Cosplay - Perona DIY Tutorial

February 12, 2017

My first Kawaii Kon was in 2015. It was the first time going to an anime convention and cosplaying. It was pretty easy deciding who I wanted to cosplay... I went with the ghost princess Perona (from One Piece). This was my first cosplay project, so I was very excited. Since this project was from 2 years ago, the photos were taken with an iPhone 4s (quality is pretty bad). Please bear with me.

I started with her crown. I knew exactly how I wanted to make it - with foam sheets. I purchased them from Fisher (and Walmart).

Started off cutting strips about the size of a ruler.

It seems that I missed a few progress photos, but I glued the red foam strips on top of the same sized black foam strips. I then glued thin white strips, as you can see in the photo below.

Kind of looks like bacon...

I made the crown base by glueing the ends together. With the other strips, I folded them and glued the ends (see photo above). This will be the loops that make up Perona's crown. (Sorry I am not good at explaining these steps, but I hope you can figure it out from the pictures).

With the six looped strips, I glued them to the inside of the crowns base (see photo below).

Blinging it out!

Then I started adding the jewels I bought from Walmart. It was coming out so lovely!

Omg, okay so I forgot to take a picture of the black cross that goes in the center of the crown.

I also added clips at the bottom of the base and would clip that on to a thick headband. I figured that would be the easiest more secure way to fit that crown on my head. Although, it did give me problems at the convention (had to hold it up for pictures after a while).

You can see the final product at the end of this post.

Next we go to her short cape!
I found this beautiful velvet red fabric from Walmart!! I was trying to find the white santa fluffy fabric to line the cape with, but Walmart & Fabric Mart told me it was a seasonal thing during Christmas time... I had to find an alternative fabric.

Cut half a circle (forgot measurements but you can try fit it on your body first).

Cut out two, so that I can sew them together.

Sewing the two sides together so that the velvet part would be on the outside on each side.

Now to make the collar of the cape.
Make sure you leave a gap so the ribbon that you will use to tie the cape together can fit through.

Now to sew these pieces together.

Pin and then sew!

Tada!

Next is the white lining of the cape. Sadly I could not find any of that white santa faux fur fabric, but I found this soft fabric instead. It has no volume, just flat though...

I first hemmed the white stripe, then would fold it over the edge of the cape and sew it together. I did this by pieces because the fabric was not flexible to turn the corners and go around the rounded cape. It doesn't look as nice, but this was my first sewing project so I wasn't expecting too much haha. You can see the final product at the end as well.

Oh, I also made this ghetto bow with ribbon, I did not know how to make a nice bow, like I did for my Sailor Scout cosplay. I would use the ribbon to tie the cape together. It was very ghetto, and I would like to redo this in the future...

I wanted a bigger bow, but didn't know how to make it lol...

I purchased a long sleeve white shirt from Forever 21 for about $6! I also got this lace ribbon from Walmart, to decorate her sleeves.

I think I just glued this on with hot glue gun.

I cut out the ends of her sleeves with some liner fabric you see inside of some jackets. I like it because it does not fray so I don't need to hem the triangular details because that would be a pain.

Now to sew the ends on (or did I glue it on??)

This next part was very difficult. I tried finding a template of Perona's shirt, but could not find a nice one. There are several online if you have a hard time free-hand drawing. As you can tell, my design was drawn free-hand so it is uneven. I drew it on foam sheet and cut it out so that I could trace it on black felt. I'm pretty sure I just used a hot glue gun to attach it to the shirt.

Also need to cut the shirt, since Perona's is a crop top.

I guess I didn't take photos of my skirt (or I lost the photos). Back then, I had no idea how to make a skirt so i cut out two sheets and sewn them together on the sides, then used an elastic band for the waist part. If I were to recreate this, I would make a circle skirt (a lot easier process too).

If you look closely, Perona has a detailed scallop-style skirt.

I found this template online, but immediately gave up when I realized I would have to cut all that small scallop detail!!

I altered the skirt and put easy hearts instead of her star/ flower design.

I was really really lazy, or just inexperienced and just did my own version of her skirt. I did not even bother making a belt too.... I really need to redo this cosplay haha.

This was a little bonus. I made her a ghost plush, since I was missing so many of her props (especially her umbrella!!)

Just used felt and sewn the two pieces together and stuffed it.

I thought the sad face ghost would be cute, but her ghosts are usually smiling.

And here is the completed product!

I just so happened to have these black and white stripped leggings I got in Japan a few years back.

I also did not want to purchase red boots for her cosplay, so I used my black ones that were sadly not even high boots :'( #noob

Oh also, the wig I purchased from Amazon was very cheap (less than $15), so there was not enough hair to make it into high pigtails (which is why they are low). Glad some people could recognize who I was at least :|