Construction Details:

The skirt is made from a poly-suiting, which I picked because it was able to hold pleats well, but still managed to flow nicely. The pattern was entirely hand-painted. It's hard to see in photos, but all the vines, flowers and leaves are painted with a gradient to them.

My obi was made a duck-cloth, which is a pretty odd choice but I picked it because of how similarly the texture resembles the one visible in the CG renders. It is also very stiff, which is perfect for an obi. I originally put quilter's batting inside of it, which didn't help it keep it's firm shape. I plan to remake it later in order to fix this. The leaves and blue symbol in the middle were also hand-painted and the obijime is trim that I tacked on with hidden stitching.

The top is actually a hidden trick that I learned from another cosplayer. I cut out the basic shape from a soft stretch-knit fabric so it would loop around my neck, and connect to the top of my obi with snaps. The ends of the top that come out from beneath the obi are actually two separate pieces that were sewn into the obi so that they always lay flat.
My sleeves were made from a kimono pattern, which I altered. This was my first experience with gradient-dying and it was much easier than I expected! I used powdered rose-colored RIT dye. There is an elastic to keep the sleeves on my arms, as well as bits of bias tape to hold the little purple rope and beads.

My necklace, earring and the beads on my obi and sleeves are hand-sculpted from polymer clay. The bigger beads at my obi are actually miniature dowels with hook-and-eye screws drilled into the top. The hibiscus is just made from craft-foam. The pattern was carved with a box-cutter and then painted with acrylic. There is velcro on the back so that it can stick to my obi.
I got a bra in my cup size, cut off the straps and remade them with black elastic to achieve the odd style of bikini top that Yuna wears under her clothes.

My staff was my first wooden prop! The top was made from what I can only describe as a giant wooden toilet seat made from 1 in. pine. I traced the pattern out onto a stencil, then traced the initial shape to the wood. My mother taught me how to use her jigsaw and together, we took turns holding the wood and carving out all the little pieces. The staff itself is a flag-pole that I painted which can unscrew at the center into two pieces (yay for travel-friendly props!). The silver part at the top was cut out from a thick pole we found in the garage and I used porcelain clay to sculpt the rounded top and flared bottom. The bottom corners of the top of the staff were then screwed in at an angle to attach it to the pole. The decorative bottom piece came with the flag-pole. It originally had a ball at the top, but I sawed it off and sanded it down to achieve the proper shape. The bell at the bottom is tied on with a blue satin ribbon that I burned to prevent fraying.

Personal Thoughts:

This has been one of my dream costumes since I first played the game when it came out. I really love Yuna and I love cosplaying her even more!

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