Construction Details:

I wanted to think in a different way on what fabrics to choose for this costume. Sakura has been cosplayed a lot over the years, so I wanted to make it stand out in some way. Because her costume is kinda simplistic, I decided to go with textured looking fabrics and all with in the same color hues. The pink kimono top is made of a nice thick woven stretch cotton. I loved this the most because it did remind me of yukata fabric because of all the little woven texture. The obi I used a purple that had a color gradient with small flowers and the rope in the middle I used similar fabric but in teal.The bow is made of casa satin and lined with interfacing to make it stand up nicely and the gloves are make of micro-suede.
I decided to go with a navy blue color for the wig instead of the traditional black for the reason that in most of the new artwork her hair is a blue/black color and also the navy looked more cohesive with the whole costume. I cut and styled the bangs and face framing. I also got matching clip in ponytails. I use two for more fullness.
The part that took the longest was all the hand painting of the sakura petals. Instead of just doing a solid red, I chose to make it a gradient on each flower. I also outlined the flowers with a red metallic paint (kinda like you see metallic gold and other colors outlining flowers or prints on kimonos) The painting took about as much time as the rest of the costume did! @__@ But I was really happy with the finished product.
I used brown circle lenses on my eyes. My sword was toy samurai sword I bought at a costume store, but altered. I painted the sheath a metallic brown, bought the purple rope trim to tie on it and glued and wrapped the handle with a brown leather suede rope.

Personal Thoughts:

I was suggested to cosplay her by a friend. Since my love of Sakura Taisen has not wavered, I decided to take this costume on. It's one of my favorite costumes to wear to cons currently because it is noticeable that I put some work into the costume and relevant with Sakura now being in the new game Project X zone. People actually know who I am cosplaying! And I am still being true to my anime roots. ^__^

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