The Mad Person-Who-Stitches: Final Fantasy X Rikku

A while ago I showed you a rainbow of fabric, a potential costume.  That became Rikku:

 Costume tryout! (not the leggings used in performance)

Obvious modifications:

• no buckles, the belt and side toggles are just fabric
• Rikku's blue back streamers are drastically shortened and stitched down
• No weapons, just the basic armbands
• No bare midriff: that's just begging for friction burns from aerial fabrics.  (Although I could have put in a strip of nude fabric.  I was feeling rushed and didn't want to try, though.)

Construction:

top front with darts

top back: invisible zipper!  This is the 4th invisible zipper I've put in.  I didn't have to rip out a single stitch this time.

I can hardly believe the fabric store had this lettuce-green with sheer stripes in 4-way stretch.  It's very ugly by itself.  But it saved me a day's work over making the stripes myself!  All I had to do was make an underlayer with the dark green.  I confess I am irresistibly reminded of a watermelon.

Things that worked well:

• Leotard!  There is a reason leotards are popular with gymnasts and aerialists and other circus artists: they stay put (assuming they fit), they (usually) don't get tangled in your equipment, they stretch with you, they're comfortable, they're sturdy, they protect your skin, they look good, and they can be made amazing with decoration and/or fabulous fabric.  Can you tell how happy I was to be making something I'm familiar with that I knew was going to work structurally?
• Ruffly leg openings: I stitched my sprout-green chiffon into two long tubes, gathered them to match my leg opening circumference, and stitched them down (with some grief, as I had a lot of ruffle to stuff in, and the leg elastic was already in).  They turned out very ruffly!

Things to improve or correct:

• front darts are not visible from any distance; topstitch them in black thread?
• upper torso needs to be about an inch longer, but stretch fabric will stretch, so not a disaster.
• neckline and collar: I was guessing on how much to heighten the neckline on my pattern.  As you see, I did not raise the back nearly enough.  And the collar is too floppy: I should have put a strip of tearaway stabilizer (is that washable?) or something inside.

I did this costume in 5 days flat, right before our last full rehearsal.  I think our Rikku is adorable!  She is also a very talented aerialist and a kind and responsible person and I will be very sad when she leaves us for Peace Corps.