Monika Lee

Series: Sailor Moon

Debuted: Armageddon Expo- Manukau

Notes:

After doing the inner senshi cosplays with my friends Katie and Riki, we decided that we had to do the outer senshi! Even though Pluto is the tallest, I forced Katie to let me cosplay her because I just love her black/green/red color scheme and green is totally my favorite color so I had to do dat hair!

Making this costume took about 2+ years because we had started them all together and then just never took the time to finish them because we were all so busy. The costumes were made much in the same way the Sailor Mars (and Mercury, Jupiter, Venus) costumes were made so feel free to check that description for more details. This time around, though, we got larger brooches and added a seam in the back amongst other alterations. 

For my portion, I got a long green/black wig (to kind of mimic the black/purple of my Mars wig) and created Pluto's bun with foam, extra wefts and a clip so that I could wash and maintain the wig. The boots were cut down and I created a white vinyl topper pattern and piece to sew onto the tops. I had also started on Pluto's time staff and never quite got around to finishing it, but maybe some time when I get the time (badumtsss).

Photos: Melissa Lee

Series: Sailor Moon

Debuted: Anime South 2013

Notes:

Like most cosplayers, I found my anime roots in Sailor Moon. I was a little kid pretending to be the Sailor Moon characters in my backyard with my sister and I loved anime before I even knew what anime was. I remember running home after school to try to catch it on Cartoon Network (until they got rid of it, those jerks!). So it was only natural that I jumped at the chance to cosplay from Sailor Moon when my friends put together a group!

This costume was a labor of love amongst my friends Katie, Riki and myself (mostly with Katie being our cosplay fuhrer). In addition to that, we were making a 4th costume--Venus. Riki and Katie used Zan’s patterns and tailored them to our bodies. And pretty much we all did equal amounts on all 4 costumes. The sleeves, hip rolls and glove rolls were mostly Katie’s effort. I hemmed the skirts, made the collars, and brooches. Riki did most of the bows and sewed a lot of the leotards. Though seriously everyone did a ton of things on everyone’s costumes. We somehow managed to complete them in a little over a week or so. But we pride ourselves in the uniformity and accuracy!

Though the costume making process was ungodly stressful (yay sewing during Christmas…), I’m so glad we all got to cosplay this awesome series together! And we’re already planning more Sailor Scout costumes.

Photos: Adam Patrick Murray, Martin Wong, RenoBen Photography, Anna Fischer, WeNeals Photography

Series: Kiki’s Delivery Service

Debuted: Ottawa Pop Expo 2013

Notes:

I’ve always been a huge Miyazaki fan and I’ve always found myself wanting to cosplay one of the characters from his movies. I found myself discouraged a lot because most of his characters were children. I decided that if I liked the series enough, it didn’t matter how old or small they were (heck, I’m not an orphaned little girl like my Little Sister!). That’s how I came upon the idea to cosplay Kiki!

This costume was really easy to make. I already had the shoes from a previous project. I bought the Jiji plush from Amazon and I purchased a witch-like broom from etsy. As for the bow, I used my old D3 wizard fabric to make a little cotton bow and adhered it to a headband covered in the same fabric. I altered a dress pattern to have the fullness of Kiki’s dress in some comfortable blue knit fabric. Overall, super easy and comfortable fun costume to wear! 

Series: Fushigi Yuugi

Debuted: Anime Matsuri 2013

Notes:

Fushigi Yuugi was one of my first and favorite animes/manga. I read the manga constantly and watched the anime repeatedly, I loved it so much! Me and my friend Victoria wanted to enter a contest with two characters that had a strong story and beautiful designs. This ended up being the perfect opportunity to cosplay from one of our favorite animes!

I trimmed the wig and made extensions from these padded cotton tube thingies. I cut, trimmed and dyed the feathers for the head piece. Me and Victoria bought coordinating fabric to make sure our costumes were similar and matched. I altered a pattern to make the base pink dress and just piled tons of chiffon for the sleeves. I draped the purple fabric to make the obi which laces in the back. It attaches to the “overalls” which has every piece of interfacing I could find in my room at the time, haha. I found clear pendants and painted them the different cycles of the moon for the necklace. The ankle piece is patterned and made out of Worbla, formed to my leg.

I loved the ethereal, fantasy look of these costumes and I cannot wait to wear them again!

Photos: Lionel Lum, Anna Fischer, Pixelette Photography

Series: xxxHoLiC

Debuted: 2012

Notes:

My good friend Katie was invited to a cosplay karaoke event in Tottori, Japan and invited me as her partner to join her. We took awhile to settle on a song and anime, but eventually settled on xxxHoLiC. We were both huge fans of the anime/manga and found an artwork that we both always wanted to cosplay from.

I made my own pattern for the overdress. The patterning process was a huge pain because of the odd way the dress is cropped and the black patterns. I used heat-n-bond for the black portions, lining them in trim (which we kept running out of and used well over 40 yards, it was BANANAS). The wig is my Ada wig, my Yukari ponytail and one of Katie’s old Himawari pigtails. I used two petticoats to get lots of fullness in the skirt.

Overall, me and Katie are dying to wear these costumes at a con in the US and get some decent pictures! We ended up winning Best Singers for the contest (which confused the heck out of us!), but the experience was amazing and meeting all of the cosplayers from around the world was wonderful.

Photos: TLY Photography

Series: Ah My Goddess

Debuted: Anime Weekend Atlanta 2011

Notes:

I always wanted to cosplay something with crazy beautiful wings! I originally had planned this costume with a group of friends that ended up falling through, but I loved Belldandy’s artwork so much that I went ahead and made the costume anyway.

The wig is two wigs frankensteined for the ponytail and bangs in a tutorial I found from Jia Jem. I crafted the hair accessories with spare fabric, beads and floral spray. I made the wings from wire (forgot what gauge, I want to say 10?) and chicken wire covered in felt. I trimmed 1.5 lbs of turkey feathers and adhered them to the wing frame. I came up with a pattern for the top which is fully lined and laces in the back. The skirt and top feature floral spray flowers and is rit dyed.

If I were to ever wear this again (which I do, at some point) I have a handful of things to fix up for sure, but I’m happy with the ethereal, angel-like feel I achieved.

Photos: Leonard Lee

Series: Paradise Kiss

Debuted: Momocon 2011

Won: Judge’s Award

Notes:

Me and my long time cosplay friend Christy were looking for costumes to cosplay together that were suitable to our heights (because she’s teeny and I’m huge!) We settled on Paradise Kiss because we both loved the author’s work.

I altered some patterns and used fabric I bought from the Montreal fashion district to make the shirt and skirts. It was mostly sewing, nothing too complicated!

Photos: Benny Lee, Lionel Lum

Series: Clover

Debuted: Momocon 2009

Won: Judge’s Award

Notes:

Clover is one of my favorite mangas and I loved the artwork and design of the wings. My friend Jo shared the same sentiments so we paired up to do this group for Momocon! I also made another small artwork costume for a small photoshoot.

I made a metal petticoat like cage for the skirt out of steel boning. I altered a bodice pattern for the corset. I also bought boots, painted them and added clay/foam pieces. The wings were made out of a combination of foamcore, wires, paperclay and ABS plastic. They fell apart pretty soon after because of wear and tear. I hope some day I get the chance to make another pair!

Photos: Benny Lee

Series: Vampire Knight

Debuted: Momocon 2009

Notes:

My friends and I were really big into Vampire Knight at the time so we chose characters and cosplayed together! I altered a pattern for the jacket and got custom buttons and studs for all the details. Sewing that bias tape was pretty awful though.

Series: xxxHoLiC

Debuted: Dragon*Con 2008

Won: Judge’s Award

Notes:

I’ve always loved Clamp’s style and I thought Yuuko was such a gorgeous, mysterious character with amazing outfits. I chose one of her less complicated outfts with mostly sewing and fabric painting.

I altered patterns to make the obi and kimonos. The yellow kimono is partially lined and held in place by the obi which laces up in the back. I made a faux obi bow with an old binder cover and pillow. I photoshopped stencils for the butterflies and roses and drew them on with pencil. Afterwards, I painstakingly painted all the designs by hand. The headpiece of the wig was originally woven in with wire pieces and had a paperclay hairpiece.

Photos: Maboroshi, Lionel Lum

Series: Fruits Basket

Debuted: 2008

Notes:

My cosplay group decided to do a Fruits Basket group so I chose Rin! Altered some patterns to sew together. My first experience with collars and pleated skirts went over better than planned!

Series: NANA

Debuted: 2008

Notes:

Closet cosplay at it’s finest! My cosplay group at the time did another NANA group and I threw this together very last minute.

Series: Hana-Kimi

Debuted: Dragon*Con 2007

Won: Best in Show: Manga

Notes:

Mizuki was another one of my favorite characters from my favorite manga. This costume also ended up being one of my biggest challenges sewing wise. My friend Rebecca at the time helped me sew the majority of it. The costume involved a lot of altering patterns and sewing copious amounts of casa satin.

Photos: Maboroshi

Series: NANA

Debuted: 2007

Notes:

I was crazy big into NANA back in the day so me and my cosplay group did a NANA group and I made Hachi from an artwork. This is fairly closet cosplay as I just cobbled together random pieces of clothing.