Himura Kenshin

Himura Kenshin!

Aah, Kenshin....oh, excuse me *wipes off drool*

I totally fell for Kenshin when I saw an AMV to Backstreet Boys "Show Me the Meaning (Of Being Lonely)" I know, I know, its Backstreet Boys, but the video was really good, it made me cry...I finally got the link, so here it is! Please go look, her other videos are awesome as well!!

Kestrel Music Videos

So anywho, I love Kenshin, and the first Kenshin costume I made was for a friend when we decided to do Kenshin and Kaoru together.

1. A few months before New Years, 2001 We decide on the Kenshin idea, and I go buy...about 3-4 yards of red cotton and white crepe-back satin. Red is sooooo much better for Kenshin, I don't know why they made him wear pink >_<

2. Shortly after I've had a kimono pattern for awhile, and Kenshin wears...well, you guesed it! Forgot exactly what its called, but its basically a shortened kimono ^_^ So I made a regular guy kimono out of the white satin, and did the same for the red cotton, but I tried to alter the sleeves a bit to make them droopy...but, me being a fruit, that didn't work all too well, and they ended up normal, too. Oh well! They definitely worked though!

And thats all I did for that costume, he went off and bought a real pair of hakama for it, so I didn't have to deal with figuring those out ^_^;;

So far I only have one pic of that costume, and it's not even mine...^_^;;

Kenshin at Acen2002

Now, for my latest Kenshin! While at Acen 2002, I met a bunch of cool people, one of which whom I got to know well in the weeks following, and he asked if I'd do a Kenshin costume for him...and of course, I said no problem ^_^

AnimeIowa 2002

1. Few months before Not much different than the previous table, here...made the underkimono out of white satin, shiny side in, and the red outer one of red cotton...only I made the same mistake with the sleeves as I did with the previous Kenshin's...being blonde can sure suck sometimes!! -_-;; Buuut, I managed to work around it, and Kenshin got his droopy sleeves ^_^

2. Closely following! This one was more of a challenge for me...no buying of hakama on this one, I got to make my own!! After lots and lots of research on buying hakama, or somehow getting a pattern, I came up....rather fruitless. I heard this one company had an actual pattern for hakama out, till they got overtaken by this other company and now its longer out in print....so that really sucked. :( Now's when I start to be creative ^_^ Simplicity and McCalls patterns are usually around $7 where I am, with half-off and everything...well, I didn't want to spend that much for a pattern, so I go to Hobby Lobby where Butterick patterns are $0.25 each ^_^ and, lucky me, I find a pattern for a pleated skirt. Well, it only has 3 pleats in the front, but there are pleats! So I cheer and buy it, along with white cotton.

3. Shortly after! So I'm makin this skirt right, everything's goin well...untill I sew the pleats on the wrong side of the skirt, so it totally didn't work...but oh well, no big deal, I was workin on these on a pleasant Sunday mornin, so I was in a happy mood ^_^ Tore those seams out and re-sewed the pleats in (really, I love sewing these pleats...anyone want some Erin-hakama? I'll make 'em! =^_^=)aaand...oh! I also realized the pattern I got was the smallest size for women, and I'm makin this for a guy...so here starts my process of fudging that led to spiff hakama! At the top of the skirt, I didn't sew the sides all the way up, cause even though I fit in it, it wouldn't work for the purposes intended...so there were slits in the sides...and it clicked..."duuuh, real hakama have slits in the sides!!" and then....ya gotta have some way of holding these up, right? I'm on a roll now...I fold the top panel of the front over and sew it, making a sort of casing, and do the same thing for the back panel...this is soooo hakama-ish!! and then make a sort of band, or obi!! to thread through it, with a slit so it comes out and ties in the front! *dance dance* I was so excited, I was nailin all the points of real hakama in these!!! Wooooo!!!

4. Um...later ^_^ Then of course I laid the hakama flat, cut up the middle and sewed the sides to make pants. They weren't as wide or flowy as I would have liked, but they definitely, definitely worked! Did I mention how excited I was? Oh, and these were made in the span of about 4 hours ^_^ I can get a lot done when Im into it!!! =^_^=

5. Middle of June, 2002 Finishing touches: I clip all the threads I can find of both kimono thingys and the hakama, resulting in a lot of fibers from the satin fraying off and getting all over the red cotton...>_< So I brushed as many off as I could, and primed it all up to be ready for sending...this was my first costume made exclusively for someone else, that I was actually sending out in the mail...everything had to be perfect...I felt so professional!! What a dork! XD

6. Around July 4th, 2002 After I got back from my vacation to Key West, Florida, I was very, very costuming-deprived...and Rob said he'd like a blue Kenshin kimono dealie too, so I go find a good shade of OVA depressing blue, and set about making the 2nd kimono dealie...only this time I didn't screw up th e sleeves! I took the womens kimono pattern, with long droopy sleeves, and made the top part like that...its slightly different, to allow for the draping/fall of the long sleeves. Of course, I made the sleeves quite a bit shorter than the pattern, so they were Kenshin-esque. This turned out a whole lot better than the other, "fudging" way! A lot better, and a lot easier...so I finished that one, and rather than spending money on packaging and postage when he's not going to wear it till AI, which I'm going to, I decide to keep it and just bring it to the con ^_^

7. Just a bit before the con Kenshin....needs a bigger, more real-looking obi. No prob! I buy 2 yards, I think, of the same white cotton, and cut out hugely long strips, sew them together into a band, turn it inside out and sew it up again...with an ending result of a white band about 14 feet long! That was fun to play with ^_^ I also....sewed in a few stray threads, so there's a purple thread and some black threads encased in this obi, but nothing toooo too noticeable ^_^
And thats it! My 'nother Kenshin project. This one was really fun, and Rob even got some compliments on it! I think he makes a good Kenshin ^_^ Anywho though, you want to see some pictures, right? Well here I go!

Rob and friends opening their Male Glomp Service

Kenshin and Kaoru Indoors

and Outdoors

Awwww. XD And there you go! I don't have any Hitokiri pics yet (AKA depressing blue OVA ^_^) but I'll post those up ASAP!

Thanks for looking!

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1. Few months before	Not much different than the previous table, here...made the underkimono out of white satin, shiny side in, and the red outer one of red cotton...only I made the same mistake with the sleeves as I did with the previous Kenshin's...being blonde can sure suck sometimes!! -_-;; Buuut, I managed to work around it, and Kenshin got his droopy sleeves ^_^
2. Closely following!	This one was more of a challenge for me...no buying of hakama on this one, I got to make my own!! After lots and lots of research on buying hakama, or somehow getting a pattern, I came up....rather fruitless. I heard this one company had an actual pattern for hakama out, till they got overtaken by this other company and now its longer out in print....so that really sucked. :( Now's when I start to be creative ^_^ Simplicity and McCalls patterns are usually around $7 where I am, with half-off and everything...well, I didn't want to spend that much for a pattern, so I go to Hobby Lobby where Butterick patterns are $0.25 each ^_^ and, lucky me, I find a pattern for a pleated skirt. Well, it only has 3 pleats in the front, but there are pleats! So I cheer and buy it, along with white cotton.
3. Shortly after!	So I'm makin this skirt right, everything's goin well...untill I sew the pleats on the wrong side of the skirt, so it totally didn't work...but oh well, no big deal, I was workin on these on a pleasant Sunday mornin, so I was in a happy mood ^_^ Tore those seams out and re-sewed the pleats in (really, I love sewing these pleats...anyone want some Erin-hakama? I'll make 'em! =^_^=)aaand...oh! I also realized the pattern I got was the smallest size for women, and I'm makin this for a guy...so here starts my process of fudging that led to spiff hakama! At the top of the skirt, I didn't sew the sides all the way up, cause even though I fit in it, it wouldn't work for the purposes intended...so there were slits in the sides...and it clicked..."duuuh, real hakama have slits in the sides!!" and then....ya gotta have some way of holding these up, right? I'm on a roll now...I fold the top panel of the front over and sew it, making a sort of casing, and do the same thing for the back panel...this is soooo hakama-ish!! and then make a sort of band, or obi!! to thread through it, with a slit so it comes out and ties in the front! dance dance I was so excited, I was nailin all the points of real hakama in these!!! Wooooo!!!
4. Um...later ^_^	Then of course I laid the hakama flat, cut up the middle and sewed the sides to make pants. They weren't as wide or flowy as I would have liked, but they definitely, definitely worked! Did I mention how excited I was? Oh, and these were made in the span of about 4 hours ^_^ I can get a lot done when Im into it!!! =^_^=
5. Middle of June, 2002	Finishing touches: I clip all the threads I can find of both kimono thingys and the hakama, resulting in a lot of fibers from the satin fraying off and getting all over the red cotton...>_< So I brushed as many off as I could, and primed it all up to be ready for sending...this was my first costume made exclusively for someone else, that I was actually sending out in the mail...everything had to be perfect...I felt so professional!! What a dork! XD
6. Around July 4th, 2002	After I got back from my vacation to Key West, Florida, I was very, very costuming-deprived...and Rob said he'd like a blue Kenshin kimono dealie too, so I go find a good shade of OVA depressing blue, and set about making the 2nd kimono dealie...only this time I didn't screw up th e sleeves! I took the womens kimono pattern, with long droopy sleeves, and made the top part like that...its slightly different, to allow for the draping/fall of the long sleeves. Of course, I made the sleeves quite a bit shorter than the pattern, so they were Kenshin-esque. This turned out a whole lot better than the other, "fudging" way! A lot better, and a lot easier...so I finished that one, and rather than spending money on packaging and postage when he's not going to wear it till AI, which I'm going to, I decide to keep it and just bring it to the con ^_^
7. Just a bit before the con	Kenshin....needs a bigger, more real-looking obi. No prob! I buy 2 yards, I think, of the same white cotton, and cut out hugely long strips, sew them together into a band, turn it inside out and sew it up again...with an ending result of a white band about 14 feet long! That was fun to play with ^_^ I also....sewed in a few stray threads, so there's a purple thread and some black threads encased in this obi, but nothing toooo too noticeable ^_^