Fem Goku Cosplay

Dragon ball Z has always been my favorite growing up, and I used to anxiously await every episode. I believe I started watching it as early as middle school, and in high school one of my best friends who was also into the show would call me after each show and we'd talk about it for hours. I was Goku, she was Vegeta. 

The fact that I have a chance to cosplay my favorite anime character at my second Anime Boston Convention is a huge thrill, and even though no one else in my group will be cosplaying any Dragon Ball characters, I am hoping to find someone at con that I can get some pictures with. I heard there might be a Piccolo on the same day as me, and I really want to meet her!

Goku was a cosplay I planned on making from scratch from the start. I wanted to try my hand at it this year, and Goku's outfit is a lot less intimidating. It's practically pjs! 

Which is why when I went looking for patterns I ended up with a pattern for pjs!

Originally, I planned on using the pattern on the left, because I had it in my head that's what his shirt looked like. It was more like the one on the right. I realize NOW, I could have just used the pattern on the right...but I had forgotten about it, and ended up using a shirt I found on sale at Target as the pattern. 

CHEKLIST:
__ Wig (ordered online)- went with long black wig

__ Boots (found in Goodwill, felt purchased at Walmart) Done on 12/10/2016

__ Pants -Made! Done on 2/5/2017

__ Blue shirt (already had!)

__ Orange top- Made! Done on 2/5/17

__ Kami House logo- bought iron on transfer paper, done 2/26/17

__ Blue Wrist bands -used fat quarter fabric and elastic

__ Blue Belt -done 2/5/17

__ Dragon balls (got as christmas gift! Colie gave me the 4 star, and Manda gave me all 7!)

__ Hair bow (made 3/19/17, last minute decision)

The boots are some Uggs that I turned into something useful (sorry, hate Uggs, I'm a bad white girl I know) by stitching felt over it.

My shirt, the fabric and thread, the pattern, and lovely Goku!

 While I was working, my cat Blossom kept demanding to sit on my lap. This made stitching precarious.

Trying to push her head away. She just wanted lovies.

 I started with Goku's boots, because for whatever reason that was a lot less intimidating to me, than sewing pants and a shirt for the first time. I broke at least 3 needles sewing the felt on, the boot fabric was thick, and it was slow going. One needle broke and got stuck in between my finger and finger nail. I have the picture somewhere, but I won't subject you to that. Happily it didn't hurt, it was just surprising.

I sewed the top yellow on first, and then the blue over it. Then I added the yellow stripes, which were much easier because I could just sew them into the blue felt.

The final product! The last thing I did was glued the paracord ends so it wouldn't fray, and then dipped them in red paint to hide the white middle.

Finished!

You can see that the white is no longer visible on the paracord. The red paint did its job. I was worried it wouldn't work because it's just regular acrylic paint, not fabric paint. I also found some dragon ball earrings online, they add a nice touch.

 I didn't take many progress photos during my work on Goku, and it's mostly because I was on a roll that day. I sewed the pants, cut out and sewed the shirt, and even got the belt done all in one day.
Colie snuck a photo of me watching Dragonball Z, while dressed as Goku, while sewing Goku's shirt.

Yo dawg, I heard you like Goku...

This is the shirt I dismantled to use as the pattern for Goku's top. 

Pinned and cut out, with extra space in case I start sewing crooked or something..

 After the shirt was cut out, I printed out the iron on paper (you have to make sure you reverse the image you want before printing, this is an important note) and then iron it on! I didn't realize the white wouldn't show, and I wonder if there had been a way to fix this. It's not perfect, but I'm still happy with the result.

The wrist bands took a few tries, but I ended up using elastic in them to get them to stay on.

Measuring...

While making Goku's pants, I managed to snap the needle in Colie's sewing machine. It's an old machine and she'd never had to change the needle before. Goku has broken so many needles...

 While trying to figure out what to do with Goku's hair, I decided it would be cute to put it in a bow. So I used leftover fabric to make a bow!

Sew a rectangle in half, sew it closed. Then you can pinch the middle to make the bow shape. I had purchased hair clips a while ago, and I sewed the finished bow onto that so it can just clip into the wig.

Finished bow! Not terrible for my first one ever...

 For pictures of my final product, you'll have to wait until I get some proper photos of it at Anime Boston! (The only pics I have are blurry, sorry!)

Those Dragon Balls....
photo by Colie