halloween sewing 2026: 4
i made rika's skirt*!
bnuy’s rika costume is almost complete~
this garment sort of stands apart from the set so far because i didn't really follow a pattern, i didn't use any of bnuy's specific measurements or her block, and there wasn't actually much sewing that had to be done at all. sometimes good sewing is actually just good ironing.
a few things that made my use of my usual reference more difficult here:
- the text is in japanese, which i cannot read. translating with basic online resources has been doing fine so far but it does add an additional layer of difficulty to the overall process every time i sew with it haha.
- the text wants me to cut out a piece of pattern from a big fold-out collection in the back and sew it into the actual garment so that the paper diagram can guide my folding for the pleats. or maybe they want me to just sew the paper on with a running/whip stitch and then take out the paper afterwards? either way sounds kinda tedious and i'm not confident the paper fits the dimensions of my doll anyway. so i decided to just don't.
instead, i cut out a piece of fabric in roughly the same dimensions as the paper diagram. i hemmed it across the length at one edge. and then i just.. freehanded the pleats. i fumbled the dimensions a bit on the back end and so my pleats aren't totally consistent in their like, depth, i guess? but i made sure that the top side always looked more or less even, and that the hem was always lined up. and that worked pretty good.
except, then the dimensions from the paper were indeed, not correct on my doll (it also may be my fault because of the depth variance i described above^). i did a quick fitting once the full length of the pattern was pleated and discovered it would only wrap around my doll's front, not her back. i had about half the length i wanted.
so it was frankenstein stein. i mean time. frankenstein time.
i used another identically sized (ish) piece of fabric that i'd cut at the same time as the now-pleated fabric, earlier. i'm sorry that sentence was not coherent but i don't think anyone is actually reading this but me and my girlfriend so whatever lol.
i lined them up very carefully and pinned them into place, then i basically sewed them together such that the edges slightly overlaped. basically i just sewed a line across them height-wise to hold them together in the same way the pin did, then removed the pin. i spaced the joined edges out such that when i did my next pleat in the pattern, the line i'd sewn would be tucked away, completely hidden in the depths of that pleat.
and it worked! but...
- i faced a couple hurdles with how to proceed from here. because what the book says is to spray everything with a fine mist of fabric glue (and i dont have a sprayable glue), and then it says to basically finish the skirt by attaching it to a specific type of bodice.
what i ended up doing was: i used a spreadable fabric glue in a thick layer at the top edge of the pleated material. then i sewed it to this separate folded strip/belt piece i cut out fresh.
then i folded that belt-like strip over the top edge of the pleated fabric, from the wrong side where i first sewed it down, now to the right side. but i folded down the edge of the belt kind of inside itself, so that all edges stayed hidden. then i sewed the far edge down, with a sort of decorative bright red thread. (so far, i'd been using black on black, which was an eyestrain lol)
- there was no guidance whatsoever on how to close this skirt in a way where it could be opened again, such that it can be taken on and off of the doll. so i wrapped it around my doll and found a good pleat fold to end on that would make the skirt the width i wanted without stretching the pleats out too much. i cut the belt down to match that width and hemmed it. then i sewed with red thread to connect the rectangle all around the inside border of the belt.
i also added velcro strips on the edges of the body of the skirt, to open and close around the narrow part of the waist. i sewed the skirt together about 2/3 of the length of this edge, but then sewed velcro the top 1/3. now the skirt could stay up on its own!
but, to be true to rika, i next made two little straps, picking the length and width by holding it up to bnuy and then locking in the width with red hems on the inside borders of each strap. i attached that with black thread to the inside of my belt thing with just a couple stitches. then i crossed them over the back of my doll and stitched them together at where i wanted the straps to intersect. and then i added a snap closure to that same point of intersection, to connect with another snap on the top outside edge of the skirt.
so yeah!
i'm so pleased with how this turned out! i really like how it expands when bnuy sits and it has a nice silhouette when she stands. the back is a bit messy/reveals that i didn't actually have a full fledged plan here, but it's a very sturdy garment and fairly easy to get on and off the doll (except that i do have to remove her hair to take it on or off because the straps can only fit over her head bald, lol).
now what i have left to do for this costume is just socks and a blue wig. i have a pattern for tiny socks that i want to try but i don't know if it's worth it to make with the plain cotton cloth i've been using. feels like something with a little more stretch or a different texture would work better.
anyways while i've been sewing i've also been working on the blue rika wig sidequest. i bought a cheap wig off amazon that didn't have bangs and tried to give it bangs but... it's just not gonna work, i don't think. i didn't like the texture of the rest of the wig either, but it is really fucking hard to find a bright blue doll wig in the size i need. not much demand??
thinking about trying to dye a blonde wig but i'm nervous about dyeing anything for my dolls because i don't want to stain them -_-;;
anyway if youre reading this and want to sell me a bright blue yosd aka 1/6 aka 6-7cm size wig, with bangs... please contact me lol.
i bought some bright red little maryjane shoes recently, as well. they are cute but a little big. but the bigness makes me smile because it reminds of the original higurashi character sprite proportions... those big ol hands :3c there is a cute little 1/12 bjd who's been listed on mercari for like over a month now and i'm so attached to her big higurashi hams(hands) but oughhh it's a lot of money for a tiny doll...
anyway proud and pleasantly surprised at the rate at which i'm getting these costumes made. i really wasn't sure how far i would get with this. i'm really excited and happy and having fun learning. even if the finished outfits look a bit amateurish and wonky, that's all in the wtc spirit. i am so emotionally invested in these characters and their story. i'm glad ryukishi wrote stories even before he fully knew what he was doing, and it feels good to be actively making stuff in homage to that in spite of my own inexperience.
*i do also kinda want to add small metal bits to the joinder of the straps to the skirt, to make it look more suspendery and "on model" but we will see. it feels like it's missing something. she needs like a little cat tail...
anyway i'm completely talked out now. bye!