JJBA Yukako Yamagishi Seifuku Worklog/Tutorial

Wrapping up my last cosplay of 2017 with something simple, Yukako Yamagishi from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.

There should be a lot of seifuku tutorials out there in the internet and I feel like there's a general conventional method in making it but I had a hard time following some of the tutorials I found online. I did find one really helpful seifuku tutorial that served as my starting point. However, it wasn't entirely complete so I used a basic bodice and sleeve tutorial as the main guide. You should really watch those videos first if you want to go through with this tutorial.

Before anything else, this isn't the official method in making a seifuku. This is something I came up on my own based on the information I've gathered. There are many types of tutorials in making a seifuku out there and mine is just one of the many.

With that said, let's proceed...

I really thought I was gonna do some embroidering.
Fortunately, I found alternative solutions lol

First off, I used the bodice tutorial for the main structure of the top with the exceptions of the bust, waist and neck hole measurements.

For the bust and waist, I followed the measurements from the seifuku tutorial which was chest width + 5in and chest width + 6in respectively.

For the neck hole measurement, first I started with the basic bodice neck hole measurement to make sure my head fits right through. Then I measured from the collarbone down to my desired "V" length.

For the collar, I traced the neck hole pattern and drew the collar around it. The front length is equal to the back length which is the vertical distance from the shoulder level to the tip of the "V".

As for the bias details of the collar, since it in't just a simple bias, I first have to draft the pattern and position how it would look like on the collar. So I traced another collar pattern on a thin interfacing and drew the bias pattern on top of it.

my bias pattern was about 1cm wide

Then I cut off the pattern and divided it into three piece (the back and the two sides) so that it'll be easier to cover with fabric.

make sure you'll be covering the right side

Next I covered the interfacing with fabric. I used a quick running stitch to keep them in place instead of pins to avoid bunching. Then I cut small notches on curved parts so that I can fold the fabric towards the back easily and used fabric glue to keep it in place.

Then I sewed them on the right side of the collar first before sewing the two collar pieces together.

This is how it looked like after I finished with the main collar.

Next is the collar lining which was also traced from the neck hole pattern and sewed the same way as the collar.

Putting all the pieces together...

Always test before proceeding to the next step.

For the inside collar flap, I used the neck hole pattern again as a reference, drew the main pattern around it and kinda eyeballed how high I wanted it to be.

I might have made mistakes in drafting the sleeves and the order in which I sew the pieces together. The part under the arms was a little short and maybe because I sewed the bias first before sewing the sleeves to the top so the bias didn't end up aligned properly at the ends. Fortunately, you can't really see it much unless you scrutinize so I won't really bother redoing.

I don't even have any idea how to do the scarf. First I measured the back length of the collar for the scarf length and then the circumference of the neck hole pattern times two for the width. I sewed it the same way I did with the collar.

However it didn't work the way I expected it to. When I tried it on, it was bunching too much underneath the collar and it still ended up being too short. I didn't have enough fabric left to redo so I just cut what I have in half lengthwise, sealed the raw edges and gathered it a bit until it's the same length as the shoulder seam underneath the collar where I sewed it in place. It still looks flimsy and lacks volume but it's a better improvement than my earlier version.

For the sleeve patches, I just bought the closest one I can find because I can't embroider to save my life. Also I realized I brought two different patches so I had to get out again and buy a new one lol.

Moving on to the skirt, it wasn't as complicated as the top. However, I did have a hard time trying to figure out what type of skirt Yukako was wearing. I've seen cosplays of her in peplum style or the pencil-knife pleated sort of type but I didn't really like those sort of skirts on me (also I can't make precise measurements on fitted garments) so I decided to make a box-pleated half circle skirt and top stitched about 3/8 of the length from the top.

It consumed a lot of fabric. I used up exactly two meters just on this alone and took a really long time to finish pleating but it turned out to be my most favorite piece in this cosplay.

I used running stitch instead of pins so that it'll be easier to iron out later

When I'm unsure of my patterns, I always test it on a cheap fabric first. While I'm thankful that I got what I wanted on the first try, I still had mistakes on the actual fabric. But nothing too major, it still looked great and I'm quite proud with it.

Full body look.
The pleats are pinned for the meantime so it wouldn't be all over the place.

I just finished doing a mini photoshoot of this cosplay with friends during the holidays. I'm excited for the final photos and I'll be writing a post about it soon.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

~Bunny Iinchou