Leonardo Mancoarte: December 2010

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Gallery 1 for reference
Gallery 2 for reference

Rikku's Headband

Find and cut a length of blue material. It should be long enough to be tied around your head, and wide enough to go from about the top of your forehead to the middle of your scalp. Alternatively, stretchy material can be used, so no tying will be necessary.
Fold over about 1/2 and inch of the the material on the long sides and sew with blue thread for a more finished appearance.
DO NOT fold over and sew a seam! Try your best to find blue Spandex, as this will make the headband as painless as possible.
Measure the head band to be twice the width it should be, and add 1/2 inch for seam allowances. Then, fold the piece of fabric in half(with the side you want to be seen on the inside) , and then sew a seam along the open sides to close them up.
Press the seams by ironing them flat.
Turn the tube of fabric inside out, so that the "top" side of the fabric is now facing out.
Fold the band in half again so that the two ends are together, and sew them shut.
Press the Seams and turn the band inwards.
( If it is possible, use a curved needle to stitch the band into the mesh of your wig so that it won't move around.
Make sure to hide the stitches by only sewing on the inside layer. There should be no visible seams.

Rikku's Gloves

Buy a pair of gloves in leather color bordeaux (is better) or dark brown.
Make the gloves fingerless to the first knuckle.
Sew the finger cuts, so the gloves won't break.
Buy leather or faux-leather material if you can't afford the gloves. Use a pattern to cut and shape them.

Rikku's Small Pouches

Cut the shapes similar on the cloth and sew it.
You must make a little bag, so you take the right sizes on you body.
Now cut in the cloth also a little loop, where then you will insert the belt.
Remember to sew it not in the center of the bag, but more in height size.
Now put the eyelets on the opening and then over this sew the orange laces then in second moment you will insert in the eyelets' hole, so the bag will rest close.
For the belt you make it always in same cloth of the bag, remember to sew it in double layer, so it will be more resistant.
Now insert in it the press stud (you can insert it like closing or like decoration, check it in official Rikku's image).
Then when the belt will be ready, put in it also the buckle. This type of buckle is difficult to find, so you can customize it.
Take a similar buckle without steel bar in the middle and make it with a steel lamination or in other metals, that you can find in hardware store and attach it with strong glue (loctite) or fuse it with oxyhydrogen flame.
The last thing, to do stay the bags more swollen, you can insert inside them a piece of foam rubber.

Rikku's Shoes

For the shoes use a pair of boots in leather, and cut the upper part vertically to triangle.
Then glue another piece of leather under the triangle, so the triangles stay open.
Then take some acrylic color (blue and white) and paint the boots, to make sure that the colors don't mix use paper tape to divide the parts.
First you give the blue and then the white.
Now you put the eyelets on the back of the boots, and then you put in the
Eyelet the yellow shoelaces.
Now you take some silk white ribbon and with glue you make the decoration on the border of the boots.

Rikku's Visible Underwear

The right procedure for this is to take some panties similar to a tanga and to copy the model.
When you have copied the model in a paper, you bring it on the cloth; you use the same cloth that you used for the bra.
It is better to use the yellow lycra.
When you have cut and sew it, take two strips of orange lycra or other flexible cloth, is better to use the same orange lycra of the bra or to find a similar color cloth.
Sew this two strips at the border of the tanga, if you make them in flexible cloth, they will stay on, in your hips without problems.
Remember that the orange strips are really important in this pieces of the costume, because you will see only them over the skirt.
This is the correct method, but if you have haste you also can sew the strips over the skirt...but the result is not so wonderful

Rikku's Sleeves

See the model of the Sleeve in a official Rikku's image, cut it on the paper and bring it on the cloth (remember to do this with open model and not already close(^^)
Now sew the hem of the sleeve, but leave open it, you will close it with the ribbon.
Cut always in the cloth eight strips, these will became the strips for the ribbons.
Now sew them in the border of the sleeve, in specular mode as you see in image n. 1.
For more security is better that you close the top side of the sleeve and insert in it a elastic strip, so the sleeve will rest on your arm without problem.
The Sleeves are ready, you must only tie the strip and to do the ribbons.
(If you have some friend you wear the sleeves and ask at your friend to tie the ribbons, while if you are alone, tie the ribbons before to wear the sleeves

Rikku's Bra-like Top

Take two bra's cup with triangle shape.
Cover them with yellow lycra.
Now take a strip of orange lycra or silk and sew it around the bra's cup covered with yellow lycra.
Put two eyelets on every bra's cup over the attached orange strip; here you will put the orange laces, when you will link the two cups.
Now sew a little yellow lycra strip at the two cups ( remember to do this in lycra, because it must be flexible, so also without fastening you can wear the bra, without break it or open it with orange laces.
Then sew a short black leather belt with a buckles at the high side of the cup.
when you finished this, put in the buckles a long black leather belt, that will go from a cup to other cup.
So you finished all the Rikku's Bra.
Note: You can do it also without bra cups but I advice for the persons with big breast is better to use the cups.

Rikku's Mini skirt

Make a skirt, using a similar fabric as Rikku's. Rikku's is but very short, but you can make it a few inches longer, if you'd like.
Add any stitching and details.
Add the pouches, and wear over the visible underwear.

Rikku's Scarf

For the scarf, you take wool tissue (yellow color) and with this you make a scarf ( double layer), now you take batik color (red) and dye for the center of the scarf ( some immersion are needed). When you have the right color you stop this procedure.
Now you take the yellow wool and make the plumes (for each are needed about 20).

Rikku's Hair

Take a normal blonde wig for carnival, Halloween or other event in costume of your country.
Don't worry if your wig isn't a perfect, without longer hair or right fringe, in this tutorial I'll teach you how adjust it.
Tie the hair's wig in ponytail with a black rubber band, but leave two hair locks in front and behind.
Now do four little pigtails at these locks and tie them with transparent rubber band and put in them the beads.
Here you must use two types of beads, two big (blue and pink) and two really small. (For the right color check on the official Rikku's image).
Take in the pony tail some locks, and do also at these little pigtails and close them always with transparent rubber band. (check the number of pigtails unofficial Rikkus' image)
Now insert a medium beads in the middle of the pigtails, then insert the bottom side of the pigtails in the black rubber band.
while you insert the pigtails you must cross they between them.
Now if you see that your ponytail isn't long enough, buy a hair blonde extension (you can do it also with another wig, cut the hair and sew it on the cloth strip) and insert this application inside at the black rubber band, so you will have a longer ponytail.
If the fringe is too short, take or make an extension and sew it at the wig with a normal needle (you must sew it by hand, because with sewing machine it's impossible to do and the result won't be good).
Now put the wig on you head, and insert the hair band, and put on it the two free pigtails on it.

Rikku's Weapons

Draw the body of the weapons on a 1.5 cm thick multilayered ply-wood.
Drill the holes and cut them with an electric hand-saw, make the edges with plane and rasps,
Finish with sand-paper and plaster or putty.
Draw the golden rings on a 0.5 cm thick ply-wood, drill the holes and cut them.
Put the big flat headed spikes on the weapons.
Paint the weapons with metallic red and the rings with red-golden or golden paint.
Glue the pieces together and paint the handles brown.

Things You'll Need
For Rikku's earrings:

2 pigeon (or other similar bird) feathers of the same length
An orange synthetic feather duster
Acrylic yellow and orange spray or for airbrush paint
Loctite (super attack) or similar glue
Nylon fishing line (the thinnest)

Rikku's weapons:

Multilayered ply-wood 1.5 cm thick
ply-wood 0.5 cm thick
Spikes
plaster or putty
Sand-paper

Rikku's skirt:

Alkantara
Velcro
Orange laces
Eyelets

Rikku's scarf:

Cloth in Wool (Yellow)
Cloth Color for Batik (Red)
Yellow Wool

Rikku's shoes:

Pair of Boots in Leather
Acrylic Color Spray
White Silk Ribbon
Yellow shoelaces
Eyelets

Rikku's underwear:

Yellow Lycra
Orange Lycra or other Flexible Cloth

Rikku's sleeves:
White or Cream color Cloth, Semitransparent (Remember don't use of the Cyfone)

Rikku's bags:

Yellow Strong Cotton Cloth, Yellow Leather or Faux Leather
Buckle
Orange laces
Large Eyelets
Press Stud

Rikku's gloves:
A pair of gloves in leather color bordeaux or dark brown in alternative leather in these color.

Rikku's hairband:

A White Hair Band or Flexible Cloth.
Blue Color for Batik

Rikku's bra/top:

Yellow lycra
Orange lycra or silk strip
Orange laces
Eyelets

Rikku's Hair:

Long Blonde Wig
Blue and Pink beads of various dimensions.
Transparent Rubber Bands for hair
Black Rubber Bands for hair

Leonardo Mancoarte

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Linda Le

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