Why Mars?
Although Sailor Mars was not my first scout that I did in actuality, she was the first one I wanted to do. The honor of first actually goes to Neptune, although I had first attempted to make Mars, although it was slightly out of my skill range at the time, so it was never completed. I went on to complete Sailor Neptune in her first version in 2013, and then went on to do my first Sailor Mars in late 2015.
Then, in 2016, I was given the wonderful opportunity to represent Sailor Mars for a Sailor Moon event at Anime Expo hosted by Viz Media! I completely remade the whole entire look for this event. I was part of a magical girl "scavenger hunt" where attendees would pick up cards from the booth and have to hunt for all of the scouts in the exhibition hall. I got told I was one of the more difficult scouts to find, probably because my red skirt blends in with the red carpet, hahaha!
• • •
Browse the Magical Girl Patterns here!
Sailor Collar, Bows, Leotards, and More!
Costume Stats
Started: April 2016
Completed: May 2016
Status: active
Wig by: •Unknown Brand•
Worn at: Fanime 2016, Anime Expo 2016, MatsuriCon 2016
KatsuCon 2017
Awards: Best Masters- MatsuriCon 2016
About This Costume
I used Casa Satin for all of the red parts (skirt, collar, choker, and glove rolls, back bow) and Yaya Han matte spandex for the front bow. I went for a thinner manga style for my tiara, which was made using PETG plastic and spray painted gold, and it sticks on with fashion tape. The gem is a Swarovski crystal also!
The suit is matte spandex and lined as well! The brooch is made of resin. I have tutorials on how I made the collar and front bow on my YouTube channel. I'm also adding more parts like how I did the skirt! I have two videos up so far, but it's pretty involved, so it's broken up into a few videos. More tutorials will come soon- whenever my video editor decides to work again, hahaha.
The videos explain it better than I ever could in written words, because these are INVOLVED. They take a lot of patience to be able to make, with some single steps taking hours to complete, such as handsewing the hip roll on. So be prepared if you wanna make these... While they can be made in easier ways if you're okay with just getting the basic idea down, to get it to look super high quality, it will take some clever sewing! But I believe in you all!
Anyways, even this version of Sailor Mars went on to get several patterning updates and pieces remade for the next year. The collar was redone three times, and the bow was as well. I eventually also repatterned my sleeve rolls and found a different approach to doing my glove rolls. My unique way of pleating the skirt was about the only thing that remained constant in all of my versions of the scouts.
After making Sailor Mars and having a blast in doing so, I became quite the addict for making senshi uniforms and went on to create several more, including all of the inner planets, and most of the outer planets. Only the Moons and Saturn are left for me to do of the main sailor cast.
I even used pieces from some of the other cosplays to do a crossover with my MeMeMe to create an April Fool's joke cosplay, Sailor MeMeMe, haha! I actually hope to do more crossovers with some of my Sailor Scout looks. Be sure to check out some of my patterns on Etsy if you're interested in making one of these looks for yourself! More patterns and sizes coming soon, also!
Why Mars?
Sailor Mars was always the first scout that I intended to cosplay, but I ended up going with Neptune instead! I made Neptune V1 in late 2013, and this version of Mars in late 2015. I eventually revamped the entire thing in 2016, which is the Mars V2 you see above! Even that one went through a few updates- getting a new collar, new bow, etc. These sailor outfits have been a massive labor of love and with each one I just got better and better!
Costume Stats
Started: December 2015
Completed: January 2016
Status: retired
Wig by: •Unknown Brand•
Worn at: Anime Los Angeles 2016, TitanCon 2016
Awards: Best in Show- TitanCon 2016
About This Costume
All material used in this version was spandex- white is double-lined spandex. Most items were drafted by me, aside from the leotard, which is a modified version of the Green Pepper ice skating pattern. For the second Mars suit, I drafted the pattern from scratch since I lost all of my original patterning for this version and my Neptune V1.
My skirt here is a pleated double circle skirt and is detachable. Choker was stabilized with elastic, covered in spandex, and has star with glued gem sewn onto the front. It snaps on and off! All bows are interfaced with thick interfacing and are removable from the outfit.
Rolls were done with batting, and hand sewn to the outfit. The heart was made using the ornaments from Hobby Lobby, and painted with nail polish (from the inside), and then filled with felt and fitted with a pin so I can remove the heart as needed. I'd like to make a heart that can glow, though!
Gloves are matte bridal gloves that I got on Amazon, and the rolls are made of polyfoam caulk saver, covered in spandex, and entirely handsewn. Luckily my new ones use a mix of machine and hand sewing to get the job done, which speeds up the process a bit!
Wig was styled by me, and tiara was custom made by me using PETG plastic. The earrings were silver jewelry charms that I affixed to earring posts, and painted red ^.^