Friday, January 8, 2016

Hello Kitty Adventures

"OMG! Hello Kitty's first North American tour! I had to go!!"




Being a fan for over 24 years and still collecting, I just had to go to the festival or I would die! Haha... Sound like a tween, huh...? That's exactly how I was feeling, all bubbly and anxious. I was so excited, I started following all their social media sites to get a taste of what they had to offer. The tour stopped at 6 cities before they reached Seattle and I was glad because I got to get an inside scoop from other people's posts. Someone had mentioned that it took 75 minutes to wait in line just to buy a t-shirt. I was worried that I wouldn't have time to do all the stations since the event was only for 3 hours. I thought about getting a second ticket or even going to the Portland OR festival the following weekend.

I only bought 2 tickets for my daughter and I for the Friday event because I figured it would have less people. This was going to be the perfect opportunity for me to finally dress up and my daughter was on board too!

I have never been to Japan (it's on my bucket list) and this is my perception, but have you ever heard of Harajuko? Well, Harajuko is a district in Japan and many people there like to dress up in their own fashions or cosplay outfits. So eventually people gave the name "Harajuko" for the fashion style. I'm sure you've heard of Gwen Stefani, if not she is a singer and fashion designer. Gwen loves the Japanese culture and is inspired by it. She has songs about it and even came out with a fashion line called Harajuko Lovers.

Anyway, where am I going with all of this? I love the Japanese street fashion too! I was always a little quirky when I was young and it stayed with me as an adult. If I were to dress up like that randomly, people might freak out or think "that's just Edelyn." Haha... So, Hello Kitty's Festival was the perfect place for me to dress up because I wouldn't be the only one :)


To give you an idea, here are a few of the many different street fashions in Tokyo.


Cosplayers






Goth Lolita



Fairy Kei







For the Hello Kitty Festival I really wanted to mix things up, so I blended a little of the "Sweet Lolita" with the "Fairy Kei" fashions. Those are my two favorite styles. I searched online to buy an outfit, but didn't have any luck finding what I wanted. Dresses were either too pricey or would take too long to ship and possibly not make it in time. I decided to go down the DIY route, I was a bit nervous because I don't sew!

Luckily my daughter is pretty crafty and has a sewing machine so she was able to help me get started. Thanks Jaz!! :)

 Since this was my first sewing project I wanted take the easy way out. I picked fabric that didn't need much work and chose lace and ribbon to match. (Everything was found at Jo-Ann)


I premeasured the fabric around my waist when I was at Jo-Ann, so I didn't have to cut the fabric again. I folded the fabric inside out and pinned the ends together to keep them straight.


My daughter prepped the sewing machine for me and I sewed the fabric together to make the skirt. I gave myself enough room so I didn't have to worry about pulling the pins out as I went. 

I sewed the lace on the bottom of the skirt.



With the second fabric I drew a heart with tailors chalk and cut it out. This was going to be the
front of my jumper dress.


I added the smaller lace to the edge of the heart. Then I sewed this to the skirt.


With the rest of the fabric I cut out a rectangle piece to make a head bow. I hot glued the edges in, to create a nice crease.



I folded the fabric in half and hot glued the edges leaving one end open to slip in a folded sheet of paper to help it stay firm. 


I pinched the middle together to create the bow and added ribbon to hold it in place. I put a headband through and TADA!  Got a spunky headband. :)



Here's the look! I wore a stripped shirt under the jumper dress and wrapped a thick ribbon around for the belt. The girl on my left is my beautiful daughter, Jazasia. She was extremely excited to pick out her outfit. We were lucky to find good deals on the school uniform and accessories! TIP: If you order online, be safe and give yourself more than 3 weeks ahead of time. (school uniform found on ebay, stockings and wigs found on amazon and backpack found on craigslist)




We found a cutie dressed up as Tuxedo Sam!

It was exciting to be featured on their social media #FanFriday post. Several of the fans
even thought we were part of the event and asked to take pictures with us.  :)


Overall, it was a supercute experience but was definitely targeted for kids under seven. I wished there were more things for the older fans like me, that actually appreciate Hello Kitty and Sanrio's characters. But it's okay, my daughter and I still had a wonderful time. 



Last minute, we decided to go again as a family. 
My son was a little upset he didn't get to go the first night. He saw how much fun Jaz and I had preparing our outfits and he really wanted to dress up! So why not, it would be fun to get all
dolled up as a family! I decided to have my kids go as Little Twin Stars and my husband and I
would go as Mr. and Mrs. Keroppi. We reused things that we found around the house and bought some things to complete our look.

We spent Friday night and Saturday morning creating our outfits. Luckily I hoard things so it was easy for us to quickly put stuff together. For my kids accessories my husband started off
with making a star stuffed pillow to pin to our son's back. He drew a rounded star shape onto
yellow fabric, then sewed it inside out. (this was his first time sewing so he forgot to cut it out
until later. haha..)

 
He sewed all the way around and left about a 3 inch gap so he can stuff it. For stuffing he used the inside of an old pillow. Once it was fully stuffed he sewed the gap closed. 

For part of my costume I purchased some red and white stripped fabric and thick black ribbon from Jo-Ann.

I cut it into these shapes and folded the sides in, to sew the edges. When I finished, I cut a V shape on the top to match my shirt. Then I sewed the two pieces together and added straps to make an apron. 






We were in a rush to finish to head out for the event, so I didn't get a chance to take pictures of all the other details. We made the star wand with yellow foam we got from Michael's. My husband drew and cut out the rounded star and added BBQ skewers for the handle. Then Jaz wrapped the handle with yellow washi tape. Their belts were the same type of ribbon as the black one I used for my apron. For my son's tie and Jaz's train, I used materials from my old skirt I made for Christmas one year. (I'll do a blog post on that sometime)


As for the clothes, we reused their old party outfits and I got the wigs for a good price on amazon.com


For my husband's outfit, he reused one of his old shirts. It had a logo on it so he turned it inside out and used felt to create the face then hot glued it on. Fortunately he had red warm up pants that went perfectly. For my outfit, I found the shirt at Target and I matched it with a tutu I already had. With the extra red and white stripped fabric, I made a matching bow. I bought the Keroppi headband at the HK event the night before.



Here's a cute video of my kids doing the fashion show :)


Thanks for checking out my supercute blog post! I am very excited to share this with you all as I am getting more into jfashions and cosplay. This was the perfect opportunity for me to have fun, be me and play with the sewing machine. I hope I inspired you in any way possible, whether it's to still have fun at any age, make your own costumes or find a creative way to spend time with your family. Whatever it is, be you! Stay kawaii!! :)

(Kawaii means cute in Japanese)

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