By Koholint
Introduction
Madoka’s accessories include her many bows (2 in her hair, 2 at her hips, and one on the back of her choker), her choker, her glove toppers, and her stocking toppers. I worked on all of these except for the stocking toppers (made by The Geeky Seamstress), between tasks while working on Madoka’s bodice and my Kyoko Sakura cosplay.
Figure 1: Madoka Kaname, official reference
The fabrics used for Madoka’s accessories were the same those used for her bodice: the dark pink bridal satin was from Golden D’or, the white Casa satin was from JoAnn, along with some of the ribbon trims, and the lace was mystery-sourced from my personal fabric stash.
The Bows
Madoka’s bows are made from modified versions of our Cosmic Coterie bow patterns. Her hair bows didn’t need much tweaking, since the tails don’t have the “v” cutout that her hair and hip bows do.
Figure 2: Madoka’s finished hairbows on her wig! Unfortunately I didn’t get other photos of them…
The “v” cutout required modifications to our existing bow-tail patterns. I did a couple rough drafts of them in muslin until I was happy with the shape, and then made a scaled-down version for the slightly smaller choker bow. Here’s some work-in-progress shots of those bows! They are assembled exactly the same way our regular bows are.
Figure 3: Madoka bow pieces (the black ones are for Kyoko’s hairbow)
Figure 4: Madoka bows in progress (the black is for Kyoko’s hairbow)
Figure 5: Madoka’s choker bow, finished!
Figure 6: One of Madoka’s hip bows!
The bows were finished by hand sewing on snaps (for the choker and hip bows) or alligator clips (for the hair bows). Due to how insanely poofy Madoka’s skirt was, the hip bows actually snapped onto the sides of the bodice instead of the skirt. It gives the illusion that they are on the skirt, while having a much more secure area to snap on to!
The Choker
The choker was made exactly the same way as our Sailor Moon chokers. Madoka’s was made of red satin taffeta and had cute ribbon trim topstitched on. The choker closed with snaps, and the bow also was attached with a snap.
Figure 7: Madoka’s choker and choker bow, along with her bodice “buttons”.
The Glove Toppers
The glove toppers were made the same way as described in our glove topper tutorial. Madoka’s were a little more challenging because of the scallop shapes on her glove flares.
Figure 8: Madoka references that show off her scalloped glove toppers.
First, I took a basic flared topper pattern I’d made back in 2015 for my Mew Mint cosplay. I copied it and hand-drew the scallops until I got them proportional and fitted to the flare shape. This gave me a pattern shaped like this:
Figure 9: WIP stage of Madoka’s glove toppers.
The toppers were made of white Casa satin, interfaced with lightweight interfacing on one side. (The side not facing the camera). You can also see a big seam allowance at the wrist part (opposite the petal side). This was so that I could sew ribbon on that portion, to make the ribbon fit on the model’s wrist properly.
Figure 10: Madoka’s glove toppers – finished!!!
The toppers attach to themselves with velcro, and are made to sit on top of gloves that we purchased from We Love Colors. I’m giddy with happiness at how cute they turned out!
Figure 11: Madoka’s glove toppers again… they stand on their own, lol!
The Stocking Toppers – The Geeky Seamstress
Madoka’s stocking toppers were a combination of found items, reject materials, and a generous donation from We Love Colors!
I started with the ruffle base. When we originally started planning this group, we knew immediately that we wanted something to tie all of the girls together since they lack a uniform design. So we opted to have all of our ruffles match and finished them with coordinating colors for our respective characters. Two inch ruffles worked well as an accent piece for the vast majority of our characters. However, when I tried to use these for Madoka’s puff skirt, I realized they were far too small. So, after seam ripping them, I set them to the side. Thankfully, they didn’t go to waste! Koholint was able to use them for the ruffles on Madoka’s bodice and I was able to use leftovers for the stocking toppers.
Figure 12: The Geeky Seamstress working on Madoka’s stocking toppers
I started by creating a ruffle loop and stitching it onto a piece of ⅜” elastic. Once the ruffles were stitched in place, I used a faux pearl trim from Koholint’s stash. It was so cute, but required a bit of precision when stitching to avoid breaking needles. I wound up using a zig-zag stitch over this for the best results. The ribbon the faux pearls were attached to were too plain for our taste, so I also added some soft pink trim at the top for a little bit of extra flair.
These fit just over the top of the stockings, so even though they’re separate pieces, the stockings can be washed on their own or replaced without too much hassle if (or more likely when) they snag.
Conclusion
Madoka’s accessories are ridiculously cute. I don’t often make “cute” things, so these were very fun pieces to make, and I had a lot of fun adding ribbon and lace to make them even more adorable!
– Koholint