Costume completed - August 13, 2009
Costume worn at San Japan 2.x (2009) - Friday

Back in 2004, I did the the Tifa Nibelheim outfit which was a very simple vest, skirt, boots and hat cowgirl outfit. When I saw that the Crisis Core character art for Tifa, I got all fan-girly because it was a much more detailed outfit based on that same costume. So yea, "must make it," was what I thought.

Hat - The hat was bought online and painted with acrylic paint. I really tried to avoid this, but I just could not find a hat as close of a shape in a color that satisfied me. I bought the white leather strands from Hobby Lobby. This came in a bag with assorted strings of white leather. The knob that connects the two strings under the chin was made from model magic and painted with white acrylic paint.

Shirt - I made this using a shirt pattern that I altered. The gray material part at the bottom is an entire second layer added to the white top. I used the same white material for the shirt as a bias tape for the border.

Vest - The vest was made using an altered shirt pattern. I used white vinyl for the white decorations on the vest. Two very small pockets were sewn on the top middle of the vest. I lined and bordered the vest in the same white material used for the shirt.

Skirt - The skirt was made using a pattern from my previous Tifa Nibelheim skirt. I put in an invisible zipper on the right side at the seam line. From the references, it looks like she magically puts it on without a zipper or any closing device so I decided to do it this way. On the white border at the bottom I used white vinyl. I tried to mimic the design based on the character art above. The two small bags on the skirt were made using vinyl covered in the same dark brown material used on the vest. The two bags were hand sewn to the skirt. 

Belt - The belt was found out a thrift store. I stabbed holes in it for the three silver studs and I used velcro to keep the belt closed in place. The buckle was made out of craft foam and acrylic paint. I used a thin permanent sharpie marker to make the lines on the design of the buckle. 

Boots - I bought the cowboy boots off of e-bay. Using suede material, I made a pattern fit to form the boot. I used fabric-tac and in some areas super glue.

Total spent - $111.32 due to lots of leather that I ended up not using because it was too damn hard to sew. x_x

Progress photos

Completed photos

8-14-09

9-28-09

10-21-10

Photo credits - Ninja_Kurai, Angelwing & Sky Pirate