🎂Azriella's "JongKey" birthday outfit!! A "Juice/Shinin'" Cosplay
(Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with SHINee or SM Entertainment in any way. No patterns/fabrics were gifted and all opinions are my own. My need to create SHINee cosplay for my girlies stems solely from my love of the group and each of the members ❤️)
Azriella’s 16th birthday past and I still can’t believe it! She was only 2 years old when I starting blogging… 6 years old when I started Sew Chibi, so 10 years have past! WOW. I hadn’t even realized it until I wrote it just now! Sooooo many outifts made and cosplay planned… I am thinking of actually rebranding since my little kiddos aren’t so chibi anymore! BUT! I’ll digress on that for now! Let’s talk about my most precious kiddo’s birthday outfit!!
Key’s Juice outfit… half the inspiration for Azriella’s Shinin’ Juice suit!
Jonghyun’s red suit from his MV “Shinin’”
We had been following the SHINee “HARD” music stage performances very closely over the summer and the cropped suit that Key wore for Music Bank really stood out. Azy loves a suit as much as she loves a skater skirt so we decided it would be fun to recreate our version of that outfit!
Trying to decide on a color scheme, I remembered how I’d always wanted to try my hand at Jonghyun’s red suit from his SHINin’ MV (check out the video right above) because the color blocking was so cool. Azy is a big fan of black, white, and red so she was pretty keen on the idea which made me happy because I freaking LOVE JONGKEY together the most!
Drafting the Outfit
Cropped Jasika Blazer
I make a joke every time make a blazer because I never make a regular one! I always end up making a cropped one! It’s pretty hard making edits to a blazer pattern, especially a good one like the Jasika Blazer. I learned so much from that pattern over the years of making it over and over that I have integrated into my arsenel of sewing techniques. I just can’t make a coat anymore without drafting sleeveheads and hem fusings and shoulder pads! I’ve become an avid welt interfacing user as well… although with this stretch sateen it went terribly awry.
I’ve changed the way I press my fabrics because of it as well. I use a clapper and a steamer and a wool pad (not all at the same time!) for projects now…and that mainly happened because of the mishaps I encountered pressing this project. 🙅🏻♀️Stretch sateen does not like welt interfacing and direct pressing🙅🏻♀️. Please heed my words because wow did I beat my head against the wall over the fabric puckering/wrinkling that kept happening!
The color-blocking I just made the side panels and the undersleeve in white. I shifted the lapel break higher to accommodate the cropped length. Hmm, what else…Oh! I moved the welt pocket down a bit so that it was just above the blazer edge and straightened it out like Key’s was on his Juice outfit.
check out my past Jasika Blazers here:
Granville Button-Down Shirt
This was my first time making the Granville Shirt by Sewaholic and I have to say… I kinda hate it but love some aspects of it. My preferred button-down pattern(s) are basically anything by Adriana of Hey June Patterns because I know that testing is thorough and the pattern is gonna be spotless. The reason I didn’t use it this time is because I needed two elements the Cheyenne doesn’t have: a slim fit and a fully buttoned-up front bodice. I felt myself referring back to my precious Cheyenne Pattern for parts that are just not well explained in the Granville tutorial. The instructions just feel less easy to follow and a bit lacking.
I had to edit out the darts and replace them with princess seams to mimic the seaming on Key’s Juice undershirt. That turned out just fine. I also made the cuffs and collar white and inverted the button placket so that the white showed… this was just a personal preference because Jonghyun’s shirt is black, sometimes white, and I wanted to keep incorporating all three colors throughout the outfit.
The first problem I have with the Granville is that it is made for a 5’9” person. This is so far from standard! Usually patterns are made for someone 5’7” and, for someone like my girls and I, it’s a big struggle to size it to someone in the 5’1”-5’4” range. The sleeves are mentioned several times by others to be too long by about 3”! And, yes, that means you have to hike that bodice up just as much🙄
The monster problem I have with the Granville is that the. collar. and. collar. stand. do. not. fit. the. shirt. And no, it’s not me, I read about it elsewhere as well. But mainly, I looked at each individual size and did the maths to the bodice pieces, adding and subtracting all the appropriate seam allowances and placket facings and turnings and everything according to the pattern and the tutorial and it just flat out doesn’t math. It’s infuriating actually. I honestly am thinking of getting back into the button-down shirt pattern making game so as to make a hybrid of the two patterns with my own blocks in my own way. It’s not off by a little bit either… we’re talking about 3cm (over an inch!) off from the extended seam allowance of 5/8” that’s supposed to be “past the button placket”😐
I will say though, that I like three things: where the buttons are placed, the actual curvature and fit of the pattern, and the way she actually attaches the collar stand and collar to each other and the shirt. Those are all pretty great, but I find myself questioning if it’s all even worth it to go through all the baggage that comes along with the pattern.
Sasha Trousers
This was not my first Sasha Trousers rodeo. I have made them many times now. I never have much trouble other than the waistband which always kind of vexes me. I edited out about 2” from the front and back leg inseams to recreate the white stripping on Jonghyun’s pants. The fit is always good on the Sasha and if they aren’t, they have a Pants Fitting guide to fix virtually any issue. It’s like a book of tailoring sorcery and I love it! Side note: I just realized that Closet Core who designs the Jasika and the Sasha patterns is also based in Portland! 😱
check out my past Sasha Trousers here:
Little Bags + Other Accessories
I wanted to add as many little elements as possible so I figured I needed: a tiny arm strapped bag, a leg harness bag, and a tie.
For the arm strapped bag, I followed this tutorial and it was a quick little project. The leg harness bag was trickier and I had to draft that one myself but I used this tutorial as a guide. And for the tie, I decided I wanted it to be like Jonghyun’s black shirt that says “standing out in the crowd one night” but as a single-toned tie in white. I wish I would have made the font smaller in the end but I hadn’t realized it till after the tie was made🥲.
the Photoshoot
We started out by going out for doughnuts at our favorite place in PDX to get them: Blue Star! We went to the one in the Hawthorne District and took pictures along Division street on the way there!
Afterwards, we went to the nickel arcade and then finished up with mocktails and snacks at Olympia Provisions (which is now called Alpenrausch)! There’s so many cool little alleyways and murals in that area so we had our pick of the best looking backdrops!
And that’s it! It’s crazy that she’s 16 years old now!! It blows my mind how fast these girls are growing up!!! I have a lot more to share so stay tuned for what’s next!!!
hugs + stitches,
kat
in memory of Kim Jonghyun, (April 8th, 1990-December 18, 2018)
YAY! You're here! I'm so happy! I'm Kat! Mom, shawol, and pattern designer, this is the place where I share all of my sewing projects, chibi cosplay fashion, and DIY/tutorials! Everything around here is action-packed with color, silliness, and tons of kawaii stuff!