Graduation / Last Day of School outfits!
(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 ❤️)
This year marked the end of both middle school for Azriella and elementary school for Sephira! There was event after event for all three of the girls and sooooooo much stuff happening around here (our water heater flooded our basement while Jon was in Mexico for work🙄) that I have been so far behind keeping up with it all and sharing it in a timely manner! I did manage to make two, last-minute things for my two celebrating girlies!
Sephira’s SHOCK Shirt
Originally, for Easter, Sephira asked for this shirt. I told her maybe I could do it for another occasion since Easter is one I like to make slightly more elaborate things for. Then, the end of the school year came and I hadn’t made it yet! Not only that but poor thing didn’t even get a graduation party or anything at school!😭 She was so bummed because Azriella got one and Akira’s class did an awards ceremony in class (which she wore her Easter outfit for) and not only that, but Azriella got an elementary school graduation when she was in their other school! I felt pretty bad for her.
So, I decided to make good on the Jonghyun-inspired outfit! We watch a ton of SHINee funny moments, and Sephira is often found watching them all on her own (she’s got some memorized even!) There are clips from the unboxing LIVE video SHINee did for their “1 of 1” album and Jonghyun is sitting center in a very SHOCKing shirt! It really makes such a bold statement and Sephira always talked about wanting it!
First I ordered this stretch double-brushed grey from Joann’s and it was horrible!!! It was so thin I could fully see my hand through it! I ended up getting a light french terry from Amazon that worked pretty great: heavy enough to have a little shape and hold up the special elements but not so heavy that it was uncomfortable on a warm-ish day. For the SHOCK banner, I originally was going to use this 3” wide grosgrain ribbon that I ordered. But, it was just not wide enough to make the letters large enough and close enough together, given the length I needed to make it. I changed course and pulled leftover white twill and I just took the time to fray-check the edge. It has a few stray straggly threads, but so does the original so I was good with it! I added a little loop at the top for the ring to go through.
I spent sooo long just making the drafting edits to my Touka Sweater pattern and Cricut cut file (I don’t know why it didn’t want to cut my file but it was a maddening 3 am hassle!)🥲 I made the shirt in a size 13/14Y for my 10 almost 11-year-old, adding length to make it stop just below her butt. I straightened out the side seams and widened the sleeve seams. Also, his cuffs aren’t showing much recovery, so I added width to my cuff pattern too! Plus I added the “DO NOT DISTURB” text on the cuffs. OH! And for the back (it took me ages to figure out what it said to recreate it!) I made a yoke piece and phrasing as it was on the original.
Last, I had to add the hardware. I had a blank black hat leftover from ordering this hat, so I used an awl to make holes like Jonghyun’s (only I didn’t have the proper means to insert eyelets into something as hard as a baseball hat brim) and added large, 12mm jump rings. I ordered these super large 4” craft metal rings for the shirt front and asked Jon to use the Dremel to cut through the metal at the joining seam. Then I reinforced the placement of eyelets with interfacing and set those in. The next part was really tricky: I thread the ring through the ribbon loop and then carefully through the eyelets. To seal it, I used electric tape to wrap the ends up so that when it needs to be washed I can remove and reapply it. Although- it was really difficult to wrap that tape in the first place! Still, I think it came out looking really good and it stays together well without scratching Sephira.
She was FLOORED when she woke up and saw it! It was such an adorable moment! 💕
Azriellas’s Blue Dress
This all started with the fabric. One of my frequented Joann’s was closing up and they had a big sale that we happened upon. I spotted both a roll of hot pink neoprene and royal blue and I forced myself to choose between the two! I ultimately went with the royal blue and it’s 11 yards! I thought from that moment it would make a beautiful dress if Azriella wanted one. I told her exactly what I had in mind, keeping in mind her long-going request for a high-low cascading skirt.
I made both this dress and Sephira’s shirt entirely in about a day.
I used the Blake Dress by Mingo and Grace as a base, but I extended the sizing up one more on the kids one to about a 16Y since her curves extended past the size. Weird to think that the same girl was in a size 2T up until she was about 6 years old, now has been outside of her size on most kids’ size charts! She’s grown up so beautifully!!!😭💕
I also took the bodice measurement and subtracted all of the seam allowances and darts to get a finished width for how wide the skirt should be. Then I took that and factored in the back seam and side seams (for pockets of course!) and used that number for my circle circumference. I marked the line above out because I actually didn't add in the skirt side seam allowances because I realized last minute I wanted to really add pockets. The skirt math was mostly fine but it did make the skirt fit better and the bodice a little wider, thus the bodice overlap on the skirt. Had I just cut the hole bigger, the whole thing would have fit large so I’m ultimately happy with it. I wish I had her at home while I made this so I could have fitted it on her along the way but, alas, she was in school.
It only took me about 2 hours to sew, from start to finish! I’ve made this dress so many times and the fact that I didn’t have to gather or pleat anything was definitely a bonus! I love working with neoprene because it’s delightfully forgiving (most of the time.) I lined it in a colorful, black brocade.
The best part was that I made/finished it while she was in school on the day she needed it! She happened to have a social after her normal school day and then the graduation was after that and we needed to go pick up Jon from work so that he could attend with us later. So I stopped by the office before her school day was over and called her to the office. She opted to change in the car and when she emerged she looked so perfect and incredible!! I couldn’t believe how well it fit and the length was perfectly an inch above the ground with her boots on, as we had planned! It went so beautifully with her Saturday Night Wizards blazer and mask, but I also did make her a neoprene one to match. I only thought on my way out the door that she might be cold or perhaps uncomfortable showing so much of her arms so I brought it along as a “just in case”.
She
was
S T U N N I N G!!!
Everyone there wore mostly monotones so the electric blue really popped and it made my heart so super happy with how much she loved it!!!!
the photoshoot
I tend to be a little impulsive sometimes, and while I was writing this post, I realized that I really wanted some styled shots of the girls in their outfits! It recently sorta stopped raining every day here, so I dressed them all up and we took pictures in our side yard!
Almost exactly 10 years since I made her this twirly dress and she still twirls like my once little girl!!!
We went out a couple of hours before sunset (which was planned, lol) and we got some of the most gorgeous sundrenched shots!! The pretty light leaks SOOC were such a serendipity!
They had fun goofing around together. They did poses of Taemin pretending to be a malfunctioned robot and a little nod to the Helium posing too (the picture at the top of this post!)
I told them to strike a “KEY” pose and they did this, and then we burst out laughing!!! Akira was also running around with us while we did our photoshoot too and so was our outside cat, Stranger. Yes- we named our cat “Stranger”. Is it because he’s an outside cat so we don’t really feel like he’s ours or is it because “Stranger” is one of my favorite SHINee songs????🤔😏😂
Well I am so glad I decided to blog about these outfits. Azriella needed a really nice dress since she only has a really nice suit at the moment. Sephira and I both want to make more Jonghyun outfits since he’s both our bias (well, I claim to be a blingerlocketmint because I can’t pick a favorite and neither could she until about a few weeks ago when she declared that Jjong was her official bias)🥰 I can’t wait to make and share with you what’s on my cutting table next! Until then, hugs + stitches!!!
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!