So I just bought materials for Serah and... another character

I went to Joann's the other day with a book full of 50% off coupons to buy materials for Serah, some jewelry making supplies (for shop items), and some fabric for... another character.  I'm going to keep that other character under wraps for now until it's time for me to debut it.  I'll just say that I love this character a lot and she quickly became a favorite.

I bought:

• 1 1/2 yards of casa chiffon in light pink for Serah ($7.49)
• 1 1/2 yards of basic combed cotton for Serah ($3.74)
• 2 yards of violet casa crepe for another cosplay ($7.99)
• 2 packs of black buttons for Serah ($1.80)

I bought a few other things but thanks to all of the 50% off coupons I had, it brought a $79 bill down to about $41.  If it weren't for those coupons, man!

Serah's turning out to be an expensive cosplay mainly because of the jewelry I bought from the Square-Enix store but I bought it mainly because I'm a collector.  I'm still kicking myself for missing out on Squall's griever necklace and it's out of production now (insert tears here).  The wig cost me about $35 on eBay which is worth every penny.  The quality is fantastic but it needs a lot of major styling to get it perfect since the ponytail wasn't exactly to the side.  It's the perfect color and it has a skin-part and that's what really matters.

I bought the lace for the skirt from a Taobao store and it needs to be dyed black but other than that, it's the perfect pattern!  The stockings were a gift from my friend and they came from Sock Dreams (they're the only store that sells them long enough to reach my thighs since I'm so tall).  The boots... I need to make covers for a pair of ankle boots I own since I've never seen a pair of already existing shoes that didn't come from an overpriced eBay store look like hers.  A lot of people use converse sneakers but to me those don't look right and don't flatter the legs when wearing thigh-high stockings.  I bought the tear-drop crystals for the bracelet and hair tie off of an eBay seller for pretty cheap but I still need to get off my lazy butt and actually make said accessories.

The only thing I can't really hunt down is fabric for the skirt... I've never seen a red plaid that came even close to the fabric of Serah's skirt so I'm going to have to custom print that if I want to be satisfied with this costume.  Gotta bite the bullet, I guess... I'll need at least 2 yards.  I have the pattern for the skirt already (thank you Joann's for $1 Simplicity pattern sales!) but I'll have to make my own patterns for the shirt and duster which shouldn't be too hard.  The ribbons for the back of my duster will be made out of light pink casa satin since I have that laying around from a Lina Inverse costume that is on indefinite hiatus.  It'll come in handy for something!

Total for this cosplay so far?  Somewhere over $400 mostly because of the earrings and necklace.  That price can be easily avoided by making your own or buying those two items off of Etsy but yeah.  Speaking of which, I'm going to try my hand at making Serah's earrings soon.  My friend plans on cosplaying as Serah in the future and she of course needs a pair of earrings.  Not sure if I'll attempt to make the necklace but the earrings look easy enough.  I'll start selling those in my Etsy shop depending on how hard or easy they are for me to produce.