Team Rocket Costume: James

Here's part two of the Team Rocket series. Earlier I posted the beginnings of my Jessie costume. Now I'll show you what I did for James, Zane's costume.

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1. Hair. I considered a wig, but they were $25 at the party store and the only blue wig they had looked like Katy Perry, so that was not going to happen. Many people interpret James as effeminate, but I'm determined for Zane to be a masculine James.

I decided to make a hat/wig combo. Since my Jessie hair isn't anime-realistic, it's okay for James' hair to be a little different too.

I started with a blue t-shirt from the give-away pile. 

Then I measured the inside of Zane's newsie-hat, which is kind of what the Team Rocket grunts wear. 

I took the hat measurement and determined how much t-shirt to cut. 

Then I cut it out in a zig-zag format.

 I laid it inside the hat...

...and pinned it onto the inside flap. 

Then I sewed a very loose zig-zag stitch. I plan on ripping it out after Halloween.

I did that one more time, because I wanted another layer of "hair." 

2. Shirt. I looked around the thrift stores for a white men's jacket, but that apparently doesn't exist. There were some white turtle necks, but we live in Florida, and Zane sweats a lot, so that wasn't an option. I also wanted to keep it manly and simple.

I just took a regular white undershirt and ironed on another red R that I cut out of felt. I used iron-on bonding strips.

We haven't tried on our costumes yet, so come back on Tuesday to see the final products!