Xiao Mei - House of Flying Daggers

This gown was a completely random addition to the costume closet. My friend and I were shopping at Wal-Mart one night, when all of a sudden they brought out these GIGANTIC boxes, and when they opened, light shone out, and there was the sound of a thousand angels singing! Okay, actually it was dozens upon dozens of bolts of fabric, all marked down to clearance. Of course, we dove in head first, and an hour later, we proudly strutted to the checkout counter with at least a dozen bolts each.

We bought two of the fabrics with this costume particularly in mind. The outer kimono was made of a green nubbly fabric that is some sort of poly blend but has a very natural texture. The under layer is just a simple skirt on an elastic waistband, in a bright green shiny...something. I'd guess it's more poly. The crocheted layer at the neckline was actually bright sky blue when I bought it, and after a dozen different unsuccessful dye tests, I just ended up spray painting it the right colour.
The hat used to be a cheap Easter basket from Michael's! I still have all the in-progress pictures from making it, so I may post a tutorial on how to make it, but basically, I just took the basket apart, soaked the wood pieces in near-boiling water to soften them, and then built my hat by randomly criss-crossing the pieces in a circle shape. I was really thrilled with how the end result looked.