How Is the Jungle Pocket Cosplay Costume Made? Ezcosplay Swing Behind-the-Scenes
Category: Costume Making, Uma Musume, Behind the Scenes
Ever wondered what it actually takes to bring an anime costume to life — from a blank piece of fabric to a screen-accurate cosplay? In this behind-the-scenes guide, we walk you through every step of how the EZCosplay team handcrafts the Jungle Pocket cosplay costume from Uma Musume: Pretty Derby – Beginning of a New Era, start to finish.
🛒 Love the final look? Shop the finished costume here → Jungle Pocket Cosplay Costume
Step 1: Fabric Prep for Jungle Pocket's Cosplay
Every great costume starts with great materials. Before anything is cut or sewn, the team organizes and prepares all the fabrics needed for the build. Jungle Pocket's design calls for a specific range of colors and textures — including bold yellow for the jacket, dark navy for the skirt, turquoise for the signature ribbon straps, and additional lining and interfacing fabrics.
Each fabric roll and pre-cut bolt is sorted and labeled to match the pattern pieces for efficient production.
Pro Tip
Lay out all your materials before you start cutting. Having everything organized upfront prevents confusion mid-build — especially when a costume has as many color zones as Jungle Pocket's.
Step 2: Laying Out the Pattern Pieces on the Fabric
With fabric prepared, paper pattern pieces are placed directly onto the fabric. The team uses hand-drafted technical patterns developed from the official character art, carefully positioning each piece to maximize fabric efficiency while respecting the design's structural needs.
Multiple pattern pieces — from jacket body panels to skirt sections — are arranged side by side across a large cutting table.
Pro Tip
Use pattern weights (metal blocks) to hold your paper patterns flat on the fabric without pins, especially on slippery materials.
Step 3: Double-Checking Fabric Grainline
Before any cuts are made, the team double-checks the grainline — the direction of the fabric's weave — on every single piece. This is one of the most critical (and often skipped!) steps in costume construction.
Getting the grainline wrong causes pieces to hang unevenly, twist, or distort after sewing. For Jungle Pocket's yellow jacket and layered skirt, correct grainline alignment ensures the finished garment drapes and moves naturally.
Pro Tip
Always align your grainline arrow on the pattern to run parallel to the fabric's selvage edge. Take your time here — it's much harder to fix after cutting.
Step 4: Cutting Fabric Pieces One by One
With patterns positioned and grainlines verified, the cutting begins. Each fabric piece is cut one by one, following the pattern lines precisely using professional dressmaking scissors to maintain clean, sharp edges.
Accuracy at this stage sets the foundation for the entire costume — even a few millimeters off can affect how pieces join together during sewing.
Pro Tip
Cut smoothly and confidently along the pattern edge, keeping your scissors' lower blade flat against the table for stability. Never rush this stage.
Step 5: Working on the Turquoise Ribbon Details for Jungle Pocket's Skirt Panel
One of the most eye-catching features of Jungle Pocket's costume is the crisscrossing turquoise ribbon strap system that runs across her skirt panel. Long strips of turquoise vinyl/ribbon material are prepared and laid out in the crossing pattern seen in the game's official design.
A phone displaying Jungle Pocket's character reference art is kept on the work table throughout this process, so the team can constantly compare their work against the source material in real time.
Step 6: Cutting the Strap Tips to Match the Game's Design
The ends of Jungle Pocket's turquoise straps aren't simply straight-cut — they're shaped into a specific angled tip that matches her in-game design exactly. Each strap tip is carefully cut to replicate this detail.
This is a small but important touch that distinguishes a screen-accurate cosplay from a generic approximation.
Pro Tip
Make a small cardboard template for strap tips so every end is identically shaped. Consistency in small details elevates the overall quality dramatically.
Step 7: Setting the Gold Rivets to Secure the Straps
Jungle Pocket's strap system is held together with gold metal rivets at every crossing point — a detail faithful to her character design. The full crisscross arrangement is laid out and rivet positions are marked before setting them.
Gold rivets are then placed through the layered strap material at each intersection, both decorating and structurally securing the straps in place.
Step 8: Hammering the Rivets in Place
Once the rivets are positioned, they're hammered firmly into place using a rivet setting tool and a hammer over a hard metal block. This two-part process — positioning then hammering — ensures each rivet sits completely flat and secure without damaging the surrounding turquoise strap material.
With the character reference art open on the phone right next to the work, the team checks placement against the game design after each rivet is set.
Pro Tip
Always place a solid metal block underneath the rivet when hammering. A soft or hollow surface won't give the back-cap enough resistance to set properly, and the rivet will end up loose or uneven.
Step 9: Preparing the Waistband for Jungle Pocket's Skirts
With the strap assembly complete, attention shifts to the skirt's waistband. The dark navy waistband pieces are laid out and organized at the sewing machine, ready to be attached to the skirt body panels.
Jungle Pocket's skirt is a multi-layered construction — a dark navy outer layer over a leopard-print underlayer — so the waistband preparation requires careful alignment of all layers at once. Getting this right from the start prevents bunching or misalignment later in the build.
Step 10: Sewing the Invisible Zipper on Jungle Pocket's Skirt
Before the waistband is fully closed, the invisible zipper is inserted into the skirt's back seam using a specialized invisible zipper presser foot. This keeps the zipper teeth completely hidden when closed, maintaining the clean, polished silhouette of the finished costume.
Pro Tip
Press the invisible zipper tape with a warm iron before sewing, gently curling the coil outward. This small prep step allows the zipper foot to feed the teeth correctly and results in a truly invisible finish once the seam is closed.
Step 11: Sewing the Waistband Strip for a Clean Edge
The waistband strip is now stitched onto the skirt at the sewing machine. The team guides all the layered fabric panels slowly and evenly under the presser foot, making sure none of the layers shift or bunch. This step creates the structured top edge of the skirt and encases the raw seam allowances for a neat interior finish.
The turquoise straps are already visible at this stage, adding visual complexity to what the seamstress is managing under the needle.
Pro Tip
Sew the inner side of the waistband to the skirt first, then fold it over and topstitch or hand-stitch the outer edge. This sequence gives you the cleanest finished result on both the inside and outside of the waistband.
Step 12: Matching the Seams for a Neat Finish
As the waistband construction wraps up, the team takes extra care to match all the seams — making sure the side seams of the skirt align precisely with those of the waistband when it's folded and stitched down. Misaligned seams at the waistband are one of the most common signs of a rushed costume build, and one of the first things an experienced eye notices.
The team pins and manually checks the alignment before making the final stitch.
Step 13: Pressing the Waistband and Zipper Seam for a Crisp Finish
The very last step shown in the video is pressing — running a steam iron firmly over the completed waistband and zipper seam. This single step transforms a sewn garment into something that looks truly professional and finished. It sets the stitches, flattens the seam allowances, and gives every edge a sharp, clean shape.
No matter how good the sewing is, an unpressed costume will always look unfinished. Pressing is what separates handmade from hand-crafted.
Pro Tip
Press, don’t iron. Place the iron down with steam, hold for a moment, then lift it straight up. Moving the iron back and forth stretches and distorts seams — especially on curved areas like a waistband.
The Finished Costume
From blank fabric on a cutting table to a fully realized, screen-accurate Jungle Pocket cosplay — every single detail in this build is deliberate. The structured navy skirt, the criss-crossing turquoise strap system with gold rivets, the hidden invisible zipper, the perfectly pressed waistband — each element is a reflection of the care that goes into every EZCosplay costume.
Want to wear the finished result without spending hours at the sewing table?
👉 Shop the Jungle Pocket Cosplay Costume at EZCosplay
Available in multiple sizes. Custom sizing available upon request.
Behind-the-Scenes Video
Take a look behind the scenes as we create a Jungle Pocket cosplay step by step.
From fabric cutting to final assembly, this video shows how the costume is crafted into its finished form.
Tags
uma musume cosplay, jungle pocket cosplay, cosplay making process, costume creation, ezcosplay, how to make cosplay, cosplay behind the scenes, uma musume pretty derby
Contact
💬 Have questions about our production process, sizing, or materials? Drop a comment below or reach out to our team at EZCosplay!