Why I chose this costume:

We Bare Bears is an American animated series created by Daniel Chong for Cartoon Network. The show follows three bear brothers, named Grizzly “Grizz”, Panda “Pan Pan” and Ice Bear “Lil’ Bro”, and their awkward attempts at integrating with the human world in the San Francisco Bay Area. The series was based on Chong’s webcomic The Three Bare Bears.

How I made this costume:

I really enjoyed this show and wanted to pay tribute to the bears while creating a pattern and working out how to make onesies that I could eventually offer as commissions. This was how the Chino Kigu was born.

I patterned out a onesie based on the wider, more comfortable kigurumi design. The hood is very oversized to accomodate wigs, extra layers and matches the overall proportions of the onesie. Grizz’s kigu is adult-sized and I used this one to scale down and create a child-sized one for Panda and Ice Bear. All three were made using polar fleece and zippers for the front closures. They all have elastic band cuffs at the hands and feet. Each bear has a face that was cut from felt and sewn into place on the hood. Each hood is also lined with matching cotton fabric on the inside to make them soft to wear. Each bear also has a tail!

Thoughts on this costume:

These designs came out so cute and were so fun and comfy to wear. The kids enjoyed their cosplay and we were recognized a lot. I learned a lot on creating these and created a pattern for adult and children versions that has gone through some great upgrades over time. These base costumes were the beginning to a love of kigu’s and now I am known for my Chino Kigu designs. I’m so glad I tackled these cosplay in this way–it was the jumpstart I needed with creating and monetizing my own pattern.