Costuming Year in Review, 2012

I always like to do year-end roundups of all my sewing and costuming projects, but I never manage to actually get them done by year's end. But better late than never! Forthwith, the 17 projects I completed (or helped to complete) in 2012!

1. "Indy Anna" Jones

 

My brother has always been the junior Jones in our family (except for when our dad is Indy and Sean is Shia LeBoeuf)-- but this year he couldn't come to Comic-Con. So I filled in! This costume was a snap, because Dad and Sean both own multiple copies of all the Indy accessories, so they just lent me the smallest hat, belt, bag, etc. I had originally planned on making some Katharine Hepburn-esque pants, but ultimately decided on a skirt. So I made a half-circle skirt out of some tan wool, and bought a shirt and boots. I didn't get to do my hair in a fun 30s style because I had to change into this one in the parking garage after wearing Maleficent that morning. :P At Dragon*Con we finally got our whole Indy group together for the very first time, huzzah!

Captain America USO Dancing Girl

Costume: Captain America's USO Dancing Girl

From: Captain America: The First Avenger
Debut: 2011
Awards: Part of a skit that won "Best Patriotic" at Dragon*Con 2012 Masquerade

"Who's strong and brave, here to save the American way?" In the first Captain America movie, Cap gets sent on a USO promotional tour, complete with a chorus of dancing girls in red, white, and blue spangled outfits. I fell in love with these dresses the second I saw them, and when some of my friends suggested we get a costume group together, I leapt on board. I debuted this dress at Dragon*Con 2011 and it's quickly become one of my absolute favorite costumes!

For those interested in making the costume, we have a Facebook group. Through the superheroic efforts of Kathy, we have standardized information about fabrics and patterns to make the outfit, so that we all look identical when we meet up at conventions. The effect is *really* awesome when we get a lot of girls together, as we have for the parades and photoshoots at Dragon*Con. I've called cadence for our entry in the parade since 2011 and it is *so* much fun! At  Dragon*Con 2012, a group of us performed a "Star-Spangled Man" skit at the Masquerade and won Best Patriotic.

Dragon*Con 2011
(thanks to David Skirmont and Matt&Kristy for the pictures!)







WonderCon 2012
(Thanks to Pat Loika and photofg for the pics!)





Dragon*Con 2012
(Thanks to Bob Kay, patcave, Mungbutter, and David Skirmont for the pics!)

Robin Sparkles

Character: Robin Sparkles
From: How I Met Your Mother
Made: 2008

"Robin who?" You mean you've never heard of Robin Sparkles, the Canadian teen pop sensation? She dominated the early-90s airwaves (the 80s came to Canada a bit late) with her hit song, "Let's Go To the Mall," although her followup, "Sandcastles in the Sand," was considered a disappointment. She disappeared from the music scene shortly thereafter, and hasn't been heard from since...

...so anyway, if you're a fan of "How I Met Your Mother" (and if you're not, you should try it!), you know that the character Robin Scherbatsky, a no-nonsense, career-oriented tomboy, has a deep dark secret-- that as a teenager, she toured malls all across Canada as "Robin Sparkles." When her friends discover the music video of "Let's Go to the Mall," she's utterly mortified, and everyone else is riotously entertained. The HIMYM folks actually made a full music video, and it is 80s-tastic; they've got it on YouTube here.

I love HIMYM, and I laughed my head of at the LGTTM music video (honestly, the whole episode where Robin Sparkles is revealed, called "Slap Bet," is a classic). So after I went to Dragon*Con for the first time in 2007 and discovered people dressed up as all sorts of random TV characters (Jim and Pam in their Halloween costumes! Adam and Jamie from Mythbusters!), I decided it was the perfect place to run around as Robin Sparkles.

I debuted my costume at D*C 2008 on Friday night, and had so much fun that I wore it on Saturday as well. And a good thing too, because it turned out that there was another girl dressed as Robin Sparkles on Saturday. We met by chance-- and I am 100% not kidding-- AT THE MALL. IN THE FOOD COURT. It was glorious. Actually, the reaction I got as Robin was fantastic. Not everyone recognized me, but the ones who did *freaked out.* It's a hella fun costume, and as the song says, "having fun is what it's all aboot."

Dragon*Con 2008

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Hairspray Dancer

Character: Backup Dancer ("You Can't Stop the Beat")
From: Hairspray (2007 version)
Made: 2008
Awards: Part of a skit that won Judges' Choice in the 2008 Comic-Con Masquerade

I first saw the movie version of the musical Hairspray in spring 2008, and I absolutely fell in love-- the story, the songs, the costumes, everything was completely awesome. (I mean, giant production numbers. What's not to love?) I especially adored the last number in the show, "You Can't Stop the Beat," and the gorgeous dresses the dancers were wearing. Oh man, did I ever want one of those pretty pastel dresses with their big twirly skirts!

I got my chance when my friend Cordelia suggested a Hairspray-themed skit for the San Diego Comic-Con 2008 Masquerade. (A video of the skit, plus more pictures, are available on that page.) This has become my new favorite party dress-- I've worn it many times since I made it, including to the wedding of a fellow costumer and my work holiday party!

San Diego Comic-Con Masquerade 2008

Dragon*Con 2008 (Yule Ball)
(thanks to Maggie and Kathy for the pictures!)

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T'Posh

Character: T'Posh (T'Pol/Posh Spice mashup)
From: Star Trek: Enterprise/The Spice Girls
Made: 2008
Awards: Part of a skit that won Best in Show Presentation at the SciFi/Fantasy Masquerade at Costume-Con 2008

I made this costume for our 2008 Costume-Con skit, "Space Girls," a Star Trek/Spice Girls mashup. (Lots more pictures, plus video, are available on that page!)

My Space Girl was T'Posh-- a mashup of Posh Spice (better known these days as Victoria Beckham) and T'Pol, the Vulcan officer from Enterprise. One of my favorite episodes of Enterprise (okay, also one of the only ones I've seen) is the mirror universe two-parter, where all the female crewmembers wear form-fitting, midriff-baring versions of the uniform jumpsuit. I'm not even kidding. *Midriff jumpsuits.* They're so fantastically over-the-top, I wanted to hug the costume designer when I saw the episode.

T'Pol normally doesn't wear the Enterprise jumpsuit uniform, but she does in the mirror episodes. So I took that as my starting point, but I changed the pants to a skirt, because Posh usually wore skirts. Then I added five-inch heels with laces that wrapped up the leg, sort of like Posh's shoes in this picture, and a wig that looked like the Posh bob. And of course a pair of pointy ears!

Costume-Con, San Jose 2008
(photos by Kel, Corli, and conpix.net)

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Kaylee's Shindig Dress

Character: Kaylee Frye
Costume: Party dress from "Shindig"
From: Firefly
Made: 2005

The short-lived television series Firefly remains one of my all-time favorite TV shows, and this is my absolute favorite costume from the entire show. It's from the episode "Shindig," where in order to meet with a business contact, Kaylee and Mal have to go to a fancy dress ball. To make up for being mean to Kaylee earlier in the episode, Mal buys her this dress, which she'd seen in a store window and loved. Now, Kaylee's no city girl, and her taste is-- questionable, to say the least. This dress is unbelievably pink, unbelievably fluffy, and I, like Kaylee, love it beyond all reason.

I'd been wanting to make the dress since I saw the series in fall 2004, but an email from my friend Kel convinced me to make it a bit earlier than I'd planned. She and some of our other costuming friends were planning a big Firefly group entry in the San Diego Comic-Con Masquerade to promote Serenity, the movie that was based on the Firefly TV series. Were my husband and I interested in joining them? You're gorram right we were! I tossed together a Mal costume for him, unfortunately sans his signature browncoat. That one's still on the to-do list.

 Of course, the dress ended up being yet another last-minute, no-sleep project, so I'm not as happy with some parts of it as I'd like to be, but I had so much fun being in the group and doing Masquerade that it didn't matter. You can see a video of our skit on YouTube here, and Carolyn, who was our "casual-clothes" Kaylee, has a page about our group's entry.

San Diego Comic-Con 2005, as part of the "Big Damn Heroes" Masquerade entry
(Thanks to Cathleen, Cordelia, Kathy, Kel, Kim, Hasufel, Eurobeat King, and Consplayers for the pics!)

OH MY GOD IT'S JOSS WHEDON.

Dragon*Con 2007

(Thanks to PinkRouge and Kay_Dee for the pics!)

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