All-Con 2011 Recap

Wow, What a weekend!  There are parts of me and my habitation that are still recovering from that whirlwind of fun.  The folks at All-Con really pulled out all the stops this year.  There was excitement and entertainment well into the early hours of the morning and somehow we all woke up mostly on time and did it all again.

This year the DFWCG participated in three panels.  I have to say they were all a success.  Thank you to Everyone who came to our panels and double thank you to those who ran those panels!  We could not have been a success if it was not for either of you.

Friday we took it easy.  Jennifer Kubenka and Coleen Swafford were at All-Con early so they got our table started while I was still at work.  Thank you Very much Crandall for getting our information together so that they were able to do that!  We saw some great costumes and talked to a lot of cool people.  And some inventive people too!  Check out this Dalek interpretation:

Once the time came to shut down the tables we all broke away and then Coleen and I came back to enjoy the Dr. Horrible Sing-a-Long Blog screening.  I opted to come in Dr. Horrible costume along with a few others, but I was the only one representing the red lab coat.

Founding Member Traci Baker glammed it up in her new PVC corset outfit on Friday night.

What a great way to kick off the first night of the con!  

Saturday we were up and at 'em early as we had our knitting panel first thing.  Last year we had a large group of people who all wanted to learn how to get started.  This year we had a smaller group learning, but over all we were of differing levels.  Regina came to be our expert again.  And as usual she was fantastic and very funny.  We had another Regina drop by to show us how she spins fibers into yarn.  She's from Rose Path Weaving in Lindale, TX.  Our instructor Regina spoke very highly of this shop's yarn selections.

One of our knitters was brave enough to try making our little Jayne Hat Pin that Laura put together for last year.  We were all so busy learning last year that we never got around to making them so I had lots of leftover supplies.  The rest of us learned or practiced our basic knitting.

Our next panel on Saturday was the Fabric and Pattern Swap.  Each year this panel has grown.  I remember the first year when there was only two of us who participated.  This year, we covered nearly every table with swap items.  How fantastic is that?

We moved a lot of fabric and patterns during that swap.  Of course we also had so much more that wasn't taken home.  Although at first I was a little overwhelmed with the amount we had left and what on earth I was going to do with it, I have since decided to donate the remaining swap items to a local theater program or school.  Now I just need to choose where to donate.

During the swap, I met two ladies who are making some interesting innovations in dress forms.  They're Epps & York Apparel & Accessories.  And they make custom dressforms to mimic soft tissue.  In layman's terms, they squish better than a Uniquely You foam form.  They didn't have any forms on hand at this con for us to look at, but I am hoping we can see a sample some time soon.

Saturday afternoon was our beaded jewelry panel.  Our Treasurer Rondinella was gracious enough to be here  from Austin after her time at Gulf Wars in Mississippi to put this panel on.  She was also gracious enough to donate the supplies for the panel so people could go home with something they made instead of just watching a demo.  So a Huge thanks goes out to Rondinella for her contribution on Saturday!  Here's a sampling of what went down in the panel.

At posting, Rondinell hadn't had a chance to sort through her photos she took of the finished products.  I hope to have her photos to showcase soon.

The Beaded Jewelry panel closed out our panel participation for the day, but over at the club table we continued to see some amazing costumes.

 This family was a major favorite walking by.  It's so great when the whole family can participate.

And this Yellow Lantern Scarecrow looked really awesome up close.

I'm not sure what costume this is, but it also looked really great up close.

We officially wrapped up Saturday's club table in the evening so we could all break for dinner.  After that some of us rested and enjoyed the vacation of the hotel.  Others of us played well into the night and early morning hours taking advantage of the extended programming All-Con provided this year.

Sunday was to be a day spent just sitting behind the table and wrapping up our connections with new people. But at the last minute we were asked to sit on a panel about Master Level Costuming as the panelist couldn't make it.  That gave me a chance to sit on a panel with Cynthia, who also was a great help lending us a dress form for costume displays.  We all had to think quickly on our feet to fill the time, but I think the panel attendees were able to come out of the room with some helpful information.

I have to say that out of the 3 years the DFWCG has participated with All-Con, this year was my favorite.  I had anticipated a great time as soon as I saw the theme and I was even more excited about it as soon as I started to see the panels fill in on the schedule.  2012 has some big shoes to fill.  But considering the theme, I think we're in for another wild ride.  See you guys next March for "The End of the World"!

All-Con 2011 is almost upon us

Are you ready?  Have you rifled through your costume closet and found enough to put together a suitable wardrobe for 3 days of costuming?

If you're anything like me, your house or apartment is an absolute explosion of fabric and thread due to the last minute ideas and the refusal to be seen in "that same costume for a third time."  This last week my living space was transformed into a veritable sweat shop so I could fix items that were torn, or alter items to better mix and match.  I nearly finished one costume only to realize that what I really needed to finish was a large boarder at the bottom of the skirt.  And I almost altered a costume which was too big only to decide that if I took the fringe off of it and hacked away at an old brides maid's dress, the whole look would be infinitely better.

Am I finished?  No.  Of course not.  This week I finalize closures and rifle through what's left of my make-up stash that survived a bit of an apartment disaster.  And I start getting creative with my hair.  I have several ready to wear wigs, but I think for my steampunk I'm going to play with my new extensions for a fresh hair style.  I think I'm most excited about my Steampunk outfit.  It's Steampunk Light, but it's cute and is an example of how a person can take some regular closet items and cobble them together with other costume pieces for a decent Steampunk look.  I can't wait to share it!  Needs a hat though.

But it's not just the costumes I'm excited about.  For the third year in a row the DFWCG is presenting our Fabric and Pattern Swap.  Each year this swap has grown just a little bit more in size.  And I've heard that this year we should have some very interesting fabrics offered.  There's also going to be patterns and trims.  If you didn't stop by last year, you missed the opportunity to snag 2 yds of nice Italian silk.  Who knows what jewel will surface this year?  And remember, you don't have to bring something to take something.

We're also reprising our Knitting panel.  We had such a great time learning last year that we decided it would be fun to meet up again to see what everyone's been up to.  We've got instructors on hand for anyone who needs to learn from the beginning or who needs to refresh their lessons.  We will have extremely limited supplies for those who want to learn, but aren't ready to buy their own supplies.  Since those supplies are limited, we encourage you to go ahead and bring your own.  The supplies list for beginners wishing to learn is:

1. US 7, 8 or 9 needles - Hobby Lobby has great short 'learner'-type needles made by Red Heart in sizes US 7, 8, and/or 9, for a couple of bucks a pair - they're called 'basics' or 'learners' and come in red, blue and yellow, respectively

2. A light-colored yarn.
  a. Sugar and Cream dishcloth cotton, or

  b. Sinfonia cotton, or
  c. a non-novelty acrylic yarn (smooth yarn without any frou-frou crap in it - makes the stitches more defined and clean, and easier to see and understand), or
  d. Inexpensive yarn options available at big box stores:
    1. Red Heart Super Saver,
    2. Patons Classic Wool
  e. Yarn store options - reasonably inexpensive, and available in many colors:
    1. Cascade 220 (100% wool)
    2. Encore Worsted (acrylic/wool blend)


3. If you want to try to make some Jayne Hat pins to donate to the Austin Browncoats, also bring a pair of US size 3 or 5 straight needles. We have the instructions and the yarn supplies.


4. Patterns and projects to discuss.


For those who are a little more experienced, please feel free to bring anything you want to finish or for show and tell.  Like a proper knitting circle, we welcome folks of all levels to chat and work together.


And lastly, we have a special beaded jewelry panel that I'm excited about.  DFWCG Treasurer Rondinella is going to be showing us all how to make our very own beaded jewelry.  She'll lead you through tools all the way to construction of a basic piece.  I can't wait to see how this panel goes!


We hope to have enough room around our table to have some costumes on display again this year.  And we'll have some books out  for con-goers to look at.  I'll also have my camera out and I'll be handing out lanyard tags to wear with your badges.  So make sure you drop by to see us during the weekend.  We'd love to photograph you in each of your costumes and get to know you.  And also please let us know what kind of panels you'd like for us to offer for future dates of All-Con.  With your help, we would like to continue to build our con activity each year.

Harajuku fashions for historical costumers

When I first heard about the costume guild's upcoming Tokyo Pop event, my first thought was: "sounds like fun, but what on earth would I wear!?!"  Since I mostly focus on historical costumes and have no interest in anime, I was worried that this event might not hold any interest for me costume-wise.  But then I started looking into Harajuku street fashions, and I was amazed by how many diverse and historically influenced styles there are to choose from.  I'll share some of the info that I've gathered in my search this past month, and maybe it will give some of you other folks who are new to this cultural phenomenon a place to start as well.  Here is a quick rundown of some of the major styles that might appeal to those of us who are beyond our teenage years and looking for something more historical than anime for inspiration:

Visual Kei - a style inspired by Japanese rock musicians that is characterized by the use of elaborate costumes, make-up, hairstyles and costumes. The look often has a very androgynous feel.  Think 80's glam rock, but even more theatrical. Most of the rock bands are made of guys who look like girls, but the Harajuku visual kei style is mostly made up of girls dressing up like their favorite rock guy (who dresses like a girl).  Got it?  ;)  A lot of the visual kei looks are very modern punk or goth looking with a hard edge, but others are more "pretty" and historically inspired.  The Japanese visual kei band Versaille has some especially fun looks ranging from 18th c. through Victorian.

Gothic Lolita (also GothLoli) - this style is characterized by lots of Victorian-inspired black and white clothing, short flared skirts, anything with ruffles or lace, elaborate hats, veils, and bonnets, oversized handbags, parasols, stockings, and platform shoes.  The wearers often try to invoke the "cute" looks of children or porcelain dolls... but with a gothic edge to it.  Victorian blouses, corsets, and accessories fit in well with this style.

Classic Lolita - This style is a more mature and less "cute" version of the loli look.  The silhouette is similar, but the dresses can be more A-lined or princess cut, and there aren't nearly as many ruffles or frills.  This style also uses more variety in colors and some floral patterns, and the accessories aren't as costumey.  A lot of 50's looks would work really well for this style.

Elegant Gothic Aristocrat (EGA) - Again, a more mature subset of the gothic lolita style with an emphasis on historically-inspired elegance.  Colors are still predominantly black and white, but skirts are often tea or floor length and slimmer, and long tailored jackets are common.  The style is very androgynous at times, and you often see EGA outfits that make use cravats, tophats, or walking sticks, but corsets and traditional Victorian womenswear is common as well.   This style has a lot of similarities to the gothic fashions that we have seen in the US for decades now.

Pirate Lolita (PirateLoli) - Another loli subset that combines eye-patches, tricorns, frock coats, and other pirate garb with the short, flared loli skirts.  Arrrr... so piratey, and cute!  If you've ever made a pirate costume, you probably already have some pieces that would work well for this one.

Dolly Kei - This style uses a lot of vintage garments, extreme layering, and Eastern European or gypsy styles to create an rich and eccentric combination.  Pretty much anything goes with this look!  It is very bohemian-looking.  I could see a lot of Renaissance faire garb working well with this style - especially when combined with other thrift shop or vintage pieces.  

Mori Girls - This style is supposed to look like the wearer would be at home in an enchanted forest.  Colors are light and neutral, and the clothing is layered and loose fitting.  Victorian or Edwardian petticoats or camisoles, 1910's lingerie dresses, neutral colored shawls, vintage fur stoles, and earthy 70's clothing all could be used as staples of a good mori girl outfit.

I hope that gives you historical costumers out there a few more ideas to get you inspired for our Tokyo Pop event.  Once you know the names of the styles, it is easy to look for more pictures and webpages dedicated to these fashions on Google, Flickr, Tumblr, LiveJournal, or elsewhere.  The hardest part for me was just knowing what to look for in the first place!

I have tried to focus my search on styles that have a historical influence and that would be more appropriate for adults, but there are TONS of other Harajuku styles that are more modern and youthful.  The main thing that I have learned about Harajuku fashions is that creativity and personal style is treasured, and there are no hard rules for anything.  If you don't like any of these styles, create your own!  Who knows, you might start the next Harajuku fashion trend!

Easy Anime Costuming

In honor of the upcoming All-Con and Tokyo Pop events this spring, we give you a guest post by Coleen Swafford on easy anime costuming:

My daughter loves anime and anime costumes.  I have made 3 so far and thought I would share what I have learned.  Since I don’t watch as much anime as she does, I rely on pictures she supplies and any additional details that she feels are relevant. Obviously, the important thing is to come up with something that is easily identifiable as the character. Materials and methods are of less importance.

All three of the characters she requested are from Naruto. The first costume was to be Sasuke. She gave me these pictures. Well, this outfit was pretty easy. I made knee length baggy white shorts. For the top, I went through my patterns until I found a blouse with a stand up type collar, then over exaggerated it. I made the top large and pull on. Then I cut out the fan shape and appliquéd it on the back. The arm bands were white cotton with elastic in the blue end pieces. We polished it off with a cheap wig found on ebay and a headband we found there as well. Footwear was our biggest problem. They don’t sell toeless ninja boots at Target. But we did find knee hi toeless socks there and paired them with a pair of black slippers.

  

The second character was Sakura. For this outfit, I decided to see if I could find part of this at thrift shops. A trip to Goodwill netted me a short pink skirt and a red sleeveless tank. I opened the side seams on the skirt and made small straps with fake buckles on each side. A pair of bike shorts worked well under the skirt. Since it wasn’t necessary to have the top unzip, I bought a long white zipper and sewed it on the outside. I could have bought soccer pads for her elbows but instead made them from old sock tops. Some black gloves, the Saskue footwear, and another cheap Ebay wig and I was done.

The third character was TenTen. I decided to make this one from scratch. I found a pants pattern that had cut down pockets. I made the pants out of burgundy cotton. I used white cotton for the inside of the pockets and made the lines with rows of stitching. Then attached a grey strip of fabric over them. I finished the legs of the pants by blousing them mid calf.  I’ll admit the jacket didn’t come out exactly as I wanted. I probably could have found a store pattern for this but instead used a Chinese jacket I found at Goodwill. The jacket was too small and the wrong color, so I took it apart and used it to make larger pattern pieces. I didn’t get the neckline totally right but it was enough that anime enthusiast recognized exactly who she was at Anime Fest.

OMG That Dress!

I'm still new to the whole Tumblr thing, but I stumbled across an amazing Tumblr blog this weekend: OMG That Dress!  OMG is right!  I've wasted hours at this site already.  What wonderful eye candy!

The other Tumblr site that I've been enjoying for awhile now is Edwardian Era.  Have y'all found any other good ones?  Or cool costume-related blogs in general?

Downton Abbey

If you haven't found this already, you might want to check out the new online episodes of Downton Abbey. It's packed full of wonderful Edwardian costumes, and the story is really interesting too!  It reminds me a lot of the reality series Manor House, which I loved as well.  I just watched that series this past summer by checking the DVD's out from the Dallas Public Library.

Although I adore the clothing in both of these, it sure does make me grateful that I'm not an Edwardian!

Georgian Picnic costumes on the cheap

On Nov. 13, the DFW Costumers Guild is hosting a Georgian Picnic at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens.  This is the second year for this event.  We decided to make it an annual event after we had so much fun basking in the fall gardens last year.

The costume turnout was of a wide variety of 18th Century.  Some people came to the event in Marie Antoinette inspired frocks and some came in more American styled clothing.  And then some came in later 18th Century fashions more of the Jane Austen bent.  Everyone looked Fantastic!

As always, we hope that as many people who are interested in the period will come to our picnic, but sometimes people worry about being "Period Correct."  Don't let that worry you.  For one, costumes are encouraged at all of our events, but not required.  And in addition, 18th century garments can be just about the simplest costumes to make if you know how to cheat.

Exhibit One - the Chemise Dress (Chemise A La Riene):

Marie Antoinette, the queen herself, in a Chemise Dress

Also Marie Antoinette in a simpler version of the Chemise Dress

Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Marie Antoinette's portrait artist, in a different kind of chemise dress.

Izabela Lubomirska, a Polish noblewoman in a lovely Chemise Dress

Madame DuBarry in a higher necked version of the Chemise Dress

Madame Seriziat in another Chemise Dress without much lace, but with a fichu.

Reconstructing History makes a pattern for a Chemise Dress, which I believe also includes a pattern for a fichu.  That pattern should be pretty period accurate.  However, if you already have a white chemise for your Renaissance Faire garb, you can save that $30 for the Reconstructing History pattern.  All you need to is find a nice wide ribbon to tie at your waist, some ribbons to tie the arms, and then a small amount of muslin to make a fichu.  You could also add lace to the neckline and wrists of your chemise if you are willing to take that particular chemise out of your Ren Faire Garb closet and permanently transition it to 18th century.

Exhibit Two - Empire Waisted Dress:

Period correct Regency dress includes a light under dress, a pair of stays, and then the dress.  However, if you get dark enough material for the dress, you can skip the under dress, and frankly, the Regency stays were designed to do Exactly what our modern bras do - lift and separate - so you can skip the stays and just wear a good bra if you don't have the time or inclination to make all of the correct underwear.

Here's a photo of us at this year's Regency Tea.  One of us in that picture may or may not have skipped the period underpinnings.  But you can't tell can you?

For those distiguished gentelmen who will be joining us:  Slim fitted slacks, top hat (stovepipe Victorian is close to the same look in regency), altered vest to be straight across at top of pants, and I purchased the Rocking Horse Farm 1790-1820 Tail Coat pattern that took me just a few days to put together (pictured above).  My other thought was to alter a tail coat from the thrift store.  My next step is to make shoe covers that look like tall riding boots (made with faux leather from joanns). 

And again please don't worry about being "period correct"...notice my HOT PINK skirt from last year lol:

Please feel free to post any questions or suggestions to yahoo groups message board :)



Looking forward to seeing everyone!!!