Dana Scully – X-Files

Made for: Dragoncon 2023

Background: A quick easy costume for late night at dragoncon.

Journal Entries: Read more at my scully tag

Patterns Used: (none)

Background:
To be honest, this shouldn’t have a full portfolio page like this. I hadn’t planned to make one since this is all just bought stuff… but I just got into a groove of making all of the website pieces for my new costumes and made ones for Scully too… so I’m gonna use them.

I decided in summer 2023 I really needed an easier to wear, simple costume for late night because at that time, my line-up was very heavy on the uncomfortable costumes. I was rewatching X-Files at the time and realized I could throw together a Scully costume pretty easily.

The Clothes:
So I did actually make one article of clothing here – the black pencil skirt is the one I made for Diane in 2021.

Everything else I bought online. A plain white button up shirt – because all of mine that I’ve used for Peggy, Hermione and Romana II are old and I figured I could use a new one – and a basic black blazer. I specifically made sure to buy a blazer that had pockets. When everything arrived I did a few little tweaks – I took the blazer up in the back seams to make it fit a little more snug (it was pretty boxy and shapeless upon arrival), and I also tacked down the front edges of the white shirt so the collar would lay open.

The Accessories:
I hopped on amazon to buy an ID badge and when it arrived… turns out I bought a fridge magnet LOL So now I have a Scully ID magnet on our fridge. I need to find a matching Mulder one.

So I went to etsy instead and bought one there. It’s very nice.

For shoes I was torn between heels and flats but since this was a late night comfy costume, I went with the flats. These are just my basic black flats I use with a lot of things.

The Wig:
Ok the wig is where I did most of the work here.

I knew I had a red wig I’d bought for Kate back in 2018 that I hadn’t used – still bagged up from Arda, somewhere in my house. I started digging around for it and, while I didn’t find that one (where is it?? LOL), I DID find the short curly wig I bought for my Dapper Day Dale in 2021.

I had originally wanted to do a chin length finger wave kind of mid-century style for Dale. I bought this wig online and when it arrived, I didn’t love it. It was giving more live action Mad Hatter than Marilyn Monroe. I decided to skip the wig and just wear my hair in a sleek bun which I think ultimately suited the style of the dress better anyway.

So anyway, I came across that wig, and as you can see in the progress photos below, it was definitely serving Carrot Top by that point, after being tossed in a bag for a few years. So I set about trying to make it work for Scully.

First up I steamed out all of the curls so I was left with a straight base to work with. Then I put it in rollers and steamed it and let it sit overnight to cool. Next day I took out the curlers and brushed them out, curling the edges of my hand to get the “flip under” hair style. I pinned the front forehead edge back and steamed it also to get it to have a little bit of a “bump” there.

After having it sit in my work office for a few days like that, I decided I didn’t love the finished look and redid it all. I was satisfied with it at that point… until I tried it on.

It was WAY too big on me and WAY too long. I’m glad I tried it on! It looked like a football helmet it was so thick.

So back to the drawing board — I steamed it out again to straighten it, and then first cut about an inch to an inch and a half off to shorten it. Then I went through with thinning shears and probably removed half the hair from this wig to make it look less “helmet” and more like natural hair.

Once that was done, it was back in the curlers to be steam-set again. Once again I brushed the curls out, brushing them over my hand to get the curl under, and again steamed the front up a bit.

Overall I was pretty happy with how it turned out, considering where it started.

Definitely going to have to try to get some better pics of this in the future. I didn’t really think about it at con.

                       

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Please note that none of these costumes are for sale! This is my personal portfolio. Thanks!