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The Agony of Dragon Con

The Agony of Dragon Con

September 10, 2015 /

I call this, “The Agony of Dragon Con”

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My Costume History, Day 99: Scarlet Witch from Mar

My Costume History, Day 99: Scarlet Witch from Marvel Comics, made for MidSouthCon 2008

The first half of 2008 was busy - I was knee-deep in wedding planning, and that took up most of my free time (and budget). So my costume projects took a backseat. But there was still a few simple things I wanted to do - and one of those was Scarlet Witch, a costume I’d been wanting to do for a while.

I realized I could put this together fairly easy out of bought and modified pieces. I bought the corset on ebay (more on that in a minute), the bodysuit from River’s Edge dancewear (it was originally white, I dyed it pink), bought the swimsuit bottoms from somewhere (and dyed it to match my red spandex fabric parts better), bought the boots online and made boot covers for them out of my red spandex, and bought the red gloves online (dyed them to match my other reds better).

Once I had all of my parts assembled, the red leather corset I’d bought just didn’t look right - against all of my other red parts, it was too dark - it looked brown. So I just covered it in the same red spandex I used for my boots, sewing it in place on the inside and cutting openings for the hook and eyes to fit through.

I made the cape out of some red matte satin with a hook and eye at the neck. Chase made my tiara, and I wore my Belle wig with it.

I was really happy with how it turned out! I wore it at MidSouthcon 08, and also took it to Dragoncon later that year. Wanted to bring it back to Dcon in 2009, but I updated it, switched out the full pink bodysuit for new pink tights.

It was one of the earliest costumes we shot on the white backdrop in 2009 and I still love the shots from that shoot. Unfortunately in 2010 the tiara cracked and broke, so it was out of circulation for a while.

In the excitement of Wandavision in 2021, I got this costume back out, cleaned it up, and finally made a new tiara! This one is made of EVA foam and fitted to a headband. Filmed some content with it, and when I made my Wandavision suit later that year, did some more “transformation” style videos with both. Still love this costume and glad I have 3 Wanda looks in rotation!

My Costume History, Day 98: Belle’s Libary dress f

My Costume History, Day 98: Belle’s Libary dress from Beauty & the Beast, made for MidSouthCon 2008

Since I’d already done 3 out of 4 of Belle’s costumes, I needed to complete the collection with her library. I’m surprised I didn’t do this one earlier, since green is my fav color!

I picked up a green velveteen and 2 green satins at Hancock - one of the satins is a little lighter than the other, and that’s the one I used for the sleeves, with the darker one for the shoulder puffs and skirts. I would’ve preferred something a little less shiny, but I was working with what I could find locally.

Made the bodice with some spiral steel boning and it laces up the back - the sleeves are attached to it, and the skirt is separate - the skirt is joust a bunch of rectangles pleated down to fit on a waistband. Wore it over one of my old petticoats.

I actually finished this early enough that I planned to debut it at Con Nooga a month earlier. I put it on at the con and the sleeves wouldn’t stay in place. I had a little crash out in the hotel room and took it off and wore something else - I decided I needed to figure that out before I wore it. Brought it home added some straps in the back that help hold the sleeve puffs up and in place.

It finally got its debut at MidSouthCon 2008, and overall I was fairly happy with the end result. We did the white backdrop shoot with it in 2014 (with my later Belle wig) and I really haven’t done much else with it since - beyond having it out for a few tiktok videos back in 2019/2020 when I did my historical-inspired take on the library dress - but that’s a story for way later.

I would like to remake this one day with some nicer fabrics. It’s one of those projects I keep in the back of my mind whenever I’m fabric shopping, in case I come across green fabrics that speak to me...

The phone photo vs the photo @chasingphotography t

The phone photo vs the photo @chasingphotography takes with his real camera at photoshoots 😹

Just me and my gazillion emotional support Princes

Just me and my gazillion emotional support Princess Leia costumes

Queen of Naboo / Queen of Alderaan When we shot m

Queen of Naboo / Queen of Alderaan

When we shot my Breha Organa costume at this location in 2024, I realized I had some matching shots of my Queen Amidala post senate gown from 2018 and of my Queen Amidala parade gown from 2005.

My Costume History Day 97: Village Belle from Beau

My Costume History Day 97: Village Belle from Beauty and the Beast, version 2, for Halloween 2007

You can go back and see version 1 from Dragoncon 2006 in my “casual costume” roundup from a few days ago - it was a quick change version I made for a skit that never happened, and because of that, it was pretty wonky, especially in the back where it was entirely velcro. I never wore it.

So I wanted to make a real version the next year. The basic dress I made out of blue cotton, modifying a dress pattern. Made the blouse out of white cotton, using a peasant blouse pattern. The apron was just a square of fabric I pleated down to fit on a waistband. Used my same Belle ballgown wig, just in a low ponytail (made the bow out of leftover fabric), and bought the shoes at target.

I debuted it at Nashville Comic Fest in 06, a week or so before Halloween, and then also wore it Halloween night. It was fine. I didn’t love it. It felt frumpy - I wish I hadn’t done a full thick cotton blouse underneath the dress. And having the whole thing be cotton - it was just kinda stiff, yknow?

So I didn’t wear it again. I wanted to remake it. AGAIN. It didn’t even get a white backdrop shoot - I was going to do one before I sold it, but when I got it out, the white blouse was gone. I have no idea where it went. So all I had was the blue dress and apron. I sold those pieces to a new home, but I did keep the white apron for version 3, because I had no beef with that part LOL

We’ll talk about version 3 in a few weeks!

My Costume History Day 96: Kingdom Come Wonder Wom

My Costume History Day 96: Kingdom Come Wonder Woman from DC Comics, for Dragoncon 2007

From my earliest days of costuming, this was my dream costume. But I was so stumped by the helmet. When Chase and I went on our first date, we talked dream costumes and I brought this up - and he said, oh we can make that.

We attemped it for Dragoncon 06 - but quickly realized we were not going to have time with everything else going on, and him living 3 hours away. So after he moved here in 07, we picked it up again for Dcon that year.

He sculpted the helmet from scratch - cast it, painted it and made the chin section out of plastic - it’s removable and velcros in. The wings we made by blowing up a reference of the action figures’ wings life-size and using it as a pattern to cut the shape out of insulation foam, and then carving the feathers into it same as the action figure. They slide onto a sort of “backpack” I wear underneath the bodice.

The bodice and skirt I made out of a gold garment-weight leather. The bodice is boned and laces up the back, and it has segmented shoulder panels and the “WW” symbol” is glued on. I had wanted to applique it, but the stitches made it look weird. I do wish I’d come up with a better way to do it, because it just kinda blends in. The skirt is two layers and attached to waistband. The belt I bought and added the painted buckle to. The flag cape I made and it velcros onto the shoulders with 2 metal discs.

The shinguards Chase sculpted and cast, and they velcro on. I bought the sandals, and the shield is a metal sled with a big decal we had printed.

I LOVED how this turned out. It’s still one of my all time fav costumes. I feel so cool wearing it! It’s a lot to handle wearing though, between the wings, the helmet, and having my hands full with the spear and shield. I did wear it to a few more cons, including Superman Celebration 09 - where my wing harness backpack broke as we were taking it off end of the day. And I’ve never fully fixed it. That’s why I’ve never shot it on the backdrop - that, and I’d like to do some clean up and maybe update that “WW” on the bodice. I’m really hoping to do all that this year and get it shot!

My Costume History Day 95: Princess Leia’s Boushh

My Costume History Day 95: Princess Leia’s Boushh disguise from Star Wars, for Dragoncon 2007

I was not planning to do Boushh in 2007. I figured it would be the last Leia I did. But Chase came across someone selling the stuff they’d collected to make a Boushh, basically an entire unfinished kit... and we decided why not. We bought it and got to work.

Chase did all of the “hard parts” - assembling the helmet, the shoulder armor, backpiece, assembling the bandolier. I focused on the soft parts. I made the tunic out of suede, the undershirt is built around t-shirt - I added the suede neck panel to it. Made the gauntlets out of suede with the spikes added. The gloves were vintage that I bought online and dyed. The boots I had, I covered them in some faux suede I culled from some pillow cases, and made the uppers out of the same faux suede with batting on the inside and cotton lining to get the quilted look.

The pants were a pain - the leather I got for them had the look I wanted, but it was SUPER thick. I broke so many needles getting these things made LOL. The knee section of the pants was my favourite part - I really wanted to get that part right, because I just really liked that texture.

I debuted it at Dragoncon 07, wore it in the parade, which was a CHOICE. I didn’t realize how sweaty I was until I took it off LOL And then I never wore it again. So serious. All that work and money to wear it once.

But part of the reason for that is that not long after, I traded my finished helmet for a Master Replicas thermal detonator. Chase wanted to upgrade my helmet anyway, so seemed like a good deal. So here I was for years with no helmet but I did have a cool thermal detonator LOL. I did do a white backdrop shoot of it in 2012/2013 with no helmet so I had some more pics.

In 2017 we finally bought a new helmet kit - which has sat unfinished in my closet ever since. But the helmet saga is not over, because in 2024 I got the RS Propmasters Boushh helmet. It is GORGEOUS. I finally got to do a proper white backdrop shoot WITH a helmet at long last - and now I need to start updating the rest of it. Got a lot to do and I’ll be doing it in bits and pieces as I can!

My Costume History Day 94: Princess Leia’s Endor G

My Costume History Day 94: Princess Leia’s Endor Gear from Star Wars, for Dragoncon 2007

Next in my mission to make all of Leia’s costumes, it was time to update my rebel briefing room Leia uniform to include the Endor Gear.

First thing I did was I wanted to update some of the uniform underneath. I hated the pants, so I replaced them with new, softer, better fitting pants I made out of a stretch knit. Also made a belt and Chase made a new holster and pouch for it for me.

The helmet was 2 parts - the “donut” section was from a run on the RL forums. Chase painted and weathered it for me. The interior fitted helmet is a vintage flying helmet - I made the quilted section for the top out of some khaki cotton, and made the bill out the same cotton with some interfacing.

The poncho was the drama. I bought some sort of heavy cotton canvas-y fabric for it at Hancock, came home, and got it made. It went together easily, and I was really happy with it! I took it outside and started throwing dye on it. Well, I wasn’t happy with the results of that, so I... don’t wag your fingers at me, I bleached it and started over. Redid the dye, was happy with it this time, hung it outside to dry, and when I went to get it, it shredded like tissue paper in my hands. OOPS.

So back to the store for more fabric - they didn’t have the exact same thing anymore, so I got something close and started over. Version 2 wasn’t as good because I rushed it, both making it and dyeing it. But I got it finished and debut it at Dragoncon 07.

I never really wore it anywhere else though, because the helmet made it hard to hear people and I wanted to redo parts. Namely I wanted to completely remake that uniform underneath, which we’ve already talked about, and I wanted to replace the rushed poncho. I did shoot it on the backdrop in 2012 so I had some better pics of it, and I’ve had it out for videos and other stuff in the last few years. But still haven’t gotten around to that remake - even though I’ve had EVERYTHING I need to remake the poncho and the uniform since 2019! Will I finally do it in 2027? Only time will tell...

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