Doctor Lady & Blast Hardcheese
Source: Space Mutiny
Made for: Dragoncon 2026
Journal Entries: Read more at my Space Mutiny tag
Related Costumes: Roxy (Eegah), Dr Forrester
Patterns Used: Simplicity 8201 (skirt), Kwik Sew< 3793/A> (pants), Simplicity 8670 (leotard)
Dr Lea Jansen/”Doctor Lady”:
I decided I wanted to do this costume earlier in the year – thought it would be easy to put together and a fun little downtime costume at Dragon Con. While we were in LA back in March, I picked up all of the silver fabric as well as a really cool sparkly gradient pink-to-lavender spandex for the leotard. The fabric for the leotard wasn’t accurate, but I liked how sparkly it was and thought it would be a fun little thing to add to it.
I started out with the leotard – I pulled out Simplicity 8670 to use for it, since it had a front zipper. I tested it out with some scrap spandex and it just needed a few tweaks to fit right. I moved on to my fancy fabric and… my machine ate it. Dragged it down and got it stuck in the feed dogs. I cleared it out, rethreaded and my machine WOULD NOT ADVANCE. It would just sew in one spot and make a giant birds nest on the under side. I took everything apart, cleaned it out, rethreaded again, got a new bobbin, everything – still messed up.
I had JUST taken it in for a tune up the week before, so Chase took it back to the shop for me since it’s right by where he works. They looked at it, said I was using the wrong bobbin size (spoiler alert: I was not), but they got it running again. Got it home and I started on the leotard again, and it did the SAME THING. Just totally bricked.
I went through this song and dance 3 times before I threw the fancy fabric away and ordered some plain lilac spandex on etsy and started over! Clearly, that fabric was cursed! Machine worked fine from them on out!
So back at it, I lined the new spandex layer in my mock-up layer, and installed a black zipper down the front I got online. I added the collar – it’s 3 layers, an inner layer of black jumbo spandex, an interior layer of canvas for shaping, and an outer layer of the silver fabric. The shoulder gauntlets I made the same way – interior canvas for support, and sandwiched between layers of the silver fabric and sewn onto the sleeve openings.
For the skirt, I used Simplicity 8201 which was pretty darn good right out of the box. I did the same construction process here – I flatlined a layer of the silver fabric with white canvas, and that was my main fabric. Lined in the same silver fabric. Put a zipper in the back.
Originally, I had made a silver waistband for this and had it partially sewn on before I was looking at references again and realized it’s actually black (or there’s two? There was variations in the screenshots, it’s hard to tell.) So I took the silver one off and replaced it with a black jumbo spandex waistband that closes with a hook and eye.
I decided to just attach the belt buckle to this instead of having a separate belt. Bought the silver blank belt buckle online and added velcro to the back so it just velcros in place. I could tell there was SOMETHING on the buckle but it was impossible to tell what – so I came up with the idea of just putting the MST3k theater silhouette on it. Found a file on thingiverse and Chase reshaped and edited it down to fit my buckle and glued it on for me.
My boots were some I bought used on ebay back in 2003 for my Morrigan costume. I thought they were great for this, I’m pretty sure they are 80s/early 90s. So even though they are old, I knew they were real leather so they should be fine. I finally dug them out of storage the night before we left for the con, only to find the plastic heel caps had rotted off, leaving just little pegs left behind. I had to just make do with a quick fix using stuff I had – some EVA foam and leather. After our first outing Friday night at Dragon Con, they were both just barely hanging on, so I pulled them off and replaced them with some sticky back velcro. This worked better – it gave me some better grip on tile floors! But they’ll be going off to a cobbler for an actual fix in the future, along with another pair of my old boots.
The wig I bought from Wig is Fashion – out of the box it was a very long Cersei-esque look with bangs. I cut a lot off, cut some more bangs in, and curled and teased it all. First time ever doing “mall bangs” even though I was the prime age for them in that era LOL. I was really happy with how the wig turned out – even though the wig cap is insanely small. Like I have a tiny head, I’ve never encountered a wig cap too small for me? Until now. I have to put it on and pin it very carefully or the front pulls back.
Finally I bought a little kids space blaster toy online – it makes a fun light show when you press the trigger. I was going to paint it, but was like, y know what, who cares LOL. It was a lot of fun to point this at Chase’s shiny outfit and make lights go everywhere.
Dave Ryder/Blast Hardcheese:
I was completely shocked and tickled when Chase said he’d like to be Big McLargeHuge with me when I said I was going to do the Doctor Lady costume! YAY!
His suit is made out of the same silver from my skirt – the silver spandex I picked up in LA. His pants are made from a basic pajama pants pattern, with an elastic waist. I should’ve given him pockets but didn’t think about it.
For the top, I used a t-shirt of his as a guide to cut out the basic shape, then took it in as needed. Before I sewed the front to the back, I made the lightning bolt applique – I found the blue holographic spandex online and got a yard of it, which was plenty to cut two of these. Why two? Because I accidentally cut the first one backwards LOL. I tacked the lightning bolt into place by hand, and then went over it with the machine. Once that was sewn on, I sewed the front to the back and just finished the bottom and armholes by turning them over. Added the collar, which was just a rectangle and has no opening/closure because it’s all stretchy.
The hardest part was the big shoulder gauntlets. I patterned out a shape out of paper, then constructed it the same way I did my own – top layer of silver spandex flat-lined with canvas, and then a lining of the silver spandex. However, since these were so much bigger, they needed more than the canvas to stand up. So I sewed in 3 channels along the edge and put some plastic boning in. This worked fine, but I had to install the boning before sewing them to the shirt, so once I had these weird shaped solid pieces, I had to maneuver it all through my machine LOL
He forgot to buy a belt til the week before Dragon Con. It kept getting delayed, again and again. Finally Sunday night before we left I was like, this belt is not showing up so I need to make something NOW while I still can. I quickly cut a built out of my leftover jumbo black spandex. It’s two layers of it sewn together and it velcros in the back. The front “buckle” was the first 3d print of my Lothal Princess Leia belt buckle, velcroed on LOL. It’s not perfect – it wants to kind of slump over – but it’s not bad for a last minute project.
Bought the wig online and the boots are his Vader boots. He made the flame thrower out of some pipe and 3d printed parts.
History:
So when we first wore these Friday night at Dragon Con, we got recognized by 2 people and I was just having kind of a shitty night anyway for reasons unrelated to con. I didn’t want that dark cloud to be left over my memory of these costumes, so Chase said let’s wear them again one more time in the weeken. We carved out some time for them Sunday afternoon, and I’m SOOO glad we did because that day, we were getting recognized non stop and our pics got shared in multiple MST3K/rifftrax sites. The comment sections were HILARIOUS and totally turned my outlook on these costumes around. I’m so happy they were well received. I would’ve been ok if they hadn’t been – it was something I wanted to do for myself, but it’s nice to have them be appreciated.
Please note that none of these costumes are for sale! This is my personal portfolio.