comicon costumes

I started working on our costumes for both the Dallas and Houston Comicons this weekend.  

Dallas Comicon: Firefly

For the Dallas comicon we'll be dressing up as Firefly cast members: Rob as Cpt. Mal, me as Kaylee, Seth as Dr. Simon Tam, and Sarah as River Tam.  It's actually pretty perfect if you know us.  We're ignoring the fact that Kaylee and Simon have a thing for each other and of course the kids haven't ever seen the show.  All we've told them is that Simon and River are brother and sister and they are happy with that.

Since we are staying at Comicpalooza for two days, Sylvan needed a Wash costume.  You can't see it, but there's a tiny dinosaur sticker on his Hawaiian shirt.

Houston:  doctor who

For the Houston comicon we'll be dressing up as Doctor Who cast members: Rob as Doctor 4 Tom Baker, me as Sarah Jane, and originally, Sylvan as K-9.  However, I decided that he really wouldn't be very happy running around all day in a box with suspenders, so I changed him to a Cyberman.  He still gets to be all in silver just with more freedom of movement.  Plus he likes the idea of getting to fight Rob.

Naturally we already had several items in our closets that would work for our various characters, but there were many things we still needed which required a shopping spree.  We went to all 4 Waco Goodwills and the Salvation Army in our quest for the perfect items and we had a lot of success.  So far I've spent about $70.00 on pieces for 6 of our 7 costumes. 

The two major items that we are still missing are Tom Baker's scarf and Kaylee's military OD mechanic overalls.   There were a ton of TB scarves in Hot Topic over Christmas but now there are none.  I found a source on Etsy where a crafty woman will custom knit you one in a week.  Waco has an Army/Navy surplus store so I may try there although I've already found a couple of different options on EBay.  I really hate to buy clothes online where I can't try the thing on first to make sure it's going to fit.  Plus I have no idea of the weight or hand of the garment and I have pretty sensitive skin and no desire to be hot all day while wearing it.

Sylvan's Cyberman costume is finished.  I've gotten him a different helmet already and all we have to do now is paint his face the day of the event.  He's very happy with it. 

I hadn't been able to find anything for Sarah Jane that both fit me, was 1970's enough and the right fall color palette, so I decided to go ahead and make a dress.  This would normally not be a big deal since I had the perfect fabrics in stock.  Unfortunately they are remnants so there's no room for error. Sarah Jane was not curvy and the jumper she's wearing is a straight band across the bust so I have to figure out what that's going to look like on my double D chest.  I found a great sundress pattern but wanted to make it up in some other fabric first just to make sure it was going to fit me. The pattern I found had both a straight band around the bust option as well as a halter top option.  All the pieces are the same except one, the bodice front.  I had plenty of this fabric which screams 70's and is slinkier than the remnants.  Here's what it looks like all cut out and pinned to the mannequin.  This afternoon I got the lining put in the bodice and did most of the understitching until I ran out of bobbin thread and it was time to pick up the kids anyway.  Assuming this version works out I will then go make the real one.  Check back for updates.

Here's the second and real version of my Sarah Jane dress.  All it needs now is a zipper and a hem.