New York Comic Con 2009

Thursday and Friday:
I've always lived close to NYC, except this year. So in order to pick up our badges early on Thursday, our 5-hour journey began bright and early. It was worth it to get the badges early and just waltz in the rest of the weekend.

Next Stop, New York Comic Con

Hope to see another great turnout at this year's con. Be sure to look for the strange quartet of Shadow Cat, the Action Man, a sorta Red Lantern outfit, and an unamused civilian .
I will be sure to post tons of photos upon my return.

Rorschach

Rorschach Watchmen

Come on now comic fans, who wouldn't want to be Rorschach? I got wind this past fall that one of my old pals was planning to be Rorschach for Halloween, but was in desperate need of a mask. How could I not help out?
Normally, I would think this would pretty simple, but Ryan (our future Rorschach) is a huge tall man, with a large head to go with it. So I was concerned about squashing his giant melon, and wanted to ensure his comfort. He obliged me with a long list of requested measurements, which I used to make the mask. I made it out of spandex, even though it would be hot to wear, it would mold best around someone's head. I took Peat's advice and used the inkblot design of a dead dog's head, replicating it on my computer to the proper size. I transferred this design to the fabric with the help of my light box, and carefully, and slowly painted in the design with Jacquard fabric paint. They make great paint that can be applied in many different ways and then heat set.

Robin

Robins
Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown
Materials: Lots of cotton interlock, spandex

This past year Peat and I were invited to a Brooklyn Halloween party, where we would get to see many of our dear friends. We, of course, decided to go, but that left a big question. What to wear? Peat has always been a fan of Robin, in his many forms, but I am not. But he's beginning to grow on me. Also, I could not resist going in couple's costumes, and making two of the same thing essentially would simplify things for me.

Sinestro
from The Green Lantern

After spending the day with us all tricked out in our rocking Venture Brothers costumes at the NYCC, my pal Mario asked me to make him a Sinestro-inspired track jacket.

Who am I to argue? I didn't know who Sinestro was, but I soon learned. Mario let me know what details of the costume he wanted to include, and omit. Then I came up with a simplified design of Sinestro's costume.

I made this last summer out of cotton (black) and a cotton/rayon blend (gold). I had Mario send me one of his existing track jackets that he liked, so I could make it the correct size. I then used the specs from his jacket, and applied that to a McCall's jacket pattern that I had. I had not used piping much before this project, and it's kind of a pain!

The most difficult part was the symbol, because it had to be split in half, and have a zipper going through it. Also, the goal is to make it match up, and even and all that. Not easy, that, and all the layers of fabric and zipper do not move easily or evenly in the sewing machine. It was also not easy after I burned my forearm on my iron, but that's what I get for not being careful!

As you can see, it came out nicely, and looks just wonderful on the professional model here. But little did I know the beast I had awakened.....there are more lanterns. Therefore, the need for more jackets! Coming soon.......the Red Lantern inspired jacket.

New York Comic Con 2008 The Unveiling

The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend Visit New York Comic Con 2008

Little did I know what we (the Monarch and I) were in for at last year's comic con. Neither of us had ever been, but were very excited. We had a mission, to hopefully meet Doc Hammer and ask him to perform our marriage ceremony.

I can't really remember how the idea started, but we thought it would make for a fun wedding. Our day started well before the break of dawn and included a 2-hour train ride into the city. We traveled half-dressed, and I finished assembling us while we waited on the line to get in.

I was a little nervous, I didn't see that many costumes at first, and people were just staring. Then the photo-taking started. Must have been the first of what seemed like hundreds for what followed.

Dr. Girlfriend

Dr. Girlfriend

The Venture Brothers

Materials and Pieces:

Dress and pill box hat: lavender nylon spandex

Gloves and purse: white ponte

Boots: purchased

I started the hat in October 2007; I had very little millinery experience at the time. So with some research (thanks to my local library : )) and the help of a great millinery supply website (www.judithm.com) I was on my way. The first pillbox had frame I made was too big, so I had so start over. The hat was made entirely by hand over the course of the entire fall and winter when I got too bored or frustrated with the other aspects of other projects. Most of the information I used to make the hat came from vintagesewing.info which was just excellent for vintage pattern information, and I’m sure I will be using them again in future projects.

The gloves are made out of white garbardine, which was a poor choice of fabric because it frays and gets caught on everything, but now I know that. All of these costumes have been very valuable learning experiences, its just frustrating sometimes after putting in so much time on something like gloves, only to have the fabric giving out after one wearing, but that’s how I learn! I was also planning to make Dr. Girlfriends’s purse (again, lovely to have a place to carry things!) out of the same fabric from scratch, when I came across a purse at a garage sale that was the perfect shape and size. So I just covered that purse in the fabric. I was able to glue most of it, and was happy with the results.

The dress I originally had planned for this lavender cotton fabric I had in my possession for years. But her dress is very form fitting and the woven cotton was not hugging the way I desired, also it was a little too thin and cheap looking. So I went back to my old friend in the garment district for some nylon spandex. It was difficult to get the closure and the collar on this dress just right, again a lot of that difficulty stems from fitting on my own body, but I am happy with the end result. I put white pearl shank buttons on the outside of the dress, and gloves, while the dress is really held on with snap tape. The white boots came from….can you guess…..ebay of course. They were not exactly what I had in mind, but I decided that it was similar enough, and definitely something that Dr. Girlfriend herself would not mind wearing.