Halloween is my absolute favourite holiday!
As a kid I would start prepping months in advance, what I wanted to wear, how I would decorate, how many pumpkins I could carve (which was never many with my tiny arms and hands). And after Halloween had passed, I would put my costume back on and pretend trick or treat to all the rooms in my house. I wished Halloween could be every day of the year, this is why I got into Cosplay! Now I could dress up as my favourite characters all year round! But it just doesn't feel the same. For the past few years I have found myself missing making a costume for the purpose of wearing it just for Halloween so I have promised myself that next year, I am going to take the time and make a costume just for that! What do you enjoy about Halloween!
0 Comments
We've all been there, the night before the con, gluing and sewing some last minute details to our costumes. Staying up super late trying to get it done. Getting up early the next morning for a final touch up.
How do you avoid this?? Planning, planning, planning! If you want to avoid hitting con crunch, plan accordingly! Start early! Once you know what you are making, get your fabric and supplies as early as possible to give yourself enough time for putting it all together. Schedule days on weekends to allow yourself nothing but costume time. Plan your social events around costume days if you can. And fit in as many mini crafting sessions as you can on weeknights and around seeing friends and family. Get help from friends! If you have friends who are crafty, even if they don't cosplay, they can help you out with your costume! See if they are willing to make a trade, ie "i'll buy you lunch if you can help me glue this" So you're at the convention and things aren't going as planned...what do you do?
1. My costume ripped - Bring a cosplay repair kit, and make yourself familiar of where the cosplay repair station is on the convention floor. Since cosplay is becoming more and more popular at conventions, it's very rare that you don't find a cosplay repair spot. 2. I'm feeling faint, dizzy, sick, all of the above - Drink water, take a seat, get some fresh air, tell a buddy. Sometimes conventions can be overwhelming, and when you are in a costume they can be a lot harder to handle. You are your number one priority, not your costume, not your character. If you are not feeling well, do everything possible to remedy the situation you are in. Peel off some layers, remove your wig, find a chair to sit down, get outside away from the crowds. If you still aren't feeling well, find the first aid table and see if there is somewhere you can lay down for a bit. 3. Someone won't leave me alone, I don't feel comfortable. - Go find convention security!! This is an absolute must! Doesn't matter if you are in a costume or not, if someone is harassing you, grabbing at you or confronting you without your consent, report them! It's super important to be safe at a convention! This is another reason to bring friends with you. When you travel with multiple people, bad things are less likely to happen. Conventions are supposed to be fun for everyone, and you should feel comfortable and safe at all times. 4. My wig came apart / un-styled itself - Check out the vendor hall for the wig vendors. Usually big companies like Arda wigs will have the tools and specialists on site to help you fix your wig or re-style it. 5. My makeup is all coming off my face. - Sadly, it's hard to find vendors that sell face paint and body paint at conventions, so make sure and bring some with you in case you need a touch up! This can be a pretty simple oversight. Once when I was at a convention, my entire face and mouth was painted white. I didn't even think about this as I chowed down on a hot dog and all the paint around my mouth came off. Luckily there was one vendor that had face paint for sale, otherwise I would have been heading home early to fix my face! Convention is coming up and it's time to get ready! Here are some things you should think about before heading out.
1. Costume days! How long is your con? Do you need your costume for the whole convention? Or just specific times and events? I've found that if you have multiple days to check out the convention, it's a much better experience if you wear your costume for only half of the time you are attending. When you are in costume people will come and stop you to take photos and talk to you, so it's hard to wander around the vendors and artists alley and enjoy your time browsing or listening to that panel you wanted to see. If you plan out days for your shopping and panels and separate time to wear your costume, you'll definitely have more fun and get to see more! The plan that generally works for me is, first day: wander around and scope out the vendor hall and artist alley, figure out where the celebs are going to be sitting. If I need an autograph grab em today or on the last day if possible. Day 2: This is usually the busiest day, definitely a costume day. More people means more exposure for that incredible outfit. Day 3: If this is the second to last day of the con, I would try for wearing a costume. If it's the last day of the con, I find I won't wear a costume because I may not stay for the whole day. Find a plan that works for you! 2. What do I bring? - Without a costume: Make sure and bring a backpack and a water bottle. It's important to keep hydrated! Take some cash with you. This will limit your spending a bit to what you really want, and help you avoid those nasty banking fees from the convenient ATM's on site. - With a costume: Bring everything you would as if you didn't have your costume, but also bring a spare pair of shoes to change into, even a change of clothes if it's more comfortable. 3. Comfort You're going to be at the convention for a long period of time, at least a few hours a day. If you're going in costume, make sure it's comfortable! Ask yourself these questions: - Can I wear this for a long period of time? - Do I have good visibility? - Can I use the washroom easily? - Will my feet be sore after a short period of time? - Will I be too warm? or cold? - Do I need a "Handler"? It's always important to make sure you can get around the convention with as little assistance as possible. If you can, bring a change of clothes and shoes for yourself so you can get changed after the con, or as soon as you start feeling uncomfortable. If you are signed up for a costume contest and know that your costume will require assistance, I recommend only wearing your costume for part of the day right before the contest, so you don't tire yourself out too quickly! 4. Buddies Go with friends! This makes the convention so much better! And if you're in a costume, this gives you more people who can help you out throughout the day. 5. Transport How are you going to get to the convention? Transit? Driving? Walking? Jetpack? My advice? Choose the easiest most convenient way for you to get to the convention. If you know that you can get there on transit and comfortably wear your costume, do that. It's cheap and direct, vs driving which will cost you a bunch of money to park for the day. Make sure and plan this out long in advance and take weather and traffic into account on the day! 6. Accommodation Is your convention local? Or do you need to find hotels or an air BnB? If you need to find somewhere to stay, make sure you do it long in advance of your con. Also as a little forewarning, if you are local, but want to stay at a place that is closer to the convention centre, try to steer clear of Air BnB. A lot of them have a "no locals" policy. (Found that out the hard way for Calgary Expo). This is a great blog post I found with more awesome advice on getting yourself con ready! https://calscrafts.com/2014/06/30/troubleshooting/ Now good luck and have fun! I've mentioned before in previous blogs that Sewingpatterns.com and Printsew.com are a great resource for getting digital patterns. Well I'm here to tell you to STAY AWAY.
Printsew.com has had multiple server issues over the past few months, and just the other day the whole website seems to have been taken down. There is no "under construction page", there is no way to contact support, and if you had purchases through them, like I did...there is no way to access your account OR use the patterns you have downloaded previously because they are all locked to the printsew.com server. DO NOT BUY DIGITAL PATTERNS FROM SEWINGPATTERNS.COM |
Archives
April 2020
Categories
All
|