What Not to wear ECCC 2019; I Learned How To Make A Gif today

Since there was no Doctor Who/Anglicon this December, I have slept through a lot of cosplay thinking. But better cosplay comes from planning and materials testing, so best to get a move on.

I love this coat. I really do. I am very curious as to what is going on around the neck,   "Ishtar Statement coat" from Idaretobeme.com. I'd link it but the site looks dodgy as heck, thus this screen shot. 

It wants to be a Dalek coat. It does.

However, I want to be clear: I don't always want to dress up like the villain.

Alphonse Elric, 

of FullMetal Alchemist

Alphonse is a set of armor that has...oh never mind. He's got a backstory a mile long. I love him, and he's a sweet character in a fun show, everyone will recognize him, everyone loves him.......but this costume is a long day on the floor. I've seen several cosplays of the full armor set, but never ever on the floor. You would not be able to see out of it. You could pose in the lobby, moving slowly. For an hour.

There is no un-escorted trip to the bathroom in this costume.

It needs a team.

It's an Adam Savage kind of thing. He has a team to make sure he doesn't get stuck in a doorway or fall down and be unable to get back up.

One of many many Savage builds

https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_savage_my_love_letter_to_cosplay

The thing about cosplay is you are dressing up as something you 

1) love

2) can make

3) can wear

4) can visit with other people in cosplay they love

It would be nice to be have all four.

I know there's a way to make Alphonse into a wearable item.

There are some beautiful variations on this theme

http://www.darlingarmy.com/alchemists-brother-cosplay-pinafore/

Her stuff is gorgeous, this is just a sample.

I am considering a hoodie.

One example I would not revisit.

The Dalek Onesie

 I was cuddly. No one hugged me.
Also, bathroom inconvenient 

Which reminds me......

I am not an evil robot from outer space

but I do love the Daleks of Doctor Who.

And they have a new one!

WARNING: at this point, we wander into a black hole of BBC silliness.

There's no sewing past here. Thanks for visiting.

 All these photos are screen grabs from the BBC website.
From a two minute video.
These are only a few I snatched.

Human for scale. Puny human

There's so much welding for texture

Lookit all the welds! Ooooooooh

 Also, the eyestalk is like a flower.....you don't see that?
Huh.

Fine. Be that way.

Okay, that red glow is CGI. I'm not going to get that.

Big deets: the half balls are different sizes!

 Second exciting welding sequence this year (lots of sparks). Thus all the weldy bits.

I bet I can identify which Montana shade that can is.

Scrap metal. Gun. 

Its little arms are like a t rex!

And then that black ball in the center drops back and a missile comes out of it and blows up a tank! Having a ray gun is just not enough these days.

This just made me laugh so hard, I had to make a GIF of it.

This gif is not mine, but it does explain how other girls get to be Daleks

And then she builds a shell for it. 
The new season has a lot of welding.

Dalek infected person doesn't wear goggles while welding

The Doctor wears goggles when she welds. That's how you can tell she's good.

That is a proper ray gun.

And that's how I spent my evening.

I could not be happier.

And if you need a primer on the pals, this will catch you up. Kinda Snarky about Davros, but what can you say if you're not a pepperpot?

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news/?article=a-brief-history-of-the-daleks

https://youtu.be/hVwXa4MnJDs

Am I any closer to what I'm going to make?

No.

Anglicon 2017 I'm going, dash it all!

I have missed this Northwest event every year since I heard about it, because it was in the summer and summer is just full of stuff.
When they announced that it would be in the winter, I reserved right away.

I have to face the fact that all my Dr Who costumes are Dalek. For those who don't care, The Daleks are probably the most recognized villains from the show. They are "mutants in mechanical shells" that shoot death rays and speak in a mechanized voice and got a significant upgrade in the rebooted series.
They used to roll. Now they fly.

They are the only Whovian villain NOT entirely owned by the BBC. Contractually speaking, they belong to the estate of Terry Nation, and get their own credit as such. It is rumored that they do not appear in the first episodes of the reboot because their contract was still being negotiated.

Now THAT is a villain!

I'm kinda invested in them. I almost started a Dalek formal ballgown the other day, and then the sheer amount of time and money that whim would involve caught up with me.

Me and the Dalek at EMP  MoPop! 

Fifth Avenue Dalek

The fascinator doesn't read very well, it needs a bigger base, but I'm going without it. And man, I look so pissed off here. I'm not a good unfriendly Dalek. I can't go mean.

I also fail at the Dalek weaponry.

The paint roller weapon cannot readily be made from a paint roller. The paint roller handle is very very thick (so it won't bend while you roll) and there's no point in wasting time on cutting or bending it. The roller caps, however,are a good model for how to build one from plastic bottle caps and coat hangers (my chosen media)

I like to think of this as Dalek Accountant. A little Seventh Doctor in the hat, a little 12th in the Paul Smith flipback hem (and yes, that's an Issey Miyake jacket V1664),  and a whole lot of "I should be carrying a briefcase"

Will take the onesie. Jammie time.

The sundress works well under thermal underwear in winter. This was 2016 Halloween.

The shirt was my beta test item for Spoonflower's 2015 Sew Shirt, their 'cut and sew' which turned into Sprout Patterns.

And the self-drafted culottes. I will put the pattern up online someday, but if you stare at this, you get it. It's one piece, it's pretty simple. 

I am not the Perfect Whovian. I have....never seen a Pertwee episode. All we got here on West Coast television in my tender youth was Tom Baker and David Tennant's father in law. The latter will be at this said event. Also Sylvester McCoy, who I adore from many other things. Big doin's! I am looking forward to fist fights about #13 being a lady and all. I've got my plunger ready and I'm spoilin' for a fight.

---
I went, I had a lovely time.
Sylvester McCoy made a comment about the Whovian fans, that they were the most inclusive lot he'd ever seen in the pop culture convention world. And it's true; there are more differently abled folks in the ranks, more entire families (three or four generations) in attendance, and there was no guff, no rolled eyeballs, no fights.

There was patience for the newer fans, and abundant love for the younger ones and those with a different language or perception of it.

And I'm sorry that I don't have a picture of the Tardis lady chasing her toddler time lord, but I don't take photos without asking, and they were in a hurry.

And this would have been very appropriate.

I stole this from Roisin at Dolly Clackett. Love you.

Simplicity 8276 The Dalek Onesie

Four yards of Spoonflower printed cotton knit, three yards of cheap poly knit lining, zipper by the yard and two days later

Yes, I made one. A Dalek onesie. 

The huggable, lovable exterminatin' Doctor Who villain!

I do love a mashup. It's true. I can't do anything straight out; it has to have a twist to it, or I just can't pay attention.

I made no weapons for this one. Because my weapon is LOOOOOOOVE.

(ew)

The cotton spandex jersey shrank three inches in the wash/dry (this is the one yard piece. No idea about the shrinkage in the three yard piece in the other print. Same fabric so I assume roughly the same ratio).

I needed to shorten the whole garment anyway by four inches, not just two, so it worked out just barely

Attaching the center panel to the sides in a knit would be tricky.

Wonder tape sticks to this knit (it doesn't like texture) so WonderTape! to attach, then stitch.

My initial thought was that a minky fabric would be too heavy, so go with a cotton knit. Which is too lightweight (perhaps if it were a darker print in a slicker fabric this would work) so it needs lining.

This is the cheapest poly knit I can find. Thanks Pacific Fabrics for keeping the lights on for my emergencies.

I sewed a center zipper instead of the button overlap in the pattern. I sewed the lining to the fabric for the front and the back at the seams.

I added a crotch zipper for convienience. Sewed the crotch together to sew that. Then shoulders. Then sleeves. Then pockets to sides, adding seam tape to prevent total stretchout for pockets (woven pockets, larger than ones indicated).

I was going too fast to take a lot of photos. I thought I took more.

I changed out the hood to a two piece model, cribbed from this model

Two side pieces and a center panel make a hood that is easier to wear and see out of. 

The directional nature of the print made the layout more exciting than usual (yes, I flubbed a sleeve and recut). It's about a 6" repeat print. I did print a fat quarter of matching cream colored knit for the hood.

You can't see the ears. They are there.

Lined the hood with the 'vent' fabric, also used it for cuffs at wrists and ankles.

Now for the pattern review.

It goes together well enough, the instructions are clear enough, I did not use their ear patterns but they are similar enough. The tails on the photographed models are being held by the models because they will need more support than the seams will give them - they will be dragging badly.

You can hang them with a string from further up the seam 

The legs are in the wrong places, but the process is valid enough. Strings!

. The center section is over a yard tall straight from the envelope, and the other pieces eat up a lot of length, so alter first and buy yardage second.

My biggest issue is the width between the legs.

To get the design to read properly, I'm standing with my feet about two feet apart in this photo. I don't do that very often; I had hip replacement surgery about ten years ago, and it's just not a natural stance.

Probably not for you either.

I just don't think so. And pardon my lack of Converse high tops; they don't fit my wide feet anymore

Yes, I look silly. I also have my feet closer together and the center is pretty baggy and foldy. Doesn't read really well. 

All the poses are ...awkward to hold for any amount of time.

There's a lot of fabric in this pattern. I knew how ridiculous this was going to be, and I am happy with it for that. If I were looking at this for a lounging pajama, I'd.....change that up.

So, in the field, how'd I do?

Whenever I stood with my feet apart, people recognized what I was.

When I didn't, I got the usual "I see that you are dressed specially for this event, but what you are is beyond me" glance. "That's a Doctor Who thing, right? You always do Dr Who, right?"

I got a few 'oh...wait...I know you're....oh yeah!' and one "OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO CUTE!" bear hug. I did get more smiles from little kids, because clearly I was in my pajamas as well as they were.  Which is about what I thought.

This is going to get more wear next winter at the Anglicon weekend in December, and will be perfect for the hotel sleepover breakfast lounging. Dalek casual.

As for convention floor wear, it gets pretty warm pretty fast. Not as awful as a suit of EVA foam armor or a Chewbacca fur suit (they faint, but luckily the padding helps the landing), but not as comfortable as it would appear.

As for the restroom issue: a zip crotch would need to run from ankle to ankle to pull up the bottom and be fully functional. My zipper was not long enough. Dropping the top in a stall involved managing a lot of fabric you'd like to keep off the floor. It was really tricky.

Frankly, a robe would be easier.

And I met a customer in the field!

I did not get her name or permission to post online, so I have removed the face of this fine human being (with some super Doctor Who tattoos) but that fabric on her dress is another of my Spoonflower prints. 

As ever, I had a wonderful time talking with other cosplayers, comic book artists and more comic book artists. I bought art from great people. A wonderful time was had.

And did I go to SewExpo?
Unless I go tomorrow morning and blow off my familial obligations: 
Nope. There just aren't enough hours in the week anymore.