Costume Con in Toronto

I'm so excited ... Betsy Burger and I are going to Costume Con 32 in Toronto at the end of the month.  I haven't attended a Costume Con since the one in Baltimore, Maryland five year ago.

The photo above is from Costume Con 23 in Ogden, Utah when one of my patterns was used for the single pattern competition.  It was really, really fun to see the creative variations on this pattern I made.  I made up one for myself in green, very similar to the sample on the pattern envelope.  But, look at what these ladies did!

But, let me tell you what an eye opener attending my first Costume Con, the one in Atlanta, Georgia in 2004, was.  I had NO idea of the creative stuff people were doing, or how my patterns were being used.  This is when I learned about LARP (live action role playing) and understood why folks needed costumes that could be moved about in, not just worn standing like a model.

Here's the group of Historical Costume competitors from that year. Look at the beautiful work. You can see photos of all the Costume Con competitions back to Costume Con 2 in 1984 at the visual gallery at the main Costume Con website.  Costuming has come a LONG way in the last 30 years, for sure.

So, Betsy Burger and I joined in the fun the following year in Ogden, Utah.  They had a Victorian Pool party.

We, also, dressed Victorian to attend one of the competitions held at the historic Egyptian theater there.  And had a lot of fun meeting people and LEARNING.

A few years passed and the next one I attended was close to home in Baltimore Maryland, Costume Con 27. This was the first time Simplicity sent costumes samples so I could give everyone a sneak peek at some patterns soon to be released. Here I am with Mary Alice Ladd, who is modeling my Tudor gown with the underpinnings under.  And if you are familiar with this pattern you will notice Simplicity forgot to send the underskirt, so I had to slip stitch the outer skirt closed in the front so the farthingale wouldn't show!

This is where I saw one of my favorite steampunk dresses, made and worn by a very talented costumer from Canada (sorry don't have the name).  This dress did all sorts of tricky things.  The was a button on the sleeve that made the apron lift up.  Under the apron were organizer pockets for all the things that would be kept in a purse, such as a cell phone, lipstick, driver's license, etc ... if I remember correctly.  I loved it.

There was a lot of great Steampunk at that Con.

Here is a group of lovely volunteer models wearing the Simplicity's sexy OZ costumes.

And here am I being terrified by this cuddly Werewolf wearing one of my designs.

I'm going this year because this pattern for this Werewolf was chosen for the Single Pattern competition and I will be judging ... can't wait to see what people do with it.

I will also be giving a few panels and doing what I always do, just enjoying talking to people and being amazed by the creative and beautiful work.

I hope to see many of you there.  Please introduce yourself to me.