Sarah Jane Smith- Time Warrior/ Invasion of the Dinosaurs

Ah the costume that Re-started it all.  This costume and character has come to mean so much to me I have to tell the back story before I tell you about putting the costume together.I was in my last year of school, very stressed and in a bit of a slump. I hadn't gone to Dragon*Con in a few years and had no costumes that fit. I knew I'd be a bit sad if I didn't have something to wear.  I think I only had a few weeks till the Con to put anything together. I was whining about the fact on facebook and a friend suggested that I go as Sarah Jane as it would be easy to put together,  and since I could do it with my own hair. I loved the idea of being Sarah, but how to make sure people would know who I was suppose to be?  I had bought the Doctor Who pattern book a year ago and had always wanted to make the K-9 Bag, I thought it was the perfect chance to make something that would help to ID Sarah for other people and make the costume a little more then just store bought things.

 I used this site to go though all of Sarah Jane's costumes to pick one I could reconstruct  cheaply and quickly, but also be recognisable. I chose the Time Warrior, because  not only did I like the outfit, but it was her first costume, and except for the sweater and jacket I had everything I needed.  I worked late into the night  trying to finish K-9, the problem with him being not only was the pattern quite odd, (really everything in that book is a guide line, God knows they didn't use there own patterns to make the products pictured in it!) . I also couldn't find (for cheep enough)  a thick grey material to make him from. I ended up buying one thick material in the wrong color and one thin in the right color and sewing them both together, making for a very hard time sewing. I was also still very new to sewing and hadn't really become comfortable with it, and so got easily frustrated. But I finished (just) and posted pictures of my purse on the Crafty_Tardis LJ group, where a very nice member, who ended up become a friend I look forward to seeing every year, told me I should join the parade with the Doctor Who group. I told her I was concerned that my costume wasn't good enough because except for k-9 it was store bought clothing. She told me it didn't matter. So I joined the group and met some lovely people. They invited me out to dinner and the photo shoot and really the rest is history. I re-found my joy of costuming with them and a new track room to hang out in.

The costume itself:
  The pants where a black knit ( I know it's a brown suit now, but the very grainy copy I had of the episode and the pictures made it hard to tell. The boots where brown ones my mother had, a bit too big but they where all I had. The shirt was likewise one I had in my closet opened as wide as possible to give the look of a big collar. the sweeter was the closest I could find with a round neck (v-neck was in then) and a plaid.  I decided shape was more important then color. the jacket I found was from Goodwill,  it had a big collar on it, but was shiny, I decided that if the jacket she wore in TW and the one from IotD mated they would have had this jacket.  I curled my hair in a very 70's style do, but it was over 90F the day I wore it and my hair fell down almost at once. 

I'd love to redo the costume, and make it better and more accurate, not to mention the fact that all of the costume is about three sizes too large now. (Go me!)

Thank You Sarah Jane  you  brought me back to all of the fun! 

Amy Pond Utah Costume

  Honestly I think this  has been my fastest costume  that I've ever gotten together, even TinTin took a little while to gather all of the pieces, and I owned most of those already.  I also can't believe how much I'm enjoying being Amy, it really is a lot of fun being a girly character for once, even if she's also very popular to costume right now.

I ended up buying the shirt from Forever 21 online.  A few other Amy's had also bought the same one, and I have yet to see one that has as close a plaid print to the  real one.  I think I mentioned before that the jeans came from Target, wasn't that a lucky find, capri jeans with zipper on the side and on sale? SCORE!

I went from being alright with the wig to wondering at my good luck, while it's not all that close to her season one hairstyle it's a dead on match for her season two style. It's very fun to wear, the day that TIA showed  I wore it and the costume all day (even to get groceries), it is very comfortable . My mom was kind enough to take these pictures (I also posted them to dw_cosplay). I hadn't bought the shoes yet, but I do have them now. I found a pair of Skechers  that looked close enough for me, I also needed a new pair of walking shoes those these have been both practical and costumey (It didn't hurt that they where on sale!)  And that's that, I have more pictures soon after Time Gate with everything in place. I'd like to add as a matter of pride that I've mange to drop about 6 pounds since these pictures where taken. I'm hoping to drop another four by Timegate. Truly I've found no better motivation for losing weight then costuming :)

More Amy Pond; Angels or Utah

Amy Pond

 This one came about  by accident, I had no  thoughts about doing an Amy costume when I bought the red American Apparel hoodie last year, I just liked it. (I liked it enough to buy  it in another color too!) . I'm not really sure what has caused the desire this year, most likely  because I was pondering what I would wear in the parade since Sharaz Jek's suit bit the dust  last year. I knew I wanted to march with the Doctor Who group , and I'd thought about  bring Sarah Jane back. I was mostly looking at cheep costuming ideas, or anything I could pull together from a trip or two to Goodwill.  But still I'm not sure when I decided "Hey I'll be Amy Pond", because except for the fact I owned the real hoodie, I had none of the rest of the costume. I'm still a bit hesitant on Amy because SO many people are doing her costumes right now, but I'm starting to understand why there are so many... the clothes are fun and wearable everyday!I do need to drop a few ponds (or 10) though...

Now for this one as I've said I've already got the hoodie (otherwise I'd be adding $32 dollars to the price of my"Cheap" costume.

Grey tight leggings $5 (these are much darker in person the camera doesn't really capture the true color) at Target.

Black socks $1.50 at Target.

Skirt  the first one I bought because I could also wear it to work was 14.99, but I've since found a more accurate jean one at Goodwill for $5.

Purple/grey nail polish $2 at Wal-Mart

Now here there be monsters, or where my desire to costume does not mach my bank. I did buy the Navy Converse, ($45) although to be fair mine where getting old... really...

And now I've also bought a wig, since I have  black hair (I'm finally agreeing with the rest of the world, my hair is closer to black and not brown :)) The wig was a good buy at 21.99.  That should arrive here in April in time for Time Gate and Dragon*con.

One of these days I'm going to have to look up the word cheap because I don't seem to have a handle on it yet :)

Doctor Watson progress report one

I've only just realized that I haven't posted anything over here about my Watson costume. for shame!

The sweater of Cuddly Death is going very well. I'm  almost done with the main body of it  and soon I'll be starting the sleeves. I love this project!  I found and bought a jacket to be altered for John. It's a light weight jacket but I couldn't say no to the price , and the fact that with the sweater on I'll already be dying of heat so no need really to buy a heavier one.  I do plan on altering it to have the arm and elbow patch. I've also found the wig I want to use, although I'm still trying to figure out what color would be best for John.



 Hear you can see the finished back with the jacket. I cannot wait to show off this sweater at Dragon*Con !


 








And just for fun, I took this picture of myself  when one night on Rav. we were all posting pictures of ourselves doing Sherlock like poses.  You'll recognize the Tintin wig. The sweater was just a cotton one I had in my closet and a flannel shirt.

Phantom of The Opera 2010 Dragon*Con

 I had such a blast bringing this costume back, truely it is my favorite to wear, sure the mask is hot the make-up is messy but the feeling  you get as you prowl through the streets and  and let your cape billow cannot be equaled.
Here are a few updated pictures, there will be more to after Halloween, our theme this year is Phantom.

King Baldwin IV- Finished

 Well I mostly finished.  I'll be making changes and adding the over robe for next year but what I wanted to get done I got done before the con, go me!  I wore King Baldwin on Friday which was lots of fun, although I wish I had worn him on a later day for more pictures, so many people this year seemed to get there much later and as a result I've not found very many pictures of my costumes, in fact the only ones I do have was the one taken my my friend (who didn't tell me the front had bunched up!), and  two of me sitting down, I really need to have a photo shoot day!  I'd like to remake the mask and the head dress but  I love how the belt and the main body of the costume came out. A few people recognized the costume and called it by name so all in all I am very pleased with how this costume has come out.

Dr. John Watson's Costume (BBC Sherlock 2010)

I am still in the process of hunting down bit and pieces for a Watson costume. For me close enough is close enough, but I would like to find as close as possible without selling my soul and two cats :) I thought I’d share with you what I’ve found so far and what search words have proved the most effective.

Watson's Jacket

 We know from the GQ article were it came from, just not the exact details (brand etc.) and by the costumers own admission this coat is very expensive.  If you are looking for close enough we are all in luck! This year  the military style coat is the thing to have.  But more on that later.

 There are, to my count, at least two jackets used (not counting the pilot, or the one at the pool). They look similar but are not the same.  The one I am talking about below is the one worn the most, starting when John meets Sherlock at 221b, and is worn through the rest of the series. It is also shown in the publicity stills.

Basic description

The jacket is black with four pockets; (1) the pockets have different buttons to the jacket front. The pocket buttons are smaller than the main buttons and are metal disk (Not a sewn on, probably hammered in like you would a grommet). (2)The buttons on the front of the jacket are larger than the pocket ones and are a standard black four hole or two hole style. There are likely five of these buttons but the top one (I’m guessing) is under the lapel.  Thus far John has only buttoned up three of them.   The collar of the jacket(3) is darker and a different material then the main body and looks like a corduroy sewn on a diagonal.

There is only one shoulder pad (6) and it is on the right side.  The front of the pad is straight but then curves at the shoulder and back. This looks more like vinyl or PVC then leather. Both arms have elbow pads (5) also of the same material as the shoulder bit. The cuffs of the jacket are small and pointed, the button of the cuff are the same as the main buttons. The back is simple; it has one pleat for give and two smaller pleats at the sides that are accented with the smaller buttons. The jacket looks quite different in the publicity stills (which I think is down to how the show is lighted and post production grading).  In the show looks to be richer wool, like a pea coat. While if you look at the publicity stills it seems to have grown in length  (4) and changed into a more canvas like material. I’ve toyed with the idea that it could be a different jacket all together, it is standard for a show to buy at least three of the same costume piece (one hero jacket, one stunt, and one extra) but because it doesn’t look as rich in the photo shoots (they would use the hero jacket for that) I’m pretty sure they are the same jacket. 

Finding One

Now then if you are trying to find a jacket with all of this you’ll be very hard pressed to do so.  It would be far easier to find a similar jacket and alter it.  At the base level you need a black four pocket jacket. (this would look like the one he is wearing at Bart’s) If you want to look more like John’s then  find one with elbow pads, or better still  find one without the elbow pads and add them and the shoulder pad on yourself (easier to match material that way) I plan of doing this myself.  

  When I first began my search for the exact jacket (before GQ) I searched for “Donkey Jackets” this had a few hits that looked similar but not many.  The black patch on the shoulder and the length are the only Donkey-esq things about it.  After we found out a bit more from GQ I found that searching for  “Black military jacket”   had the best search results, adding “four pocket “ is optional and a bit redundant. I’ve found many at reasonable prices and as stores get there winter gear in there are more and more , although because this is the style of the year they are still retail price, but better to pay a bit more now than not being able to find one later.

Where to find (in the US): eBay, Amazon, Banana Republic and Hot Topic all have options available, drop me a line if you find a really good one (after you order yours that is ;)

Sweater

I'm knitting this by hand, If that's not an option for you then I'd suggest goodwill or charity shops for a cable knit jumper. the article mentions where the sweater was bought, but s to brand or even if it was hand made I don't have any info on.

The Shirt

I think that this is the piece you can fudge the most, and you can  find one that most resembles the shirts we can see a lot of so that way you can have "different" John costumes. Just a note Americans if you are hunting for the "real" shirt remember that  patterned shirts like this are called a "check" pattern. Best bet to find one of these would be at an H&M, Kohls, or the like. 

Blue Jeans

  The article mentions the brand used, so I’ll just refer you to that, really 

Shoes

 These look to me like a men’s tan work boat, or they could be a soft leather oxford. I need to look into this more. The more I look I'm going with oxford.

The Cane

 My God this cane! It has been hard to find but through hunting it down I have found lots of close (a bloody) ‘noughs.  It is a palm grip walking stick, also called a Fischer stick.

 

The basics:  John’s cane is aluminum and adjusts in two places on the shaft. The bottom, the adjusters, and handle are gray, I realize in some scenes it looks dark gray and even black. It isn’t! It’s a light gray, you can tell in the therapist’s office and when he is meeting Mike. Of course this standard issue gray has been the hardest thing to find, black lots of, but gray Ahhh! The handle is the most distinctive thing on it. The handle is called a palm grip or arthritis grip.  In a few scenes you can see that the handle has a black sponge –like bit.

 You can add this to yours as well they sell it at many of the places you can by medical supplies. but I have been unable thus far to find it already on canes for sale.  Just remember these canes are for the right or left hand, John’s limp is on the right side so if you are using this purely as a costume piece then you’ll want a right grip one!

Where to find it

The real one (I think): to be added when I can get the link to work

Great alternatives:   I found some great inexpensive ones on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.  There is also eBay or check your local pharmacies, the ones near me didn’t have them but that doesn’t mean the ones near you won’t.  As I mentioned above the gray is hard to find, I say the black is close enough, no one but another Watson costumer is going to know :)