2018 Costume Plans

by Harley | Dec 20, 2017 | costumes

My first planned costume of 2018 is going to be Black Widow.

This is me, so there is a story.

I wanted to do this costume back when Iron Man 2 came out. I purchased a black body suit at Spirit Halloween on clearance. At this location, they did not allow you to try on costumes and so I purchased it sight unseen.

When I got it home and pulled it out of the bag, it looked nothing like the suit on the package. The arms were gloved at the end and the feet were sewn shut. I could not even get it on me unless I took out my shins or something.

Disappointed, I threw it back in the bag where its remained for 7 years, or however long ago IM2 came out. A friend recently pointed out to me that since I can sew now, why don’t a cut the closed feet off and hem up the legs?

So I will be revisiting this costume idea for 2018 🙂

Yikes!

by Harley | Dec 14, 2017 | costumes

So my Gamora wig came in and it is WAY prighter than I thought it would be – great if I needed something in bubble gum colors! x_x

Luckily another wig I was looking at dropped in price, so I hurried up and got that and it should be in today.

SSQ Comic update, Im having trouble with the spandex stretching as Im sewing it onto the zipper. I was leaving it exposed for a little stretch, but Im thinking of readding the lining in hold it better. Gotta be a little more awake for that tho lol

Tonight is STAR WARS and we will be going with a great group of people to see it. I can’t wait!

Maybe Saturday afternoon Bob and I will do that couples shoot for VDay promos.

Costuming Update

by Harley | Dec 10, 2017 | costumes

I finally started on my SSQ Comic version of HQ. I have the outer layer and the lining completed, but not attached. Ill add in the boning, attach the two pieces, and the zipper and finishing trim next go-round.

Gamora wig has cleared customs and is expected to be here Thursday.

Got a deal on a women’s uniform from Star Trek Beyond, so that will be here eventually. If its any good, we’ll pick up a shirt for Bob so we can match.

I am trying so hard not to make new costumes because I have so many, but I keep getting ideas :O

Review Wednesday 12-06-17

by Harley | Dec 6, 2017 | costumes, reviews

I am SO SO excited for this Review Wednesday.

Much to my surprise, my GWENPOOL came in early! It still shows as “Processing” as the status on the website.

Originally, I was going to make this. I had the materials specced out, the pattern I wanted, etc. I knew XCoser had their own, but I really wanted to do a different material and I wanted the cuffs to not be attatched to the body suit, so I didn’t consider it.

Then I won a 50% off coupon with them, so I figured “Why not?” At that price, it was hard to refuse, saving me a lot of time procuring pieces and making it.

As usual, the quality is great. It fits well and I can definitely wear it all day. Its made from a durable material with some stretch to it.

The accessories to seem to be a one size fits all, so many pieces have a lot of slack to them. The belting has a lot of give, so I may whittle some down. The harness is a bit loose on me, so after I get a couple of con safe katanas in, I will see how they fit on me and make adjustments on the harness.

My only complaint is the mask. It does not fit, as its too big. However it will be an easy fix for me to get it lined up right by tightening the neck area. I will likely wear it maskless tho and get the pink fringe when my hair finally grows back out (its allowed now).

It does not include gloves or shoes. I will get pink ones eventually, but for now I have white shoes 🙂 As for gloves, I have a ton of white of gloves, so no biggie.

This will also be the first time since LAST YEAR that Im wearing a costume that doesn’t need a wig!!! However, XCoser also has the Gwenpool wig if you need it.

This took 10 days from order to delivery. I think because it was in stock. If its an item that needs to be made, expect about a month to get it

Although I am not paid by XCoser, I do have an affiliate account with them, so if you like what Ive been getting from them use the code Susan20 and receive 20% off of your order over $30

I have many cosplay pieces from them. This is my second costume and I also have 3 wigs.

One year anniversary

by Harley | Dec 4, 2017 | Storytime

Its the one year anniversary of when I killed my hair. :O

So, September of last year, after swearing I wasn’t going to bleach my hair, I bleached my hair.

I used a kit I never used before. With a help of a friend, we got the job the done…or so we thought. It seems that despite saturation, some spots did not take. Shouldn’t have been surprised, I was going from red to blonde.

We got ourselves a second kit a week later. The consistency looked off, but we went ahead with it. It did nothing. Busted batch.

Later on, we got a third kit and that was the charm. Everything was fine.

6 weeks later, I touched up my roots. No problems.

…and then this day last year….I touched my roots and went to brush out my hair while watching football. Hair was coming out on my brush, but I have very thick hair and shed like crazy, so I wasn’t worried. It was slightly above what normalyl came out, but I figured I didn’t brush it out enough before putting the bleach on.

…and then larger chunks came out. Now, not disastrous but enough to raise my eyebrow. It seemed to settle down and I went about my day.

I would brush my hair in the morning and that little more than normal would pull out…slightly concerned, but not code red…

It would take another 2 weeks to return to pulling out in chunks. I lost 3/4 of my hair, yo. I ruined my perfect ponytail! If I wore my hair down, it didn’t look nearly as disastrous since I have thick hair. But keeping my hair down in the wintertime, UGH

Suffice it to say, I got to my hair dressers, where I was promptly banned from touching my hair again LOL Several deep conditioning treatments and careful hair cuts helped make it look like an intentional short hair cut versus me killing it. Ive had to wear wigs for my costumes, which wasn’t really so bad, but missed my own hair.

It is FINALLY able to show some length and I have all my poofiness back. At least when I cosplay Gwenpool, I won’t need a wig lol

Mystery Solved!

by Harley | Dec 1, 2017 | costumes

So my mystery shipment from UPS came in.

It turns out that my order from XCoser came in! I was not expecting it for several reasons:

My order status still shows “Processing”
Its still in the right time frame for being processed
My last costume from them took a month from order to deliver, so wasn’t expecting it until next month

You will see my initial GWENPOOL out of the box review next Wednesday. I have some plastic katanas on order and will need to get pink shoes. I have white, which will do for now.

Update on my Gamora cosplay: Paint should be arriving today. Still waiting on the wig to deliver. Need to make wristlets, which I probably will do this weekend. Im making it out of scrap materials…duck canvas, cotton, nylon webbing for the wrapping. Don’t mock my scrap hoarding 😛

Review Wednesday 11-29-17

by Harley | Nov 29, 2017 | costumes, reviews

Gamora Jacket

When Bob told me he wanted us to do a GOTG couple’s shoot, I had figured on getting a cheapy quick costume and calling it a day. Problem is, is that I hate all the commercial costumes =/

I lucked out and found this coat for only $20 on eBay, including shipping. It was made to order and took exactly 3 weeks from my order to arrive. The quality is fantastic and well worth more than what I paid for it.

I can’t wait for my wig to come in and complete the look

What?

by Harley | Nov 29, 2017 | Other, Storytime

When your household has an impending delivery from UPS neither of us can account for coming tomorrow o_O

All orders from Bob are coming today.

All my outstanding orders will ultimately come thru USPS…one just got to customs, one is on its way to customs, the last is still being processed…

Mother denies directly shipping something to me and it would go to our PO, so…..yeah Im puzzled. Guess we find out tomorrow? :O

Progress Updates

by Harley | Nov 28, 2017 | costumes

Here are my various costume updates:

Gamora: Wig is on way, probably a little on the bright side but I am trying to keep costs down. I need to make the wrist wraps from some scraps, and the green paint. This is not turning out to be cheap, but I still don’t like what I see out there in the “affordable” range and Im still well under what the decent costume shops would charge. This costume will end up costing around $75, so cheaper than the overseas costumes but more expensive then intended. But also no sewing, other than the the wrist wraps.

Gwenpool is being made, yet to ship. Need to get some pink converse….eyeballing a pair on sale on Journey’s site…or should I use my white pair that I already own…?

SSQ Comic Version Harley, Materials bought but I keep getting sidetracked 😮 Plus Im feeling fluffy again, so I need to slim down my thighs some more. Its my tough area 🙁

Review Wednesday 11-22-17

by Harley | Nov 22, 2017 | costumes, reviews

Rubie’s Princess Leia

The fabric in the ad looks like a shiny sleek material. What we got was regular stretch cotton. It has a lot of give, which is great, but sadly the material is very thin. I had black undies when we did our photoshoot, so I used the rubber belt to hide it. I would have otherwise preferred the belt to sit higher on me 😮

It definitely looks better on the model than on me ^_^* Its available inexpensively on Amazon

This costume is available for use at Queen City Pinups