Conventional Wisdom

Summer is coming and for us that means many things... and one important thing of note is the multitude of Conventions.  Some of our favorite custom projects in the past have been for Cons:  Last year we created a custom costume for my friend David, who went to our very own Baltimore's Otakon as the Marvel character The Sentry...

Photo by East Coast Avengers

...and over the last few months we created a custom Star Trek costume for our client's use in Star Trek Cons all over the country.

Custom pattern by Miss Meghan

We've all been getting pretty excited over the prospect of doing more costumes for Cons and cosplay of all natures, but I happen have a personal stake in comics and their various Cons.  

Way too excited for 7am in San Diego

The DC area is rife with Cons: Otakon, Awesome Con D.C., Baltimore Comic-Con, Annapolis Comic-Con, and Faerie Con all happen annually in our midst.  We are currently working on alterations for an anime costume for Otakon in October, and we're looking forward to more as each convention nears.  

Have you been a Con attendee in the past year? Which one is your favorite? Which Con in the DC area is not to be missed this year? And most importantly... are there any I have missed??

Inventorying is FUN

If you've been following our Twitter (which if you haven't... well I don't know what you're waiting for) you've noticed we've been doing a LOT of inventorying lately. It's all part of our ambitious goal to get the lion's share of our Closet online and into the 21st century by fall of this year.  We reached our 1000th item last week (hooray!) and we're not even close to done (whaaat!).

It is so exciting, though, to intimately get to know our Closet, item by item.  So often we girls turn to Marilyn incredulously, saying things like "We have a SHARK costume??" and Marilyn calmly responds, "Why of course, and it has a hood."  So we take its picture, and move on.  It is amazing the kinds of brilliant gems that are hiding in our stacks; I have been working here almost three years, and every day holds some surprise.

It is a wonderful thing in this world, to love what you do, and we hope you love our work as much as we do.  I recently had a friend come by to check out our stacks with a themed party in mind, and her excitement was infectious; it revitalized us after a long day of dressing and re-dressing Susie Q, and filling out rows and rows and rows of our inventory spreadsheet (we're up to the Y column... only time will tell whether we'll expand into the double letters.)

That said, we encourage you to keep stopping by, keep checking the website.  New things are happening around here every day, even when sometimes those new things are old things we didn't know we had.

Sara: A Tribute

These past six months at the Studio have been crazy in all the best ways. We have had some great projects of the large, small, and unusual quality, went on some trips, and had a LOT of fun. One constant through our six months of growth and change has been Sara. She came on as an over hire during our War of 1812 project, and we liked her so much we kept her. Well Sara is moving on soon to reunite with her cast up at Tecumseh! Outdoor Drama for the summer. Today is her last day at the Studio, and her lightning-fast stitching and crazy stories will be missed.  And without further ado... a (very grainy, often cellphone-y) pictorial journey of Sara's too-short stay with us...

Sara!

Sara at Tecumseh last year

In the depths of 1812... can you spot Sara?? 

1812 project... she built this little guy from scratch!

On the last NYC trip... gotta go to Mood! 

The whole gang fabric touring in NYC

The "and The Girls" part of our Christmas newsletter

Sara has been our go-to pop culture historian and costume coordinator as we've been putting the Closet online.  Here is her "11th Doctor"

An early St. Patrick's Day gift from her... we'll miss this- I mean Sara!

We'll miss you Sara, and break legs at Tecumseh!

Flashback Friday: Themed Parties

Here at the Studio we get all kinds of interesting calls, and some of our favorites are for theme parties.  A few months ago we costumed an 85th birthday party, in which all the birthday matron's grandchildren dressed as her at different stations in her life and acted out a skit for her.  We have done princess parties and superhero parties for kids as well, and as our Closet is slowly but surely making its way online, we hope to costume many more in the future.  Today's Flashback Friday is a focus on the last two theme parties we costumed, which, coincidentally, were for friends of mine and Marilyn's, respectively.

I am a HUGE fan of theme parties, as anyone who has seen my Facebook feed can attest.  Luckily I am also friends with many amazing and wonderful people who share my love for themes, as well as my passion for our Studio!  When my friend Carrie decided to theme her New Years' Eve party in the style of a 1920s speakeasy (complete with 20s jazz from a gramophone.... image on her computer, and giant black and white speakeasy background for pictures), I started texting out pictures of sequined headbands and slinky beaded dresses.   By the end, we had had something to do with costumes on half the party.


1920s New Years Eve

All us girls who were costumed entirely by the Studio... dresses and headdresses alike :)
Photo by: Zoe Jouannelle

Everyone who got their finishing touches at the studio... hats, ties and ascots!
Photo by: Zoe Jouannelle

Just for fun... all the girls!
Photo by: Mary Green

Then in February we got a call from Felicia, a friend of Marilyn's.  She is with the Annapolis Film Festival, and they threw a big Oscars viewing party this year, complete with live-action Oscar!  He was a big hit, and we now have an Oscar costume available in the Closet.  We often create "custom" costumes for rental, so our client can get an amazing custom costume for the cost of a rental, and we can then send out this super cool costume again and again!

Oscars Viewing 2013

Photo by: Felicia Barlow Clar

Photo by: Felicia Barlow Clar

#WhatsUpToday February

February has been a short month, but a productive one! We finished our kimono sets, sent away several alterations and creations for Carnival celebrations in Trinidad and Italy, created a fit muslin for a wedding dress, created costumes for the Annapolis Film Festival Red Carpet Oscar Viewing Party, and dove into the stacks for inventorying purposes. We are slowly but surely adding each section of our Costume Closet to the website, so make sure you check back regularly, keeping in mind any themed parties you may be having in the future!  So you will see an emerging theme in our February #whatsuptoday... and that is... all our STUFF.