Tuesday Project Roundup: This, Too, Happened

Some backstory first: I am anti-costume, due to many, many factors (including but not limited to: feeling ridiculous very easily, being dumped on Halloween in college, never liking makeup, wanting to put my time and energy into sewing something I can wear more than once,  etc. etc.).

But.

My job at the craft company will be sponsoring a booth at Salt Lake’s first-ever Comic Con. I can attend for free, IF I work the booth a little–and that requires a costume. In a steampunk theme.

Yesterday I went from, “Eh, I can help you guys with your costumes” to “I am going to own an Amelia Earhart-inspired steampunk aviatrix getup! that I will make in a weekend!” in about four hours. I’m still not sure what happened.

I’m starting with this pattern (view A) in faux leather and adding boots and leggings and a lot of belts. (As far as I can tell, you can throw straps on anything and call it steampunk.) There will of course be an aviator hat, thanks to my friend who is a costume guru and (thankfully) helping me art direct, and there may or may not be opera gloves. A loose inspiration is Amelia #8 below:

With a little bit of this thrown in, too:

This all came on so suddenly, I’m not even sure who I am any more. Apparently it’s someone who’s making a cosplay outfit for Comic Con. Will I finish in time? Will I regret wrangling 4 yards of pleather? Will I look cool, or will I look like Tron Guy? Tune in next week for the thrilling conclusion!