Costuming Tips
Last Updated: August 29, 2003

Here is our list of tips for cosplayers that will help you avoid drawn upon our own experiences and those of other costumers we've known.

1. Costumes will ALWAYS break on you so bring emergency equipment (needles, thread, glue, paint, duct tape, clear tape, safety pins, and anything else you can think of).
2. Before making your costume make sure you plan a pocket or bag that you can conceal on/under your costume so you can carry money and keys and stuff without destroying the look of your costume.
3. Wig quality is VERY important so be aware.
4. Hot Glue does NOT work on vinyl (or any smoothish fabric, for that matter)! Woops... learned that one that hard way, thank goodness for "Random Tip #1"
5. Plan Ahead!: This will save you multiple trips to the fabric/craft store
6. Don't be afraid to buy more than you think you need, more is always better (in terms of supplies) because if you run out... you're screwed.
7. Buy inexpensive fabric at first so you can make a test costume to make sure all the measurements are correct and stuff. <--VERY IMPORTANT!!
8. Make sure to keep in mind your final fabric's width. Fabric comes in two different widths 45" and 60". It's best to get test fabric of the same width so you get a much better idea exactly what's going on when you cut and sew the real stuff.

1. Don't automatically go for the shiny stuff.  Plan out what that part of the costume is used for, how you will use it, what kind of texture is should have, how it will compare to the rest of your costume materials, etc...
2. Get more than you think you need because most likely you won't be able to find the same material if you happen to need it later on down the road.
3. Some materials wrinkle more than others, and wrinkling often takes away from the effect of the costume.

1. Keep in mind that these costumes get SUPER hot SUPER fast. I might be a good idea to install pockets for ice packs throughout your costume
2. Make sure you know where you're going to be able to see from and make sure it's a large enough spot depending on what you are doing with the costume... for example: Hello Kitty's eyes were made of black fabric mesh (like on sports jerseys) but they were spread really far apart, however, she didn't have to do all that much except walk up on stage so the limited viewing area was alright but very limiting)
3. Irena and I both recommend staying away from forming large costume parts out of wire mesh as it is very hard to work with and it hurts!. Foam is a good alternative (like mattress foam)
4. Good emergency equipment for large costumes is hot glue, duct tape and large safety pins