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| My best friend, Katherine, and I |
Austin Comic Con!!
My costume of choice was Buffybot. I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and even though she makes a brief appearance in the series, I love the Buffybot. She really cracks me up. Plus, this costume doesn't require any sewing. Which, is good, considering I only recently acquired a sewing machine.
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| BuffyBot outfit w/first jacket |
Black "Leather" Jacket - preferably motorcycle style w/o too many pockets
Bright Pink Shirt - boatneck, very simple
Light Pink Skirt - knee length, accordion pleats
Black shoes - 90's style, low heel, heeled loafer
Pink heart pin - bejeweled
Bow bracelet - gold
Stake
I started my search in the summer when I zeroed in on a costume. Finding a "leather" jacket in the summer in Texas is nearly impossible. Thankfully, Burlington Coat Factory had a few. I didn't want to drop a ton of $$ for the coat and the only one they had for less than $20 was a size too small. Afraid that I wouldn't be able to find another that price, I bought it. It zipped up, but the chest was SUPER tight and there was a strap across the neck that I wanted to remove. When I put together the almost complete costume to show my husband, the jacket was SO HOT. I didn't know how I would make it during the convention. Luckily, I just happened to be perusing Burlington Coat Factory again in August and they had a much larger collection of "leather" jackets. AND, I found one that was perfect! It was even only $14, my size, no neck strap to remove, and a nice cool liner inside. PERFECT.
The shirt turned out to be pretty easy to find. I just googled 'pink boatneck shirt' and one popped up at Macy's (on sale) for less than $15. It's a little more purple pink than I wanted but it still looks good. It's also a little long, which is great for everyday wear, but I just folded it up a bit for a shorter look for the con.
The skirt. Oh, the skirt. Accordion skirts are not in style. I only found ONE online, in the color I wanted, from a Korean company. Sure, the skirt was only $15, but you had to pay $30 in shipping. It was also ONESIZE, so no way to know for sure if it would fit me. I'm a 14, by the way, so online shopping makes me nervous. After a few more weeks of looking, I still couldn't find anything else, so I ordered it. Three weeks later, I open the package and it's BLUE. I argued with the company for a while, but they wouldn't exchange it or refund me. Shoulda read that fine print a little closer. One plus is that it did fit. I'm just not sure when I'm going to wear it... :( So, then my mom and I started considering making the skirt ourselves. She swears that skirts are EASY. So we look at fabric, find a few possibilities, and then check out the patterns. What did I say about accordion skirts? Not. In. Style. No patterns. I couldn't even find any online. And as 'easy' as a skirt is, my mom doesn't make her own pattern. So I continued the search online. AGAIN. My mom sent me two links to skirts she happened to find, and one of them was perfect! I don't know what we were googling differently (maybe I was being too specific "accordion pleated skirt"), but she found it! She thought it might be too pricey, but it was $30. After the difficulty in finding this skirt, I'll take it!
The shoes turned out to be easy. I knew I could probably find them at DSW, though I was suddenly wishing I hadn't gotten rid of my chunky loafers from my days of high school. My mom, however, just happened to have a pair that worked for me. They had a silver buckle, but that's okay. I'll take free. *Note - Post con, the shoes were SO uncomfortable. I got blisters. Remind me to not borrow shoes unless they fit AND can last 8+ hours on a convention floor.
The heart pin I made myself. If you notice during the part where Buffybot is "hunting" Spike in his crypt, there is a sparkly heart pin on the bottom left side of the shirt. I found a heart shaped metal pendant at Michael's. I covered one side with pink jewels and hot glued a pin backing to the other side. DONE.
The bracelet also makes an appearance during the same scene as above. It is a short glimpse of what looks like a bow bracelet on Buffybot's left arm as she tries to "stake" Spike. The only one that looks even remotely similar is a Marc Jacob's bracelet. No thank you. I didn't think I could make it, so it did not make the costume.
The stake was easy peasy. I had remembered seeing a seller on ebay for stakes so I looked it up. They were only sellling one stake at the time (apparently from a different season than 5), but I went ahead and bought it. Now, I haven't purchased off ebay since high school (10 years ago) so I couldn't remember anything about a login name or password and my email has changed since then. So I created a new one. The seller said they wouldn't sell to anyone with less than 10 positive review. Instead of bidding and not getting it, I clicked 'buy it now' and payed a little more, but as least it was guaranteed. This was the most expensive item at $50.
The convention was so much fun! Several people stopped me to say they loved my costume, even though the contest person had no idea who I was. I even got a photo with James Marsters while wearing the outfit. I was super nervous but the picture looks great!!
Be Crafty (and Nerdy),
Kris
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