NCA Convention

The National Costumers Association Convention in Pittsburgh was a great experience for me. Sorry Pittsburgh, but I was there for all of 30 hours so I did not get to check out your city- but I did enjoy the myriad of food choices in your mall-like airport- and the T-Rex on display was cool too.....


Anyway, the hotel was great, and I feel that the presentation went well. I'll admit I was a total bundle of nerves until I finished, but people listened, laughed, asked questions and rifled through all my costumes. I was there to try and explain to other costumers from around the country what "cosplay" is, and I focused on people who use it for comic book conventions and the like. Half of the presentation was also dedicated to sewing with spandex because some sewers seems daunted by stretch fabrics.

I think I connected the dots for some shop owners. Of course when you look at a term like "cosplay" things just fracture into a million different pieces. My main focus was on superhero costumes, because that is mostly what I make, but I also mentioned, Gothic Lolita, Steam Punk, LARP (just to name a few) and many shop owners had experiences of aiding people getting ready for events and needing just one more piece to complete the outfit. As cosplayers we are crafty, and ever once in awhile people need some help from their local costume shop. Perhaps some shops will carry things that are useful for cosplayers.....
Anyway, I had a lot of fun, met a lot of great people, and I hope to join the NCA, and would love to present again. The whole thing seemed to go so fast, that I hope I got out all the information I wanted. There are better photos that I will get at some point....

Here is the "pimp suit" I worked on with Lorraine. A great NCA activity is the "box project" all members who sign up each receive identical boxes full of mystery materials, then the member makes anything they want using those materials (you are able to add a few extra things) for something rentable for your shop. Lorraine was nice enough to let me design and make most of the suit. It was a combined effort, as just when we thought we were done we found some other stuff left in the box- all those appliques and pink fabric were really frustrating! Thanks to our models for being good sports. It was so much fun to see what everyone came up with, knowing what the materials were- also now I know what I'd be up against in the future.