Howdy buckaroo!

Today's outfits are a bit later than I like, on account of I was sick at hom today and yesterday. But with the aid of cold medicine, some caffeine, country music, and good old-fashioned determination, I got it done! So for today's kid costumes I present: cowboy and cowgirl! When I was a kid, the cowgirl would've been an "Indian maiden" or some such. I skipped that here, as I have fairly unfriendly feelings about using stereotypical images of marginalized peoples for dress-up. But these costumes are cute, budget-friendly, and safe for any Halloween party. Yeehaw!

Tricks or treats!

Today's outfits are a couple of my favorite kid costumes - the hobo and the clown. They're adorable, totally DIY-able on the cheap (raid Dad's closet for grubby t-shirts and huge shoes!), and lots of fun for little ones to wear while hitting up the neighbors for candy. I remember being a hobo myself one year, and my son was the cutest baby clown for his first Halloween.

Classic frights!

There are so many classic kids' costumes to choose from that I was almost afraid I wouldn't have room for all of them in a month! Lucky that the little paper fashions are small enough to let me post more than one at a time. So, say hello to my cute and creepy little friends - the ghost, the witch, and the skeleton!

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

I'm kicking off a whole month (well, most of a whole month) devoted to costuming and cosplay starting today with National Coming Out Day. The two shirts in these outfits are actual merchandise that can be found here and also here. The day was first celebrated in 1988, on the 1st anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. In 1990, organizers joined their efforts with the Human Rights Campaign, and the rest is history.

Lord Saladin - the face of "Destiny: Rise of Iron"

So this is the first addition to my cosplay collection that I'm including because someone else is a fan. Much as I wish I could enjoy 1st-person games as a player, they all tend to make me queasy, so I settle for enjoying them as a spectator. And the game I've been "spectating" the most since its initial release has been Destiny. My husband swears he can stop any time he chooses (lol!), but I find it amusing that he's taken this week of vacation time off, so as to properly enjoy the release of the Rise of Iron DLC/expansion pack. I can't tweak him about it too much, though, as I'll be putting in as much time as possible to my own favorite game when my beloved Sims city expansion pack drops in November.

This was also my most ambitious project to date, as the outfit itself used very few of the stencils from my Klutz books. Even so, I think it turned out pretty well and I'm really proud of the details I was able to freehand on my own. So here's everyone's favorite guardian and his giant flaming axe:

Sims 4 City Living, woo! :)

I may have crossed my eyes and cramped my right hand making this next outfit, but I had to. Just HAD TO, cuz I love The Sims something fierce, and The Sims 4 in particular has had a real hand in helping my unlock my creatively crafty side. So, to celebrate a new trailer, I present the little girl in the big city from yesterday's teaser video:

Back to school, better late than never!

So at risk of sounding maudlin, I saw all the back to school photos online of folks sending their kiddos off and I got a wee bit jealous. Then I realized I could create whatever outfit I wanted for any of the zillion and one "schoolkids" in the pop culture multiverse! And thus I took my first step into the, erm, interesting wardrobe belonging to Glee's Rachel Berry, circa 2009. So I present, back to school, Finchel style!

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Day 4 (1969)

This post, much like the act it features, saves the best for last and is better late than never. I learned in my research for this week's outfits that Jimi Hendrix was always scheduled to close the show, but he was supposed to perform at the end of night 3. Weather circumstances and general disorganization pushed his set out to 9 am on the 4th morning, and many festival-goers never actually saw him play.

Final fun fact: Jimi played "The Star-Spangled Banner" that morning in a nod to his own previous military experience as a member of the Army's 101st Airborne Division.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Day 3 (1969)

I noticed that I've done alright in highlighting performers of color with my outfit choices this week, but they're still all dudes with guitars. Here, then, is a bit of gender balance in the person of Janis Joplin. She may not have been conventionally beautiful, but she was electric and talented and someone who left the music scene far too soon. Heartbreak never sounded so beautiful...

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Day 2 (1969)

I realized this morning at work that the point of doing daily posts like this is to then post them on the days they're meant to commemorate! Sadly, I got got sidetracked by a nap and yummy dinner and "Outlander" on Blu-Ray last night and didn't get my second Woodstock cosplay posted.

But better late than never - after all, Jimi Hendrix didn't get to play until the morning after he was supposed to close the show! So here's Carlos Santana in all his early glory, with a gorgeous red Gibson guitar and a mop of curly hair to die for!

Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Day 1 (1969)

As promised from my Instagram feed earlier today, this is the first of a set of posts to commemorate one of my favorite musical events of all time. Happy 47th anniversary to the Woodstock Music & Art Fair! This outfit was worn by Richie Havens, the first performer to take the stage on day 1 of the festival. I'm becoming progressively more impressed with my own artistic talents as well; that guitar was all done by hand with the photo of Richie's instrument for reference! Keep an eye out for some Latin flair tomorrow, as I'll be highlighting a new artist from day 2. Peace!

San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Day 3

OK, all you nerds and nerdettes from waaaaay back in the day, this is where the con starts getting really good! September 2016 marks 50 years since the little sci-fi show that could, Star Trek, made its debut on NBC-TV -- and the world was never the same. It's been watched by civil rights icons, scientists, and presidents. Fans of the show insisted that NASA name America's first reusable space craft after the USS Enterprise.

The big anniversary panel for the show just ended a little bit ago, but the franchise is still going strong. It's one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the summer, and will be coming back to television as part of CBS-TV's new streaming service. It's also been tinged with sorrow of late, with the passing of both Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin, who originated the role of Chekov in the JJ Abrams Trek.  He was by all accounts a sweet and very talented young man whose loss is being keenly felt by his castmates. The outfits I chose to replicate represent male and female starship uniforms in Abrams' movies. The male uniform (in command gold) belongs to an ensign, in honor of Ensign Chekov and the late Anton Yelchin. The female uniform belongs to Zoe Saldana's Lt. Uhura. As ever, live long and prosper!

San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Day 2

It's Friday, and that means the second day of San Diego Comic-Con 2016 is in full swing. There'll be celebrities and nerds and pop culture fiends galore, and I'm insanely jealous that I'm missing it. I'm particularly sad to be missing the panel for AMC's The Walking Dead, as I've been a fan of the comics since my husband pressed the digital collection into my hands shortly after our wedding and told me I needed to catch up.

Fans of the TV show are just now learning what we readers have had a while to digest - Negan is coming and it won't be pretty! No spoilers here, of course; just know that it's going to be gleefully profane and violent and awesome. In honor of the panel I'd be camping out for today, I re-created an iconic look for a fan-favorite character: Michonne. This is the outfit she wore on the cover of issue #19 when she was introduced with her katana and her "pets". Badass in the zombie apocalypse has never looked so good!

San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Day 1

Well, ladies and germs, this is it - the big grandaddy kahuna of the nerd/con scene is upon us! Comic nerds and other sci-fi/fantasy/geek pop culture aficionados of all stripes will descend on Southern California to cosplay, mingle, see and be seen. Today is day 1 and not even the actual weekend yet, but there's still plenty on the schedule of events to take in. Since I am cleverly disguised this year as a responsible adult who can't actually take off work to make the con, I figured I'd live vicariously through my crafty creations.

This is my first costume of the weekend, and I was inspired by the simplicity of this panel's title - "Cosplaying 101". Supergirl is rapidly becoming one of my favorite members of the capes-and-tights set on TV, so I decided to create her iconic outfit, as worn by Melissa Benoist in her portrayal of Kara Danvers/Supergirl.  There'll be more geeky goodness to follow during this Comic-Con weekend (an outfit a day), so stay tuned!

Happy birthday America!

For this last day of the long Independence Day weekend, I could've certainly gone for an easy outfit. Captain America, Betsy Ross, Wonder Woman...all would have made perfectly cromulent cosplays. But I didn't. I decided to dig a little deeper.

For the past month, I've been obsessed with the cast recording of the musical Hamilton. In fact, I was kinda tardy to the party on this, cuz I was a bit scared to step outside my comfort zone (musically) and allow myself to enjoy hip-hop. I'm sorry it took me so long, but over the moon that I get to enjoy such an amazing story. I saw the performances the company gave at both the Grammys and the Tonys, cried at Lin-Manuel Miranda's acceptance speech for Original Score, and decided that I needed to memorialize part of how crazy good this whole thing is.

So here it is, the gorgeous blue frock that Phillipa Soo wears as Eliza in "The Schuyler Sisters". It's their first appearance in the show, and it's been said that these girls were pretty much the Revolutionary equivalent of the Kardashians. The little lace bits at the neck and sleeves were hard but beautiful, and ultimately worth the trouble. Sounds like my favorite country, come to think of it...

First dress in the virtual closet...

So I'm finally getting this page off the ground, with an initial post that I'm really proud of. I plan on including clothes in this blog that I would love to wear but can't for any number of reasons - for one thing, I'm too poor/impatient to be able to sew my own clothes the way my awesome sister-in-law does, lol! But I also plan on taking the word "cosplay" seriously in this space. There will be superheroes, Jedis, aliens, and maybe even a teensy metallic slave bikini - if I can find the right material and do it with a straight face!

But for right now, I'm starting my online fashion show simply, with a character I never thought I'd adore. I first fell into vicious, helpless lust (erm, love) with January Jones during her amazing turn as Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class. So imagine my joy when I discovered 4 years later that I could mainline Betty Draper's chilly perfection while binge-watching Mad Men on Netflix! That entire show was an inspiration to me, but particularly watching Ms. Jones breathe life into Betty's suburban ennui. And the costumes were SO. GOOD! Believe me, in between the geeky goodness to come on this blog, there will also be more Betty, and Joanie, and my spirit-animal herself, Peggy Olsen.

The pictures below show what can be done with a bit of patience, inspiration, good crafting tools, and a steadfast refusal to hurry any of the process. The image I based the dress on was a promotional shot for Mad Men; I'm not sure what season it was taken for, but I loved the way it seemed like a moment out of time. It was clearly the early 60s (who wears gloves anymore, for goodness' sake?!), but that dress would still be charmingly appropriate in any formal office setting in the year of our Lord 2016. I loved the way this turned out, and I'm dying to see what my imagination and my X-acto knife will show me next!