My Little Pony Costumes

My daughter and I both love My Little Pony, so this was a perfect cosplay for us, and CONvergence 2017 was the perfect opportunity!

We were going for humanized versions of the ponies, but still drawing from the Friendship Is Magic series ponies (rather than the human versions in Equestria Girls).

I wanted to be Twilight Sparkle, because I love her as a character. She's so organized, and she loves books!

First I made this simple dress out of light purple cotton. The bodice is princess-seamed and the armholes and neckline are bound with single-fold bias tape. There is an invisible zip up the back.

I wore it over a white button-up blouse from the Goodwill and added a bright fuchsia pink sash.

The cutie mark was cut from the same fabric as the sash and fused in place with Wonder-Under. I stitched around the edges of the large motif with a zigzag on the machine, but the small white bits were too delicate. I put the cutie mark on just one side.

I really did not get a great shot of the whole finished costume, but you get the idea! 

This was another very fun costume to wear! It was comfy but also very recognizable - lots of people stopped and said hello to us! I also really loved wearing that wig, a lot more than I expected. It was difficult cramming my hair underneath, but I really like the color on me.

The Girl wanted to be Pinkie Pie, because she loves Pinkie's energy and general jumping-up-and-down-all-the-time-ness.

I used a basic t-shirt pattern and improvised a simple skirt. I made the cutie mark the same as for Twilight, with Wonder-Under, but I also used a zigzag to create the balloon strings, and put it on both sides. I also made a matching tote bag.

We stopped at Party City for a few balloons to finish it off. 

The wig's bangs were too long for her, so we clipped them to the side with a barrette.

Ponies love coloring.

The wigs and tails are the "official" My Little Pony ones; I bought them from Amazon. Find them here, here, here, and here. They were okay. The quality was good, the price was alright. I wasn't entirely pleased with the electric neon pink color for Pinkie Pie. It's not quite the color from either the toys or the show; it's much brighter. The ears were also troublesome; they didn't want to unfold at all!

We are probably going to wear these costumes again for Halloween. I'd really like to get some more wear out of those wigs!

CONvergence 2017

This summer, The Girl and I attended our local sci-fi and fantasy convention, CONvergence. The con is a long-weekend event, but we only went for two (short) days. That ended up being just the right amount for her first con (and my first with a little one!).

I'd been to this con a long time ago (I wanna say 2004?) but I didn't really see the point of it. I wasn't into serious gaming or fandoms and whole thing seemed a little too serious and just not my cup of tea. Also I guess that was before cosplay really exploded, and while there were a few people dressed up, mostly people were saving their costumes for the Masquerade. This time it was absolutely a costume convention!

The other thing that seems to have changed at cons is a welcoming and accommodating atmosphere. Overall, I was really impressed by the con's commitment to inclusivity for all people. There was also a great amount of kid-friendly stuff!

On Friday, we wore our Star Trek costumes. The Girl was Counselor Deanna Troi, and I was (of course) Troi's mother, Lwaxana.

Obligatory goofy selfie. Read more about these costumes here and here!

An awesome TNG control panel!

She is reading Connie's mind. Because Betazoid telepathy.

Somebody had a cool transporter!

There was a kid activity where they just destroyed a giant cardboard spaceship. Hilarious commentary was provided. It was WAY more chaotic than this photo makes it look.

I ran into some of my Treadle sewing students! Both dressed as Belle! But different!

 

Marty also made this awesome Dr. Strange costume!

And we met another Deanna! I totally just went up to her and started being Lwaxana at her. I think I caught her off guard but she totally played along. Super fun!

We played giant chess!

Among the many cool costumes we saw: gender-swapped Sally and Jack.

Velma!

Many handmaids.

Crap-tons of Star Wars. This cute toddler was a standout.

Waldo!

Ghostbusters.

Dwight Schrute. I almost walked past this guy. (Confession: I briefly mistook a hotel employee for a cosplayer earlier that day. He had a suit and a briefcase and just looked so... intentional! So I didn't want to screw up again.) I just cautiously asked, "Dwight?" and he was like yeah (and then I noticed he had a bobblehead doll of himself) so I snapped his pic. I LOVE this cosplay, it's hilarious.

A very dapper Beetlejuice.

Okay, friends, help me out with this box. At first I assumed it was The Luggage (from Discworld) but now I am not sure. Anyone recognize it? It was pretty cool.

On Saturday we went back for more fun. We dressed as My Little Ponies. The Girl was Pinkie Pie and I was Twilight Sparkle. (More costume details later!) We stopped for balloons for a cute and practical (so I could see her in the crowds!) accessory. 

One really cool thing we found in the hall was this giant coloring page. It was set up on a stand with buckets of colored pencils (with a sharpener bolted on!) and people just wandered by and colored. We stayed there for a long time.

There were many interesting/funny cards at the card/flyer table.

Some of the cool costumes we saw Saturday. Lego Batman!

This hilarious Galaxy Quest group. They were so completely committed to being in character. It was awesome.

The Girl's balloons started drifting over to them and they had a great time poking at them and being generally confused by them.

Ok, so I figured these guys were from one of the Rocky movies but I totally had to google it. Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago.

And, finally, we found Jesus. This guy cracked me up. Also I called him "cheeses."

We did not get to do everything we wanted (we had to miss the Masquerade to go to a friend's wedding!) but we did a lot of fun activities. We checked out the art show, did some kid crafts, I went to a couple panels that were super fun, and we watched a couple movies in the cinema.

There were plenty of people just randomly sitting around playing cards and doing puzzles, but we found that the organized gaming was Not For Us. The 22nd floor was the gaming floor, and it was mostly devoted to intense computer gaming.

It was super fun being in costume, and seeing lots of other folks dressed up. I definitely want to go again next year. I think we'd have more fun if we planned a more definite agenda and made sure to be at panels and activities on time. Plus I could have used some knitting, more books for The Girl, and a Fluxx deck. 

Other things to do next time: Check out the evening stuff. Especially the masquerade! I know Con can get a bit rowdy at night, but I am hoping some of the room parties are still PG in the early evening.

Also, we never made it to the second venue across the road. That's where they had the dealer's room, the entertainment stage, and some other fun things.