2021 was another roller coaster of a year. I alternated between periods of optimism and pessimism, which definitely affected my costuming productivity. I found it hard to concentrate on costuming when I was feeling really anxious. I never stopped crafting, but there were times where I focused on sewing modern clothes, knitting myself things, or embroidering pieces for our house. Having something crafty to do was soothing, but I could not always bring myself to concentrate on costuming tasks that needed a lot of experimentation or creative thinking.
Despite those roadblocks, I was productive in spurts, making or pulling together seven costumes. I focused a lot on doing cosplays from the Batman family, in part because I wanted to fill out our roster of characters for a photography project with colored gobos that we started back in 2019. I wanted to have twelve portraits, each of a different costume, and we needed three more to make that goal. Somehow I also, for the first time ever, finished every costume on my 2021 goals list. There were only three on there, but it felt great to finish all of them. Especially Stephanie Brown Batgirl, which has been on my wishlist for nearly 10 years.
I also did a lot more photography this year, driven by the need to wear a face covering at events. Some of my costumes do not work well with wearing a mask (particularly my costumes with cowls that cover my ears), so several times I opted to wear street clothes and go to events as a photographer. This gave me more opportunities to consistently practice my technique, both with and without off-camera lighting, which greatly helped with my confidence. I now feel much more able to handle photographing cosplayers in a variety of conditions. That is probably my biggest costuming-related achievement of the past year.
2021 goals
-Finish green 1780s round gown-Yup!
-Finish brown cotton regency day dress-Yup!
-Finish Stephanie Brown Batgirl-Yup!
-Continue to improve my skills and confidence at photography-Yup!
-Hang in there, both emotionally and physically-Working on it.
On to photos of what I completed!
Green 1780s round gown
Stephanie Brown Batgirl (cowl by ReevzFX, belt pouches and chest emblem by Tiger Stone FX)
1940 Catwoman (dress by xiaolizi, though I modified the neck closure)
Black Bat (belt pouches and chest emblem by Tiger Stone FX)
The Question
Red Robin (belt pouches by Tiger Stone FX)
Brown regency day dress (finished just this week)
2022 goals
-Finish light blue regency dress
-Catwoman’s wedding dress
-Cassandra Cain Batgirl
-Continue to improve my skills and confidence at photography
-Hang in there, both emotionally and physically
In the Long Run 