What I learned at Costume College - Year One

Hi y'all!

Just as you all were sure that I was never going to grace this blog again, something MARVELOUS happened!

Two years ago, I found out from Jennifer Rosburgh of Historical Sewing about this lovely thing called COSTUME COLLEGE!!!!!  A LONG weekend of costumes, costume classes, costume shopping, costume ogling and generally fabricky goodness. I sooooooo wanted to go last year, but I just couldn't afford it.  😭

Fast forward to this year.  New job, new attitude, new sewing room and more time on my hands than I have had in almost 10 years. What every shall I do with all of this?

More Home Free concerts? Well that's a given, really.

More eating out and less cooking at home? Probably, because cooking is BORING!

There has to be something that I could do that I have never done before.....

Costume College? Why what a MARVELOUS idea!  Yes, let's do that!

So, I spaced out my purchases, and even set up a GoFundMe account.  Costumers Guild West membership was the first thing accomplished, then it was registration fees, airfare, hotel, rental car, blah, blah, blah.

But this post isn't about the journey (well, it is a little bit), it's about what I learned at CoCo.  And not just the this is how you dye goose feathers to make roses for hats kind of things, but we might get to that too.

So, without further ado, here are some things I learned, that I hope to pass on to you if you are thinking about going to CoCo in the future. And remember, this IS just my personal opinions.

1 - For God's Sake, start saving up money NOW.  Actually, start saving up money last month, maybe last fall.  I grew up in Los Angeles, and I haven't been home in..... a lot of years (let's just say Disney's California Adventure still sucked the last time I was home and everyone told me to not waste my time and just go to the O.G. Disneyland, yeah, that long ago). In that time, apparently prices in Los Angeles have shot through the ROOF!!!!  Or I'm (gasp) really lucky to live in Texas.  Either way, gas, Uber, Lyft, hotels, food, all of it is EXPENSIVE!  I was able to have a really great time and cut corners, but sticker shock is a real thing!  Plan for it, embrace it, be one with the sticker shock.  I KNEW that prices were a lot  higher in LA, but it still sat me back on my heels when I saw that gas prices were pushing $4 a gallon!

2 - JOIN....THE....GUILD!!!!!  It's a great first investment.  You get their awesome newsletter, Squeals, which will often  have articles relating to Costume College leading up to the event.  You get a DISCOUNT for registration fees.  All good things!

3 - If you do Facebook, join the Costume College Year-Round Forum.  Lots of great people on there.  They have some great tips and you can find out about subgroups there, which leads me to my next point.

4 - Join the subgroups!  I was active in a couple, and just sort of lurked on a few more.  These are great places to meet people that share a similar interest to you, and you never know where that internet friendship might lead (like onstage at the inaugural Friday Showcase event! Thanks to my Once Upon a Bustle ladies! Grandmother Willow says Hey!!!).  These groups are also great to get ideas about what to expect at CoCo, as well as sneak peaks of all the lovely costumes that you should be looking out for!

I KNOW that's all before CoCo stuff, the stuff that I told you I wouldn't bother with, but this stuff is sort of important.

Ok, things I ACTUALLY learned during CoCo

1 - If at all possible, stay at the hotel.  I'm not one to really complain (much) about changing into a complete Elizabethan court ensemble, or a head to toe Bustle outfit in a public bathroom, do that all the time with Cook Like a Celt, but it is soooooo much nicer to just be able just pop up to your room at get dressed where you can throw your street clothes where ever you want and deal with them later.  I stayed about a half a mile from the hotel, and had a rental car (cause nobody walks in LA), which was GREAT for going and getting last minute class supplies, or late night munchies or all the styling products, but...

2 - Parking is $16.85 PER DAY if you are silly and forget that you have available to you a discount if you would have just gone to lobby and asked for the rate (ask me how I know). You can get a discount which will bring that charge down to $12 (at least in 2019 that was the rate), but no in and out privileges.  You want to be able to come and go as you please? The discount rate is $15 per day if you park yourself, valet is a bit more.So it's a bit spendy to have a car, especially if you are forgetful and you are not staying at the hotel.

3 - Parking SUCKS!  You will find a lot of discussion of this fact on the Facebook forum, but really, seriously, get to the hotel early.  We are not the only people that are at the hotel, and there are plenty of folks that will have their car with them.  Trust me, stay at the hotel, if possible, keep your car where it is and don't leave if you don't have to.  There are supposedly only a few levels in that parking garage that aren't either for valet or for the office building next door, and I was forced to park in the office building parking levels one of the days and I was a little twitchy about leaving my rental there with my court dress in it.

4 - Air transportation - Ok, so this was something I already knew.  I grew up just under 5 miles from LAX.  Most days you can literally get to my grandparents house from LAX in less than 10 minutes.  It once took me, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, TWO HOURS to travel that distance.  Take it from a native, don't travel through LAX unless you absolutely have to.  LAX is the second busiest airport in the US, right behind Harsfield in Atlanta, and Atlanta has their act together.  After CoCo I flew from LAX (number 2) to O'Hare (number 3) back home to DFW (Number 4) and my worst experience was at my hometown airport, LAX.  Although getting an Uber at O'Hare is a NIGHTMARE!

Personally, people will say that Burbank is the way to go..... meh, I prefer Long Beach. It's further away, but I'm more familiar with the area (my great uncle used to live near there) AND it's cheaper to fly into there on Southwest from Dallas.  If you want to be closer to CoCo and don't want the headache of LAX, sure, go ahead and do Burbank. If you want to get a ride from me, fly into Long Beach. We'll grab a rental car, get lunch at my favorite fast food Mexican place (Del Taco!!!!) and I can play tour guide on the way up to Woodland Hills.

Oh, and I don't work for any airlines, but if you live in the US, and you have the ability to fly Southwest, FLY SOUTHWEST!  Cause four words, two free checked bags.  Just my opinion, but I had to fly American out of LAX at the end of CoCo because of work and it was $70 for both my bags, just sayin'.

Alright, down to the more emotional part of this post, or how to have fun AND keep your sanity(ish).

1 - When I first found out about Costume College I really wanted to go, but there was also a side of me that was scared witless to go IN COSTUME.  My confidence in my work had been at a really low point for a long time (You all wouldn't believe that if you met me, would you?).  I had some bad experiences with folks that put a higher value on historical accuracy than I had at the time ripping on my Elizabethan Inspired Court Dress....

Gack! look at that hat!!!

but that was really my first time trying to take my small amount of knowledge of the dress of that time period and putting my spin on it.  I thought it looked good, and I had a whole back story in my mind about having to remake the dress, blah, blah, blah, but they didn't care, and of course it got back to me what they said, which totally gutted me, because THREE YEARS I worked on that dress!

And I have been known to do other, not so accurate things with my costumes, but the worst thing was when I attended my first weekend event with my local costumers guild and someone who had recommended that I join asked me point blank with that snooty tone how *I* had heard about the event, even though I had been a member for almost a year at that point and just hadn't been able to get to an event.

That was 7 years ago, and it still stung, so when I heard about CoCo, I want so badly to go, but I thought, this isn't for me!  I'm not going to fit in.  My work isn't up to snuff with what everyone else will be wearing. What if they are mean to me?  I don't think I could handle it!

Everything I had seen online said that CoCo was a friendly event where people understood that this is a LEARNING experience, and everyone is on a journey to learn more.  But I thought, the girls from AMERICAN DUCHESS , Heather and the gang from Truly Victorian, and Jennifer ("my Jennifer" as she's known at my house, since we have so many fiends named Jennifer),, and OH MY! Frock Flicks too!  Nope, this was something I wanted to do, but I was hyperventilating even thinking about it.

And I was going to do my first bustle dress, and make it a challenge by trying to embody Grandmother Willow in a human form?????  With a bustle dress? Was I nuts!?!?!?!?!

Apparently so, because with a lot of prodding by my best friend (who most of my costumes are made for) and not a few stern looks of You paid for this, You ARE going. I packed up my one and a quarter suitcase of costumes, crammed all my "adult" clothes for my conference directly afterwards and headed to Los Angeles.

And you know what I found? I found a lot of great people that oohed and aahed over my court dress AND my Grandmother Willow dress (even if folks didn't get it at first).  I even showed the Truly Victorian folks a dress that I had made for my best friend that they were simply over the moon about.  EEE!!!!  These ARE my people!!!!!

So, this big long lesson is.... believe the hype.  I personally didn't hear one bad comment about someone's clothing. Constructive remarks, yes, a few of them, but not the cattiness you would expect from us artistic types.

2 - Costumes are not required at Costume College... WHAT?!?!?!?!  What is meant by this?  How can it be!!!????

Well, it's simple.  Not every costumer makes costumes for themselves to wear.  Can you imagine someone that works in a theater costume shop all day, everyday wanting to make a costume for themselves on their off time?!!? It's the old cobbler's kids have no shoes thing.  I saw plenty of people at all hours of the day not wearing costumes. I only wore costumes to the events, mostly because while I can drive in a corset, I prefer not to, especially in a rental car that I'm not familiar with.  So you don't HAVE to wear a costume, although we would sure love to see what you can make!

3 - Don't try to make a costume for every event.  There are four/five main events at CoCo, depending on how you count them.  Thursday night is the Welcome Party. Friday night is the Friday Night Social/Group Showcase. Saturday night is the Gala.  Sunday you have a breakfast and an afternoon tea.

I had a grand idea of doing a costume for each day, and I almost pulled it off, BUT I reused my Court Dress for one of them, so really I was only going to have to make three from scratch.

I made this one for Thursday night:

1880 Bathing suit

It was a great idea, and it's sort of cute, but I seriously didn't pull it off nearly as well as I would have liked.  But the details are kind of cool with all of the ecliptic constellations embroidered on the hem of the skirt with glow in the dark thread, and a couple of extra constellations here and there. I might take some close ups one of these days and do a post on it, but I don't think it's my best work, and I don't think it looks good on me AT ALL.

But then, I HATE the way I look in pictures, so I'm a bit biased about how I look.

I made this one (everything except my moccasins) from the skin out for Friday:

Grandmother Willow says Hey!!!

I'll have to do a blog post later about the whole construction process for that one.

This is my gala dress, minus the mask.

Thanks to Jennifer R for this picture, why do I always do that with my lips?!?!?!

What's missing? My Sunday dress!  I decided since I didn't have a ticket to the tea, and the theme was mourning to do kind of a Disney, Haunted Mansion, bounding sort of thing and got this 999 Happy Haunts shirt from Amazon and call it a day...

...instead of making a French Pleurant outfit. Although how cool would THIS have been??

But I digress..... again.

Scrolling back up to see what I've already talked about..... and... ok, I'm back.

4 - Attend Freshman Orientation, even if this isn't your first go round.  I did just what they suggested and attended Freshman Orientation, and I was able to answer questions that the veterans had about some of the things in the registration package.  I has been told in Freshman Orientation about some issues with the drink tickets for Friday night, and I was able to help out a hotel staff explain to a fellow CoCo attendee about them. Real, knowing is half the battle sort of things.  (G.I. Joe)

5 - Don't try to do everything.  I know what you are going to do, because I did the same thing.  They post the class schedule and you head over to the website and you print it out and you start to look at ALL THE THINGS and you just want to take every class and pack all the knowledge into your head, but trust me, you WILL want to schedule downtime into your day.  Take a stroll, hang out in the lobby and make friends, shop the marketplace and most importantly, make sure you eat.  A hangry costumer is not going to do anyone any good and if you fall out in the heat because you are tired, hungry, dehydrated, that won't be fun at all.

6 - Try to plan to get to LA a day or two early, or stay a day of two later, if you can.  I know that finances might not let you do this, but if you can, get out and explore my hometown.  LA isn't all movie stars and palm trees (although that's a LOT of it).  Head down to the beach and get some fresh air (because those clouds you see when you are there, those aren't clouds, that's smog), explore one of the missions, go on one of the tours that CoCo offers, I would say to go to Paramount Ranch to see where so many of our favorite (and not so favorite) westerns were filmed, but from what I understand, that burned down in the 2018 fires (and I SO wanted to get my picture taken there with my bustle dress!).  You get the idea.  Explore a bit, maybe even head down to Orange County to the place that Walt built for a couple of days.

7 - There really is a thing called "California Time".  Call it "beach time" or "island time" or "stoner time" whatever, there is a definite vibe of, if I roll in a half hour late to something, I can always blame it on traffic.  Be prepared for this. If you are like me and on time means at least 15 minutes early (raised by mid-westerners, what can I say?), then pack you patience, because sometimes..... traffic happens, or other things.

8 - Patience is a Virtue. Aaaaaand speaking of traffic.  LA INVENTED the traffic jam. I am completely convinced of this.  Did you read up above where it once took me two hours to go from LAX to my grandparents house?  Let me be more clear about this.  I was on the 405, which is the freeway that goes past LAX.  The off-ramp for LAX is is just over a MILE from the exit for my grandparents place.  So that two hours, that was spent going a mile.  When we do traffic, we do TRAFFIC, so once again, if you are going to be going anywhere on the streets, especially on either Friday afternoon or Sunday afternoon, allow extra time and pack a lot of patience, and good driving music.

9 - Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer.  I volunteer A LOT.  I cook at our local living history museum, I used to volunteer at our zoo (until they decided to hire me) and I have volunteered at various crafty type events around my town.  Volunteering will not only get you another ribbon for your name badge, but you will also get to know what's going on, where it is and how to navigate the location.  I volunteered to help set up, and in no time I knew where ALL of the classrooms on the first floor were.  If you don't want to miss classes, you can always help out with set up on Thursday.  Great way to get to know things.

10 - Ribbons.  You will see people walking around with ribbons hanging off their name badges.  They are pretty cool, you don't have to pay for them, and folks will actually give them away to you.  I didn't think that I was going to care about them, but I might have gotten a little possessive when I saw one that I would have loved to have had, but couldn't find the person that was giving them out.  Be on the look out for folks giving these things away, and don't be afraid to ask for one.

11 - Red Carpet.  This is sort of a personal choice thing.  I really wanted to walk the red carpet, but things conspired against me being able to do so. I wouldn't trade helping that person into their costume for all the pictures I could have gotten of me in my dress, BUT I do wish I have more pictures of me (like I said, I HATE getting my picture taken, but it's nice to have your work appreciated).  Watch your time closely if you want to either watch the red carpet, or want to walk in it.  It happens so fast, you can miss it really easily.

12 - Pictures.  Have I mentioned I don't actually LIKE having my picture taken?  Well, there are a lot of folks out there that don't like it either.  The one really negative thing that I heard during the whole weekend was someone complaining that they didn't want their picture taken, and how they PERCEIVED the actions of the photographers. I can appreciate that..... to an extent..... BUT you are in a public space, and the chances of you at least photo bombing someone by accident are pretty high.  Please be gracious to the photographers.  They are there to do a job, they aren't there to make anyone feel uncomfortable or to stalk you or any of that garbage, please don't trash talk them behind their backs.

Also, if you take a picture, please make sure that you share it to the Facebook page if at all possible.  Folks like myself that are shy (WHAT?!?!?!), and didn't mingle as much as I should have or who like myself are self-conscious (again, WHAT?!?!?!) might still like to have a picture to remind them of their time at CoCo. I didn't have someone with me to take pictures, and I didn't want to bother anyone by ASKING them to take my picture (cause how much of a diva do you think I am???) so I don't have that many pictures of the event. We humans among other things are visual creatures, we do remember things a bit better if we have pictures. So please share and I promise to try to be better about getting my picture taken next year (although I have some photo studio pictures somewhere).

13 - Weather.  The weather in Los Angeles at the end of July is generally in the low 90's, now before you start cancelling you plans because of the heat, let me explain.  Los Angeles is a DESERT climate, that's why we have most of our water pumped in from the Colorado River.  That means that there is very little to no humidity in the air and like they say, it's not the heat it's the humidity.  I left Dallas and it was pushing 100 and I was hating life with every fiber of my being because the feel like was over 110!  I landed in Los Angeles and it was in the high 80's, and everyone was apologizing about how hot it was!  It wasn't THAT hot, and it certainly didn't feel like you were breathing through a hot, wet towel.  It was pretty nice actually, but if you aren't used to this sort of heat, it's a good plan to drink lots and lots of water and keep the caffeine AND alcohol intake down (it'll dehydrate you!).  

And while the outside is hot, the inside of the hotel is trying with all it's might to cool off to a respectable temperature, so supposedly the classrooms are cold, I don't know, I didn't really feel it, but then again, I like the cold.  As much as you can, prepare for anything, use natural fibers that cool you as much as possible for your costumes and DRINK WATER! Also, pack layers (did I mention Southwest does the first two bags free?).

Well, I think that's about it.  I'm sure there are more things that I could talk about that happened or that I learned, or that you might want to know if/when you decide to go to CoCo, but seriously, this is one of the LONGEST posts I've made in a while, so I'll wrap it up and leave anything else for the comments.  I leave you with this with this chilling challenge.... to find a way.....

Whoops, that's what I get for not going to Disneyland afterwards.  Let me try that again....

You come seekin' adventure and salty old pirates......  Oh man, I have GOT to get to Disneyland next year!

Ok, so, let's just say, if you want to way in on my next post, which do you want.....

Who wants to see a recap of the Grandmother Willow dress creation?

OR

Who wants a look see at what I'm planning for NEXT year???