The Queen of Hearts and Resourcing Costume Ideas; Abby Sollars
Standing in a Closet of Costumes;
With Nothing to Wear
“I’ve always like to dress up. I would wear costumes instead of dresses to high school dances, pretty ones though like angels.”
“I start planning Halloween in November the year before.”
“I wear multiple costumes because you can’t wear the same costume to parties with the same thing.”
“The funny thing with Halloween and cosplayers is, and I’m not the only one who says this, but I have nothing to wear. Some of the things I make are not easy to sit in or to pee in, I need a second person to help me get around for a lot of them.”
The Secret to Halloween;
Tips and Tricks
“Last minute costumes are absolutely doable. My husband and I did Peg and Al Bundy.”
“The thing about Halloween is you want to be a character that other people can recognize and to be comfortable.”
“There are so many characters out there but you don’t even have to be a character, I did a cat, you can be a cat.”
Paper Plates & Fabric Scraps
Abby says that was her favorite Halloween costume she wore growing up saying, “I wore ears and a garbage bag. When you live in Washington its always pouring out.”
“We didn’t have money for store bought costumes and it was the 80s so everyone made their own. My brother’s ears were made out of paper plates; I had the fancy store bought ears.”
As an adult she says, “My Queen of hearts costume was my favorite. I like this one because I challenged myself to make my costume out of things I already had. No going to the fabric store or buying anything, that’s what I made.”
“It doesn’t look like a scrap project at all. I was really proud of that one. I challenge my friends now every year to use their scraps to make their own costumes.”
While we were on the topic of extreme creativity with few materials I had to ask Abby about her bean dress I had seen on social media.
Three Hours Later…
To my surprise she said it only took her three hours, It was part of a scavenger hunt, I had to whip it up spontaneously.”
“Goodwill dress, hot glue, and beans from the dollar store. For these scavenger hunts you spend all this time planning for the picture and then you get one picture and its done. So, I decided to do a photo shoot.”
“It then immediately went into the garbage when beans started popping off. I did the same thing last year except with orange peels, barely lasted long enough to get pictures.”
Creeping Out of Your Comfort Zone
I love cosplay because it really forced you to be a problem solver. These problems don’t exist in the real world or don’t obey the laws of physics.”
“I have no doubt that I could sew something but adding the props, adding the details, working with materials you’ve never worked with before, it forces you to be creative and to step outside of your comfort zone and I think that it is something that keeps you interested, keeps you involved.”
Comedic Villains &
Other Ridiculous Shenanigans
“My favorite are comedic cosplays. I have one planned with a group of people. We are going to do Robbin Hood Men in tights. My husband is going to be Prince John and I am going to be the Sheriff of Nottingham.”
“I love villains and comedic villains are my favorite. I love making people laugh, those are some of my favorite characters to be.”
“When you dress as Anastasia or Drizella for example, you can say ridiculous things and behave in such ridiculous way and everyone knows it’s a joke and they laugh.”
“One of my favorite things to do is if someone asks can I get my picture taken with you is to stand in front of them or shove them out, it’s funny, people get that it’s a joke.”
Where to Find More Abby
Abby shared with me what she plans to be for Halloween this year which I am very excited to see but am going to make you go to her Instagram page to see for yourself @abbycatsosplay .
(Photography Credits: downenphotography, Lumonicphoto, Geekslairphotography)
