We came, we played, we sewed, we learned, we (didn’t) sleep much, and it was Fantastic!! Simply a great Costume College event!
Being my 13th year attending, you would naturally expect some years to be great and some so-so. But honestly, the last few Colleges have been really good! It comes down to “it is what you make of it.” Keeping a positive attitude and letting things go when the time crunch came made all the difference.
So what can you do & see & learn at this 3+ day educational weekend when you’ve attended for so many years?? A lot! Let me show you from my point of view:
First, you set up your costumes on display… then you realize that your beloved Hunger Games Capitol Couture dress is dwarfed by Kendra V.‘s spectacular Marie Antoinette gown.
…So you move on to your first class as quickly as possible. Hidden at the back of the room you take down notes on the class handout of sources for wool to make a Regency tailcoat for your husband.
After class be sure to take pictures in the hall of other costumes with your giant 21st Century camera (aka. tablet). Oh – and extra points if your friend stands next to you and does the same thing (Lauren M. and I are so cool!)
But don’t bowl over another friend while she’s mourning after your flurry of picture taking!
Just call her the Merry Widow! But perhaps she has inspired you to make your own black gown… for research, you attend the 100 Years of Mourning Fashion class put together by Val L. and oogle and ahhh over the really stunning, but despondent black dresses. Truly a fabulous class, mainly because you have all these somber outfits together in force right before your eyes.
Later, you rush back to your room to inhale some snack or such and head off for dessert at the Ice Cream Social.
Afterwards, you grab a real dinner from Ruby’s across the street, sew a bit more on the gala dress, then fall into (a very comfortable) bed. zzzz….
Next morning your roommates look awake, are you?
Of course *I* am – I’m dressing in my comfy cotton 1830s dress and large poke bonnet. hehe 🙂
Most of Saturday is taken up with teaching classes, shopping in the Marketplace (do I really need *another* pattern and more books???), and finishing the last minute sewing on the gala dress.
Which… takes you four hours to finish, BUT I will say I only used one safety pin in the whole costume – yay for (nearly) finished costumes!!
You made it to dinner – but then you go crazy because you’re just so tired and having a great time. (I think my other Gemini half was coming out. Rock on!)
But honestly – the dinner was superb: we learned to eat the British way and Red.Velvet.Cake. Visits in the hallway were many; the Time Warp danced with delight; photographs taken till the batteries gave out. Whew! What a night!
Sunday dawned early… but these students were fresh faced and ready to learn in the Victorian sleeve fitting class (which I will definitely be putting in for teaching in 2014!).
After YEARS of being double booked you finally make it to Bridget & Lana’s hair class. Oh the resources!! (Did you know you can boil fake hair?)
They did each other’s hair in a Cavalier style in about 15 total minutes. Gosh! I wish all period hairstyles went together *that* quickly. But now with new knowledge of hairpieces they can. 🙂
At this point you really *ARE* crazy from all the ideas spinning in your head! Oh my gosh, make it stop!
But first, let’s have Sunday tea! That’ll help.
Then you manage to drive home with a fresh Starbucks Mocha in your cup holder to keep you awake and grand plans to get all the sewing done *before* next year’s Costume College. um… yeah…. Â 
Not with how your sewing room looks now!
For my full photo set from the event (the best ones of course), you can visit my Costume College 2013 Flickr set.
Did you attend Costume College in 2013? Are you planning on attending in future years? Hope to see you there!
Jennifer, your pictures of costume college were enjoyable to see. I wish I could have been there, but I never seem to get signed up in time for the classes I’d like to take. Can I not take classes and just go to shop and pay to go to the festivities?
The Marketplace is free to the public; you do not need to buy any ticket or membership to shop.
If you want to take ANY classes you need a membership. Registration packets are mailed in April to those who have purchased a membership with a page for limited attendance classes. The limited attendance classes make up about 1/3rd or more of all classes in the schedule. When you buy a membership you are assigned the next priority number in line. That number combined with how fast you send in your choices for limited attendance classes is part of how you get into those limited attendance classes. The class lists are computer generated based on the parameters from above.
To go to the Gala or the Tea you do NOT need to purchase a membership but DO need to purchase separate tickets.
I was crushed to miss CoCo this year, but it is firmly on my calendar for next year. I’ve been told that the time to start planning and sewing for CoCo 2014 is NOW, so I’m in the planning phase(s) for dresses, a tea gown and The Gala Event ensemble. Thanks for sharing your inspirational photos – my appetite has been thoroughly whetted!
Yay Susan! I can’t wait to meet you in person next year. 🙂
I loved your entire wardrobe! Sorry about the costume dwarfing dress! 😉
Hehe. Thanks. I would humbly be dwarfed again as your costumes are always amazing and you pull off the entire look of them so well! Cheers from one costumer to another!
looks like soo much fun..wish I had something like that closer to me.
also I really like that 1830’s dress you were wearing…it looks like fun!
Wow! Loving! Loving! Loving! I want to do something like this in New Zealand…It’s wonderful! I have been following your posts on Facebook. Thank you for Sharing…
Creativekiwi
Looks like a fun time! Maybe someday I’ll make it out to Costume College! In the meantime, I’ll stay tuned for all your pics! Thanks for sharing! -sj
I only caught the tail end of your sleeve class, but a got a lot out of it. I hear that next year will be unusual because of the focus on accessories. (I sat with Mela at the tea.). It was my first year and my head is STILL buzzing with information and ideas. I cannot wait until next year. It is a fantastic ‘value’ for the time and cost. Everyone was, without fail, friendly, helpful and enthusiastic; more than willing to share tips and techniques. And every one of your outfits was amazing!
Hi! I was wondering if anyone could tell me some basic info about CoCo. First of all, can non-Americans participate? Second, I have troubles figuring out what are the costs of participating and accomodation in general. I’m really lame at finding the information myself on the Costume College website…
Karolina – YES, our international friends are not only welcome but eagerly embraced!! (New blood, you know, brings new viewpoints and ideas, and besides, we love your accents, whatever they are…)
As for costs, in general you will have to 1). Buy a membership ($30/year) 2). pay for your lodging (this year’s hotel rates were $124 per room per night, and up to four people can share one room if you don’t mind being squished). 3). Your transportation, of course. 4). Your food – either snacking between classes on apples and nuts or eating at the hotel or across the street at the Mall – many options, but I have found that I eat out very little because you can cram in more classes; I mostly do the snacking option. Also very economical! 5) IF you ask for a “limited” class – and are lucky enough to get it – they are generally “workshop” sessions, where you learn to create something during that class, so you pay a fee for those materials. Costs vary and are assigned by the class instructor, but you might expect anything from $15 to $50 or even more for the all-day Victorian corset class, for example. 6). You also have the option of buying tickets for the formal Saturday night Gala dinner and dance, as well as the Sunday afternoon Tea, or the Monday guided tour of LA’s fabric shopping district. All these are optional – believe me, you will have plenty of fun just hanging out with the rest of us as well!
And, lastly, there might be the “pre-event” cost of making your own costume or two so you will have something to wear to these fun events!! (Don’t worry – there are plenty of those who just love to gawk at everyone else’s costumes and wear their everyday 21st C. “costumes” all weekend!)
Hope this is a little bit helpful. Start feeding your piggy bank now and DO join us next year!! Love to see you there!
2013 was my first time at CoCo. I’ve been trying to go for almost a decade, but other responsibilities were in the way. Yes, now that I’ve been they were IN THE WAY. I had NO idea how much fun CoCo is, nor how much I could learn. I was overwhelmed by the amount of classes, slightly frustrated that I couldn’t attend everything I wanted, but then a nice CoCo board member answered my question – Are classes repeated? Her answer- yes some of them are repeated. That was a HUGE relief. I’m sorry I missed your sleeve setting class, I had a couple friends attend and they raved about it. so glad to hear you’re planning on repeating it in 2014, it will be a priority on my schedule. I hadn’t planned on attending your fashion plate to reality class but am SO VERY GLAD I did. It answered a lot of my questions, not that I’ll ever do it I don’t sew that well. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Hugs
So glad you made it! If a class is popular (like my sleeve fitting one) teachers can put them in again for consideration, but it really is up to the Programming Dept. and the current Dean on what classes get scheduled. Most often they get more classes submitted than the time allowed in the schedule. However, repeat classes are awesome simply because there ARE too many you want to take and can’t.
Wonderful article! Captured the essence of a crazy, fun weekend…looking forward to next one! It gets better every year!
Fabulous! I am hoping to come out again in 2015 and have a gala gown already planned!
Glad you had a great time – you looked fabulous.
This was my second visit to CoCo and I was not disappointed. I liked last year but being a newbie, I was overwhelmed. This time I felt like I knew exactly what to look for and what classes to take. It was well worth it and I felt like I came home with a wealth of new information and techniques. Can’t wait for next year. I really want to take your sleeve setting class. I had a few friends raving about it.
I had a wonderful time! I didn’t get a chance to talk to you much, but it was good to see you!
So wish I could have made it to the mourning class! But I did get to see them all hanging out in the hall before hand and they looked awesome! Really hope I can make it out to Costume College next year! 🙂