is a loose and informal educational society of persons interested in all facets of historical, cultural, science fiction, fantasy, and humor costume. Members are often seen on stage and behind the scenes at Science Fiction Convention masquerades, historical reenactment events, and theatre. SWCG is Arizona's chapter of the International Costume Guild.
Index
Newsletter
Upcoming Events
SWCG Activities
Meet the Guildsters - Mail Links and links to Member
Web Pages
Links - Web
Sites of Interest to the Costumer
Hints and other "How To" Articles
Join the Southwest Costumers Guild - Printable membership form
Recruiting and PR Materials:Southwest Costumers Guild has a "Yahoo Groups" e-mail discussion forum. Contact the webmaster for information on how to join.
Click the links below to view sample issues of Cactus Needles, SWCG's monthly newsletter. You'll need the Adobe Acrobat reader, available free from www.adobe.com.
Hint: These are rather large files and may take several minutes
to open with a dial-up connection. It may be faster to save a file to
your computer and open it later.
Click your right mouse button on the logo and choose "save target as"
from the floating menu.
Cactus Needles is released under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
License. Please print the newsletter and give it to your friends, but
print the entire newsletter and don't make any changes or charge any
money. Go to www.creativecommons.org
to view the license. Individual articles and pictures belong to their
authors. If you'd like to reprint an individual article or picture,
please contact the Editor
for appropriate permission.
Usually, the Southwest Costumers Guild meets on the last Sunday of each month at a different member's home in the greater Phoenix area. This rule of thumb is often changed to avoid schedule conflict with other events. Guild business is followed by a demonstration or workshop by a guild member or an invited guest. Sometimes we cooperate on a costume project. Sometimes we just socialize. Special SWCG gatherings are sometimes held at science fiction conventions, street fairs, and other public events. E-mail the Webmaster for directions to meetings and events.
Here are some upcoming guild meetings and costume-related public events. E-mail the Webmaster if you know an event that should be on the calendar. A more detailed calendar is included in Cactus Needles.
* Red text indicates an SWCG activity. Unless otherwise noted, SWCG Meetings begin at 1:00 PM.
November 13-15, 2009 – TusCon 36 SF Convention at the InnSuites Hotel in Tucson, Arizona. This year’s guest of honor is Stoker Award winning author Weston Ochse. The masquerade is back this year, with divisions for general, Steampunk, and Anime' Cosplay. http://home.earthlink.net/~basfa/
November
14, 2009 – Phoenix Faerie
Festival at Estrella Mountain Regional Park in Goodyear,
Arizona. A
celebration of the myth and fantasy of the enchanted realms of Faerie
right
here in beautiful Arizona. Features art & craft booths. Stay after
dark for
Queen Mabb’s Dark Courte and the Bad Faerie Masquerade Ball. Tix $10,
Kids
under 5 free. http://www.westerngatesfaerierealms.com/PhoenixFaerieFestival.htm
November 14, 2009, 10:05 AM – Sunacosu
Thermoplastics Workshop at the Pyle Adult Center, Rural &
Southern in
Tempe, Arizona. Gail Wolfenden-Steib will demonstrate how to work with
thermoplastic materials, including Fosshape and Wonderflex. www.sunacosu.com
December
27, 2009 – Glendale Glitters*
(tentative) Guild outing to
the annual Glendale Glitters street festival. Time & day may need
to be
adjusted according to the festival’s schedule.
January
15-17,
2010 – DarkCon 2010 at the Grace Inn Phoenix, 10827
South 51st,
Phoenix. http://www.darkcon.org/
May 14-16, 2010 = LepreCon 36 at the Phoenix Mesa Marriott Hotel in Mesa, Arizona features guests of Honor George R.R. Martin, Charles Vess and James A. Owen. http://www.leprecon.org/.
May 27-30, 2010 – Phoenix ComiCon at the Phoenix Convention Center and Hyatt Regency Hotel. Guests include Jonathan Frakes and Jim Steranko. http://www.phoenixcomicon.com/



At the Arizona Renaissance Festival, February 2008.

Walking about the Glendale Glitters street fair in December, 2007.

A Duct Tape Mannequin is a useful tool for patterning
custom-fitted
garments.

Mucking about in Victorian attire at CopperCon 25. A little image magic by Mike Cassidy shifts us to a more appropriate setting - a table setting.
Click on the highlighted text to send an e-mail message or visit a personal web page.
SWCG President Frances Burns.
(president@southwestcostumersguild.org)
.
Vice President Nyki Robertson
(vicepresident@southwestcostumersguild.org)
Treasurer Lyn Jeppesen
(Treasurer@southwestcostumersguild.org)
Archivist Jean Palmer
(archivist@southwestcostumersguild.org)
Webmaster and Newsletter Editor Randall Whitlock runs MoiRandall's
featuring his "Randwulf's" line of sewing patterns.
webmaster@southwestcostumersguild.org).
Member Anna Caggiano shows how she built her Galadriel gown at www.fivemilecreek.net/anna/anna.htm.

Last updated November 7, 2009 by Randall Whitlock.