#(honestly probably *not* without external instruction now that i actually know the reality of what i’m dealing with LOL ... but still!)

[aurorajay]

I love making costumes but I always feel bad about my skill level being far below everyone else’s. Even though I love making costumes they never look good quality. Any advice?

It's easier to answer specific questions about a project vs. a general "how to be good”, but I'm gonna give it my best shot.

First off, go easy on yourself, you're learning! I know I'm still learning. Hell, the seasoned pro of 3 decades is still learning! Every fuck up and mediocrity is a step of improvement. I won't tell you that practice makes perfect, because it doesn't. It will make you better, great even. But it won't make you perfect. No one ever achieves perfection. And that's okay! Literally every single piece I've ever made has multiples elements I would change if i could. Even the ones that look good, like the now-popular moth cape. I will do lots of things differently when i make my next one.

Also, I know from experience how hard it is to avoid comparing yourself to others, especially online. So when we (inevitably) do, I think it's important to remember that there can be a BIG difference between in person and photos. That cool looking cosplay armour? Upon closer inspection it might be held together by hot glue. That pretty formal gown? It might have a real shitty fraying seam down the back. All we see is a carefully curated version of reality.

It's hard offering practical tips without more info to go on, but hopefully some of this will help. I think what makes a good looking costume can be broken down into 4 basic elements, so here’s what I think are the most important things to consider

Design: This is the part that people seem to have the easiest time with, and I can help the least with. Coming up with the idea. And when you’re costuming just for the pure enjoyment of it, there are no bad ideas! Now everyone approaches this differently, whether it's sketches, moodboards, or diagrams. Unless someone else is executing the concept, it doesn't even need to look remotely good! As long as you understand what the design is supposed to be, it works.

I will say to design with practical considerations in mind though. Think about where, how, and why it will be worn. Plan for things like zippers and buttons to get in and out, the weather where it will be worn, how much movement will be required, etc. You don’t want to end up sweaty and stuck in a polyester bodysuit that can only be opened with the help of two assistants in say, an outdoor summer event in LA.

Materials: This can be tricky, because it’s dependant on your resources. Materials are expensive, and quality ones even more so. But researching options and picking the best fit for your project is important. Making a historical piece? Stick to natural fibers. Cosplaying a superhero? You're gonna need spandex.

If you're short on funds, going through second hand stores can be real handy. Bigger ones will sometimes have actual yardage, but you can find sheets, curtains, saris, and all sorts of things to take apart and use. Get familiar with the properties and names of different textiles. You'll eventually develop a skill for spotting the nice stuff.

More specialized tools/materials like say fosshape or sewing machine attachments are harder to stumble across, but there will be online sales. If i find something good for cheap I buy it and hang onto it for later projects. If possible, take advantage of sales and rare finds while you can. You're a dragon and materials are your hoard!

Construction: Obviously you want your costume to be well-made, but this means knowing and mastering different techniques. It's a slow process, but one everyone is capable of undetaking! Firstly, you need to familiarize yourself with technical terms to make finding the actual tutorials easier. One of my go-to resources for this is The Sewing Book, by Reader's Digest. (There’s also a newer version available, I’ll include it below). It covers a wide variety of techniques, materials, etc. and has fantastic diagrams. Can’t recommend it enough

Companies that sell specialized stuff like thermoplastics or casting resin often have tutorials on their websites which can be indispensable to learning to use them properly. As well as very important safety precautions. They will also sometimes list external how-to sources or sell instructional books.

Take a close look at clothes and costumes you own to understand how they are put together. Figure out what techniques are appropriate to use where. A flat fell seam is great for jeans and french seam is perfect for chiffon, but try the reverse and it will be a pain. Take pictures and make sketches of interesting details that catch your eye. You can come back to them for ideas later.

I try and incorporate at least 1 new technique into every project I make, that way I'm always learning. But don't jump straight to trying it out on the final piece! Always make a sample (or several) beforehand. And keep the samples for later reference! I'm trying to amass a big scrapbook-style binder of samples, which is sooo so handy to come back to when it's been a while since you've done something.

Fit: This is the final, and possibly most difficult element of costuming. No matter how cool the design, how fancy the materials, and how good the construction, if something doesn’t fit right it’s going to look and feel wrong. Most of us here are making costumes for ourselves, which means you're going to need help. Measuring and fitting clothes on yourself is a nightmare, so enlist a friend or family member to give you a hand.

The other thing you can do it is to get a dress form/mannequin. These are pricey, and will probably need to be customized with padding and such anyways, so I recommend you DIY it. Again, you will need a helper, because the easiest way to get a custom dress form it to just straight up duct tape yourself into a crappy old shirt, cut it off, then stuff it. There’s tons of tutorials online for this, it’s a tried and true cheap method.

I highly recommend learning some basic pattern drafting, and that’s honestly the hardest part. You can rely on store bought patterns, but they are extremely variable in quality, and unless you’re in the rare minority who are a sample size, it will need some altering to fit you right. They can be a good starting point, but ultimately I think pattern drafting from scratch is much faster and more adaptable, if you're able to learn it. This is where you will need some good books or video instructions. I don’t have one single resource to recommend for this, but I will list some books at the end. If you personally know ANYONE with this skill, try and get them to teach you everything they know, because they are worth their weight on gold.

It’s important to note that some pattern drafting is easier than others, Stretch fabrics are MUCH more forgiving in this area, and that’s how i got started. Because the fabric will accommodate your form, the pattern requires fewer parts and darts, and there’s more leeway for mistakes. The one downside is that stretches can be more difficult to sew. Personally, I feel like they more than make up for it by being simplicity of drafting. The resources I’ve linked are geared toward drafting for non-stretch, but if you’re not following a similar tutorial i recommend stretch.

One last thing in regards to fit. ALWAYS MAKE A MOCKUP. You can work out so many fit issues just by making your costume in crappy material first, taking note of the fit issues, and adjusting them with pins, marking them with a sharpie, etc. Then you can change your pattern accordingly. Whether it’s a breastplate made of cardstock or a dress done in old sheets, you should always make a mockup. Sometimes several! The material doesn’t matter as long as it behaves roughly like the good stuff you plan on using. Don’t use a heavy blanket for if your costume is going to be a gauzy nymph robe, for example. But it doesn’t have to look nice. It just has to be wearable.

Resources:

*These are mostly tailored towards women’s garments. A lot of the same principles apply, but making men’s costumes will have some separate considerations not covered here. Just something to keep in mind if you want to draft for guys. These are all just starting points anyhow. There’s tons more out there

https://www.amazon.ca/Sewing-Book-Alison-Smith-2014-02-03/dp/B01JXQQ9Y2

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Sewing-Step-Step/dp/1606522086

https://www.handimania.com/diy/your-own-shape-sewing-mannequin.html

https://www.fearlessmakers.com/measurements-for-pattern-making/

https://opensourcestitches.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/pattern-drafting-101-drafting-the-basic-bodice-block/

https://opensourcestitches.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/pattern-drafting-101-the-mens-shirt-block/

http://isntthatsew.org/pattern-making-101/

https://sewing.wonderhowto.com/how-to/draft-basic-pant-pattern-0126850/

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/063206501X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[lifeinmedicine]

From MS4 to PL1: How do I doctor again?

I can still remember my very first day of residency—it was a Friday and I was scheduled to be in the ED with a bunch of other interns who were on elective that month. I was taking a shower getting ready for the day and I remember being extremely nervous that I had no idea what to expect or what to even say or do. I hadn’t done this in almost three months! 

I remember thinking to myself, “I don't even remember how to take a history or talk to a patient. Okay, let’s go back to the basics. Chief complaint, HPI, PMH, FHx…,” and slowly I started feeling a little more confident. I donned my scrubs and wore my pager proudly; my name tag hanging from my Ariel lanyard (hey, I’m in Pediatrics after all). 

For a split second I felt pretty cool. I was doing it—I was finally a real doctor. 

Throughout all of medical school I was always waiting for the time where I could finally study and do what I wanted. I can’t wait until I can just work with patients and not have to sit in class. I can’t wait until I figure out what I want to do and not have to deal with other fields. I can’t wait until I’m working in Pediatrics and I have my own patients and can make my own decisions. I can’t wait until I’m no longer a student and I’m an actual working doctor.  

Well that day was finally here and I was scared shitless. 

Our Pediatric ED is usually extremely busy, as we are a Level 1 trauma center and a huge referral center for surrounding community hospitals. I can’t remember how busy it actually was that day, except that to me it felt like the ED was exploding. I remember talking to another intern who had already been there for a few hours about admitting a patient to a floor team. She immediately knew exactly what to do and who to call and what to say and I felt so stupid. How come she knew all of this already? I am so behind. 

But it’s funny how within just a few hours, you get the hang of things and everything just comes back to you, as it should. You literally trained for this day for 4 years. Of course you know that a patient who comes in with cough and fever and weird lung sounds should probably get an XRay. There are always going to be systems issues that you don’t know, like how to use the EMR or what the protocol is to call a consult. But by this point, talking to a patient and getting their basic history should have been hardwired into my head. 

It reminds me of my first day of anatomy lab, and how nervous I was. My anatomy professor told us that it would only take us 10 minutes to get accustomed to the fact that we were literally in a room surrounded by dead bodies and were in the process of cutting them up. That the smell wouldn’t even faze us, and that some people may even start eating their lunch in there after a while. I thought he was crazy.

But he was right. The awe of discovery and the importance of what we were doing were enough to make us all forget these realities and just focus on dissecting. Within minutes we were talking and acting as if we had done this a million times before.

And it was the same thing that day. I thought it would take me days before I figured out how to “doctor” again but in reality we are trained to just adapt and keep going. Of course it still takes me time to get used to switching from inpatient to the ED, or elective life to inpatient life. And I, by no means, knew exactly what I was doing by the end of the day—there were still plenty of mistakes that I made. But just like before, it didn't take long for this to become my new reality.

There were a lot of other mental switches that I had to make as an intern. Of course there’s nothing more important than realizing that you are the doctor for this patient and have a true responsibility for them. It is up to you to examine them, re-evaluate them, educate them, comfort them, and figure out what the heck is going on with them in the meantime. 

But I think the biggest shock is when it came to realizing there is no one to fall back on anymore. Of course you have your senior resident and your attending, but at the end of the day you are the doctor and to some degree the line ends with you. If you don’t know how to do something you better learn because now there is no excuse. And there is nothing that you will not need to know. And if you don’t know how to do something, it’s up to you to ask or figure it out. 

I remember being in the ED and having an attending give me a suture kit and telling me to irrigate a wound. I had no idea what that meant, where the supplies were, or how to do it properly. And to make matters worse my patient was a very active and very unhappy three year old with an eyebrow laceration. I asked a very busy and frantic nurse for help who gave me verbal instructions on what to do but she forgot the very important and obvious fact that I was a very new and clueless intern. But if it had to be done then I had to find a way to make it happen. So, I somehow figured it out, definitely did it incorrectly, and had an attending show me afterwards. 

Obviously you should never do anything without supervision that could put yourself or your patient in danger, but to some degree you have to own the responsibility that it is up to you to figure out what you don’t know and how to get it done, for the sake of your patients. And I think a lot of becoming an intern is accepting that responsibility and owning up to admitting your gaps in knowledge and being truly motivated towards bridging them.

And where does motivation come from? I think we all like to assume we are good people who are motivated by wanting to help others and by wanting to do the right thing. But honestly, when you are so tired, dehydrated, and barely showering on a daily basis, a lot of your motivation is external: not wanting to look or feel like a fool, not wanting to be the “bad intern,” and not wanting to disappoint your senior resident. 

I feel like it's just after the middle hump of the year when we can finally change to internal motivation—when you finally understand how to do your job efficiently that you have made room and time in your mind to understand what is happening to your patient and learn why you are doing the things you are. Before this point, it’s so hard to just keep your shit together and come into work everyday smiling and wanting to take care of patients. 

Intern year is an extremely steep learning curve. The learning never stops, and every year you find out something new about your job and yourself. But I think intern year is where you learn the most about your endurance, responsibilities and coping mechanisms; how to ask for help effectively, and how to tackle the unknown; how to role model for medical students and your patients, and how to absorb the skills of those you emulate. 

It is without a doubt the hardest year, but if experience has taught me anything, it’s that we as doctors learn to adapt fairly quickly to our surroundings and our new lives, and residency is no different. It doesn’t take long to get used to the grind, the hours, the tears, the memories, and the patients. It may be scary at first but you will learn how to “doctor” again, and so much more.