For San Diego Comic-Con 2019 I decided to go as a super quick and comfortable costume: Kaylee Frye from Firefly, with her iconic parasol.
Materials:
-Olive Green Jumpsuit (eBay)
-Purple/Pink floral shirt (eBay)
-White Parasol (Amazon)
-Acrylic paints and foam brushes and a fine tipped paint brush (craft store)
-Boots (already owned)
-Silver necklace (already owned)
Tutorial
Jumpsuit:
To search for this jumpsuit you use the term "coveralls". Coveralls is what mechanics wear to keep their street clothes clean. And Kaylee is a mechanic. I searched "olive green coveralls" and several options came up on eBay. I chose a male size medium. BIG MISTAKE. I'm 5'6" and this thing was HUGE. I had to alter it a lot, particularly in the legs/crotch region to make it fit. I had to bring up the crotch a few inches, and take in the sides of the legs. I also removed the sleeves and sewed the openings closed and took in the waist so it fit.
I chose not to add the embellishments Kaylee has on her jumpsuit (the teddy bear on the leg and the flower on the belt) because I figured most people wouldn't remember those anyways, and it was too much work to try to find something similar I could use. Plus I thought it would stand out like a sore thumb, since my jumpsuit wasn't all worn and dirty like hers is.
The inside of the sleeve opening looked like this:
All my scraps. Proof that I really did alter it a lot.
Don't forget to finish your seams and to cut notches on the inside of your seam so the fabric can spread and it doesn't bunch weird or cause puckers when you fold it under and sew it.
Shirt:
I bought the shirt of eBay. I searched forever and really struggled to find an adequate shirt. I ended up buying a little girl's XL shirt. It had ruffles/sequins on the front that I unpicked.
After removing the ruffles:
Parasol:
I bought the parasol of Amazon years ago in anticipation of this cosplay, but didn't get around to doing it until now. I looked at images online for my base. I spent a long time free-hand drawing the swirls with pencil (which I erased multiple times, since the parasol is made of paper). Once I was satisfied I started painting with cheap acrylic paints and foam brushes I bought from Michael's craft store.
I ended up using "Holiday Red", "Yellow", and I mixed "Hunter Green" and "Grass Green" 50/50 because the one I had one on hand was too dark, but the new one I bought felt too light.
After one coat of paint:
I used two coats of paint of yellow and red, and 3 coats of paint on green. My red and green paints were matte, while the yellow was satin. If I could redo it I would make them all the same sheen, I just wasn't paying attention when I bought my paint.
After painting, the parasol still folds/unfolds just fine, which is also great.
Boots:
I chose to wear my Clark's boots that I already owned. They are already very worn in and well loved. I also wore a short silver necklace similar to what I have seen in some of Kaylee's pictures.
