The Southwest Costumers Guild 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 central Arizona's chapter of the International Costume Guild.

Our Website is now hosted by Costume.org!

Please note that info@southwestcostumersguild.org and our other former "southwestcostumersguild.org" e-mail addresses are not currently active.
Please contact us via our new e-mail:  southwestcostumers@gmail.com.

Index
Newsletter
Costumers Calendar
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

Randwulf's Smartphone Pouch - Free sewing pattern from SWCG VP Randall
 
Join the Southwest Costumers Guild
Recruiting and PR Materials:

"Victorian Ball" Foldover Flyer
"Science Fiction Convention" Foldover Flyer
"Renaissance Faire" Foldover Flyer
Quarter-Page Flyer
Color Bookmark

SWCG Bylaws

 
SWCG members in good standing  receive our newsletter Cactus Needles by e-mail.
Not getting your newsletter? Contact the Editor to make sure she has your current address.
A few weeks after its initial publication, we post Cactus Needles to this web site for all to enjoy.

Current Issue -  March 2024
Back Issues (All the way back to the Cactus Needles premiere in 1994)



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.

February 3-March 31, 2024 (Weekends plus Presidents Day) - Arizona Renaissance Festival near Gold Canyon, Arizona. https://arizona.renfestinfo.com/

February 14-July 7, 2024 -- The Phoenix Art Museum is having two exhibits running together in the Fashion-Design Mezzanine, "The Power of Pink" and "Barbie: A Cultural Icon". "The Power of Pink" explores the complex history of the popular yet controversial color and its impact on fashion and pop culture. The items shown are entirely from the museum's fashion-design collection. "Barbie: A Cultural Icon" traces the 60+ year  evolution of Barbie, from child’s toy to global icon. See more than 250 vintage dolls—including the original Barbie and all 22 original ensemble outfits. And much more. Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ https://phxart.org 

March 23-April 27, 2024 (Saturdays) Con-Fusion 2024 at various Phoenix Public Library branches. https://www.phoenixpubliclibrary.org/services/programs/confusion

Address Information:

Agave Library = 23550 North 36th Avenue (36th Avenue North of Pinnacle Peak Road)
Desert Broom Library = 29710 North Cave Creek Road (Cave Creek Road, South of Tatum Boulevard)
South Mountain Library = 7050 South 24th Street (24th Street, North of Baseline Road)
Cholla Library = 10050 North Metro Parkway East (Metrocenter)
Burton Barr Library = 1221 North Central Avenue (Central Avenue, South of McDowell Road)

April 5-7, 2024 - London Bridge Renaissance Faire & Joust in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. https://www.londonbridgerenfaire.com/

April 5-6, 2024 - Arizona FanFest at the Graham County Fairgrounds, Safford AZ

May 24-26, 2024 - Phoenix Fan Fusion at Phoenix Convention Center. https://www.phoenixfanfusion.com/

June 29, 2024 - Fabric War - The SCA Barony of Sundragon's annual swap meet of costuming and medieval reenactor supplies. Location to be announced.

August 30-September 2, 2024 - Saboten Con at Sheraton Grand Phoenix Downtown, 340 North 3rd Street, Phoenix

October 19, 2024 - Phoenix Winter Fantasy Ball 2024: A Night Under the Mountain at Ashley Castle, 1300 S. Price Road, Chandler

Join us for our 2nd annual Phoenix Winter Fantasy Ball! This event is hosted by Un Jour D’Amour and will be a fantasy/cosplay black tie affair gala with hors d’œuvres, dinner, drinks, a vendor marketplace, & entertainment provided. A portion of proceeds from the ball will be donated to multiple animal shelters around the valley, including the Arizona Humane Society, Arizona Small Dog Rescue, MCSO MASH Unit, Saving Paws Rescue, & HALO Animal Rescue. a nit, Saving Paws Rescue, & HALO Animal Rescue. https://www.fantastiquecollection.com/phx-winter-fantasy-ball-2024

November 8-10, 2024 - TusCon in Tucson.  https://tusconscificon.com/

CASFS Book & Media Social

Your Webmaster also organizes a monthly activity of the Central Arizona Speculative Fiction Society's (CASFS) Book and Media Social.  We get together once a month to talk about a pre-selected book, film or other media experience for a bit. After that, conversation can go anywhere. We meet at 7PM on the third Tuesday of every month at the Denny's restaurant at the northeast corner of 35th Avenue and Bethany Home Road in Phoenix. We run a Zoom meeting in parallel to the in-person one, so you can participate even if you can't get your corpus to Phoenix.

Check out the CASFS Book & Media Social Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1602983896683877, the AZ Fandom Facebook Group and the CASFS web page at http://casfs.org/book_social.html for directions to the meeting or the Zoom link or e-mail books@casfs.org

Here is the book list for the rest of 2023:

March 19, 2024    The Charm by Adam Niswander
April 16, 2024 Seal Team 666 by Weston Ochse
May 21, 2024 Skulking Permit by Robert Sheckley
June 18, 2024 Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher