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 and cosplay. Members are
often seen on stage and behind the scenes at Science
Fiction Convention masquerades, historical
reenactment events, street fairs 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:
"Renaissance Faire"
Foldover Flyer
(Featuring a practical belt pouch pattern)
Quarter-Page Flyer
Bookmark
SWCG
Bylaws
SWCG members receive our
newsletter, "Cactus Needles" by
e-mail.
A few weeks after its initial publication, we
post Cactus Needles to this website for all to
enjoy.
Current Issue -
October 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
e-mail southwestcostumers@gmail.com
for appropriate permission.
The
Southwest Costumers Guild usually meets one
Saturday afternoon per month at members' homes or a
public venue like a restaurant or museum
in the
greater
Here are some upcoming
guild meetings and costume-related public
events. Red Text
and an asterisk* indicate an SWCG
activity. Unless otherwise noted, SWCG Meetings
begin at 1:00 PM.
E-mail the Webmaster
if you know an Arizona costumed event
that should be on the calendar.
November 8-10, 2024 - TusCon
in Tucson. https://tusconscificon.com/
November 16, 2024 - November Meeting*
at a member's home. Topic and location to be announced.
E-mail us for details.
December 7, 2024, 12-5 PM - LibCon West at the Glendale Public Library main branch, 5959 West Brown Street, Glendale AZ West side 59th Avenue (halfway between Olive Avenue and Peoria Avenue). It's a lively free pop culture event with merchants, meet & greet booths, food trucks and lots of cosplay. https://www.libconwest.org/
December 7, 2024 - Meet SWCG at Libcon West!*
SWCG will have a meet and greet booth (outdoors
weather permitting) at LibCon West at Glendale Public
Library main branch, 5959 West Brown
Street, Glendale AZ. Stop by and say
hello! Setup begins at 10 AM.
The event opens to the public at noon.
January 25, 2025 - Tempe
FanCon at Tempe Public Library, SWC Rural
Road & Southern Avenue. "Comic
and cosplay fans grab your capes and superpowers and
come to the Tempe Public Library for a celebration of
comics and pop culture. Join us for free family fun
including costume contests, authors and artists,
entertainment, activities for the kids, photo ops with
characters, fandom related items for sale, and food
trucks." https://www.tempepubliclibrary.org/event-calendar/tempe-fancon
March
20-23, 2025 - Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention
at Casino del Sol, Tucson, Arizona. https://www.wildwestcon.com/
February
24-March 2, 2025 - End of Trail at
Arizona Game & Fish Ben Avery Shooting Facility. The
Single-Action Shooting Society's annual tournament of
cowboy action shooting.The event features a sutler's row
of merchants for filling out your wild
west/victorian/steampunk costume. https://endoftrail.org/
September 17, 2024 The Spare Man by Mary
Robinette Kowal
October 15, 2024 Witch King by Martha
Wells
November 19, 2024 Leviathan Wakes by James
SA Corey
December 17, 2024 How to Become the Dark Lord
and Die Trying by Django Wexler
Guild Activities
SWCG hosted Costume-Con
30 on May 11-14, 2012 at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel.
Click the link to see some pictures from the "Sick Pups"
archive.
Meet & Greet table at CoKoCon 2023 in Tempe.
Our first get-together since the pandemic - a simple diner luncheon.
Randall, Tasha and Paula at Tempe Library ComiCon in 2018
At Steampunk: An Exquisite Adventure in November, 2013.
Randall & Jean at Steampunk Street II in downtown Mesa, April, 2011.
We had a fine turnout for our Barbecue Mixer in April, 2009, with folks from SWCG, Sunacosu,
CASFS, Arizona Ghostbusters and The Rebel Legion. Photo by Mike Contos.
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.
Updated October 27, 2024 by Randall Whitlock.
Direct correspondence to:
Randall Whitlock, Webmaster
Southwest Costumers Guild
2320 West Seldon Lane
Phoenix AZ 85021