SWCG LogoThe 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!


E-mail us at:  southwestcostumers@gmail.com.


 





Index
Newsletter
Costumers Calendar
SWCG Activities
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




Cactus Needles Logo

 
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 -  May 2025
Back Issues (All the way back to the Cactus Needles premiere in 1994)

Creative Commons License

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.

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Costumers Calendar

The Southwest Costumers Guild usually meets one Saturday afternoon per month at a members' homes or a public venue like a restaurant or museum in the greater Phoenix area, . 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 have meandering conversations. E-mail southwestcostumers@gmail.com for directions to meetings and events.

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.


On view now at Phoenix Art Museum: Greatest Fits Vol. 1: The Art of Archiving Fashion  https://phxart.org/

PhxArt‘s first major investigation into the formation of our renowned fashion collection. With more than 80 garments and accessories, Greatest Fits (Vol. 1): The Art of Archiving Fashion begins the series by tracing the evolution of the Museum’s collection from its founding in 1966 to the present day.


May 24, 2025 - Boot Forms* at Tasha's place. We'll experiment with doing foot and leg casts using a special resin gauze to help design fitted shoes and stockings. E-mail the Webmaster for directions. southwestcostumers@gmail.com


May 24 and 25, 2025 - King-Con at Mohave County Fairgrounds. https://azfandom.org/cons/kingcon.html


June 6-8, 2025 - Phoenix Fan Fusion at the Phoenix Convention Center. https://www.phoenixfanfusion.com/


June 14, 2025 - Reboot* at Tasha's place. We'll experiment a bit with the the foot castings from April.


June 21, 2025, 9-5 - Fabric War  at Glendale Civic Center.  The SCA Barony of Sundragon's annual swap meet of costumes, costuming supplies and other stuff of interest to the modern medievalist along with arts and sciences events and the famous fabric melee. Look for some SWCG folks as participants. https://www.atenveldt.org/news/fabric-war-2025/


July 11-13, 2025 - Medieval Mayhem Renaissance Faire at Frontier Field Park in Show Low, Arizona. https://www.azmayhem.com/


August 8-10, 2025 - Bisbee Pirate Weekend centered around City Park at 62 Brewery Avenue, Bisbee, Arizona


August 29-September 1, 2025 - Saboten Con at Sheraton Grand Phoenix Downtown, 340 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix AZ https://www.sabotencon.com/


August 29-31, 2025 - Tucson Comic Con at Tucson Convention Center, 260 South Church Avenue, Tucson AZ. Guests include Author Gail Garriger, Artist Liz Danforth and Musicians Jeff & Maya Bonhoff. https://tucsoncomic-con.com/


November 7-9, 2025 - TusCon 52 at the DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Tucson Airport, 7051 S. Tucson Boulevard, Tucson, Arizona. Guests of honor include Gail Carriger, Liz Danforth, Jeff & Maya Bonhoff, Linda Addison and Madame Askew.  https://tusconscificon.com/about-tuscon/


January 17, 2026, 10-3 - Tempe FanCon at Tempe Public Library, 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. There is no table fee for exhibitors and the event is free and open to the public. The event will be held outdoors in the Library Plaza. Look for a Southwest Costumers Guild meet and greet booth among the exhibitors.


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 early 2025:


May 20, 2025 – The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older

June 17, 2025 – The Masquerades of Spring by Ben Aaronovich


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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 and Greet Table at
          LibCon West 2024.

Meet & Greet table at LibCon West in December 2024.

A diner luncheon

Our first get-together since the pandemic - a simple diner luncheon.
 

At Tempe Library
          ComiCon in 2018

Randall, Tasha and Paula at Tempe Library ComiCon in 2018

SWCG at Steampunk:
          An Exquisite Adventure
At Steampunk: An Exquisite Adventure in November, 2013.

Jean & Randall at Steampunk Street
          II
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 May 11, 2025 by Randall Whitlock.

Direct correspondence to:

Randall Whitlock, Webmaster
Southwest Costumers Guild
2320 West Seldon Lane
Phoenix AZ 85021

or southwestcostumers@gmail.com

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