No mistake, this was a big project and I couldn't have done it alone. Behind every piece here was a very special handful of people, pushing me kicking and screaming through each step of the year-long (literally!) process.
- ~To Jill, who agreed to let me do this project and who gave me the confidence to try in the first place. I would not be a costumer if it weren't for this woman.
~To my mother, who constantly thinks I've bitten off more than I can chew and who is always ready to a) remind me of such and b) bail me out if needed.
~To Holly and John, my models and little siblings, who put up with an awful lot of measuring, pinning, prodding, and fitting over the course of the past year, doing so with grace and dignity. Mostly.
~To Andrew, whose words "Yeah, that's actually very appropriate," were balm to my really frustrated soul when I was researching and documenting my design choices. Next time, the coat will be big enough to fit him.
~To Conrad, who vindicated my design choices ("those beads are a good size," "you going to use real buttons or some fancy thing from JoAnn's on that coat?") and motivated me to actually sew when I didn't feel like it just by sitting and watching me work all those evenings in the kitchen.
~To Julie, who patiently marked all of my hems, pinned me into my own dresses for events when I couldn't get hooks & eyes sewn on in time, and who wasn't afraid to tell me when I had truly ridiculous ideas. And who would then help me decide which ridiculous ideas might just work and which ones were a dead loss.
~To all my other coworkers at MSHP who kept asking, "How's that project coming? Is it done yet?" thereby guilting me into doing actual work on it at various points throughout the summer.
~To my friends in the online costume community, who put up with my whining, kvetching, and questioning for months--and who always seemed to have an answer to my semi-obscure and sometimes-desperate questions.
I could never have done this without your help--I wouldn't have even tried. This is bigger than I ever thought it could be and it's all your fault for telling me I could pull it off! Thank you, everyone.
