Kaylee is such a happy character, who seeks to find the joy in everything, and I love her for that. She’s one of the best parts of Firefly, and I love her outfit in Shindig, but this one requires… much less hoop skirt.
Kaylee’s coverall outfit is such an iconic one, that although I strived to make it accurate, working on a student budget meant I was going for the feeling, rather than authenticity.
In my undergrad years, I made a Kaylee inspired dress and the turquoise brocade jacket, neither of which fit anymore, so I’ll just link to those posts…
Early in grad school, sometime during the winter, I painted a white paper parasol with a (somewhat) rainbow spiral… I remember that it was winter because I was painting in my office before 9am because the heat in my apartment had broken… And I was therefore not staying at home. Brrrr….
Then a year or so later I was in the planning stages for my first DragonCon, and I thought it would be perfect to do Kaylee. So, the coveralls needed to be purchased, distressed, drawn on, etc.
I bought my coveralls at a local costume/antique/surplus/etc store. They’re a child’s extra large. Let’s not talk about it. I bought a patch pack off of ebay, which made it easy, and sewed them on.
The shirt is my typical Nettie hack for T-shirts, and I think I got the fabric off of ebay too. It had Asian characters and flowers on it. What’s more Kaylee than that? I do remember searching for such a shirt, but there’s limited resources in the way of thrift stores near me…
Then I made sandals. Yes. That. Did they get thrown out pretty much the day after con? Yes. But I made them, and they were (somewhat) cool. When I wore this costume to the con, though, it was after a full day of wearing heels, so I just wore some utility sandals (think hiking but in sandals). Oops? I think I did wear the sandals with my Nausicaa costume, but only the one time.
I also made a Kaylee necklace…Can’t find a picture though. And I think I’ve lost it in my two moves since I wore this costume.
And that’s that! Threw my hair into some buns, put some contacts in, and called it a day!
