Imagine this: you’ve spent hundreds of hours holed up in your garage, working with foam, hot glue, and fiberglass to craft the perfect costume from your favorite movie, comic book, or TV show. It looks screen accurate and even better, you look incredible wearing it. But then after you step inside the overcrowded halls of your local comic book convention, someone steps on your cape, causing you to bump into someone rushing to snag an exclusive Funko Pop and drop your battleaxe, and then you rip a seam bending over to pick in up. What’s a cosplayer with a damaged costume to do? You could either cry sad, salty tears or you could put in a call to a real hero, one who has made it her mission to provide free cosplay repair to anyone who may need it: Sgt. Swiftstitch.[brightcove video_id=”5857018198001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=“rJs2ZD8xâ€]Caitlin Brown isn’t your average convention attendee. Better known as Sgt Swiftstitch, she is a mobile cosplay repair technician who donates her time, her know-how, and her own hard-earned cash to make sure that your cosplay can survive long, arduous hours on the con floor. And the best part for costumed con-goers in crisis? Sgt. Swiftstitch provides her services absolutely free of charge. So why does she do this? While at L.A. Comic Con, we caught up with Sgt. Swiftstitch to talk with her about why she dedicates herself to being such a selfless seamstress.
“If I see somebody with pieces of their costume on the ground and they’re scrambling and they’re trying to rope their badge lanyard into some sort of MacGuyvered thing, that’s when I will stop and offer assistance,” Brown told Nerdist. “If I see that they’re holding a piece of their costume instead of wearing it, I see if they need any help. If I see people crying, a lot of times I’ll stop and ask if everything is ok.â€Since everything is self-funded, Brown has an Amazon wishlist where people can help donate supplies to her arsenal which will be put to good use helping cosplayers in need. If you’ve ever wanted to pay it forward in the nerdiest way possible, this is a great place to start. And the next time that you’re at a convention in Southern California and your costume meets with an unexpected disaster, don’t freak out. Just remember to call Sgt. Swiftstitch.–
Additional reporting by Jesse B. Gill and Kristian Odland
