YuKonstruct recently took part in the local comic convention, YukomiCon, and brought a special edition of our popular Repair Cafe: YuKonstruct's Cosplay Repair Station.

Inspired by similar costume repair booths at other conventions, the Cosplay Repair Station was a great way to spread a bit of the maker spirit, provide a valuable service to cosplayers and teach people about what we offer at our makerspace.

Here's how we did it, so you can set up your own cosplay repair booth!

YuKonstruct is the first makerspace in Canada's north. Our mission is to provide access to shared space, quality tools, available expertise, and a collaborative environment to help makers build anything!

Step 1: Tools and Materials

What tools and materials you bring with you can vary depending on what resources you have available. We wanted to make sure we have a wide variety of supplies to tackle possible costume mishaps.

The most commonly used items were the hot glue guns, tape and hand sewing supplies, but it was nice to have soldering equipment on hand when people came to us with electronic props that needed wiring repairs.

We chose not to supply makeup but it might be an option for you if you are able to get samples.

We stocked our repair station with the following items:

Domestic sewing machine and notions (bobbins, thread in several colours)
Glue guns & glue - with the stands/drip trays
Various adhesives (duct tape, electrical tape, clear tape, double-sided tape, fabric glue, super glue, epoxy, sugru, spirit gum, etc)
Scissors (both good sewing scissors and craft scissors)
Pliers
Riveter & rivets
Safety pins
Hand sewing items (needles, curved needles, thread, thimbles)
Permanent markers
Zip ties (multiple sizes and colours)
Rubber bands
Iron and hemming tape
Heat gun
Soldering station & fume extractor
Bandaids
Lighter
Powerbar & extension cords
Mirrors - full length and handheld
Wig stands
Dress form
Baby powder
Hair spray, bobby pins, hair ties
Tide-to-go stain remover

Step 2: Signage & Promotion

Cosplayers won't use your services if they don't know about them, so it is important to advertise!

We used the following description for our booth to promote our services in the convention materials and on social media:

YuKonstruct’s Cosplay Repair Station
Costume catastrophe? YuKonstruct’s got you covered! Volunteers from Yukon’s makerspace will help you patch and mend your damaged props and costumes on-the-spot. Glue guns, duct tape, hairspray… we’ve got what it takes to help you get your cosplay back to looking its best!

We secured a fantastic booth location, right across from the costume contest stage, and made big "Cosplay Repair Station" foam board signs. (See the instructable on laser cutting the foam board signs)

Step 3: Have Fun!

You'll need a great team of volunteers to staff your booth. The volunteers don't necessarily need to know how to use all the equipment and materials, but it will help if they are familiar with the basics so they can guide cosplayers towards the best possible solutions to their wardrobe malfunctions.

We made sure we scheduled at least two volunteers for each shift and provided them with makerspace t-shirts.

It's more fun if you dress up too! Our volunteers opted to wear fun wigs.