Are You Going to Dragon*Con?

*edited*  It totally didn't occur to me to link to the Dragon*Con website.


Hey there!  Normally I'm all revved up and ready to go for Dragon*Con but this year we're not really attending outside of helping some friends to setup and breakdown. I am, however, totally available Thursday or Friday night to meet any blog readers and sewcialists that will be in town. There's a tavern and a 24 hour restaurant within walking distance, and also the food court*. You can comment here, or send me a message via Twitter. Its best to setup a time/place before hand because 30,000 people in the two square miles all trying to talk and text at once makes cell phones not work reliably.

Anyway, all that said, I would LOVE to meet up.

*Newbie Tip: They run out of the good stuff the second day and if you are REALLY broke there's the Con Suite one floor up from the main lobby in the Hyatt (it will be mapped in your handbook), they have free drinks and chips, they do breakfast/lunch/dinner/midnight meal but it might look like something that would crawl off Calvin's plate.

Life Imitating Art

Avengers as Gowns by Kelsey Michele

You know why sewing geeks are awesome? Because they take the above photo, and do this:

Avengers Evening Gowns at Dragon*Con Assemble

So, I'm thinking of doing Black Widow (third in from the left in top photo) next year. Hell, I want to make that even if I don't go. 

As a side note, these lovely ladies were part of the Costuming Track, and did a fashion show in which I modeled for my friends at Wolfhome Adventuring. There's a pic of me in a kimono on my facebook page during the con, but I wore a steampunk outfit of their's in the show.  Photos of me in the fashion show have yet to surface.

This also leads me into another thing.  I was thinking of doing a whole month dedicated to costuming, as I have some awesome peeps I can interview on the subject.  However, Peter of Male Pattern Boldness beat me to it, and now he'll probably think I'm copying him or something.

But I'm game to do that if ya'll are interested. You know how much I love costumes.

Seventies Dress: The Making Of

I think I might have promised some constructions notes on this some time back, right?  Well, here goes.  I went ahead and measured all the pattern pieces and determined that, for the most part, it would fit. I just needed to make a FBA.  Even though the cowl neck portion is cut on the bias, I didn't think it would stretch enough, or that it would but look bad.  Here's how to do an FBA on this type of princess seam.

1) First, go ahead and trace 1/2 of the bodice piece.  Trying to do both halves will make you to stab yourself in the leg, so don't do it. Trust me.

2) Go ahead and hold the traced piece up to yourself, wear a cami or something that you can pin it to, mark your bust apex.

3) Tape it over some other piece of paper.

4) This is very similar to the Roobios FBA (seriously, go read it), but I didn't want a side dart, so I put all the fullness into the underbust gathers.  You will want to redraw the stitching line using a French Curve.  And also, due to paranoia, I added about .5 inches of length. Which turned out to be a very bad idea. More on that in a minute.

Ok, so moving on to construction.  This thing is a FABRIC HOG! Seriously,  Ooona sent me over four yards of this fabric and in the end I had enough left over to make my daughter a top.  The thing about these sort of slippery slinky knits is to be very careful that you don't stretch it when laying it out in any way.  I was using the ironing board to pool the excess fabric on because I could only cut one large skirt panel out at once. I didn't take photos of this part, I was busy swearing and stressing out my husband. He got over it, eventually.

In any case, I had this clever plan of using bias cut fusible interfacing, also a lesson in things Not TO DO.  You can't get the iron hot enough for it to stay put.  I did manage to use the velvet pressing board my Mother left to me (those things are expensive! If you ever find one under 100 dollars GET IT RIGHT THEN).

needle boards also like to collect thread

In any case, I managed to get the whole thing cut out and sewn up in one night, to the point where I could try it on. Then tragedy struck!

saggy boob

The dreaded Saggy Boob (said in Heidi Klum's voice)! NOOOOOOoooOOoooo!!!  I had a complete meltdown that resulted in my husband handing me a xanax and chamomile tea and telling me to go to bed.

I tackled it again after my short work week. If the left side looks better, that's because I have it pinned up here.  I ended up taking a good inch and a half in pinning it, went over it with a triple zigzag stitch and clear elastic for stability (and added it to the shoulders), then trimmed excess fabric. Carefully.  Hooray! It Worked!

To be honest, all I did for finishing the edges was turn it under twice and use a tiny zigzag.  Facings on this stuff? NOT HAPPENING. Also, finding matching thread was almost impossible, but I ended up going with dark red on the serger and a dark purple in my Mom's Viking. I really wish my Brother had been operational at this point, its a lot happier to work on knits.

Oh right, the after on dealing with Saggy Boob.

One day, I'll get new floors. *sighs*

I didn't bother to hem it, it really didn't need it in this case.  And of course, I still haven't gotten more photos of me in it.  Here's a slightly different phone photo than the one I posted before.

This are serious face, I are serious Time Lord. I have evil eyebrows, too.  

Alright then. I hope that was in some way enlightening. Also, this did show me that, other than the rounded shoulders, my doppleganger is pretty close to my proportions and reliable for early fitting.

One Year Later

I still miss her.  Every day I have some moment that I think about her, want to share something with her, and realize that I can't anymore. I remembered a few photos I had found of her when she was young and scanned them here.  One is a Christmas photo in a green dress she made. That raised eyebrow? Yeah, that eyebrow would send me scampering when I knew I was in trouble. You did not mess with "The Look". The other photo, I'm not sure what it was for, possibly for a theater production, but it is so ethereal it needed sharing. Even this young her eyes held so much.

Dragon*con ended up being too hard for me emotionally. I tried, I did, but I couldn't really hold it together, even on the day the kids were with me.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the future now because every year these two events will coincide.

That said, the kids had a blast the one day they were with us. So many people loved Simon's costume, he definitely stole the show.  For that, at least, I felt appreciated because so many said "You are lucky to have such a talented Mom".

As for my River Song dress, well I didn't get any more photos.  And there is quite a few other things I've been working on that I haven't talked about at all here. There is so much I want to do, and share, in order to spread my love of sewing and creating with others. Things that I know would have made Mom proud. So all that said, I will do my hair and makeup and attempt to get more photos of the dress and other projects, since I'm off the rest of the week. One of the things that should help photos in the future is getting my backdrop/curtains setup.

I hope everyone will stick around for the fun to come. Much love to you all!

Hello Sweetie

So here is a sneak peak at my dress. I ended up using an entirely different pair of shoes (Seychelles I'd been drooling over and saving  pennies for that went on sale like... 87% off!!).  The fabric was a lovely reciprocal gift from Miss Oona. I'm off to D*CON the rest of the weekend and may be updating leh facebook page. Other than that... SPOILERS!

So, What is this Dragon*Con Thing You Speak Of?

I go on about it just about every year, its a bigger deal in terms of costuming than Halloween for me, but it spills over.  And I realize that there are many who read this blog that may not know what it is.  So here's the official blurb:

Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe! With over thirty-five fan based tracks, 3500 hours of panels, workshops, gaming, a parade down Peachtree, film festivals, art show, comics and pop art, nightly concerts and parties, bands and DJs, tons of costume contests, dealers, and exhibitors, all squeezed into four short days, Dragon*Con is non-stop FUN!

They don't mention that there is also fan tracks for Science, Space, and Robotics, not to mention the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a presence there. This is how I got to meet several people from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and  other professional scientists that do a lot of educational outreach. And about 85% of everyone I know will be there. For serious. It used to be a big party but lately its more for us to catch up with old friends and watch the younger generation of geeks and nerds go "hey look, other people are as into stuff as I am!".

But lets get back to the costumes.  This is absolutely the best video I have ever seen that captures what goes on.  Watch in High Def if at all possible. Its long, but seriously worth the watch.  Let me know when you find Waldo.




So if you are going to be at this event and want to meet me "In the Flesh", follow me on Twitter .  I will occasionally park myself in one spot. Usually its the board game area in of the Hilton (lowest level).  I would love to play a match of "Give Me the Brain".

Also this year I am working for a friend on Friday and Saturday at "Wolfhome Adventuring Outfitters" and probably modeling in a show for her.  And I have a preparty to go to... that I still need to finish that dress for...

So I should get on that, huh?  Cheers!