So I've FINALLY started up a costuming blog. Took me long enough, yeah? Several different things lead me to this place, and forcing myself to write them out makes me really think about why I'm here.
- it feels like this is where all the costumers are. I can't count the number of times that I've been googling whatever costumey thing happens to have caught my interest at the moment and been led to somebody's blog post about doing just that thing. And along that line,
- the HSF challenge "Gratitude" has made me really think about just how much inspiration and instruction I'm getting from other blogs... AND THOSE PEOPLE WILL NEVER KNOW! Won't lie, that's something I'll admit I'm feeling a tad guilty about. By using the same medium as a lot of the costumers that I'm being inspired by right now, it's easier to interact and be a contributing member of the community. I don't want to be a lurker anymore.
- I miss having something to say and feeling like I have a good outlet to say it. It seems costuming, especially historical costuming, has become my fandom obsession now and I needed an appropriate outlet for it.
- sharing pictures of projects on Facebook just isn't very fulfilling. So much of the audience there really has no idea what they're looking at and there's very little conversation there beyond "that's pretty" and "thanks".
- I like getting to show off what I've done. I'm proud of my hobby and I want what I've accomplished to be in a place where others can find it, even if they don't already know me.
So what am I up to right now (ie, the things y'all are going to be hearing me talk about):
- I'm trying to boost my local ICG chapter into something awesome that people want to be a part of. it involves lots of scheduling meetups and playing hostess, basically just coming up with new reasons to get dressed up.
- I'm participating in the Historical Sew Fortnightly hosted by the Dreamstress. I've known for a while now that I'm just so much more productive when I can sew to a deadline, so having a series of biweekly challenges has really helped. I doubt I'll go back and make up blog posts for too many of my past challenge submissions, but expect to start seeing the new ones here any day now.
- I've accepted the post of costume track director for Arisia, a long-running sci-fi/fantasy con held in Boston in January. Big shoes, yo. But I've been brainstorming up a storm and will hopefully have some enticing opportunities to put out there by the time panelists start signing up.
- I've been sewing through my stash. My spousal unit has gone back to school and consequently dropped down to working only part time. Belt-cinching on the spending means that my impulsive fabric buying had to come to a screeching halt. But this is good as it's got me thinking outside the box and using the materials I already have on hand. I've been using up scraps and forcing myself go in directions that I may not have been planning, but turn out pretty nifty all the same.
- SEWING ALL THE THINGS! Really, this is mostly a productivity thing for me. I spend a lot of my downtime when I can't sew just thinking about, researching and plotting out historical costuming. I need to do less thinking and more doing. Hopefully, by having an appropriate outlet to share about my accomplishments, I'll be better about actually accomplishing them. And then perhaps documenting what I've done and not just sharing pictures. I like talking about the process of making things.
I read somewhere along the line that every blog post should come with a picture, to keep it interesting. A popular theme around costuming blogs seems to be pictures of pets "helping" with the sewing and I thought I'd add one of my own. Below are my dogs Lily and Artie. They like to hang out in the work room with me, but unlike all of your fabulous fabric weight cats out there, they just lay in the middle of the floor and get in the way.
Lazy sods.
