CONvergence 2017

This summer, The Girl and I attended our local sci-fi and fantasy convention, CONvergence. The con is a long-weekend event, but we only went for two (short) days. That ended up being just the right amount for her first con (and my first with a little one!).

I'd been to this con a long time ago (I wanna say 2004?) but I didn't really see the point of it. I wasn't into serious gaming or fandoms and whole thing seemed a little too serious and just not my cup of tea. Also I guess that was before cosplay really exploded, and while there were a few people dressed up, mostly people were saving their costumes for the Masquerade. This time it was absolutely a costume convention!

The other thing that seems to have changed at cons is a welcoming and accommodating atmosphere. Overall, I was really impressed by the con's commitment to inclusivity for all people. There was also a great amount of kid-friendly stuff!

On Friday, we wore our Star Trek costumes. The Girl was Counselor Deanna Troi, and I was (of course) Troi's mother, Lwaxana.

Obligatory goofy selfie. Read more about these costumes here and here!

An awesome TNG control panel!

She is reading Connie's mind. Because Betazoid telepathy.

Somebody had a cool transporter!

There was a kid activity where they just destroyed a giant cardboard spaceship. Hilarious commentary was provided. It was WAY more chaotic than this photo makes it look.

I ran into some of my Treadle sewing students! Both dressed as Belle! But different!

 

Marty also made this awesome Dr. Strange costume!

And we met another Deanna! I totally just went up to her and started being Lwaxana at her. I think I caught her off guard but she totally played along. Super fun!

We played giant chess!

Among the many cool costumes we saw: gender-swapped Sally and Jack.

Velma!

Many handmaids.

Crap-tons of Star Wars. This cute toddler was a standout.

Waldo!

Ghostbusters.

Dwight Schrute. I almost walked past this guy. (Confession: I briefly mistook a hotel employee for a cosplayer earlier that day. He had a suit and a briefcase and just looked so... intentional! So I didn't want to screw up again.) I just cautiously asked, "Dwight?" and he was like yeah (and then I noticed he had a bobblehead doll of himself) so I snapped his pic. I LOVE this cosplay, it's hilarious.

A very dapper Beetlejuice.

Okay, friends, help me out with this box. At first I assumed it was The Luggage (from Discworld) but now I am not sure. Anyone recognize it? It was pretty cool.

On Saturday we went back for more fun. We dressed as My Little Ponies. The Girl was Pinkie Pie and I was Twilight Sparkle. (More costume details later!) We stopped for balloons for a cute and practical (so I could see her in the crowds!) accessory. 

One really cool thing we found in the hall was this giant coloring page. It was set up on a stand with buckets of colored pencils (with a sharpener bolted on!) and people just wandered by and colored. We stayed there for a long time.

There were many interesting/funny cards at the card/flyer table.

Some of the cool costumes we saw Saturday. Lego Batman!

This hilarious Galaxy Quest group. They were so completely committed to being in character. It was awesome.

The Girl's balloons started drifting over to them and they had a great time poking at them and being generally confused by them.

Ok, so I figured these guys were from one of the Rocky movies but I totally had to google it. Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago.

And, finally, we found Jesus. This guy cracked me up. Also I called him "cheeses."

We did not get to do everything we wanted (we had to miss the Masquerade to go to a friend's wedding!) but we did a lot of fun activities. We checked out the art show, did some kid crafts, I went to a couple panels that were super fun, and we watched a couple movies in the cinema.

There were plenty of people just randomly sitting around playing cards and doing puzzles, but we found that the organized gaming was Not For Us. The 22nd floor was the gaming floor, and it was mostly devoted to intense computer gaming.

It was super fun being in costume, and seeing lots of other folks dressed up. I definitely want to go again next year. I think we'd have more fun if we planned a more definite agenda and made sure to be at panels and activities on time. Plus I could have used some knitting, more books for The Girl, and a Fluxx deck. 

Other things to do next time: Check out the evening stuff. Especially the masquerade! I know Con can get a bit rowdy at night, but I am hoping some of the room parties are still PG in the early evening.

Also, we never made it to the second venue across the road. That's where they had the dealer's room, the entertainment stage, and some other fun things.

A Knitted Shawl

I've got a bit of a backlog of projects I want to post here, but this shawl is the one I'm currently the most excited about!

I bought these two skeins of self-striping gradient yarn at a fiber fair several years ago. They languished in my stash until I got sick of looking at them, then a few months ago I started this shawl as an easy project to knit in the evenings in front of the TV.

The body is plain stockinette with yarn-over increases and the lace edging is super simple. My yarn is worsted weight so I got a fairly big shawl pretty quickly. The pattern is the Kindness Shawl, found as a free download on Ravelry. (It feels silly, but the fact that my yarn was the same color scheme as the pattern image did catch my eye!)

I experimented with wearing it wrapped up like a scarf. It's cute, but a little bulky.

My bottom lace border is not perfect, because I stopped mid-repeat. I used every last inch of this yarn to finish and bind off!

Here it is before blocking.

I gave it a pretty hard block and it really opened up!

You can see my Ravelry project page for this project here.

A New Project

I haven't had a new historic project since I finished my plain and simple dress without a lot of frippery in January. This project wasn't on my To Do list, but I've had the fabric for ages and it's been rattling around in my head for awhile.

First some inspiration. I am not trying to copy any specific dress. My fabric is my starting point.

This one from the Kyoto book is probably my main inspiration. I love the stripes and the trim, which looks like box pleats plus something extra. And I love the fact that it's all self-fabric. The only thing I don't like is that it's cut with no waist seam (polonaise) which is pretty but I have no idea how to make it fit. So I will actually be making an anglaise.

A great skirt shape here.

This one has the en fourreau back I plan to do.

I knew I wanted the skirt silhouette to be HUGE. I tried on all my false rumps and pads but nothing was big enough. So I made a new one! Here it is in progress. I promise I sewed the waistband down properly later.

Here's what I've actually sewn so far. It's slow going because I am doing it 100% by hand. The skirt is together but not hemmed. The fabric is striped silk taffeta.

It's huge on the sides!

It's huge in the back!

It's huge all around!

The trim will be pinked self-fabric. I have obtained a new rotary blade for this that cuts scallops, which is a slightly more interesting look than plain zigzag pinking. Plus, scallops are period!

Of course I had to do a comparison. From top to bottom, new scallop blade, old pinking blade, normal pinking shear.

When I started this dress a few weeks ago, I thought I would whip it out real quick and wear it to our 18th century picnic event this weekend. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I now plan to finish it for Costume College this summer. 

Stashbusting Sewing

I've been having a hard time settling my focus on a sewing project lately, so I've been using my random energy to make simple, quick projects that move out the stash fabrics.

First I did some home sewing. We have been using the typewriter a lot so I have given it a place to sit semi-permanently.

I love the way it looks but it just gets so dusty, so it needs to be covered. The typewriter's original case is both ugly and decaying.

So I sewed a fabric one!

The outer layer has Decor-Bond interfacing fused to it for extra heavy boxy crispness. The lining is not interfaced.

The pattern took some trial and error. It ended up looking like this.

Then I made a tablecloth for my porch. I really can't say I made it when all I did was hem the edges of a big square, but here it is anyway because I like it!

Before: the table is naked and ugly! 

After: Pretty! Plus fruit!

Then I made some skirts. 3 of them simply are elastic- or drawstring-gathered rectangles. Easy, fast, wearable, and gets that stash fabric out of the clutter pile and into the clothes closet!

This one has tiny bicycles!

This last one is made with gores and an invisible zipper. It's more of a quilting-weight cotton, so unlike the lawn skirts above, it would be bulky with an elastic waist.

It feels good to get a few fabrics out of the stash, but I have a long way to to!

Stashbusting Spring Jacket

I had so much fun making this bright spring jacket for my 7-year-old last weekend!

The fabrics are all from the stash. We tried several choices before finding a piece with enough yardage to squeeze the whole coat in! 

She absolutely wanted a hood. I liked this hood pattern because it has a center panel instead of just a center seam, you get a much better shape that way.

She chose the buttons from my stash. It was also her decision to have the pockets made of contrast fabric. She calls this combination "screaming nature." 

The pattern had facings and a deep hem but instead I just cut a full lining. Easier and cuter!

The pattern is Burda 9458, unfortunately out of print. I had it (you guessed it) in my pattern stash. I am glad I was able to use it before she outgrew it!

The fabrics: The main fabric is a heavier cotton sateen print by Valori Wells. The lining/contrast fabric is a classic Amy Butler cotton print. She really loved the Amy floral with the orange. I was doubtful at first, but I totally love the finished look.

I remember I originally bought the orange fabric to cover a bench. The Amy Butler print I bought just to stash. I felt very emotional about letting them go, especially the Amy Butler print! 

Stash fabric can carry such baggage. Using it up means letting go. Letting go of your ideas, your previous plans that didn't work out. Letting go of your pretty pretty precious. But I have to remind myself that THIS is the moment I was saving them for. This is the right project! It's time, now! And of course it feels so good to get a finished project out of the stash bin.

I am pretty pleased with myself for whipping this up in a weekend (specifically, a weekend when I had work shifts both Saturday and Sunday!) and for using up my precious stash. I am hoping to move some more stash out in the next few months, probably with more simple projects like this.