Confessions of a Craft Addict

It wasn’t until after we moved to Atlanta eight years ago that we heard of Dragon*con, the annual Labor Day weekend gathering of sci-fi/fantasy enthusiasts and creators. Since Honey and I share a love for many things sci-fi and/or fantasy related, we were eager to go and check out all the event had to offer.

Somehow, we managed to not make it there for eight consecutive years. Sometimes it was a money issue; often, we just had other plans (usually involving out-of-town trips to see family).

This year, however, we finally made it down there, and all I can say is WOW.

The event was expected to attract about 30,000 people to downtown Atlanta this weekend, many of them wearing some type of costume or fan wear. It was incredibly overwhelming and fairly overstimulating for me. There’s just so much to see at once and the volume level is unreal. I’ve been home about two hours now and my head still feels all poundy, like I went to a concert and stood too close to the amps. Still, it was an amazing experience and we’re already making plans to go next year.

We did not pre-register and I won’t do that again because it meant standing in line for an hour to just pay and get our badges. But within about two minutes of walking through the door, I saw one of my earliest fantasy fiction heroes, Anne McCaffrey.  She was sitting outside one of the halls, singing autographs. Anne McCaffrey! Signing autographs!

Other celeb sightings? Walter Koening of Star Trek and Babylon5 fame, as well as one of the dudes from Ghosthunters. Don’t ask me what his name is; I don’t watch that show. But my dad does and is a huge fan (I have no idea why; I’m just glad I didn’t inherit his crappy taste in TV) so I took a picture of the back of his head.

As neat as the celebrities are, though, the really cool thing is to just people watch. I saw two Sweeney Todds, a platoon of Storm Troopers, his-and-hers Darth Vaders, the coolest Wizard of Oz quartet ever (Dorothy was MIA) and a flotilla of pirates, all of whom my daugher had to greet and ask if they were married. There also were a number of … interesting costumes, which a huge number of male attendees found creative and inspiring. I don’t have the body to wear a chain-mail thong bikini but I can’t imagine it’s comfortable.

I’m not sure how thrilled Honey is with my plans for next year (“We’re going every day! And different costumes every day! And you’re going to wear a combat kilt!”) but I know we’re both ready to make Dragon*con an annual tradition.

I’ve been having lots of fun with Katie’s Round-Neck Top pattern, which includes directions for making it into a dress. It just sews up so quickly and wears easily for my little preschooler.

While my previous corduroy incarnation included pockets, the dress on the left does not yet have them and I’m still waffling. Oh, but I do love it in that soft baby cord! I used two prints I found at Joann’s, a black-with-white polka dots and a cute Forest Friends print. Just so stinkin’ cute! I think I may need to make a purse for myself with those little animals!

The dress on the right features Michael Miller’s Pod Posey fabrics. It was love at first fondle with that bold border print, and I had just enough of the scattered flowers to make the neckbands. If you look closely at her right shoulder, you can see the safety pin holding the strap closed. My darling daughter decided to rip off the button, for no reason at all. Little nut.

Lots more to show but that requires pictures and will have to wait until Monday, since Honey and I are headed to Dragon*con tomorrow. And that, my friends, will require a post and photo album all it’s own.

For fall, that is. Because then I can actually wear my fabulous new jacket!

I fell in love with the style when I sewed a similar one for the bunny. I couldn’t find one exactly like it but I found something close and just tweaked it. I think it’s a pretty good match.

The fabric is from the Park Slope line by Erin McMorris, which I lurve like nothing else. The color is just beautiful, such a deep raspberry and I think it’ll look great with jeans or maybe even a fall skirt.

I’ve been planning to add the little girl’s jacket a a you-pick-the-fabric custom to my Etsy and am contemplating doing the same with this one, but I’m not 100 percent certain yet.

Regardless, I think I’ll be making a couple more of these for my closet. Of course with coordinating jackets for Mini Me.

From the Favorite Things Pattern, Ballet Slippers. Made with Heather Bailey’s Pop Garden and Bijoux fabrics.

I was showing off my new skirt to Honey the other day, a cute little jersey number I picked up at Target, and he asked me, “Couldn’t you make that?”

“Well, yeah, but not for $13,” I replied.

The cost savings of sewing one’s clothes has lured many an individual to invest in the hobby. Of course, it doesn’t take long to figure out the budget savior isn’t what it appears to be. Major discount retailers are able to mass produce and distribute clothing so inexpensively that it’s nearly impossible to make something yourself for less. I can and do make T-shirts for my daughter but I can buy them on sale at Old Navy for much, much less. And there’s no way I could make something for my sons that could come close to matching retail prices, simply because it would take me hours and hours to make the jeans and cargo pants they love.

That’s not to say you can’t save money by sewing. I have a rather embarrassing love of boutique children’s clothes. Sewing for my daughter is a huge cost savings, and I have the added bonus of being able to sew things that fit her skinny little self where off-the-rack clothing often is too baggy or too long. And I find that I do save money because I’m much more particular about what I buy since I won’t spend money on something if I can sew a similar garment. (My husband would argue there is no savings, since I buy so much fabric, but it’s my blog and he doesn’t get a say.

I love reading Devilish Southern Belle for many reasons (she’s a bit sassy, has teenage boys, has great taste in music and happens to be from my home state) including the fact that she loves techy-geeky things as much as I do. It never fails that she installs some cool plug in or widget on her blog that I then covet.

She’s the reason I’ve installed two new things: a comment highlighter and an email responder. The two more or less work together so I can respond to comments directly on my blog and the design of my responses stands out just a bit so you can see my posts.

I started using it last night and, while I think it needs a little tweaking, it seems to be working pretty nicely. I’m hoping to figure out how to get my comments to appear immediately below the one to which I’m responding.

There’s also a new toy in the sidebar. Yes, I’ve started to Twitter. Blame Lady M and The Diva. It’s quite addictive, which is exactly what I need when I have so much fighting for my attention. We’ll have to see how long I keep up with it — and how long I can keep it actually working in my sidebar since it’s already been a little erratic.

This week marks the official end to the back-to-school cycle here in the Craft Addict house as the littlest one returns to preschool. It’s one of those mixed-feelings milestones for me. On the one hand, it’s yet another reminder that she’s growing up. On the other, it’s a significant chunk of alone time for me.

What’s making it a little tough is that I’ve increased her attendance from the planned three days a week to four.

The sweet Miss L has an October birthday, which means she’ll be almost six years old when she starts kindergarten. Since she’ll be facing a good 16 years of schooling, I decided to phase in the whole preschool thing and add one day a week until she was going five days at kindergarten. Last year, she went two days and this year, she was scheduled to go three.

I mentioned this plan to her teacher from last year during gymnastics this summer. She pointed out that Liesl would really want to be at school all five days next year, given how much happens in the 4-year-old classroom. And thus the seed of doubt was planted in my head.

After our meet-the-teacher visit last week, all doubt was removed from my mind. This girl of mine is desperate to be at school. She has been looking forward to it all summer and the only thing I could do was march down to the director’s office and ask if we could add another day a week. She is so happy that she’ll be at school with her friends “all the times” and I know it will be good for her to spend more time with people her age and size.

In fact, I told Honey on the phone this morning that I thought she’d be over the moon if she could go five days a week — but I’m not ready for that yet. She’ll just have to stay my little girl for just a wee bit longer.

I have been a sewing machine the past couple of weeks, which means less time for the Internets since something’s gotta give. Housework has been pretty limited, too, although I did cave in to the laundry (Laundry 987, Mary 0) and fold and put away the mountain heaped on the living room chair.

But when I haven’t been ignoring laundry, I’ve been sewing every chance I get. Between orders, new stuff for Etsy and Miss L’s fall wardrobe, I’ve been mighty busy. In a good way, of course. You’ll have to wait for the fashion show, though. I have yet to get pics of pretty much anything other than this skirt. And I didn’t take that picture, although I was quite involved with it. I’m quite pleased with it. It’s a wrap skirt made from Sandi Henderson’s Farmer’s Market fabrics. I’ve been meaning to sew it for a while but didn’t get the chance until this week. It turned out even better than I imagined!

OK, back to the sewing room for me. I’ve got work to do!

P.S. Picked up my leftovers from the consignment sale yesterday and I am super happy with my scant pile. Only a couple of mama-mades didn’t sell. Yay!

"Mom, when I was a baby, I wasn't old." -- Miss L, age 3 years 10 months

There’s always a sense of accomplishment and relief for me after I drop off Miss L’s old clothes at the semiannual boutique consignment sale. It’s a bit of work to get to that point — especially if you wait until the day of your drop-off appointment to get everything ready, hypothetically speaking of course — but so much easier than some of the alternatives.

I’ve been consigning at this sale for a couple of years now and confessed to the owners back in the spring that I might have less to bring in, since I’m sewing so many of the girl’s clothes these days. “Bring ‘em!” they said. I wasn’t sure if I would but as I sorted clothes today, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least try. I think I ended up taking about 10 or 12 things, some outfits and some made-to-match pieces, that I’d sewn.

As the volunteers were checking in my items, we chatted about what I’d brought, little things like how small something ran (I’m still bummed that the cool Meli Meli jacket I bought had sleeves made for an infant with monkey arms) or how sad I was that Liesl’d outgrown a particular dress. Someone saw my label on something and asked where to find it, and I admitted it was mine.

I still feel a little awkward talking to people about my sewing and I really can’t put my finger on why. I think I tend to like more passive forms of self promotion instead of those that involve me talking about myself and my work! LOL! I have finally gotten comfortable enough to carry around my business cards and hand those out when people ask for them, although it does make me feel all grown up and stuff.

Although, to be perfectly honest, I’ve always been a bit reticent when it comes to my sewing. I just don’t like talking about me. (And, yes, I see the irony in that comment, since this is my blog. Humor me.) That’s what I’ve always liked about journalism — I get to meet and talk to interesting people and write about them. I’m only a small part of that equation. I’ve spent nearly two decades honing my ability to encourage people to open up to me and then really listen to them. Having the tables turned about a topic that’s so personal to me just freaks me out a bit.

I think teaching has helped me open up a bit, though. It’s given me a chance to see sewing in a broader sense; namely as a means of fostering a love for the craft through my experiences. And writing about it on my blog nearly every day has been such a positive outlet that I guess I’m growing a little more comfortable about sharing myself out here in the “real” world. As long as it doesn’t happen more than a couple of times a year. ^_~