life – The Geeky Seamstress

Life According to Instagram: January 2015

I feel so old every time I say this, but I feel like 2015 got off with a ridiculous flurry. How did the month go by so fast? Here are a few of my favorite moments from January, as documented by Instagram.

My birthday was on January 4! I was unfortunately too sick to go out and do much of anything fun. But my friend Maven Lee Cosplay still made me this beautiful cross-stitch! It’s currently hanging by my sewing table.
I started my Back to Basics series! I have lots of ideas for this series, and hopefully I’ll be able to pump these out once a month. The next one should be ready for posting next Tuesday!
I finished waaaaaay more commissions than I anticipated this month: 2 bodysuits for Taffeta Darling, a cape for Chaks Productions, and a bustle skirt for a friend’s upcoming steampunk costume. I thought is was funny looking at TD’s bodysuits next to mine, since I’m stupid tall and she’s on the shorter side. There’s like 8″ of difference between the legs of our suits.
My puppy continues to distract me from crafting. He’s not a fan of me isolating myself to work on projects, so most of the time I have to wait for my boyfriend to get home before I can start on stuff. How do you handle craft pets?
ModCloth asked me to participate in their layering challenge. It was super exciting to be contacted by a company that puts out so many cute clothes. The mood board/fashion styling post was kind of a first too! Are you guys interested in seeing more of these posts?
My friend Yogomi contacted me about creating a cosplay documentary series. He’s doing short, 10-ish minute segments on various cosplayers and chatting about what got them into cosplay, their inspiration, how they go about projects, etc. I’m super excited to share this with you guys once it’s up!
I got to do my first promo gig! Red Pegasus put out a call for Marvel cosplayers to help promote The Marvel Experience (Gone Catawampus has a great review of the event if you’re interested in attending!). I donned Captain Marvel for the event. Promo work isn’t something I think I’ll do on a regular basis, but it was fun nonetheless. And I got free tickets to attend The Marvel Experience, so win!
Calliopunk/Callulu Cosplay persuaded me to tackle Belle. As I mentioned in my last post, I’m hoping to have her ready for All-Con in mid-March. Once Fan Days is over, I plan to focus entirely on this costume (and finally make 1 or 2 non-costume things. I need an instant gratification project something fierce). Hopefully I’ll have some time this week to get started on the top layer of her skirt!
I made it out to the North Texas Comic Book Show a few weeks ago. This is always a low-key event, but it’s nice to actually be able to talk to people instead of hastily waving at friends while rushing between panels and events. My favorite photo from the day was me in my moogle hoodie “fighting” Calliopunk in her Captain Hammer.

Are you on Instagram? Let’s be friends!

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Life According to Instagram: December

Happy Friday! I decided to start up another new series this year. Something I noticed last year was that I tend to censor myself a lot. Anything too personal (or with too much of my very odd sense of humor) gets cut. I’m trying to include more of these things, because hey, I do have some interests outside of sewing that I’d love to share. Since I’m basically obsessed with Instagram, I thought it’d be a good way to share my work and more of my life! Plus, short(ish) post. Boom.

1. I put up a book display at work on the 1950s. Our theatre department had some beautiful 1950s garments on loan and let us borrow one for the display! I absolutely adore this dress and totally wish it was in my size!

2. I absolutely love this moogle hoodie. I made it intending to take it to PAX South. I’m not going anymore, but it’s still a fun hoodie that I enjoy wearing around the house!

3. My client sent me photos of his Stanley Tweedle costume! I was kind of nervous about this costume since we didn’t have a chance to do an in-person fitting, but it worked out okay!

4. I read a lot of comics and comic related books this month. Image comics were my go-to this month, and I finally read Alex + Ada. If you liked the movie Her, you’ll definitely enjoy this comic.

5. My boyfriend and I had family over for Christmas this year, so we put up a small tree with the help of his sister! I went with a purple and silver theme, in honor of my alma mater 🙂

6. I made lots of progress on Captain Marvel! I intended to wear her to a charity even on January 1, but was plagued with the flu 😦 On the plus side, she’s nearly ready to go for my first con of 2015!

7. The BF’s sister is a fantastic cook and made us so much delicious food while she stayed with us. Eggs Benedict galore.

8. We adopted a new puppy shortly after Christmas! His name is Thor and he’s a 6 month old labrador mix. When he came home with us, he had kennel cough. After many expensive vet visits, we found out he also had pneumonia. After a couple days at the vet hospital, he’s feeling great and loves giving out puppy kisses.

9. After totaling everything up, I realized I made 14+ costumes last year! I’m still floored that happened.

Are you on Instagram? If so, please share your username! I love seeing all the cool things you guys are up to (and let’s be real, “stalking” all you cool people 😉 ).

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Hey girl, whatcha doin’?

Today’s post was brought on in part by introspection, and partly due to the fact that I haven’t taken pictures for ANY of the 5 blog drafts that are in my queue. Oops. I swear, spandex 101 posts are coming! Anyway, I thought I’d take today’s post to let you guys know where I’m at in terms of my sewing/crafting and cosplay life.

BlogImagesMeme — No, one does not. Even if text covers one’s eyeballs.

I recently accepted a few “trial run” commissions to see how I like the process and if I’m willing to take it on in larger quantities next year. It’s been an interesting process so far. I’m about half finished with my first two, with plans of wrapping them up by the end of the month. I’m still a little flabbergasted that people are willing to pay me to make things for them. It’s funny how my nearly 10 years of customer service experience are helping me out, though there is a unique learning curve.

Pants for a Deadpool commission I'm working on. These bad boys are now finished other than the hem. — Pants for a Deadpool commission I’m working on. These bad boys are now finished other than the hem.

This week in particular has made me ask myself, “Can I do this and hold down a full-time job?” many, many times. I work in education, so the first few weeks of the semester are always the most hectic with the most last-minute schedule changes. I think it is possible, but I need to make a commission work schedule and stick to it! Sewing at 5a.m. before work and then hitting it again after work isn’t exactly my ideal To compensate for taking on more commissions next year, I’ll have to drastically cut back on my own costumes. I’m planning to limit myself to 6 or so costumes instead of this year’s 11 (so far). If only I could sew at work… Le sigh.

10314568_576302052495905_6474075946515270745_n_Fotor_Collage — Yeah… I’ve already started planning out next year’s costumes. Still somewhat tentative, though.

On that topic, I am investigating options to turn The Geeky Seamstress into a business. As of right now, I’m reading up on what I need to do (The Handmade Marketplace has a permanent place in my purse at the moment). Legalities and tax forms make my head swim, but fortunately having a boyfriend with a J.D. and an interest in intellectual property is a wonderful asset. My goal for early next year is to get a table to sell geeky bags and accessories at a smaller local con, possibly All-Con in March. I’ll be tapping you guys for feedback on what I should sell soon! Do any of you have online stores or sell at cons? If so, do you have any tips or resources that I should check out?

All the nerdy bags will be mine!!! — Make all the geeky accessories!

I’m also focusing on more of my garments instead of costumes since my con season is all but over. I have several knit dresses and skirts on my cutting table, along with some trousers and the Anise jacket. My Princess Jupiter materials are still hanging off my closet door, but I haven’t decided if I’m going to make her for a con in November or wait until Ikkicon in January (hello, birthday con!).

Otherwise, life is moving along as usual! If we were having coffee together this morning, what would you tell me?