What Not To Wear

Is this still a question of fashion faux pas? Stacy London is sooo annoying to me telling women their fashion choices are horrid. I, myself have an unusual sense of fashion and I know for a fact I would be a perfect target for her. She likes to tell everyone what to wear and how to wear it. I have noticed others too, in certain groups, like to set rules for what to and what not to wear.

As my profile states I am a nerdy girl - I was a drama geek; we used to wear trench coats and tons and tons of black plastic bracelets and we accepted each other while trading new and quirky fashion tips. As an adult I am finding that these types of groups are a little less accepting.

I may be getting ahead of myself here and speaking out of turn, but I am still learning about steampunk and its aesthetics. Sometimes I read about people making fun of other "cosplayers". Steampunk wardrobes and costumes usually have some sort of mechanical influence with cogs and gears attached. According to some...you just can't sew on some gears and cogs and call it steampunk...

I mean, come on; all newcomers need to start somewhere. Mentors are needed for newbies.

I was watching The Nerdist the other night and Chris and the panel were discussing how us geeks don't know everything geek/nerd and we don't have time to watch every Star Wars movie or Battlestar Galactica program and sadly enough...not everyone knows what a TARDIS is.

http://www.nerdist.com/podcast/nerdist/

The point I am trying to make here is that everyone can overlap their interests and they need some time to assimilate into the new environment. Not all of us did live action role playing- even us drama geeks.

BTW- TARDIS stands for time and dimension device in space! Now you know!

Back To Basics

I am back to square one.

I told myself I was going to write this blog everyday as a way to re-direct my focus and improve my work habits. So, here I am, starting from square one because I allowed myself to lose focus and let day slip away. Square one is an ok place to be-it is a place you know where to start:: step 1!

Since my blog is supposed to expose my reader to aspects of nerdy, geeky aspects of fashion and sewing, I decided to make a list of basic items you might want to start from square one if you are making a new costume or upgrading your existing cyberwear. These items are basics that I think are important to have for projects.

1. lots of colored thread, several sizes of sewing needles and at least one pair of sharpened scissors

2. variety of mechanical destash pieces: gears, cogs, mechanical clock works

3. (new favorite item) sew in flexible circuits

4.various tools: seam ripper, needle nose pliers, point turner and presser, soldering iron, glue gun, grommet pliers and multiple temperature steam iron. And the last and most important

5. creativity

This is a good list of basic items to get you started on a new fantasy project. Here are a couple of pictures of hand made sci fi outfits using some of these items:

Tag! You're it!

Labels and tags that are given to people are not always a good thing. Labels and tags for clothing, however; can tell you a story. When shopping for vintage clothing, one of the first things I look for on a piece of clothing is the label. Clothing tags give you the typical information: manufacturer, size, material, etc. If a size and material label are not found; then sometimes I can find an RN number.

RN stands for Registered Number. This means that the clothing manufacturer is registered with the US Federal Trade Commission. RN numbers are very helpful because it will link the piece of clothing to a designer or clothing line. From there, you can search the manufacturer’s years of production. There are several links online including a very informative link on one of my favorite websites: Vintage Fashion Guild
http://www.vintagefashionguild.org/component/option,com_alphacontent/Itemid,100

Not all clothing has tags or RN numbers; this is largely due to the fact that a lot of clothing that was made prior to 1970 was handmade. Handmade clothing is harder to date and identify but usually there are signs to help determine those characteristics. I was sewing on an old cast iron Singer before ever taking a home economics class. As a result, I think that I am more familiar with fabrics and textures than a lot of people nowadays. I am grateful for my interest in clothing at an age when you could choose from several textures and weights in fabric as opposed to the purely 100% cottons that you find at your local fabric stores today.

One thing I can almost always count on when dating fabric is that any heavy polyester or polyester knit fabric is ALWAYS geeky in appearance and ALWAYS 1970’s! But, “Hey”; I am almost always geeky in appearance so I don’t mind being labeled in that respect.