Crafting: while I was at DragonCon…

While I was at DragonCon, I thought to myself, “You know, there’s a sewing circle during the costuming track, I bet that I can find some fellow crafty dads there…” (and if I can’t find them at D*Con, I can’t find them anywhere…)

Turns out, there were two crafty dads sitting in on the sewing circle that hour.  (I missed the other sewing circle because I was playing in a “Munchkin” Gauntlet.  I came in second place.)

Unfortunately, all photos I took of them and their stuff was lost when I accidentally “delete all” on my pocket video recorder.  But here’s the lowdown on these guys…

One was Woodrow Jarvis Hill, a programmer for a “Major Financial Institution.” (Sorry Woodrow…)  I don’t know if he was a “Dad” per se, but he was a crafty guy none the less.  Woodrow started crafting when he was with the SCA, (Society for Creative Anachronism, or “those guys that dress up in armor and hit each other with rattan swords.”)  And though he has no formal training with sewing, he started out with T-tunics, (named from the T-shape that they have… of course,)  And has moved onto more and more complex pieces for other people.  Interestingly, he was doing hand sewing at the time, but was confident on a sewing machine as well.  When I asked him what advice he would give other men starting out sewing, he said, “Don’t be afraid,” Men aren’t normally taught this stuff, but it’s not that difficult.  Start off with a simple T-tunic, that will teach you how to sew in a straight line, how to sew angles on a sewing machine, hemlines and cuffs, necklines, and bias tape… which can be tricky.

Then I talked with Stephen Taylor, a third level tech support for a well-known computer company here in ATL.  He is the ultimate crafty dad… he’s got 10 kids, (3 by birth, 4 by adoption, and 3 they are fostering,) and makes some awesome costumes, chainmail and armor.  He said that he’s able to work with the chainmail while he’s on the phone with clients, because “it keeps my hands busy while my mind is busy…”  His website is http://lonewolfarmory.com/ if you want to swing by and take a look at some of his stuff.  When I asked him how he got started, he said he always liked making Halloween costumes, and one year his son asked if he could have some chainmail for his costume.  So, he went online and saw that it didn’t look all that hard, just time consuming, he got some wire and just went to it!  When asked about what advice he would give, he said, “Just get some cheap pair of pliers and the cheapest wire that you can find, and look online for patterns.”  The rest is just patience.  (More patience than I have, I can tell you… and this from a guy who crochets…)

As part of his costume for Dragoncon, he came up with this cool Plexiglass double-bladed axe that glowed in the dark when he held it, and turned off when he let go of the handle.  Pretty ingenious.

All in all, the sewing circle was a good experience, and I learned a lot.  The “moderator” of the group was a woman that had years experience in creating costumes for theater companies, and she was crazy knowledgeable when it came to sewing/costuming.  Pretty much any question that came up she had a technique or cool workaround… like going to a hardware store and getting brass washers and hammering them out into buttons for period costumes, or washing silk in Woolite, (one person said “but you’re not supposed to get silk wet, it will leave water stains”  she said, “Right, if you wash it first, it will have one, consistent water stain throughout the whole piece.  You won’t have to worry about it getting water stains again.”)

Hope this has given you guys something to think about… These guys just saw something they wanted, got enough information to start doing something and then just went out and did it… figuring it out along the way.  A lesson for all Crafty Dads.

-D