Geek Chic

I found a vest and tie that I want to wear at Geek Girl Con next month. The vest had plain black buttons, and I replaced them with crystal-looking plastic ones in pale lilac. The tie is purple with a subtle pattern and texture, silk. But it's not plain anymore...

I got a screen capture of my Night Elf druid (my first toon) emoting a /roar, sized it to fit on my tie (it's about 5.5 inches tall, and 3 inches wide). I deleted out all the background, lightened it to increase the contrast in Photoshop and printed it out on an iron-on transfer sheet (Jolee's Boutique Easy Image for dark fabrics, glitter). Once trimmed, I peeled it off the backing, which was tricky. The film is actually fairly thick, but it's like anything else you have to peel: you have to catch a corner and try not to damage it in the process.

The instructions are for ironing on cotton. I couldn't find anything to tell me how to do it for silk, so I just proceeded as if it was cotton. *shrug* I was a thrift store tie; if I screwed it up, I was out $4 but gained the knowledge that it doesn't work on silk.

It actually worked quite well. The texture of the material shows through the transfer, which makes it look better than if it was essentially a big sticker. If I had to do it over, I would lighten the printed image even more, because the printer laid down quite a bit of ink. I would have preferred to put a couple layers of paper towel in the tie, to avoid the back seam showing through when I ironed it, but it was sewn in a way that I couldn't do that.

"You roar with bestial vigor. So fierce!"

I might do a whole series of these, because I can. My only other 90 is a Tauren druid (love the class), so I think I'll limit myself to the upper-level toons. That way I won't end up with a couple dozen ties... >_>

Minimalist Cosplay

OK... "cosplay" is a bit of a stretch.

I recently started playing with hatmaking. My millinery skills are limited, but I have managed to create a creditable pillbox, and I can manage the little fascinator-style mini top hats. So I thought, Hey, Wonder Woman pillbox! A cinch, really: blue pillbox, with a metallic gold "tiara" appliquéd on with a red rhinestone star. Naturally, this led to Who else could be created as a hat? Lots of superheroines have iconic symbolism, but how can those symbols be interpreted as hats?

So far, I've sketched Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Phoenix, White Queen and She-Hulk.

Nerd couture. Geek chic. Madness.

I'll post pics as I make 'em up.



Helpful links for hatmaking:
Mini top hat tutorial and patterns (sewn or glued)
Mini top hat video tutorial (no-sew)
Pillbox photo tutorial (some sewing, some gluing)
Pillbox video tutorial (sewn; I didn't have a lot of luck with this, but it really is a nice-looking hat)

Also see:
Threads magazine issue #153 (March 2011 - I got my copy on ebay)
Hat making books at Amazon -- once you find one that sounds good, you can check your library if you don't want to commit.