The Fabric Alchemist

This series of Craft Table Chats would not be possible without the internet. I “met” half of these women digitally through Twitter or their blogs before meeting in person—the others I hope to meet in person soon. Everyone manages some form of digital media – be it a blog, social media account, or Tumblr page. To help myself evaluate my blogging goals and habits, I wanted to to learn why they blog, what works for them, and how they engage with their friends, followers, and community.

I started blogging in late 2010. My (then) boyfriend blogged and tweeted and I think I felt a bit left out. He was having humorous conversations with our friends on Twitter that I had to read over his shoulder. I was also working on my thesis at the time and, in true procrastinator form, a blog seemed like a great idea.

Greg advised me to pick a focus for the blog, rather than write about anything and everything. Surprisingly, sewing was the not focus. (I wouldn’t get my sewing machine until Christmas, a few months later.) I started the Sustainable-Me Project to document a year of improving my lifestyle’s environmental impact. Sewing was on the horizon – I had just attended my first convention and was enticed by cosplay. I was also inspired by my college classmate Morgan at Crab & Bee, who was already actively sewing and blogging her way toward a sustainable lifestyle. Through her, I learned that sewing wasn’t intimidating and it would be a great way to reduce my dependency on ready-to-wear (RTW) clothing. Sewing and cosplaying eventually overtook the sustainability posts and in January 2013 I created The Fabric Alchemist – a blog of creative endeavors with a geeky twist.

When and why did you start blogging or digitally documenting your work? How has your blog evolved? 

Brooke – People kept asking me the same questions about what I do (both in person and through email). A lot of the things I had to say about costuming and how I work didn’t seem to be easy to find online so I put it out there where it was a little easier to find. (It has become really handy to be able to paste links in email replies.)

Lorena – I started to document my work because people started to ask questions. I didn’t really know what I was doing when I first started this hobby so I didn’t think I had anything to offer. But when people started to like my work and asked my advice, I thought it would be easier to write it all up than to repeat the same answer over and over again. My first write-up was for Fionna (Adventure Time) in 2013.

Marian – I’ve had various accounts for my costuming since 2007, but…I’ve been regularly upping my progress/work since 2013. I think it was a combination of wanting to share what I’d accomplished (who doesn’t?), along with a higher emphasis on tutorials, discussing process, and once I’d gotten a little more serious about the hobbit, keeping up with all the people I’d met while cosplaying.

Amy – I began my sewing blog in January of 2011…my first blog was mostly a wedding blog. Then, a few months after our wedding, I inadvertently stumbled upon the sewing blog The Sew Weekly. I was really new to sewing at the time, and I had no idea sewing blogs were a thing – it was eye opening! I finally got up the courage to start my own sewing blog to document my adventures learning how to sew. I see [my blog] as a diary of sorts for my sewing.

Tyraenna – Since January 2012 – just about 3 years. 🙂 I started blogging for the purpose of documenting my sewing projects.  Year 1 was all about learning to sew.  Heavy pattern usage.  Lots of mistakes.  Even more cursing.  The blog was originally called “Sew Frustrating” and I just used wordpress as a free place to host. Year 2 around the holidays I decided to make some changes – to write about more than just sewing frustrations – and to pay a hosting company and buy a domain. Year 3 I kept the address and domain changes, but made a few adjustments to content. Sewing wise I decided to focus more on costumes and geeky clothes than typical everyday wear. I added in board game reviews since that is a large part of who I am these days too. And I decided I would attempt to “grow” the blog a bit – get more traffic, do more social media posting / presence, and even get a Google Adsense account.
Not sure what Year 4 will bring!

Tara – 4 years on Geeky Hostess, but I worked on another blog for about 2 years before that…called “Zaxy”, which was a “geeky girls playing video games” type blog. I wanted to create one that appealed to my demographic and covered the topics I was interested in. It was created in the first wave of “geeky girl” blogs, which is pretty fun! I love seeing that world expand.

As you blog for a few years, you end up finding specializations or things you become most well-known for. Geeky Hostess started as a “geeky lifestyle” blog, but as geeky fashion blogs have popped up everywhere, and I became more well known for my cupcakes and parties, I began to specialize a bit. I now focus on recipes, parties, and gifts/home decor when I can!

Tally – Since 2008, I think. *checks blog* Yup, 2008. I’ve found photos (non-digital, printed photos, remember those?!) of some of my art projects from high school, so I started the habit of documenting my stuff even before I began blogging. Unsolicted advice for artists and crafters, even casual ones who don’t share their work with the wide world: document your stuff! Even if it’s only for your eyes, it’s fun and interesting and even inspiring to look back at later on.

Brooke – I like having some of my own projects documented just for my own reference. It’s also nice to have an easy to access portfolio now when I need it. I think it has evolved into a nice little community with others who sew but it’s still interesting enough for those who don’t sew to get a little behind-the-scenes look at costuming and a better understand the labor involved in custom sewing. (My blog is so much more fun and interactive than I expected it to turn out when I first started it as a website substitute!)

Tally – Ok, true story: In 2008 I finished university and walked out into the world with my BA in creative writing. Oh boy. This was right around the time that it looked like my husband (then boyfriend) appeared to be lining up a future for himself in exciting creative work, and (because I am not actually a good person, and got very jealous) that, combined with my inability to find creative jobs to even apply for never mind get, contributed to my being utterly pissed off and depressed about how I’d never be happy and have a good creative future and I’d hate my job and blah blah blah. I was maybe just a biiiit self-involved and over dramatic.

But what it led to was me starting a craft blog, even though I wasn’t sure what all I’d put in it. I dedicated myself to posting once a week, and the idea was that if no one would hire me to do something I considered interesting, I’d at least find a way to do it for fun myself, and share it with others. And that led to me learning all kinds of new craft skills and techniques as I looked for new projects to try and post about, and over time I become the girl who crafts all the things.

It’s funny, because it’s almost turned around over time to be “Ok well look, I need a job to pay rent and all so please hire me but I’ve already figured out what I actually want to do with my life and my time so don’t interfere with that, alright?” Oh dear.

My blogging has gotten cleaner, with (usually) better photos and some more diverse and unique ideas as I acquired new crafting skills. The more different things you know, the more you start to combine those different knowledges and techniques. And my skills have grown with time and practice, of course. I’ve become more specialized in plushie-making, and more known for that.

(Note from Meris, this was too insightful to pull just one quote from.)

What is the story behind your Blog Name/Brand?

Meris – The name was inspired by my third binge-marathon of Fullmetal Alchemist:Brotherhood. I liked the image of breaking down one material and reforming it into another. It seems very appropriate for sewing. I wanted a blog title that would translate to a cosplay identity or company brand as well. My self-doodled logo (which I want to update) is meant to recall the transmutation circles from Fullmetal Alchemist.

Tyraenna – I contemplated lots of names that represented me and what I wanted to write about, and Quests of Quirkiness was born, with the intent of being able to write about more topics – baking, travel, parties, geeky stuff, etc. It just kinda evolved.

Amy – I love learning, and a big part of sewing for me was learning how to sew well.  So, I named my blog Sew Well to remind me of my intention. I used to give a lot of intention to learning to sew well.  This year that intention waned a bit as I struggled to find the time to sew at all, let alone to learn new techniques while I was sewing.  But, I miss the joy and adventure in learning, so I am going into this year with new resolve to get back to learning how to sew well.

Tasukigirl – Tasukigirl has been my screen name since college. That was my LJ name so I just kept it and never thought about it. I didn’t have a logo/brand until I started seeing pictures of my cookies popping up everywhere without any credit. I literally had a Assassin’s Creed voice actor post a picture of my cookies to one of my friends and my friend pointed out that I made them. So my boyfriend designed a logo for me and I’ve started to use it so people know how to find me.

Tally – “Tally’s Treasury” came about from days and days of agonizing over an Etsy store name that would incorporate my own name (something that a number of people were already familiar with) and a broad array of craft items (I wasn’t really specialized in anything at the time, but was trying out everything) and would be catchy, ideally alliterative. Treasury was pretty much the only word that worked at all. And I mean it helped that I had an unusual name to start with myself.

Brooke – I’m pretty much myself online – I sew and costume for a living. The actual blogging and socializing about it is my hobby. I’m really lucky to love what I do.  I chose the name Custom Style many years ago when I started taking custom clothing/costuming sewing jobs at home. I was hoping it would be the simplest way to explain to potential clients what I do and easy for them to find in a web search since my name is not the easiest to spell. I became SewBrooke when I joined Twitter because CustomStyle wasn’t available and I wanted my handle to be a little more personal and less “brand”.

Marian – Dragon Slipper Tailoring came about from a commission I’d had drawn up from one of the characters I costumed, and the artist chose to give her bunny slippers, but when I got it back, they looked more like dragons, and the name just stuck.

Tara – I wanted to become a better homemaker/cook/entertainer, and thought this blog would give me a good excuse! It’s slowly taken over my identity, and I’ve become “The Geeky Hostess.” I love it! As a social media marketer, I understand how important a cohesive online brand is. The brand’s mission and vision may change as the years go, so it’s good to revisit that at least yearly.

The Pressure of Blogging 

Meris – When I set out to design and sew a costume or tackle a series of refashions, I rarely think to budget blogging time into my production “schedule.” It takes me a lot of time to write a blog post. More than I realized. Some of this is editing. Another part of the delay is trying to document the work with good pictures. No matter how good iPhone cameras become, it is still not as good as my DSLR Nikon D90. Sewing and cosplay are such visual art forms and I want to showcase the work in the best light, truly. But at the end of 2014 I had a blog backlog of 24 posts. And taking the time to finish those posts is time taken away from sewing.

Tyraenna – I do have this issue with blogging sometimes… I put a lot of pressure on myself to post regularly and to try to grow my blog audience. Typically what makes me recover is just taking a break from posting for a while. For me it seems to coincide with a video gaming binge. I also try to remind myself that I started the blog for myself – as a way to document my sewing progress and projects. As with everything, it has evolved over time, but it’s very important to me that my crafting and blogging doesn’t start feeling like a second JOB.

Tally – I’ve definitely felt frustration and stress over not being able to keep up with my commitments re: Patreon and re: blogging. That’s still irking me. It’s something I think I just have to reevaluate – after years of regular blogging, my life has changed enough that I’m going to have to sort out new norms for my creative activities and commitments. I’d hoped to transition gracefully, but that didn’t happen at all. This next year I hope I can figure out where the new limits are and how to work within them.

Have you ever thought of “going pro”?

Meris – Non-sewing friends and family occasionally ask me some variation of this question every year. I appreciate their support and confidence in my skills, but this idea makes me anxious. In high school I was a skilled artist (primarily drawing) and many people asked whether or assumed I would pursue a career in art or graphic design. By senior year, the constant slog of producing art for a homework assignment and being graded on it left a bitter taste in my mouth and the joy of drawing disappeared. (I would recapture this creative joy until I started sewing 4 years ago.) I don’t think I could make this my career, but then I watch people like Tara, Sarah, & Brooke do it, and I wonder…

Marian – I have a hard enough time keeping my personal projects on their own timeline, let alone those for other people. So while I might take on smaller projects, I’m not ready to jump into full costume commissions. I’m still learning.

Tasukigirl – I don’t plan to ever go pro because I think I’ll start to dislike cosplay if I make it a business. My projects are always for myself. It has to be something I want to do or it will stop being fun.

Meris – Yeah, I think occasional commissions and small projects are doable. I did create my blog shortly after being unemployed and during that time I did take on some big (by my standards) commissions.

Amy – No, I don’t think about going pro. I identify with science and medicine and academics when I think about my career self. But, I really love this community, and I enjoy being a part of it and being able to share giveaways and reviews and discounts and things that make me to feel like I’m giving back. Plus, I don’t have the knowledge to draft patterns or run a business, so my trying to go pro would either end in disaster or, best case scenario, a situation my husband likes to describe as everyone washing each other’s laundry. For me to truly go pro and feel good about it, I’d want to be able to source a decent income from big businesses for real services while still being able to think of my blog as a diary of sorts.

Tyraenna – I would love to wave my magic wand, shout some Harry Potter spell words, and make millions off of this hobby that I love.  But it also scares me – would it turn my blog into something I hate because it now stresses me out?  I make a good salary with my day job, and currently feel like there is NO WAY I could make half of that salary if I went professional on this stuff. Honestly, it’s slightly more than I thought, but my Adsense earnings for this year? Enough to buy me a lunch, but not at a sit down restaurant, hah. My current plan for this is to leave it as a hobby until my day job circumstances change (e.g., If I ever lost my job, I would consider taking next steps with this).

Tally – Ultimately, my dream changed from running my own business…to hoping to find a career path that will use some of my creative and crafting skills, knowing that I’ll certainly also keep doing my own for-fun side projects for the rest of my life. I tried doing my crafting full-time for a while, and ultimately decided that wasn’t going to pan out. Turns out I get really stressed without a regular reliable paycheque. It was nice to be allowed the opportunity to give it a try, at least, and learn some things about myself. That’s a valuable thing and a something of a luxury. I do still wish I could do the crafting more officially part-time, at least, or work in a more creative-minded day job. Someday, perhaps.

Brooke – I don’t feel that sewing has every really been my hobby. Maybe it sort of was when I was a kid, but it has been a large part of my career ever since college. If blogging itself ever starts making me money, I might say I turned a hobby into a business. It’s not really a goal though.

Tara – Yes! I make money through sponsored posts, ads, retail sales, and event production for Geeky Hostess. For web video production, we make money off of ads, but we’ve mostly put that back into the projects themselves to recoup costs.

Sarah – I’ve been in the costume design business for a long time, but when we opened our business this year, it was a completely new experience. It is so much harder than I thought it would be to run a real business as opposed to a 1099 independent contractor business which is what my other work falls under. Invest yourself, but be realistic and don’t let yourself get defeated. We have a 5 year goal to start making money. Until then anything we make goes back into the business and covers overhead expenses. It’s not easy, but it is rewarding.

Brooke – Do what you love because you love it. Don’t try so hard or do so much that you begin to hate it. The money isn’t always worth it. Think twice before turning a hobby into a job because then you will need a new hobby.
I knew I would always be happy sewing when I realized I could do it for 10-12 hours straight for 5 days a week and not get tired of it. There have still been individual jobs I’ve really hated, but I’ve learned to get through them and continue loving what I do in general. Being able to leave work at work is definitely the key.

Tara – Go for it! It’s not hard to get started: Get a business license from your city and state, create a basic price list for you to reference, and let people know you’re available for hire. The hardest part will be making sure you’re getting paid appropriately for your work–many people assume they can hire creative people for free. Stand your ground! You’re worth it! Also, build a list of amazing people in your circles that you can recommend to clients, and encourage them to do that same for you.

What Social media do you use and how?

Meris – Beyond the blog I have a Facebook page for Fabric Alchemist cosplay, a Twitter account (recently updated my handle to @FabricAlchemist), an Instagram account, and Pinterest. I enjoy the back-and-forth interactions on Twitter and Instagram. I get excited when someone follows me, or likes my posts, because I’ve learned to get excited about these things in the digital age. But what are they following my for? I don’t ask that to be self-deprecating. I truly am asking myself what am I communicating? Why am I doing this?

Marian – I use facebook mostly as a personal endeavor, though I originally made a page for joint cosplay with me and my friend Kiwi (since we’ve done a LOT of joint costumes together over the years we’ve known one another), where it’s now more of a personal project as well. The page helps me connect with people I don’t know in my personal sphere, where my personal profile is still mainly tied to people I’ve met personally (or know in some capacity better than a casual acquaintance or a few kind online comments).

Tally – I get such joy out of someone posting to Twitter or FB or wherever about how they’re enjoying some item I made, or have successfully used one of my tutorials to create something of their own. It makes me feel I am doing something worthwhile, even if I still don’t know quite how to be a grownup or what to do with my life. ☺

Amy – I have found that Twitter and Instagram are great ways to instantly engage with other sewers.

Marian – My instagram is all over the place, but it’s often used to help record my progress, and it’s tied into all of my social media: my facebook, my twitter (which is also all over the place) and my tumblr which is far more tied into my fandom interests.

Meris – Like Marian, I take a lot of in progress photos with my iPhone and my D90. My intention is to eventually combine them into blog posts with links to tutorials I’ve used or tips on my construction. But I’m more often tweeting or posting the photos on Instagram and then forgetting to add them to the final costume write-up. What did Brook and Tally say about “good intentions?”

Tasukigirl – I find that I use twitter to socialize a lot more. My facebook really is a place for me to keep tabs on things and post progress shots. I also use it to keep myself accountable because if I don’t make progress and post on it, it becomes really obvious to me that I’m slacking. It’s also useful to organize gatherings and events. Tumblr is a collection of fun stuff that I like.

Tally – Twitter has turned out to be my main thing, with Facebook as a secondary medium. I try to post stuff to Google plus as well, and sometimes I submit to Craftgawker (though I have opinions about them and their site, even while I love perusing it). I chose my few particular parts of the internet to inhabit and I stick with that. It’s already more than I can keep up with anyway.

Brooke – Twitter is for casual chatting and sometimes answering random sewing questions in others’ tweets. (#Sewcialists have tons of fun!) My blog is a more detailed and long-form version of Instagram. I like that it is more static than other social media and there’s still activity in the comments on some of my oldest posts.
My Facebook page is just sort of there for those who like keeping up with my blog through that platform. (Honestly, I find FB rather useless.)

Tyraenna – Mostly I use them as a way to create blog traffic. Or I try to. When I post, facebook and twitter post links to the blog as well.  Occasionally I use twitter as a WIP picture feed. I’ve read a decent amount on this. Again, I wish my life and creative pursuits were magically interesting to enough other people that I would have more active comments on social media and my posts themselves. But since it is a hobby and not a business for me, it’s probably not enough of a priority for me to take the extra steps in my valuable free time.

Tara– I use them to build my brand, build personal relationships, and almost as an RSS feed for my blog. I post links to blog posts on Twitter, Facebook, and sometimes Instagram when there’s a great picture associated with it, and focus on personal posts on Instagram and Twitter as well. Pinterest is a huge thing for my blog–it drives a lot of traffic my way. I also create boards that relate to my themes so my readers can see additional fun content there. Be authentic and build relationships! Don’t just spam.

Meris – Pinterest is a great tool, but I know a lot of us get sucked in. Pinning and not creating.

Tally – I also started up a Patreon this year. I’ve been astounded, touched, and incredibly gratified to receive the support I have on that platform, from people who want to encourage and support my creative endeavors, and who use my tutorials.

Brooke – On both Twitter and IG, if you tag me with a question, I will always try to answer quickly!

part of a community 

Amy – I would love to find a way to get more involved in the Seattle sewing community.  My house is currently in no shape to have people over so I’m looking into other venues where I could regularly host small sewing gatherings and get to know my local community a bit better.

Tally – I’d like to be able to spend more time just hanging out with other crafters, having craft-and-wine evenings and that sort of thing. I also might like to learn more about cosplay and costuming in general, try some projects in those areas. And I’d like to actually make it to the informal PAX crafters meetup this year.

Meris – Jen and Marian both sew with others on occasion. I have become so dependent on my sewing room and having all my supplies at hand that it can be hard to convince me to take my sewing offsite. In the near future I’ll be moving to a new home and hopefully this new space will allow me to host craft parties for friends. But even though my sewing has been mostly solitary, the friendly and informative online sewing communities (including the Sewcialists) have taught me so much! (Not just about sewing, but about life, self-worth, and cats.)

Brooke – The online sewing & costuming community is full of inspiring and supportive people! I love how inspiration breeds inspiration. We all seem to benefit from the interaction and motivate each other to keep going. I learn new things from my fellow sewcialists all the time and am even able to apply a lot of those things in my professional world. I hope that I’m able to give at least a tiny bit of that back in return.

Amy – I was eager to learn from and participate in the online sewing community, and that’s exactly what I did! I got involved in Sew-Alongs and Flickr and BurdaStyle and everywhere else I could find where people were sharing their sewing. (…) But, I never dreamed when I began that I’d be fortunate enough to blog for a big fabric company or review books or spread the word about small sewing businesses.  I now have a larger audience than I ever imagined, but I don’t have the time to participate in the community as much as I used to. At least my excuse is a pretty cute little girl.

Brooke – I hope the sewcialists all have another fun year with social media! 2013 was amazingly great with the interaction (everyone’s lives and schedules just seemed to align perfectly) and 2014 was fun but not quite as hopping as 2013.

Meris – One of my 2015 resewlutions was to engage with the #sewcialist community more. Active engagement requires the ability to respond and react. But I have been so bogged down with projects and complex blog posts that my reaction time has slowed.

Tara – I love seeing my communities continue to get more and more professional (specifically online video). It helps us all gain more respect!

Tasukigirl – All in all, I think one of the reasons I really got into cosplay is because of the friends I have made. It has been a really great way to meet talented and creative individuals and I’ve made some very real and lasting friendships because of it. This year I made an active push to get back into the community. I got a lot more active on twitter, I made a facebook page and I became co-mod for an Assassin’s Creed cosplay tumblr. I also started to host gatherings again and meet other people in the fandom. I’m not an outgoing person so this sort of stuff takes effort for me. In the past year I’ve used [the blog] to find other cosplayers and reach out to them. Now that I need to find content for the AC blog, it’s a useful tool to keep tabs on other cosplayers in my fandom. In short, I use it to make connections rather than promote my own work. I am constantly on the lookout for new Assassin’s Creed cosplayers to promote and feature on our AC blog. If that’s your jam, come find me.

The internet that allows us to find each other, share our projects, and build friendships also helps the trolls and the bottom-feeders find each other and harass others. Any discussion of cosplay has to address the community’s growing pains and the toxicity that exists in its bowels.

Most of us get into cosplay to express our love of a character or franchise. Cosplay is so visual and connected to people’s passions and it seems to stir up harassment, body shaming, competition, among other toxic things. Tyraenna touched on some of these community challenges in her cosplay continuum post. This is a much bigger topic that deserves its own discussion series. For now, I want to share what the cosplayers in the group shared with me.

Lorena – I didn’t have any mishaps in 2014, but in the course of my cosplay career, absolutely. I’ve grown a pretty thick skin over the years and learned how to take criticisms in stride, but there were a few times when I was featured for my Assassin’s Creed work and I received all sorts of undue criticism because of it. People can be absolutely awful. But thankfully I have really great friends and their support really helped me pull through. I also learned to just close the page and not read comments. Sometimes that’s the best option.

Also, my costumes are usually very conservative so I don’t run into a lot of men trying to take pictures up my skirt, so to speak, but there was an incident when I wore the puppeteer that will always stick out to me. A man at SDCC whispered a comment to me that made me very uncomfortable. I didn’t smile back at him, I didn’t encourage him, but I also didn’t tell him off like I should have. But my friend Allegra (@simplyallegra) immediately picked up on it. She asked me what happened and when I told her she immediately marched off after him. It’s almost funny now when I think about it because she was dressed as the Rebel, wielding a prop axe and not only did she tell him off publicly, but she dragged him back to me and made him apologize. I’ve always been grateful for that and it’s been a constant reminder to me that I need to be able to stand up for myself and the people around me.

Marian – There are a lot of things that make cosplay a far more toxic hobby than it should be. Between the weight shaming, the sexism, or the fetishism, it’s sometimes really difficult to see a positive in why we do what we do. We’re all “not enough” or “too” for some costume or another, and I have to remember not to let that affect my personal choices: it’s about the fandom, the craft, and the character for me, and if the decision really was policed by body type, I wouldn’t be doing this at all.

It’s an ongoing process. The “criticism” (and let’s be honest, critique on construction and using “critique” as a really thinly-veiled insult are not at all the same thing) never really ends. It dies down for a while, but it either creeps back up with new projects, or it eventually crops back up. So it has its highs, and it has really extreme lows, at least in my experience. I have to step back and often remind myself that I don’t do this for anyone but me. I’m not here to be a plaything, an object, whatever else. I’m here because I love what I do.

It’s not as much recovery as it is a constant uphill battle. [I hope for] more universal acceptance that everyone brings something to the table, whatever their body type, race, social standing, crafting level, whether they bought their costumes or handmade them, etc. There’s always more growing to be done.

Tyraenna – I kind of wish I’d arrived at this place mentally maybe 10-15 years earlier!  My blog and my crafting has become a huge outlet and part of who I am, and it has re-focused a lot of my geekiness that I’ve always had. In life, I’ve generally been okay marching to my own drum beat and not caring too much what other people think, but I feel like this particular creative outlet has made my “rhythm” that much more … interesting.

Meris – Cosplay brought my out of my shell. I know exactly what Tyraenna means. I’d always been a geek, but cosplaying helped me find my place among strong friendships and showed me what kind of geek I could be. This is true of the wider sewing community – I’ve been shaped by our interactions. But seeing the vitriol, the harassment, and the threats that some women get (in the wider geek community) can sometimes make me want to crawl back into that shell for safety. (This was part of my motivation for creating a Facebook page for cosplay – to distinguish personal from cosplay.) All in all it drives me to keep meeting more good people and expanding my cosplay and sewing relationships. If we can’t turn the trolls to stone, hopefully we can at least drown them out and get back to having fun.

(The next post in the Craft Table Chats series will be about looking forward to 2015.)

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The Craft Table Chats include –

• Amy of Sew Well
• Brooke of Custom Style
• Tasukigirl Cosplay
• Marian, Dragon Slipper Tailoring
• Sarah, Zeita Studios
• Tyraenna of Quests of Quirkiness
• Tally of Tally’s Treasury
• Tara, the Geeky Hostess