Pennsic is just a week away and I am so not ready–at the very least, I need to finish a couple more foundation garments for myself and the munchkin, and ideally, I should try to squeeze in a couple of kirtles and my linen Spanish Loose Gown, so that I can use my later-period chemises. When conducting an inventory for this summer, I discovered that nearly all of my garb was back-lacing–not the best or most practical choice for a mama with a still-occasionally-nursing tot. To my credit, this will be my first week-long event in garb since said tot entered the world and I’ve had little time to remedy the situation.

Also right around the corner: GenCon! I host SPA activities each year. I used to offer my corset workshop on behalf of the Morris-Butler House, but am no longer employed at that lovely historic home. Between you and me, I’ll probably still send some of the proceeds their way. In any event, this year, I’m working to scale the class back, largely to reduce the cost to participants. The content will be largely the same–learning basic stitches and techniques. But I will not be handing out full-sized patterns–even the most versatile pattern (I was using Truly Victorian’s) isn’t always what people want to make as their first project. So, we’ll briefly cover different styles of corset, the resulting silhouettes, and if there’s interest, do a little troubleshooting. Then, instead of giving an additional $15 or so for the workshop to GenCon to eventually reimburse me for my costs on the class pattern, workshop attendees can shop around for the pattern they really want.

I’m also offering a Sewing and Crafting for BJD class, where we’ll talk about scale, useful tools and supplies, and basic sewing techniques. The takeaway will be a SD-sized GenCon tee-shirt (GenCon has graciously granted me permission to use their logo in my screenprinting for this workshop), which participants will stitch in the class, and a scale GenCon badge on a little “lanyard.” Since I’ve not offered something like this before, I’m not sure if we’ll get everything finished in 2 hours, but I’m hopeful that it will work out. Since GenCon is one week from my return from Pennsic, I’m hoping to get all the screenprinting finished beforehand so it can dry 100% while I’m away. Right now, I’ve just got 5 registrants–so this should be a pretty low-impact workshop. I’ll be making enough kits for a sellout, though, just in case there’s a mad rush day-of.