State of the Baroness

This past weekend I went to the Steam Garb Weekend fundraiser for Cut Thrust and Run's Steampunk November Party.

Myself and my hostess discussing corsets.

It was a lovely gathering of steampunks in which we crafted costume pieces and helped each other and just socialized.  Some of the participants I knew and some I had never met, but it was a really great group of steampunks interested in making.

I admit I've been feeling a little bitter about steampunk as a community recently.  Like any small community, there will doubtless always be squabbles among members, cliques, and gossip.  And there will be bad behavior.  Recently I've seen a lot more of the bad than the good from the community, which may be because much of my interaction has been online.

So it was heartening to be around a bunch of steampunks who were still really excited about making things and costuming and forming connections.  It cements my determination to focus my efforts on making awesome things, celebrating other makers, and sharing knowledge and inspiration with others.

Which is all really just a personal aside on my own feelings.

I am SO jealous of this light table.

The project I worked on Saturday at the gathering is a casual warm-weather steampunk outfit for myself, using this pattern.  I am using fabric from a duvet cover I picked up at the thrift store the day before.  It's all cut, now I just have to find time to sew it together.

I have so many projects at the moment.  I do have several intended tutorials to put together for this site, as well as another sewing pattern to work on, but that stuff keeps getting pushed back by commissions.  And I need to make stock for Steampunk November, too.

I also will be writing an article for publication, and there's talk of me teaching a corsetmaking workshop in a few months.

So if I'm a little quieter than normal, I hope you'll forgive me for a few weeks.