2020 At-A-Glance Meeting Schedule
This is a list of all regularly scheduled meetings. There is a PDF file attached below which you can download and print at your convenience.
Meetings are the 3rd Saturday of the month, 10:00 am-Noon
…Chapter Tee Shirt
Chapter Tee Shirt
Chapter members Cathy, Laura and June dusted off their scan and cut machines to make-up some fun tee shirts with Cosplay PNW / ASG on them. The shirts were made up to wear at Emerald City Comic Con next weekend. Some members were giving CPR at the event – that’s Costume Patch & Repair! Sadly, ECCC has been postponed until Summer. In the meantime, we have some great shirts to show off our Chapter! The shirts will be at the the March meeting.
Hot off the press! Cosplay Logo on tee shirts 
Placing Cosplay Logo to heat press tee shirts
MEETING NOTES – Feb. 15, 2020
Six members were at the meeting today. We enjoyed updating each other on what we’ve been working on, including progress on costumes for the ASG Style Show at SewExpo at the end of this month.
PROGRAM:
“Fitting a Commercial Patterns 101.” Keeley talked about commercial patterns (McCall’s, Simplicity, Kwik Sew, etc.), stating that patterns are really a general guideline because everyone’s body shape is unique. She touched on methods for fitting commercial patterns. For our notebooks everyone at the meeting received a written copy of today’s class.
SEW AND SHARE:
Michelle brought the scrapbook she made when she was making her Fairy God Mother and Cinderella costumes. She and her daughter will be wearing her beautiful creations in the ASG Style Show. Keeley passed around samples of lace stitch-outs she made using her new Embroidery Program (Standing Lace). She plans to incorporate the pieces into her costume. Cathy showed us a Sew Powerful Purse, one of two dozen she has been sewing for charity. Sue had pictures of costumes she’s been sewing for her community’s theatrical production of Hello Dolly in May this year. Laura disclosed her newest “find” of materials she bought to make a faux-fur lined cape.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
We are in the ASG Style Show on Saturday, which starts at 11:30 am. We practiced the runway walk and tweaked our written descriptions. June heard that we will be the grand finale of the Show!
There will be an ASG booth at SewExpo, sponsored by South Puget Sound ASG Chapter. Cosplay PNW members have been invited to spend some time monitoring the booth. This is a great opportunity for us to promote our chapter. A stack of reprinted CPNW-ASG membership applications were passed around for members to share. Let’s encourage prospective new members to sign up online. There will be more of these forms available for you at the ASG booth.
Greater Seattle ASG Chapter is sponsoring an After SewExpo Banquet on Saturday evening, February 29, 2020. If interested in attending, June can direct you to the registration website.
WEBSITE:
Content has been added and more is needed, especially costume photos. Remember to include descriptions. June will post your photos whenever possible. Send to her at june@nwquad.com.
CHAPTER BUSINESS:
The Chapter Advisory Board (CAB) will meet quarterly following the regular meeting (Feb/May/Aug/Nov).
We need a Newsletter Editor and a name for our newsletter! Send your suggestions to June at june@nwquad.com. Our first newsletter is due April 1st – no joke!
NEXT MEETING:
We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on Saturday, March 21, 2020, 10:00 am, at the same location.
New Members
Welcome Kiara, Patricia and Carol!
2020 Cosplay Events
| JAN 04 | JAN 06 | Aki Con Seatac, Washington — United States | Doubletree Hotel httgs://v-N1w.akicon.org/ |
| JAN 05 | JAN 06 | Fandom POX Portland, Oregon — United States | The Sheraton Portland Hotel htto://www.fandomodx.com/ |
| JAN 11 | JAN 13 | OrcaCon Bellevue, Washington — United States | Hilton Bellevue httQ://www.orcacon.org/ |
| JAN 19 | Kick Off the Cons Renton, Washington — United States | Renton Technical College httQs://www.rentonctyi comiccon.com/kick-off-the-cons-2/ | |
| FEB 09 | Chibi Chibi Con Olympia, Washington — United States | The Evergreen State College httQs://chibichibicon.com/ | |
| FEB 15 | FEB 17 | RadCon Pasco, Washington — United States | Red Lion Hotel httos:l/www.radcon.ora/ |
| MAR 12 | MAR 15 | Emerald City Comic Con – CANCELLED – Seattle, Washington — United States | Washington State Convention Center httos://www.emeraldcitvcomiccon.com/ |
| APR 18 | APR 21 | Norwescon Seatac, Washington — United States | Doubletree Hotel htto://www.norwescon.ora/ |
| APR 19 | APR 21 | Sakura Con Seattle, Washington — United States | Washington State Convention Center htto://sakuracon.ora/ |
| MAY 03 | MAY 05 | Crypticon Seattle Seatac, Washington — United States | Doubletree Hotel httos://www.crvoticonseattle.com/ |
| MAY 17 | MAY 19 | Everfree Northwest Seatac, Washington — United States | DoubleTree Hotel httos://everfreenw.com/ |
| JUN 01 | JUN 02 | Lilac City Comic Con Spokane, Washington — United States | Spokane Convention Center httos://lilaccivtcomicon.webs.com/ |
| JUL 04 | JUL 07 | Japan Expo Paris, — France | Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center htto://www.iaoan-exoo.fr/en/ |
| AUG 09 | AUG 11 | SpoCon Spokane, Washington — United States | The Historic Davenport Hotel httos://soocon.ora/ |
| AUG 09 | AUG 11 | Kura Neko Con Spokane, Washington — United States | Spokane Convention Center httQs://kuronekocon.com/ |
| SEP 13 | SEP 15 | Rose City Comic Con Portland, Oregon — United States | Oregon Convention Center httQs://rosecitycomiccon.com/ |
| OCT 26 | OCT 27 | Jet City Comic Show Tacoma, Washington — United States | 1500 Broadway htto://www.ietcitvcomicshow.com/ |
| NOV 15 | NOV 17 | Kumoricon Portland, Oregon — United States | Oregon Convention Center httos://www.kumoricon.om/ |
| NOV 16 | NOV 17 | GeekGirlCon Seattle, Washington — United States | The Conference Center httos://aeekairlcon.com/ |
| NOV 21 | NOV 24 | Anthro Northwest Seattle, Washington — United States | Hyatt Regency Seattle httos://anthronw.com/2019/index.html |
February Meeting Reminder
February 15th is the next meeting of Cosplay PNW Chapter. Keeley will be presenting Fitting a Commercial Pattern. Doors open at 10.00am meeting start time is 10.15. Remember to bring your show and share. Hope to see you at the meeting.
Chapter Events
CAB is working on Events for 2020. Stay tuned for details as they become available.
Ripstop fabric
Commonly available in Nylon or Polyester (also cotton, silk). Woven with special reinforced techniques resistant to tearing and ripping. Reinforced threads are interwoven at regular intervals in crosshatch pattern. Modern weaving techniques will make threads less obvious. Small tears cannot easily spread.
May be waterproof, fire resistant, zero porosity (no air/water through), comes in light, medium and heavy weights, and textures from soft to crisp or stiff. Developed in WWII to replace silk in production of parachutes. Ripstop is used for parachutes, yacht sails, kites, camping equipment, flags, work wear, sports clothing, backpacks, and luggage bags to name a few. Ripstop Fabric comes in many styles and weights (Deniers) and fiber content, prints and solid colors as well as DWR (Durable Water Repellent) Denier is a unit of measurement that is used to determine the fiber thickness of individual threads or filaments used in the creation of textiles and fabrics. Fabrics with a high denier count tend to be thick, sturdy, and durable. Fabrics with a low denier count tend to be sheer, soft, and silky.30 Denier (ultra light weight), 70 Denier (light weight), 400×300 Denier (medium weight)
Sources:
Seattle Fabrics, 8702 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, 206-525-0670
Available in Metallic coated – gold or silver 56” wide @ $21.95/yd
https://www.seattlefabrics.com/56-70-D-Metallic-Coated-Nylon-Ripstop-2195-linear-yard_p_40.html
Joann Fabric – https://www.joann.com/
Rockywoods, Colorado – https://www.rockywoods.com/
Rockywoods carries over 200 different ripstop fabrics from ultralight 7D ripstop nylon to 500D Extreme X-PAC fabric.
Sewing Tips:
Do not use heat/hot iron to fabric – it will melt. You can use warm iron with press cloth.
Thread: polyester 100%/outdoor thread or nylon thread
Needle: sharp Universal 70/10 – use a new needle
Stitches per inch: 8-10
Seam technique: felled or French seam
Cutting pattern – when using pins place them on very edge of fabric because pin holes are permanent and want them inside seams. Try using clips instead of pins.
An all purpose polyester or nylon thread is great. When using lightweight nylon fabric, use a lightweight nylon thread. However, all-purpose thread will work okay as well.
Slipping? Working with coated ripstop nylon, you may not experience too much slipping. However if you do, clips are quick and easy way to hold your seams in place so you don’t have to pin through your ripstop.
Sew Straight. Use the grid lines woven in the ripstop to help sew straight. Sloppy sewing will be easy to notice if your seam looks crooked next to those straight woven lines in the fabric. Keep in mind ripstop typically stretches on the diagonal.
Use a new rotary cutter or sharp fabric scissors for clean, straight edges. Once you cut out your pieces, it’s ideal to sew them up immediately. Leaving cut nylon lying around will cause your clean cut edges to get messy or frayed making the sewing more challenging. Heat sealing the cut edges is also an option. Test first to determine if this will work on your Ripstop fabric.
Check your stitch length. If your stitch length is too small it will cause problems; it can weaken your seams by perforating a line down your fabric that will pull apart easily over time. It can also just make the fabric pucker, so try for around 8-10 stitches per inch.
Reinforce those seams. If your project is going to be weight-bearing, reinforce your seams with a top-stitch (felled seam) or French seam. It will make your seams stronger and, if done well, will make the final project look much more professional.
Project Idea:
The following link is a quick project to practice your Ripstop fabric skills:
https://sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/rip-stop-grocery-bags-carry-pouch
meeting notes – jan. 18, 2020
Nine members attended our first meeting. Everyone introduced themselves and briefly told us what they like to sew.
PROGRAM:
Keeley presented “Fabric 101.” She distributed nine different fabric samples (faux fur, wool, two types of felted wool, felt, stretch velvet/panne velvet, velvet, two different ripstop fabrics, pleather or faux leather, and suede leather). She talked about each fabric, its properties, and gave us sources for where to find these specialty fibers. June provided notebook pages to attach the samples to for future reference.
SEW AND SHARE:
Everyone shared what they’ve been making. Laura repurposed a thrift store find into a designer look that she wore to a murder mystery party. June brought the “Woody” vest (from the movie “Toy Story”) she made for her grandson. Cathy brought her Pink Ladies bomber-style jacket she made for a production of “Grease” (in fact, she made 7 of them!). Keeley shared photos of the many costumes she has crafted. Theresa asked for input from the group on her project, which included dyeing the fabric to just the right shade of black.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
SewExpo is Feb. 27 – Mar. 1, 2020 at the Fairgrounds in Puyallup. The Annual Style Show is Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, at 11:30 am. Members decided a group entry by our chapter would be fun. Everyone will wear a costume they’ve created, or have it modeled on their behalf. To be a part of our group entry, send an email to June at June@nwquad.com with your name, the name of your costume and a brief description of the costume, along with a photograph, if you have one. Bonus: Entry in the Fashion Show includes a Free Admission Ticket to SewExpo on Saturday.
Website:
Cosplay PNW Chapter now has an active website: https://cosplaypnwasg.org/ Members are encouraged to submit content for publishing – costume photos, blogs, etc. Send photos to June at june@nwquad.com along with the title and brief description of each photo.
CHAPTER BUSINESS:
June introduced the Chapter Advisory Board (CAB) members and included a brief description of the CAB and its function within the ASG organization.
Newsletter Editor opportunity! Our first newsletter is due April 1, 2020. As Newsletter Editor, you will work closely with June, our chapter president. June has a lot of experience and will guide you through the process. Our newsletter helps disseminate information to our chapter members. Please contact June for additional details.
NEXT MEETING:
Saturday, February 15, 2020, at 10:00 am.
Costume Gallery
Examples of Costumes made by Chapter members
We sent the kids out Trick or Treating on Tuesday night.. Skylar with her Astrid upgrade, Parker as a Dinosaur and Kelly wore his 'burner' coat!
