Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition: FIBER!

This past weekend, I did a whole bunch of workshop panels at the Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibtion. I am *exhausted* from my weekend, but my inner teacher is rather pleased with the panels & presentations, and I received a lot of "thank yous" from the various folks who attended and learned a lot.

My panels involved:
- a sewing, pattern alterations/ modifications
- wardrobe on a budget
- fiber arts
- silicon molding & resin casting

The Fiber Arts workshop dealt with: knitting, crocheting, embroidery, & trim.
I had brought materials to teach any of the following:
- knitting,
- crochet
- embroidery
- silk flower ribbonwork

As Miss Kalendar was focusing on knitting, and another teacher was focusing on embroidery, I taught attendees:

0) A little bit on the history of crochet, knitting, and trim in the Victorian era.

1) create flowers out of ribbon for trim -- how to create your basic flower using various techniques & how to create shells. I had one student create a lovely hatband out of various ribbons and embellished said ribbons with ribbon flowers.

2) crochet basics -- which amazingly, a lot of knitters had thought very difficult! I taught the simple basics: single stitch, chain stitch, half double crochet, double crochet, etc...and how each stitch builds ontop of another.

As an added bonus, I even got the lovely Miss Kalendar to pick up the crochet hook after showing her my lovely Mortimer.



There was a lot of fiber arts at Nova Albion. Miss Kalendar hosted a Social Salon which featured a lot of fiber arts. I stopped by on several occasions and was pleased to see folks with their knitting projects and even one spinning wheel.