Getting this off the ground

[holyschist]

So, in the interest of making this community a more active place, I've been thinking about some ideas. I'm going to start posting discussion-ish questions once a week or so (I expect to eventually run out of ideas for these, so if you have a topic of discussion relevant to historical clothing that you think would be interesting...go for it!).

Would there be any interest in any of the following:

• Community challenges (e.g. "Over the next three months, make a hat" or "Add embroidery to a garment", stuff like that)?


• A yearly contest, where people post pictures of their favorite outfit made that year and the community votes, possibly with a small prize?


• A gift exchange, where people make small dress items or accessories for each other?


• Resource posts (I'm thinking the top-level post would be a topic, like "Italy, 1500s" and then people would post their favorite resources in the comments)?

What would you guys like to see happen here? What would encourage you to post and participate more?

Comments

[sporky_rat]

Yes, actually, all of that would help. Maybe even a posting in dw_community_promo would help?

[holyschist]

I did post there when I started the comm, but I guess that was about a year ago! So when there's a little more stuff here, I shall post again.

Discussion questions and resource posts I'm definitely going to start on; the other things would require a lot more planning, so I want to see if there would be enough critical mass to make them work.

[piscaria]

(here via follow_friday)

I'm glad to see this community, especially now that camping season is coming up. I love the idea of community challenges, resource posts, and a gift exchange.

[holyschist]

Oh, camping season. I'm pretty much missing it this year, but planning to spend a good chunk of the summer handsewing like a maniac for fall events. We'll see if that actually happens (I actually hate sewing, somewhat ironically).

I'm going to get started on resource posts and discussion questions pretty soon, since those are easy. What time of year would you prefer for a gift exchange if we did one?

[scribbled_lore]

I'd be ecstatic to see resource posts and would definitely use those and I think that the community challenges would help keep me on task - "Add decoration to a piece!" "..Oh! I've been wanting to add trim to this one! I'll do that next."

I'm not feeling very confident about my ability to really contribute to the community, however. I'm hoping that in the long run that will change.

[holyschist]

Seriously, don't worry about it--contribute when you can, how you can. It's no good if people feel obligated or stressed!

(Yeah, I need that kind of motivation, too.)

:-)

[elke_tanzer]

I'm mostly here to gaze envyingly at other people's progress on their projects, because I'm so far behind on all of my own, with no available time to devote to them. But I'm good at making encouraging comments! :-)

Re: :-)

[holyschist]

Comments are important!

[finch]

I'm interested in ren faire costuming but not necessarily in fully-historical SCA-level costuming. Should I stick around or no? :)

[holyschist]

Of course! There's a lot of overlap, really--there are Renfaire folks who do clothes researched down to the last detail and SCA folks who wear the same cotton t-tunic until it falls apart, and all kinds of people in between. (Honestly, the SCA has a pretty low entry bar--much lower than a lot of Faires.)

Can I inquire as to what gives you the impression that this community is for people really focused on authenticity? I want it to be a broadly-focused community, so anything I can change in the community info to make that clear would be helpful.

[finch]

There's nothing in particular, except that "hand embroidery!" sounds pretty intimidating when my interest lies more along the lines of "what's the easiest way to make a rennie costume?" XD It's mostly based on my own experience with SCAdians tbh.

[holyschist]

Eh, well, it was a random example. Please feel free to give me less-intimidating ideas--I am on the "more authenticity plz" end of the SCA spectrum*, so I'm not necessarily going to be good at coming up with less-intimidating ideas. Perhaps I shall put up a brainstorming post for that.

(Plus, I really love embroidery--I mostly sew so I have stuff to wear embroidery on. So it came to mind.)

Scadians vary in approach a lot by group and kingdom and other factors.

*Well, it's my ideal, anyway. The reality is that I cut corners all the time while I'm working out patterns or in a hurry. The nicest Elizabethan I have right now is made of polyester.

[finch]

I'm pretty sure I just knew some really neurotic ones. I don't have a problem with more advanced topics, they're really interesting to read. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be too off topic.

[holyschist]

*grin* I may be one of those neurotic ones, and I'm a bit snobby, but I try to keep most of that to my own efforts, not other people's. Although neon makes me cringe.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be too off topic.

Not at all! I think a lot of the people who've commented on this post are intermediate+, but there are definitely some folks here who aren't and I want this community to be fun and useful for everyone!

[holyschist]

Er, eta: I got confused and thought this was the post about favorite periods, which does seem to have a lot of fairly research-focused folks in it.