Author: grasshopper

DIY – Your own Star Trek Redshirt

A quick costume for the Trekkie at heart. Wear it at parties, incognito, and at conventions!

It’s not an authentic Star Trek uniform, but it will do the job if you just want something simple. What you will need:

1 Redshirt – You can either recycle an old T-shirt or pick one up at the store. They run relatively cheap. I got mine for less than $10. Pick a shirt that fits the way you want to fit it (I am not a fan of the droopy, over-sized awkward angle 80s flair that’s coming back in style. A regular V-neck T-shirt worked just fine!). 

1 Stitch Witchery Roll – These run under $5, and you will have a lot leftover to use for other projects. Stitch Witchery beats hours and hours of hand sewing any day!

2 Black Strips – Considering that 80% of my wardrobe is black, I had no trouble finding an old slip to butcher for this project (I never wore it anyway). You can use anything so long as it’s black.

Minor Sewing Supplies – Pins and a needle & black thread.

Step 1
Lay out your shirt and measure the length of the front neckline. For brevity’s sake, I’ll pretend that everyone has a V-neck–You will have a happier time with a V-neck…Trying to worm a black strip around an oblong collar is not my idea of a good time.

You will also want to measure the width of the neckline as well. Multiple it by two to leave room for the underside.You want some of your black cloth to be on the underside so that you can fold it over onto the front.

Tip: Measure the length from the point of the V to the tip on each side.

Step 2
Cut out two strips of black cloth using the measurements from step 1. I wanted mine to have a little pizazz, so I used the bottom section of my slip (the part with the lace on it).


Step 3
Cut four identical strips of Stitch Witchery. These will be used to attach the collar.

Step 4
Place one strip of Stitch Witchery on the half of your black cloth that is going to be on the underside of your collar. Flatten and pin it to the underside of your collar.

Step 5
Follow the instructions on the Stitch Witchery package to iron it together.

Step 6
Repeat steps 4 and 5 three times (once more for the underside of the second strip, and twice for the front sides). When you are ready for the front, take extra care when you are folding it over and pinning it. Make it as flat as possible.

When you are about to iron the final front strip, you may have to cut a few tiny pieces of Stitch Witchery to get the fold at the tip of the V right. 

Step 7
Once it cools down, make any necessary adjustments with your needle and thread. If you did a perfect job of ironing, you won’t need to venture into tedious waters like I did! I had to mend the point at the V shape.

Optional
 Step 8
If you want to go the extra mile and do the back part of the neckline, repeat the above steps. The back neckline is always slightly rounded, so tread those waters at your sanity’s risk!

 Add a badge, and you are done! 

Weekly Roundup

 ~A quick recap of things around the Empire Earth over the past week.

This week in…
Science
Or should I say mass media hysteria? An infectious disease nasty enough to warrant its own horror movie? After hearing all the talk around the proverbial water cooler, it seems like the media is going nuts with the three cases in the US. Yes, ebola is a scary thing akin to some sort of eldrichian horror crawling out of the pages of a Lovecraft story, but it’s not time to panic.

When my next door neighbor or a coworker has it, cue the panic attack. I learned all I ever wanted (and more) about ebola when I read The Hot Zone. I even wrote a review about it on goodreads: Untitled Review of The Hot Zone.

One word of advice: don’t google “ebola” and then click on images.

Geekdom
As I contemplate and stare aimlessly about the room for a geeky fun filled topic, my eyes drift towards my latest autograph. I can’t believe that I neglected to share it on here!

Walter Koenig as Bester!

A friend went to a convention and got this for me (shout out to you! You know who you are!). Anyone who has been following this blog for a while knows how much I love the character Alfred Bester on Babylon 5 and like Walter Koenig.

When I got the picture in the mail, I immediately framed it and put it up!

Currently Reading

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. Yes, I’m still reading it! I wasn’t kidding when I said it was quite the heavy tome. You don’t want to know how long I’ve been at it. 

Matters of Opinion
My blunt, unabashed thoughts in 140 characters or less:

I saw Christmas stuff out as early as September. I don’t want to see a single jingle bell, Santa Claus, or festive tree until Black Friday.

Video of the week:
As much as I liked Frozen, I found this video hilarious!

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight

…Because sometimes you have to do a crazy crossover between Frozen and Babylon 5 and share it with everyone.

Babylon 5’s Susan Ivanova singing Let it Go.
“A station of isolation, and it looks like I’m captain…”
“Your thoughts never bothered me anyway.”
 

Here’s the Official YouTube video of the song:

 Don’t forget my 2014 Trick-Or-Treat Giveaway! 
 Send in your Halloween costumes and decorations! Want to see what I’ll be wearing?

Attack on Titan!

I have yet to figure out what pants I’m going to wear. The official Attack on Titan uniforms involve white pants, but mixing me and white pants is like dipping double sided tape into an army of dust bunnies.

Weekly Roundup

Don’t forget to check out my 2014 Trick-Or-Treat Giveaway! 

 ~A quick recap of things around the Empire Earth over the past week.

This week in…
Space

If you’ve been following the stars, then you know that there was a kickass lunar eclipse on the 8th. Normally I am all about giant bloodmoons, but getting me to wake up earlier than I need to is like baptizing a cat. It’s okay though, there were plenty of reports and images on the Internet for me to satisfy my need to see it!

The first bloodmoon I remember was waaaaay back in 1999 when I was at Keesler AFB in tech school. I was in the night classes, and our instructors let the entire schoolhouse out for a while to watch it. It was amazing to say the least!
Lunar Eclipse Image Credit:
The Total Lunar Eclipse, as seen from Aichi Prefecture, Japan, 10:25:37 UTC:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2014_lunar_eclipse 

Geekdom
I’m not a hardcore MMOer, but I still like to play now and then. The latest MMO craze is Archeage. Now that The Great Queues of 2014 are over, I can hop in and enjoy the game whenever I want. It is a fun, sword and sorcery game split down between two continents (factions). I’m only level 15, so I can’t give a full-fledged review yet, but there are plenty of quests to keep one entertained.

This is my shaman. You can pick three skillsets for your character I chose sorcery, witchcraft, and vitalism. Those three make up the shaman class. If you are interested in Archage, you can visit their website: http://www.archeagegame.com/en/play-for-free/

Currently Reading
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. It is a hefty tome, but if I were to rate it, I’d give it 4 stars so far.

Matters of Opinion
My blunt, unabashed thoughts in 140 characters or less:
We Americans get the shaft when it comes to paid vacation time. We are lucky if we get 2 weeks a year. Why is this still a thing?

Video of the week:
I don’t even know…Beam me up right meow, Scotty? If you like classic Star Trek, you will love this. I feel like this video was made for me or something.

2014 Trick-Or-Treat Giveaway

It is officially October (well, it has been for the past five days, but that’s beside the point…right?). Bring out the orange and black, the fake bats, goons, and goblins, and spin those webs of cotton! As for me, I will be enjoying many pumpkin spice lattes. Yes, I am extremely cliche when it comes to certain things in the mundane world of life. [ Insert winking emote here ]

 Happy BOOctober from Elly and Pierson! 
…Although he is not too happy about being forced into a Dracula costume.
I’m working on a spooky tale, chipping away at it when I can. The process is slow, but it’s better than never. In the meantime, if you want to get your Halloween spirit on, try Donner Lake Disaster on for size. It has a popping amount of pulp and Lovecraftian fun. The best part? It’s FREE!

2014 Trick-Or-Treat Giveaway!

Elly is feeling generous and wants to hand out treats at the end of the month. Watch out for Pierson though…he’s full of tricks!

Send me a picture of your Halloween costume, decorations, or you in costume by 11:59 p.m. on the 31st November 1st, and I’ll pick a winner. The winner will receive a paperback copy of The Year is Now

There’s a catch though: I need at least THREE entries. Pierson is just waiting to pull a trick!

Send all entries and inquiries to:

On November 2nd, I’ll announce the winner. If I don’t get enough entries, Pierson will take over this blog and post a trick! 

RULES:
+ It has to be your costume, not just a screenshot of a super awesome costume on Amazon.
+ You do not have to be wearing it (you can take a picture of it hanging up or laid out).
+ Houses/Apartments decked out in Halloween decorations are okay–they just have to be yours.
+ International entries are okay!