Greetings, dear pond readers! Hopefully, your September is off to a terrific start. Here in my corner of the Great Lakes things have been busy with stress galore causing some noticeable MS vexation compounded by a grim cold. C’est la vie.
One very happy highlight of my month so far was celebrating Star Trek Day with my Wee Bairn a.k.a. my developing Trekkie. It was glorious good fun. As long time pond readers know, I’m a big fan of Star Trek. I have written about Star Trek crafts like sewing tribbles and quillows as well as introducing my dear younger sister, #AmberUnabridged, to the franchise in a curated tour of critical episodes, in previous blog posts.
Becoming a parent, I knew that I wanted to expose my offspring to the geek fandoms that my spouse and I hold dear. It’s not that I’m trying to raise a mini-me so much as I want my child to understand the majority of our family language references. The Wee Bairn might very well grow up to eschew all things Star Trek, sci-fi, fantasy, & geeky, but when I start talking about Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra, my child will understand my meaning. And I will always love my baby even if they’re way too cool to come to conventions with us old nerds.
Star Trek acculturation is well begun here thanks to the winning combo of toys & books. My Wee Bairn has grown up playing with a plush NCC-1701-D as well as lights & sounds models of both the NCC-1701-E and NCC-1701-A. Those models were mine but have been given over to the toy box during this past year. A little Golden Book copy of Too Many Tribbles and a copy of the Star Trek Alphabet Book have long been storytime favorites. My observant Wee Bairn spied my beloved Spock figurine from my very first convention prominently displayed in my crafty corner and that has also become a shared custody plaything between us.
Taking a leap of faith, I showed the Wee Bairn the original series Star Trek episode, The Trouble with Tribbles, this year. I wasn’t sure how it would go, there are some stressful parts, but thankfully it went extremely well. The Wee Bairn loved the episode and now wants to dress up as Captain Kirk in the specific green command uniform worn in that episode.
Fast forward to Star Trek day & the Wee Bairn asked to help with my sewing time. Now this was supposed to be private, relaxing crafty time. But the days of my Wee Bairn wanting to spend time helping me sew are numbered so I said sure you can help. This turned out to be absolutely delightful. My presser foot operator helped me sew pieces of a memory block together for my giant, scrappy project in progress. When sitting & helping caused some wiggles, the Wee Bairn had a splendid idea: color some fabric! I have a stash of scraps & fabric markers by my sewing table for just such flashes of inspiration.
The first artwork is an adorable smiley face complete with nose and ears. Naturally, this precious little gremlin-ish creation had to be the memory block centerpiece. I definitely want to remember this crafty collaboration.
The subsequent artworks, solely done by the Wee Bairn with zero prompting by me, were all Starfleet insignias. Not only Star Trek the original series insignias, but all the different ones for the different branches of service. Remember how I said this kid is observant? Well, the giant pile of Star Trek licensed fabric was spotted and used as a model. After carefully drawing each one and then drawing a fabric Enterprise, the Wee Bairn proceeded to cut them all out with grown up scissors. Best part? No personal injury! The Enterprise is now taped forever and ever onto the Wee Bairn’s bedroom door and now I have a zippy bag full of insignias as well as a child convinced that Mommy can make a Captain Kirk costume for Halloween with the really big insignia. Gulp. This is a tall order. Making clothes is not my bag. But where there is a will, there is a way. And in my case, the will involves an incredibly winsome child that inspires me to transcend limits.
As was pointed out to me by said child, I did make a really cool ghost costume once before. I used an adult T-shirt & layers of contrasting cheesecloth topped off with a custom ghostly head piece. The head piece was white cotton, cheesecloth, and poly-fiberfill wrapped around the inser of a child’s toy hat. Much to my surprise, the ghost costume has remained a staple of the dress up box.
Maybe whatever Kirk cosplay I make will be just as popular. I have a plan to put together a green command tunic using some altered T-shirts, stabilizer, & fabric paint. Fingers crossed this works! Doubtless, I will update you lovely readers on my progress, no matter how it turns out. If nothing else, I have ambitions to make something for my little Trekkie with the giant pile of Star Trek fabric as well as a Tribble or three. The Star Trek blanket quillow I made (pictured below in the gallery) is the frequent victim of attempted switching by my fellow blanket dragon, the Wee Bairn. Even though Star Trek fleece is off the market, I bet a small, cuddly quilt would suit, too.
How did you celebrate Star Trek day, dear pond readers? Are you doing any nerdy crafty projects about geek related fandoms? Please, leave a comment or question below and thanks for stopping by the pond today. Live long and prosper.
technicolorlilypond 
Any day with short person and any day with you is bound to be wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Awww! Thank you & thank you for commenting.