Our little GenQ family is proud to celebrate the launch of Sew Much Cosplay, a partnership between our senior editor Tracy Mooney and art quilter (and good friend) Cheryl Sleboda! These two powerhouses are teaming up to unravel the mysteries of sewing for a new–and rapidly growing–audience: cosplayers.
They will reach out to this new stitcher via tutorials, products and information via their new website, www.sewmuchcosplay.com, and live educational events.
Background: “Cosplay” is a word combining “costume” and “play.” Basically, it means dressing up as your fave characters from TV, movies, cartoons, comic books and more. You’ve heard of comic cons, those conventions where people parade around in amazing and intricate costumes? Yep, those are cosplayers and given some of the numbers Tracy and Cheryl share, chances are there’s a cosplayer near and dear to your heart. (Hey, maybe it’s you!):
- Considered “superfans” in the Pop Culture Industry, cosplayers are 64% female.
- They are top spenders at conventions.
- They are young–49% are 18-29!
- They might spend up to 200 hours and between $200 to $2,000 on materials for one costume.
- Nearly 60% describe themselves as super-fans, and a whopping 28% have been to five or more fan events in the past 12 months.
Tracy Mooney, Generation Q senior editor (left), and Cheryl Sleboda of muppin.com.
“I have been saying that this is the future of sewing for a long time. I love cosplay and I can’t wait to bring cosplayers the products and techniques that will make their costumes better,” says Cheryl Sleboda. As a 20-year veteran executive of the pop culture/comic book industry and a quilter/stitcher for more than 25 years, she’s already been working in this area. She has consulted with national sewing brands about the cosplay market and appeared on It’s Sew Easy TV demonstrating her original projects for cosplay.
Tracy, too, has served years in the cosplay trenches, making costumes for her three devoted cosplaying children. As a quilter for more than 25 years, and producer of the WeSew2 features and the Cut & Sew Club learn-to-sew booklets for Generation Q, she has the sewing and teaching chops, too.
But wait, there’s (much) more: Sew Much Cosplay is teaming up with RNK Distributing to create an exclusive line of products specifically for cosplay sewing. This collaboration will debut next week at Spring Quilt Market in St. Louis, May 19-21, 2017.
RNK Distributing is a manufacturer and distributor of high quality specialty sewing, quilting and embroidery supplies for the commercial embroidery and home crafting industries. Their products include stabilizers, software, needles, thread and tools, and their brands include Floriani®, Jenny Haskins®, Quilters Select® and now, Sew Much Cosplay™.
Having the right products will make the cosplayer’s sewing journey much easier and more exciting, Tracy says.
“I think that there is not only a lot of room for improvement in the products that are currently on the market that they have been using, there is a lot of room between the armor-making and the sewn costumes. There is so much room for improvement in stabilizers and interfacings that would be more realistic to what they see on the screen,” says Tracy.
Look for Tracy and Cheryl in the RNK booth in St. Louis!
Quilt. Sew. Live. Breathe.
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