Jaymie here. I’ll be discussing a wide variety of topics related to The Wheel of Time. Like many of you, I’ve been reading WoT since the Age of Legends, so we’ll have lots to cover together…WoTever comes to mind.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

Affecting change out in Randland or as Sitters in the Hall, who’s the biggest badass of them all?

In this series, I took a look at our own G.L.O.W. – the Glorious Ladies of WoT, specifically the smooth-cheeked, serenity-filled, skirt-smoothing, shawl-adjusting, butt-kicking Aes Sedai. I selected the most badass sister from each Ajah, as well as a runner-up for the title.

In Part One, we chose out the most badass Aes Sedai of the Green, Red, and Gray Ajahs.

The Blue, Yellow, White, and Brown Ajahs saw their badass representatives hailed in Part Two.

Part Three examined the dark side of badassery as the Black Ajah had their day.

In Part Four, it’s time to revere the ULTIMATE Badass Aes Sedai in all of Randland.

Of All Ajahs and Of None

Egwene al’Vere

Part One in our series took a look at the Badasses of three Ajahs, Green included. I received a LOT of feedback in the “BUT WHAT ABOUT EGWENE?!” category. I heard you. I did! But I had to save her for Part Four.

She may have identified as Green, holding her would-be Ajah in her heart, but her extraordinary circumstances created an Amyrlin like no other: they may all claim it, but only Egwene was truly and literally of all Ajahs and of none.

And she became  the absolute embodiment of Aes Sedai as she served, protected, battled, guided, maneuvered, and sacrificed her way to legend status.

So, let’s talk about Egwene – most of the good, some of the bad, and all of the awesome.

Maybe she’s born with it…

Canonically, none of the major female characters are ta’veren. However, we must allow that the Pattern provided Egwene a lot with which to work:

She’s one of the strongest channelers in a thousand years. She picks up channeling remarkably quickly and astounds other Aes Sedai by being able to split her flow of the One Power in 14 ways.

She’s a Dreamer. Obviously, this comes in super handy throughout the series. (And as often as she’s mentioned, who else thought we might somehow get to meet Corianin Nedeal? Perhaps weirdly trapped in T’A’R? Maybe just me?)

Genetics and family history also come through for the assist – mayor dad, Women’s Circle member mom (in a small village, true, but she’ll still pick up on politics and group dynamics), Wisdom’s apprentice (again, yes, for a small village, but the Wisdom is Nynaeve, yo), and she carries the blood of Manetheren in her veins (*acknowledges the ongoing Egwene/Queen Eldrene reincarnation discussion/debate*). Like her ancestors, she’s hard-working, resourceful, and tenacious. At its worst, that tenacity manifests as stubbornness (muley stubborn, the girl Amyrlin is!). But far more often, it shines as perseverance, dedication, and resolve.  Oh, and she happens to have grown up with the Dragon Reborn. That might help down the road.

Additionally, she’s wicked smart.
 

Boldly going where no Randlander had gone before

Along with her inherent traits and early-life experience, Egwene brings incredibly unique adventures to her interactions.

She’s traveled the Ways. She's sat at the fires of the Traveling People. She witnessed the “exorcism” of Shadar Logoth evil from Mat.

She’s been a Seanchan damane, where she learned their culture in the context of their greatest weapon, channeling; and was forced to rapidly develop her strength and dexterity in the Power (also coming in quite handily).

And, of course, she lived among the Aiel as an apprentice to Wise Ones. She went to learn Dreamwalking, but she also, thankfully and serendipitously, learns and eventually lives the Aiel code of honor and obligation, ji’e’toh, taking it back with her to the wetlands. Egwene’s training from, edification through, and intimacy with the Aiel is a turning point in her fascinating trajectory.

People…people who need people...

Like all of our badasses, Egwene is not perfect.

So much stuff has been crammed into this girl for the purpose of prophecy-fulfillment that her youth seeps out every now and then, usually in the form of immature self-preservation, and usually directed toward the people she grew up with. Examples: her early-series bratty treatment of Nynaeve (to which Elayne, of all people, puts a stop); her bullying of Nynaeve and Elayne so she wouldn’t be discovered sneaking around T’A’R; and her behavior toward Mat after he rescues the girls from the Stone of Tear.

Rand remains a blind spot for her through nearly the entire series, as she often regresses back to a village-Wisdom’s-apprentice-type role when dealing with him. Even as the Last Battle begins, while they stand on the Field of Merrilor and Zen Rand reveals his plan to destroy the seals of the Dark One’s prison, Egwene hears only Stubborn Woolhead Rand, and treats her childhood sweetheart—and his plan—as such.

And her relationship with Gawyn is, for some readers, nothing short of infuriating. That analysis would likely fill an essay of its own.

However. I’m gonna give our young Amyrlin a few passes in light of endorsements from some tried and true badasses.

Egwene has earned the respect of the Wise Ones, namely Sorilea, Bair, Melaine, and the incomparable Amys. When she announces she must leave, they are more than disappointed and want her to stay with them. Stay! In the Waste! A wetlander!

Blue Ajah Badass and Amyrlin-turned-advisor Siuan Sanche also believes in Egwene, recognizing that she will “be an Amyrlin to make thrones tremble,” especially after Egwene reveals her plans for the Tower. (Lord Of Chaos, Ch. 37, When Battle Begins)

When Egwene meets our beloved Gareth One-Of-The-Five-Great-Generals Bryne, he gives her his trust and his army. Do we, as readers, believe we can peg Eggy better than one Master Gareth Bryne?

Do we?!

And while she gains the respect of novices, Accepted, and finally Aes Sedai after her captivity in the Tower, her championing by Red Badass Silviana Brehon really seals the deal, for us readers and for the Tower.

She did it all for the Tower (c’mon!) the Tower…

Ironically, Egwene’s youth—or, lack of years—ultimately allowed for her greater vision, her grasp of the big picture.

She seemed to have unbelievable political savvy for her age, but Egwene was so focused on the right things that she could see through the wrong. Lelaine and Romanda? She’ll use their faults to her advantage, playing them against each other to achieve her larger goal of uniting the Tower. Siuan makes lots of sense and respects her? She’ll soak up the former Amyrlin’s tutelage like sponge, for it will do nothing but help her unite the Tower. You rebels raised me Amyrlin and remained loyal to me? Awesome, but I don’t actually owe you anything. In fact, YOU owe the TOWER an apology, for your part in the break. Hop to, so we can get back to work uniting the Tower.

Essentially, Egwene wasn’t bogged down by years and years of scheming and favors and grudges and personal goals. Her mind isn’t clouded with individual alliances, or “well, that’s not possible,” or “um, we don’t do that here.” When the Tower broke themselves, Egwene was able to respond with, “All bets are off. You ruined this. Now I’m going to fix it and you DO NOT get to tell me how.”

Homegirl’s a badass, pure and simple.

I’ll wrap this fourth Most Badass Aes Sedai installment with Egwene’s (arguably) Top Three Most Badass Moments:

Honorable Mention (because, so many moments)
Her overall maneuvering, first within the rebel camp, and then gloriously and so victoriously within the Tower. She shines when she gets the rebels off of their collective arse and cleverly declares war on Elaida in a beautifully written scene. Then she absolutely radiates as a prisoner in the Tower, as the culmination of every single positive trait Egwene possesses convinces the Tower Aes Sedai of their true goal.

3. The Seanchan attack on the Tower. “The woman stood like vengeance itself, the power of saidar like a storm around her. The very air seemed alight, and her brown hair blew from the wind of the open gap in the wall beside them. Egwene al’Vere.” - POV of Adelorna Bastine (The Gathering Storm, Ch. 40, The Tower Shakes)

2. The dinner that changes everything. When Egwene names Elaida coward and Elaida loses her actual damn mind, I’m ready to stand up and cheer. And then…

“They could all see the weaves, and they could all see that Egwene did not scream, although her mouth was not gagged by Air. Her arms dripped blood, her body was beaten before them, and yet she found no reason to scream. Instead, she quietly blessed the Aiel Wise Ones for their wisdom” …

“‘By the Light,’ Rubinde whispered.” (The Gathering Storm, Ch. 16, In the White Tower)

Yes, girl. By the Light, INDEED.

1. The Flame of Tar Valon. Egwene discovers and channels the counter-weave to balefire, then wields it during the Last Battle to defeat the Sharans, knowingly sacrificing herself to make the stand. We all have a picture in our heads of Egwene’s blaze of glory, and no summary provided here will do that image justice.

Do you agree with this Part Four assessment? Is Egwene al’Vere the ultimate Badass Aes Sedai? What other moments are her most badass?

Jaymie here. I’ll be discussing a wide variety of topics related to The Wheel of Time. Like many of you, I’ve been reading WoT since the Age of Legends, so we’ll have lots to cover together…WoTever comes to mind.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

Affecting change out in Randland or as Sitters in the Hall, who’s the biggest badass of them all?

In this series, I’ll take a look at our own G.L.O.W. – the Glorious Ladies of WoT, specifically the smooth-cheeked, serenity-filled, skirt-smoothing, shawl-adjusting, butt-kicking Aes Sedai. I’ll select the most badass sister from each Ajah, as well as a runner-up for the title.

In Part One, we chose out the most badass Aes Sedai of the Green, Red, and Gray Ajahs.

The Blue, Yellow, White, and Brown Ajahs saw their badass representatives hailed in Part Two.

Part Three…well, let’s see what dirty deeds comprise a Black Ajah Badass.

ANOTHER WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

Black

The Black Ajah. Oh, these nasty, nasty ladies.

After lauding the bravery and accomplishments of the Badasses in Parts 1 and 2, it was tough to give these minions of the Dark One the same kind of distinction. But someone had to do it. And thanks to Robert Jordan, I was given some complex, startlingly well-written, and deliciously evil characters through which to sort.

At first, I tried to think of characteristics that distinguished the Black sisters from the non-Dark sisters, like sneaking, conniving, word-twisting…then I saw Blight in my head yelling at Batman, “DO YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA HOW LITTLE THAT NARROWS IT DOWN?”

But for real, we can add murdering—LOTS of murdering—to the Black Ajah resume, along with actual lying. We can also add aligning events to the desires of the Forsa—I mean, Chosen and the Dark O—dang it, Great LORD.

A Few Contenders

The obvious literal choice for Most Badass Aes Sedai of the Black Ajah is Verin Mathwin. But as she sacrificed her very life to thwart the Dark and reveal herself as a double agent for the Light, we simply cannot, in good conscience, brand her as Black. Besides, as we saw in Part Two, she wholly and unequivocally already owns the title of the Badass of the Brown.

Liandrin was our first real introduction to a sister of the Black Ajah, as she and her pretty face and hostile personality led our young heroines straight into Seanchan hands. (And I am stoked to see Kate Fleetwood play Liandrin in the upcoming TV show. STOKED, I say!)

Liandrin was mean and nasty and just what we as readers hoped to get from our first real glimpse at a member of the nervously-whispered-about Black Ajah. Sadly, she was but reduced to a sniveling mess by her mistress Moghedien before the end of Book 5 (The Fires of Heaven).

A multitude of other Black sisters did their jobs well (and were fun to read while they did them):

Elza Penfell was compelling as she served Rand in hopes of delivering him to the Dark in the Last Battle. Katerine Alruddin’s ambition and sheer viciousness made her one to watch. Sheriam Bayanar’s revelation as a Black sister was fairly shocking, since she felt like our Mistress of Novices, too. Her impact was huge as she had the trust of the heroines (and of US, dammit) early on, and later kept things lively and discombobulated at the Rebel camp. But she was also a scaredy-cat and her reasons for going Dark (other people are better at stuff than me!) were quite lame.

We also got to know very well the unpleasant ladies who fled the Tower with Liandrin. They each had Dark shiny moments in their own right, with lots of torture, murdering, cat adopting, and bawdy song-singing with ousted monarchs.

But two Black sisters stood out from the pack in terms of nastiness, their impact throughout the series, and their fascinating endings. And both were so obnoxiously exceptional that I flip-flopped between Winner and Runner-Up right up until press time.

Alviarin Friedhen (Black/White)

This woman was a straight-up sociopath. The Black Ajah normally recruits from among novices and Accepted, but this nut job had committed her first murder long before coming to the Tower; hell, it was before she even knew she could channel.

In terms of impact, Alviarin ended up with two of the most powerful titles a woman in the series could have: head of the Black Ajah (a title bestowed by Ishamael himself) and, after helping Elaida depose Siuan, Keeper of the Chronicles in the White Tower. As Keeper, she at first manipulates Elaida, then outright controls her. Later, Alviarin does fall from her Keeper power, but shows back up at the Last Battle as a new Dreadlord.

Alviarin’s character receives an unexpected (and, oh, I’ll just say it: fun!) ending during the Last Battle as she is tricked into entering an Ogier stedding (Androl, holla!). She and the Dark channelers with her are greeted by the stedding’s Eldest, who will accommodate them for as many years as they need to “reconsider their path.”

Runner-Up
Galina Casban (Black/Red)

The wicked ways of Galina gave us some huge story arcs: she got to kill sisters gathered by Tamra Ospenya to hunt for the Dragon Reborn; 20 years later she got to capture the Dragon Reborn in a box and beat him daily, thus beginning the downward spiral of Rand into his counterproductive harder-than-steel persona (Dumai’s Wells, anyone? Yep, we can thank Galina for that). Additionally, her character gave us eyes on the Shaido and their leadership.

After she was captured by the Shaido and severely, relentlessly abused by the Wise One Therava, Galina’s grit and perseverance saw her through multiple escape attempts. Each time the attempts failed, and each time she was harshly punished. That didn’t stop her from taking one last shot at flight by blackmailing fellow Shaido captive Faile into helping her. Faile complied and Galina was so tantalizingly close to freedom. But she was caught for the final time, right before Therava announced the Shaido were done in the wetlands and would return to the Waste.

“Something had broken in her. She was Galina Casban, Highest of the Red Ajah, who sat on the Supreme Council of the Black Ajah, and she was going to be Therava’s plaything for the rest of her life. She was Therava’s little Lina. For the rest of her life. She knew that to her bones. Tears rolled silently down her face.” (Knife of Dreams, Ch. 30, Outside the Gates)

Wow. What an ending.

What do you think? Who did I miss? Do you agree or is someone else a bigger badass of the Black Ajah?

Welcome back to “Community Round-Up,” which highlights all the latest fun and news within the Wheel of Time and Sci-Fi/Fantasy community.

First up, the Hugo Award has its list of Finalists!  Our sponsor Tor, and its subsidiary Tor.com, have four novels up in the Best Novel category:

The City in the Middle of the Night, by Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)

Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)

A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)

Middlegame, by Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)

The other two novels nominated are:

The Light Brigade, by Kameron Hurley (Saga; Angry Robot UK)

The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)

The Wheel of Time series was not nominated, but Dragonmount contributor Adam Whitehead was nominated for Best Fan Writer!  We wish him the best of luck as voting begins later in April.  You can find more information on casting your ballot here.

Most of you saw (and voted) in the March Madness Fandom Madness matchup hosted by the fansite Winter is Coming.  Unsurprising, to us at least, Moiraine Damodred won the whole tournament!  Here’s what the organizers have to say:

Quote

Our Fandom Madness tournament spanned six rounds and included 64 beloved characters from the realms of sci-fi and fantasy. After weeks of voting by you the fans, we have arrived at the big moment. Despite entering as just a 15 seed, The Wheel of Time’s Moiraine Damodred eliminated all challengers en route to the championship. Moraine becomes our first ever Fandom Madness champion, and will no doubt enter next year’s tournament as a much higher seed!

 

You can read the details of the matchup here.

Dragonmount’s Wheel of Time Community Show has two new episodes to keep you entertained while stuck at home. In one, Kitty Rallo dives into the directors of the Amazon Prime television show.  She also speculates about the titles and the timing of the shows versus the books.  And in the second Lanfear is back and giving advice on parenting (and flouting the quarantine rules).

And let’s wrap up with some great memes!

This is an oldie but a goodie from our friends at Ta’veren Tees.

Something we're all excited to hear someone say in the Amazon Prime show:

And since Lanfear is so hot right now....

This meme from the Facebook group Screw You All, I Love Wheel of Time, can stand on its own, but sometimes the comments can make it more meaningful. 

That's all I have for today.  I'm super excited about the Hugo nominations.  Which of the nominees for Best Novel have you read?

Jaymie here. I’ll be discussing a wide variety of topics related to The Wheel of Time. Like many of you, I’ve been reading WoT since the Age of Legends, so we’ll have lots to cover together…WoTever comes to mind.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

In this series, I’ll take a look at our own G.L.O.W. – the Glorious Ladies of WoT. Specifically, the smooth-cheeked, serenity-filled, skirt-smoothing, shawl-adjusting, butt-kicking Aes Sedai. I’ll select the most badass sister from each Ajah, as well as a runner-up for the title.

In Part One, we chose out the most badass Aes Sedai of the Green, Red, and Gray Ajahs.

The Ajahs of Part Two can claim some no-brainers: is there really any question as to the most badass Aes Sedai of the Blue, Yellow, and Brown Ajahs?

IS THERE?

But we love talking about them anyway, and their runners-up are truly deserving of the Badass distinction.

Here’s the rundown of the Most Badass Aes Sedai of the Blue, Yellow, White, and Brown Ajahs.

Blue

Moiraine Damodred

Moiraine is calm serenity and intense drive. She shows us (and Randland) what it is to be Aes Sedai, and we measure all others against her.

She’s our first. Our last. Our everything.*

Runner-Up

Siuan Sanche

“There is a saying in Cairhien, though I have heard it as far away as Tarabon and Saldaea. ‘Take what you want, and pay for it.’ Siuan and I took the path we wanted, and we knew we would have to pay for it eventually.” – Moiraine (Fires of Heaven, Ch. 15, What Can Be Learned In Dreams)

Siuan as the next-baddest Blue may need no explanation, but let’s do it anyway:
As a young Accepted, she attained knowledge that could literally kill her. Instead of running from it, she takes up the cause, knowing the risk (death, or worse yet, stilling) from the start. She is skilled in solving puzzles, seeing patterns, and maneuvering others without their knowing. And let’s not forget the icy blue gaze at which even the most powerful monarchs flinch. 

After the unthinkable happens, she doesn’t lay down and die, as most stilled women are known to do. She fills with purpose the hole left by her inability to channel. And it’s a badass purpose: revenge on Elaida.

Finally, she advises her extremely young and inexperienced successor, a role seen by others as a blow to her pride. But when Siuan realized that Egwene “would be an Amyrlin to make thrones tremble,” she freely threw in her lot and began helping Egwene accomplish her plans. (Lord of Chaos, Ch. 37, When Battle Begins)

Yellow

Nynaeve al’Meara

A discussion of Nynaeve’s accomplishments, acts of bravery, and…ahem…distinctive worldview could fill up its own essay. Hmmm…maybe check back in a few weeks ?

Runner-Up

Romanda Cassin had the makings of a badass, but let her stubbornness over nemesis Lelaine dictate her actions. Doesine Alwain, a Black Ajah hunter in the Tower with a penchant for cursing, also deserves a look. And after being captured as a damane and escaping with Mat’s help, Edesina Azzedin tries to convince Tuon to form a truce with the White Tower, making her one of the few former damane that can approach a Seanchan without cowering in fear.

But how about...

Corele Hovian

Corele’s fun personality and wild appearance make her interesting; her skill with Healing and her contribution to one of the major moments in the series make her a badass.

After helping to Heal Rand’s Shadar-Logoth-dagger stab wound, she bonds Asha’man and super-talented Healer Damer Flinn, making them the Healing power couple. Corele Heals and assists all over the place, essentially following Rand where she’s needed. But her claim to runner-up fame is helping to protect Rand from the Forsaken Demandred’s attacks as Rand cleansed the taint on Saidin; linking with Damer and Sarene Nemdahl, the three of them driving Demandred away helped ensure Rand’s victory.

Even after an encounter with Shaidar Haran, Corele recovers and keeps on going, lending her Healing all the way through the Last Battle.

White

Members of the White Ajah, devoted to questions of philosophy, logic, and truth, are generally seen by other Aes Sedai as cold and detached women who consider shows of emotion pointless, as they cloud logical judgement.

For the most part, readers don’t see much to indicate otherwise. Alviarin Freidhen’s POV sheds a little light at times, but, as a member of the Black Ajah, she’s not a true White. Carlinya Sorevin, as one of the six sisters who “advised” Egwene upon her raising in Salidar, saw some screen time, but still not enough to determine her level of badass.

However, two White sisters in particular stand out in the later books.

Daigian Moseneillin

Daigian spent 27 years as a novice and 21 years as Accepted. Read that again.

Daigian is the absolute weakest in the Power of any woman currently wearing the shawl. Knowing full well how other sisters would perceive and treat her, and how she would rank in any size gathering of sisters, she still spent 48 YEARS training to be Aes Sedai. And she did this without knowing that, through her achievement, she would aid the world in its time of greatest need.

What she lacked in Power, she made up for in immense intellect. She had the respect of fellow Badass Cadsuane Melaidhrin (see Part One), who knew Daigian was much more than a messenger or tea server for other Aes Sedai.

Uncharacteristically for a White, Daigian bonded a Warder – young Asha’man Eben Hopwil. She was distraught when their heartwarming relationship ended in Eben’s death, but she refused Nynaeve’s offer to attempt to “heal” her grief. Daigian wanted Eben’s memory to remain alive through her pain.

Daigian herself was taken out by one of the greatest villains of the Dark, Shaidar Haran, while she guarded one the most-feared Forsaken, Semirhage.

This woman was a badass.

Runner-Up

Ferane Neheran, Sitter and First Reasoner, is a pretty cool White, known to actually show emotion here and there and possessing loads of intelligence. An exchange during one of Egwene’s private “lessons” in the Tower showed Ferane to be thoughtful and willing to listen while still maintaining her authority. She might have been in the running if we’d had just a little more screen time with her, but we didn’t, so…

Seaine Herimon

Seaine scores major points for being a Black Ajah hunter in the Tower, but also for being super tight with Red Ajah Badass Pevara Tazanovni.

Better known to readers since we are more often treated to her POV, we know that Seaine (inaccurately) interprets an order from Elaida as a directive to search for Black sisters within the Tower. From there, she exhibits some badass traits: she recruits a smart, strong woman to help achieve a goal and she courageously continues even when she’s scared out of her mind (especially after her first Black sister discovery).

Even though Seaine can get a little whiny, she trusts her logic to help her power through uncertainty and follows sense when she sees it.

Brown

Verin Mathwin

“Please see that they know, although the word Black may brand my name forever, my soul is Brown. Tell them…”
“I will, Verin,” Egwene promised. “But your soul is not Brown. I can see it.”
Her eyes fluttered open, meeting Egwene’s, a frown creasing her forehead.
“Your soul is of a pure white, Verin,” Egwene said softly. “Like the Light itself.”
Verin smiled, and her eyes closed.
(The Gathering Storm, Ch. 39, A Visit From Verin Sedai)

Please. Take a moment for yourself. Just leave the crumpled tissue there next to you. Resume reading when ready.

Runner-Up

Adeleas Nemelle

At age 264, this woman comes out of her peaceful retirement (along with her sister, Vandene) upon learning the Dragon is reborn.

She joins up with Moiraine and Co. and ends up fighting Shadowspawn, traveling to Salidar to hang with the Rebels, and jetting off to Ebou Dar for business with the Bowl of the Winds…and maybe to check in on some Tower runaways. After 30 years of the quiet life, Adeleas comes out calmly swinging for the good guys.

Though her jump back into the fray ultimately cost Adeleas her life at the hands of the Black Ajah, Vandene was able to avenge her sister just before her own death. The death of the Nemelle sisters was among the most heartbreaking in the series, but also among the most badass, as they fought evil until their final breaths.

Part Two concludes! Did I miss anybody this time? Who do you think are the most badass Aes Sedai of the Blue, White, Yellow, and Brown Ajahs? And can you believe, there’s a Part Three still to come!
 

*paraphrasing credit to the Walrus of Love himself, Mr. Barry White

Welcome back to another Community Round-Up!  There’s been a lot happening online within the Wheel of Time fandom since we’re all locked up with nothing to do.

First off, Rafe Judkins—the showrunner for Amazon’s Wheel of Time television show—is also bored!  He answered fan questions on Instagram!  You can see a full analysis from Adam Whitehead here, including the complete transcript of the questions and answers.

Speaking of bored, there are plenty of WoT themed online activities.  One JordanCon’s Facebook page, Rick Martin posted an acrostic puzzle for people to try!

Some crafty people are also using this time to craft WoT inspired items.  This cross-stitch pattern made by Caz Willows caught my eye!  It’s an amazing design and I love the mix of Aes Sedai colors and scary Trolloc skulls.  If you’re interested in trying this—and cross-stitch is pretty easy for beginners!—you can purchase the pattern from Caz’s Etsy shop!

And Dee Tee has a Discord channel with WoT Spoilers dedicated to testing your Wheel of Time knowledge.  Stop by for a visit and play a game, or just mingle with the amazing people!

And as tradition dictates, we’ll end with some memes.

Okay, not really Wheel of Time related, but I thought this was fantastic!

This raises an interesting question.  If Mat's wily ways had continued in the Two Rivers, would any of his pranks gone far enough to land him in jail?  Does Emond's Field even have a jail?

The Pattern's face says it all.

I don't think the Black Ajah is as cute as this, honestly.

That concludes this Community Round-Up.  Let's try to keep our spirits up as much as possible during these trying times!  Besides re-reading Wheel of Time, what other actives are keeping you from going stir crazy?

Welcome back to another Community Round-Up.  There’s been a lot happening online as the world around us crumbles.

First up, JordanCon is holding a “Fantastic Artifacts Through the Ages March Madness.”  It’s a 16-bracket game with artifacts from all over the sci-fi/fantasy realm (many are Wheel of Time related, of course).  Voting on the first bracket has begun: Mjolnir (Thor’s hammer, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and also Norse mythology) vs the One Ring (from Lord of the Rings).  Go cast your vote!

Earlier this week, Jaymie Greenway highlighted the most badass Aes Sedai in the Green, Red, and Gray Ajahs.  Jaymie’s reasoning is spot on!  And I’m so happy to talk about Red sisters we know and love.  They had a rocky ending, with Elaida going so crazy, but the core of what makes Reds Red is still there and they are badasses!  I can’t wait to see the other Ajahs covered—especially the White, since that is my Ajah!

In gaming news, Animal Crossing New Horizons for the Nintendo Switch is set to release this Friday (March 20^th).  This series belongs in the fantasy genre as well since all you do it interact with talking animals.  I’m a huge fan of the Animal Crossing franchise since they released the original for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001.  Also, who in this community doesn’t love building maps?  The fan-made Happy Island Designer online app allows you to pre-plan your New Horizons island getaway.  And that’s how I’ll be spending my time this week off work!

And let’s leave on a high note!  I’ve got lots of great memes from around the WoT social media communities.

First, KatySedai on Instagram helped us all remember to wash our hands for 20 seconds.

And now the memes!

There's been a lot of discussion going around on "well-turned calves."  I know that's what I was looking for when I met my spouse.

And on that note, you can see some of the best memes from Shai'tan Posting on their new page Valan Luca's Well-Turned Meme Menagerie.  

As a huge fan of Nynaeve, I loved it when Sharina made an appearance in the actual timeline.  I'd love some more information on how the raising ter'angreal interacts with the main world and all the parallel/mirror worlds.

That's all for now.  Remember to be safe out there!  If you get bored in quarantine, share your favorite WoT memes with us.  Post in the comments below.

Jaymie here! I’ll be discussing a wide variety of topics related to The Wheel of Time. Like many of you, I’ve been reading WoT since the Age of Legends, so we’ll have lots to cover together…WoTever comes to mind.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

Affecting change out in Randland or as Sitters in the Hall, who’s the biggest badass of them all?
 

In this series, I’ll take a look at our own G.L.O.W. – the Glorious Ladies of WoT. Specifically, the smooth-cheeked, serenity-filled, skirt-smoothing, shawl-adjusting, butt-kicking Aes Sedai. I’ll select the most badass sister from each Ajah, as well as a runner-up for the title.

In Part One, we’re choosing out the most badass Aes Sedai of the Green, Red, and Gray Ajahs.

Green

The Green Ajah stands ready for the Last Battle. Green sisters are known for their ferocity, with fiery temperaments and readier displays of emotion than their more serene sisters. They are also known for their love of men, often bonding multiple Warders, or even (gasp!) marrying them.

Maybe after 3000 years and no Last Battle, they let their guards down a bit. While they put on genuinely brave faces, these ladies seemed all about the boys at times. We learned a lot about Warder relationships (granted, it was sometimes through other Ajahs’ snarky comments about Greens and their dudes), but not a lot about their battle cred. And when push came to shove during the Seanchan raid, even their own Captain-General, Adelorna Bastine, lamented in her POV, “Battle Ajah indeed! The Greens with her had stood only minutes before being defeated.” (TGS, Ch. 40 The Tower Shakes)

Make no mistake, I’m a fan of the Green Ajah. They’re kind of the Cool Girl Ajah. We just didn’t get to see much of the badassery in which they prided themselves.

Therefore…

Elayne Trakand

Elayne, who, despite her idiocy in later books regarding Min’s viewing about the babies, had “a lion’s courage…” according to Siuan, who realized Elayne knew the only way to save the Aes Sedai who had dreamed themselves into a nightmare was to dive into the nightmare right along with them. (LOC, Ch. 7 A Matter of Thought)

True, Siuan finished that judgment with “…and maybe a fisherbird’s sense.” But Aviendha, a Badass if there ever was one, also lauds Elayne’s bravery: “Even when Elayne is so afraid her mouth dries, her spirit does not bend,” says Aviendha during their sister ceremony. “She is braver than anyone I have ever known.” (WH, Prologue: Snow)

Runner-Up

Alanna had the makings of a badass; fiery and funny, a willingness to put herself in the mix of goings-on. But she knocked herself out of the running when she bonded Rand without his consent. Not only was her act atrocious (considered by Aes Sedai to be on par with rape), but it put her in vulnerable position after vulnerable position. And she sure spent a lot of screen time weeping. Therefore…

Cadsuane Melaidhrin

Love her or hate her, she is a force. Her “legendary” status (most of the stories about her were indeed true) and sheer strength of will going for her, Cadsuane’s mere presence stopped folks in their tracks – just long enough for her to assume the advantage in nearly any situation and never look back. Her intentions for Rand had merit and her collaboration with Sorilea (Mizz Strength of Will herself) was on point, even if her methods tanked. And, unlike many Aes Sedai, Cadsuane could (finally) admit her mistakes - and learn from them. Stubborn, to be sure, but she ultimately used her centuries of perspective to work for solutions.

And…she’ll be the next Amyrlin Seat, but not because she wants to. She’ll do it, not for herself, but for the good of the Tower and for the post-Last Battle world.

Red

Pevara Tazanovni

It’s Pevara. That is all.

Runner-Up

Silviana Brehon

Mistress of Novices under Elaida; Keeper of the Chronicles under Egwene. Silviana was firm, fair, and did it all for the Tower. We learn to appreciate her through Egwene’s POV, as Silviana administers beatings and punishments matter-of-factly to a novice claiming to be Amyrlin. When she believes Elaida’s treatment of Egwene grows too harsh (and begins to realize exactly who is breaking the Tower, and…ahem…it ain’t Egwene), she stands up to the tyrannical Red. Says Saerin to Egwene, “She denounced Elaida, calling for her to be removed as Amyrlin. It was…quite extraordinary.” (TGS, Ch. 38 News in Tel’aran’rhiod)

Then, Silviana valiantly serves the woman she could not break.

Gray

Yukiri Harana

Yes, she played a part in deposing our girl Siuan, but Yukiri did everything for the good of the Tower. One of the tiniest Aes Sedai, she acted like a queen, spoke like a farm girl, and worked tirelessly for every single ounce she achieved. Some Yukiri highlights: she worked to ferret out Black sisters in the Tower, she pledged to Egwene after the Seanchan attack, and she invented the horizontal gateway weave that allowed spying from the sky on battles below.

Badass.

And after the Last Battle, believing it best for the Tower, Yukiri was one of four Sitters to approach Cadsuane about becoming the new Amyrlin Seat.

Runner-Up

All Rebel Grays

Grays believe anything can be solved if talked through long enough. Their very nature is to stick around and work things out. But the Rebel Grays went against every instinct during the White Tower split and said (and I paraphrase), “Screw all of THIS, we need to get the hell out of Crazy Tower, regroup, and come up with a plan.”

Merilille and Merana were among our best-known Rebel Grays, but ultimately fizzled out as they tried to negotiate things and kept getting usurped. And Tiana Noselle, the Rebel faction’s Mistress of Novices, was likely given the position because of her youth, and therefore easy to move aside once the Tower became whole again. Nonetheless, she was truly in for a penny, in for a pound with such a huge role in the Little Tower.

Regardless of their fate, these sisters and the rest of the Rebel Grays were HERE FOR IT.

And there you have it. Did I miss anybody? Who do you think are the most badass Aes Sedai of the Green, Red, and Gray Ajahs?

Update:  Part 2 is now available!

Welcome back to another edition of Community Round-Up where we highlight all the latest happenings in The Wheel of Time fandom and the larger Sci-Fi/Fantasy community.

This week there have been some major reports about the Amazon Prime show.  Adam Whitehead went into detail about the four directors picked for Season 1.  The four selected are being celebrated for their diversity.  To see more of their resume and what to expect from them behind the camera, you can read Adam’s article here.

Theoryland is still going strong with Matt Hatch’s The Dusty Wheel podcast and fans passionate to discover some of the left-over hidden truths of the series.  Recently, The Dusty Wheel hosted a chat about one of the great mysteries: Nakomi.   The fact that there is still so much left to speculate on The Wheel of Time shows how timeless the series is—and will continue to be.  You can listen to the whole episode of The Dusty Wheel here, and be sure to check out all their Wheel of Time content!

JordanCon released a statement that the convention is still on!  They are continuing to keep up to date with the recommendations of the CDC and will let all members and fans know if the situation changes.  Let’s hope we can all make it there for our traditional homecoming!  You can read more from JordanCon here.

And what’s a round-up without memes?  The ones feature today come from the Facebook groups Screw You All, I Love Wheel of Time and, one of my favorites, Shai’tan Posting.

(One of my favorite scenes in the series!)

This meme from Shai'tan Posting even had hilarious comments, like:

"Sorry, I didn't hear you over the sound of the dice in my head."

"#powercouple"

"Change of plans. This escape is now a kidnapping.

~Mat that's-not-your-empress-that's-my-wife Cauthon"

"He's like, I wish I could get off with only death by slow torture."

As a math teacher, I love the Venn diagram memes....

That's all for this edition of Community Round-Up.  Which theory about Nakomi do you think is true?  Let us know in the comments!

Welcome back to another edition of Community Round-Up, where I show you some of the Wheel of Time or SF/F related things that have happened this past week.

First off, a video made by Titos_Firedancer appealed to our Wheel of Time community.  I saw it posted in most of the WoT places I follow.  This video showed the user Titos_Firedancer using a weighted sword in a beautiful (and potentially deadly) dance.

Naturally, the elegance displayed here made me search for similar fetes.  I found another “flow dancer,” Grace Good, who dances with a dragon staff!

While the first reminds me very much of how a Warder might fight, the second reminds me of the acts seen in Valan Luca's Grand Traveling Show and Magnificent Display of Marvelous Wonders.

Tor.com’s Dahlia Adler shared a fantastic article about the rise of queer characters in YA science-fiction and fantasy.  Gender identities and sexual orientations are gaining a wider audience in adult fiction, but representation for a younger audience is equally important.  Adler says, “In fact, I dare say that queer YA is finally big enough to have its own trends, and this past couple of years, there’s nothing we’ve seen rise further and faster than teenage witches in a whole rainbow of orientations and genders.”

You can read the whole article, as well as all the book recommendations, here!

For fan art, I saw an amazing representation of Juilun Sandar posted in the Facebook group Screw You All, I Love Wheel of Time. 

Poor Juilun does get overshadowed—when traveling with Nynaeve, Elayne, and Thom, Juilun has to be the least dramatic of the bunch.  But his “figs and mice” speech is one of the best of his on-page episodes.

Also, Ariel Burgess shared some of her past Wheel of Time Valentine’s Day cards.

Memes are the gift that just keeps giving.  I found several from the man WoT Facebook groups.

That concludes this edition.  Which WoT character would you want to spend Valentine’s Day with?

Welcome back to another edition of Community Round-Up where I’ll be sharing interesting things that have happened this week in the Wheel of Time fandom and the larger sci-fi/fantasy community.

First off, Madeleine Madden—who plays Egwene—updated her Instagram page with various photos of her and other cast members.  Josha Stardowski—Rand—took center stage with images of him increasingly more tipsy.  They made their rounds through the community and have already begun to generate memes.

Why isn't the wisdom stopping this woolheaded behavior?

Speaking of memes, I’d like to highlight one of the many Wheel of Time related subreddit forums: Wetlander Humor.  I’m a huge fan of memes and this forum did not disappoint.  Here are a few of the better ones I saw this week.

It’s been five years since the Wheel of Time television pilot “Winter Dragon” appeared randomly at 3am on FX.  For those who don’t recall this little piece of fandom lore, you can read the details here.  

Many people in the Screw You All, I Love Wheel of Time Facebook group were reminiscing about this strange event and discussing if it was the will of the Light or the Dark One.

Daniel Greene—a major news staple in the WoT fandom and the fantasy genre in general—released a hilarious look at Wheel of Time through vines.

Which picture of Josha was your favorite?  Be sure to let us know in the comments.

Happy Groundhog Day to those who celebrate! 

This will be a place to see some of the top news items pertaining to The Wheel of Time, as well as memes, fan art, idle speculation about the show and casting, and anything else within our sci-fi/fantasy community.

February is Black History Month in the United States.  To kick it off, our friend and JordanCon guest, Gerald Coleman had a fantastic summary of speculative fiction by black authors.  Rather than list the well known within the genre, Gerald dives deep and gives a thoughtful list of lesser known writers.

Gerald writes:

Quote

… I decided to compile a more genuine list of black authors doing interesting and engaging work in speculative fiction (yes, I included my own novel - sue me - no, actually, don't sue me, at least not until I hit the bestseller list). In the hopes that you will have the opportunity to be exposed to authors you have to yet heard of - a real guide to some of the best science fiction and fantasy out there, and a real introduction to black authors working in that particular field. So, here they are. My picks for the best places to start if you're looking for black scifi & fantasy! Here they are, in no particular order. They are all available on Amazon. Enjoy, and you're welcome.

You can read Gerald’s summary of each book on his website.

On the fanart side of the community, I stumbled up several amazing works by Gal Or.  The representation of Shaidar Logoth is incredible, and as the show draws ever closer, the cursed city is going to be an interesting place to visit.  This event is so important to the character development of Mat, I hope we get a satisfying rendition of its creepy eyes and dark shadows.

You can see more of Gal Or’s artwork here.

For news with the show, we had a large batch of casting announcements over the past few weeks.  Many of them came about with the actors holding scripts.  (You can check out Dragonmount’s coverage of these announcements here and here.)  One I saw of Josha Stardowski (who is playing Rand) and Marcus Rutherford (who is playing Perrin) really pulled at my heartstrings! 

(Photo from Wheel of Time News on Twitter)

It’s easy to get caught up in the adventure the three ta’veren get pulled into.  But at the start of the story, our heroes are best friends!  They have twenty years of history between them before Moiraine comes and collects them.  The two of them together in this picture captures the feeling of best friends to me.  I can see how amazing their on-screen chemistry will be.

For anyone in need of a humor fix, there’s a fantastic Facebook group called The Wheel of Time Shai’tan Posting, a private group, but one you can join.  As you can tell from the name, this group has the worst (and best) meme in existence.  This definitely isn’t a group for everyone.  But if you like your humor a bit dark or sometimes borderline inappropriate, this group is for you!  Here’s a few of the milder memes.

There’s plenty of Wheel of Time content going around!  This is a great time to be a fan!

That concludes this Community Round-Up.  Have you read any of the books on Gerald’s list?  Are you sensing the good vibes between Rand and Perrin?  Don't you agree "DangerGingers" is the perfect name for the Aiel?  Let us know in the comments.

I've been meaning to highlight this craft for awhile.  For last year's JordanCon, I was very excited to finish my sul'dam dress.  It turned out beautiful, and I adore the silver lightning bolts.  But a sul'dam without a damane isn't complete.  So, with long-time Dragonmount member Hallia as a willing participant, I got to work on crafting a damane dress.

I started with four yards of a gray poplin folded in half.  This gave me 72 inches in height and 60 inches in length.  That's a great amount of material and the price for poplin is so reasonable!

With simplicity in mind, I wanted to do as little cutting and sewing as possible.  I cut the arms and sides with a single cut, then cut the neckline.

I added satin binding to the bottom hem and the sleeves.

The neckline gave me some trouble.  I started an elastic binding, but it bunched too weird, so I switched it for a ruffle.

And here we are at JordanCon!

Hallia was such a good damane!  And this was such a simple project.

It wouldn’t be JordanCon without a new, Wheel of Time related costume.  The convention starts tomorrow, so in preparation, I made myself an Asha’man coat.  I’ve been wanting one forever—some of you might remember when I posted this picture of what I envisioned a female Asha’man coat to be like. 

JordanCon 10, plus Dragonmount’s 20-year anniversary, seemed like the best time to make my dream a reality.

First, I started with this pattern, selection D. 

The military style seemed to fit my vision, and I loved that it had a high collar.

The pattern is classified as “easy,” but it was the trickiest pattern I’ve sewn to date.  My Aes Sedai and sul’dam dresses were much easier.

Either way, I followed the directions for the jacket, but I skipped the lining. 

I used black poplin—an inexpensive and forgiving fabric—for the project, with a few snippets of a white satin for the pockets, and about a yard of interfacing.  I probably spent less than $15 on the fabrics.  A great deal for such an ambition outfit.

The most impressive thing is how much the coat flairs out!  It's got a ton of fabric in the sides giving it an extra fluff.

I gave myself the time frame of a week to complete this.  I finished it in a week.  I took my time, allowing breaks when the sewing grew monotonous.  In all, I’d estimate the number of hours as fifteen, total.  Of course, I still consider myself an apprentice seamstress, so a more skilled worker could probably finish it in much less!

A modification I added to this was using Velcro to fasten the front close instead of installing real buttons and button holes.  I sewed the buttons to the front flap to give the illusion of actual button holes.  This was to prevent puckering of the fabric between the buttons.

My button choice was calculated, though I discovered later that there were yin-yang buttons on Etsy. 

I may change out my buttons at some point in the future.  But for now, I selected these. 

I bought them from SAS Fabrics, a warehouse chain in the Phoenix area.  These have an industrial feel to them I really love!

For the completed outfit, I paired my jacket with black nylons and black boots.

I must say, I love it!

To celebrate JordanCon, I also indulged and bought myself the Badali Dedicated/Asha’man pin set!  It used up my birthday present for the year, but it’s worth it.  (Picture with those forthcoming after my Black Tower pinning ceremony!)

Be sure to follow the JordanCon Facebook page to keep up to date with the festivities!

Studio Ghibli is currently in the middle of a film festival, showing one of their classic anime movies each month.  This Studio Ghibli Fest is occurring at select theaters all around the country.  So far, they’ve shown My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Castle in the Sky, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and this month’s addition will be Spirited Away.

Spirited Away is one of my favorite anime films—and one of my favorite movies too.  I love the themes of bravery, perseverance, and the ability to see one’s soul instead of their physical body.  It’s a wonderful tale, and has so many beautiful characters.  The growth of Chihiro as the movie progresses is phenomenal.  She starts out so sheltered and winds up confident and capable. And Haku is my favorite male within the Ghibli universe.  He’s amazing! Plus the fact that he’s a dragon makes him the best in my book! 

In preparation for seeing the movie on the big screen, I wanted to try to craft a Haku scarf.  I followed this tutorial, which was pretty easy.

Materials needed:
About 1/2 yard of white fleece
About ¼ yard of blue fleece
Fleece scraps in yellow, black, pink, gray, and brown
Iron on fabric adhesive
Optional: stuffing 

Cut out the pieces
This is the hard and boring part, but oh so necessary.  I put on music, or an audiobook, which helps keep my mind occupied during the arduous task.  

Sew the head
I loved that this part was done first.  It let me see Haku’s adorable face which really motivated me to finish the project. You can sew the eyes and nose on, but I used an iron on fabric adhesive.  Much quicker and gives it a nicer appearance.

Sew the body
This part got kind of tricky.  I had to sew the back ridges into the body like a sandwich.  Plus it’s so long, it felt like I was sewing forever. 

Sew the tail
This was also tricky to sew because of the points and ridges.  But since it was small, it wasn’t a big issue.

Stitch them together
I hate sewing by hand.  I’m terrible at it, and I can’t hide the thread the way the tutorials show me.  I’ve never gotten the hang of it.  So, my stitches are visible and clumsy, but I got a Haku in the end!

Stuff it?
The original tutorial made a scarf.  But as soon as I was finished, I thought it was such a wasted opportunity.  Why have a scarf when you could have a ginormous Haku plushie?  So I used a ton of polyfil and stuffed my dragon.  This was the hardest part, getting the stuffing all the way up his body.  It probably took me thirty to forty minutes.  I was using every device I had to get the fluff up his butt.  In the end, it was worth it!  The finished Haku is beautiful and so cuddly!

I can’t wait to wear my Chihiro casual cosplay outfit, wear Haku around my neck, and see this movie on the 30^th of October. 

For next time, I might make something to accompany me to the showing of Howl’s Moving Castle.  Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Earlier this year, the classic anime Sailor Moon had a theatrical rerelease of the first film Sailor Moon R: The Promise of a Rose. Sailor Moon was my favorite anime when I was growing up, and I would wake up at 5:30am on weekdays to catch the episodes playing on the WB before school. When I found out the movie was going to be shown on the big screen, I knew I had to see it with my friend Jessica.

And I never like to go to these sorts of events empty handed. I looked high and low for my original Moon Rod, but I seem to have lost it at some point over the years. That left making one.

I will preface this with the admission that I was rushed on this project and only used items on hand—I couldn’t justify spending extra money on making a Sailor Moon themed wand. Sometimes being an adult sucks. So, with that said, this was not my best work.
I wish I had a few more days and a few more dollars. But, it still turned out good enough to tag along to the show.

For materials I used aluminum foil, a metal rod for holding down tents, clay, and paint.

First, I wrapped aluminum foil around the metal rod to make the handle.

After that, I crafted a crescent moon for the top, and a ball for the Silver Imperium Crystal. 

I attached them all together.

Then I covered the handle with pink clay.

I used yellow for the crescent until I ran out and then had to add white.

I covered the ball with white.

I cooked the whole thing according to the directions.

Once it cooled (I did all this in one afternoon, the day before the show), I painted each section. I went over the handle with a glossy pink, the yellow to cover up the white spots on the crescent, and the crystal a metallic silver with black lines to symbolize it’s many sides.

For finishing touches, I hot glued the band around the bottom of the crescent and the handle. I painted them white.
My Sailor Moon cosplay outfit completed the look.

Another moviegoer was in a Sailor Moon inspired kimono and looked gorgeous! If they rerelease anymore, I’ll have to make a Princess Serenity outfit. Or I can make that just because. 
Thanks for reading! Next time, I want to show you a super cute Haku plushie I made for the Studio Ghibli Fest—October’s featured film will be Spirited Away!

Welcome back to another exciting edition of "Fandom Flair."  I couldn't wait to have an opportunity to show off the Yuri on Ice cosplay outfit I put together for the Phoenix Comicon in May!

For those who aren't aware, Yuri on Ice is an anime that features Katsuki Yuuri, a Japanese figure skater.  After coming in last place in the Grand Prix Finals, he contemplates retirement.  But then his idol, and five-time World Champion, Victor Nikiforov, shows up and offers to be Yuuri's coach.  It's a delightful anime, full of humor, romance, and beautiful skating routines.  The show has been discussed in great deal because the romance between Yuuri and Victor is incredibly well done.  Yuuri also suffers from anxiety, and much of the show focuses on how he--and his family and friends--deal with it.  Also, there's a great amount of diversity in the characters.  Victor--and his young protege, Yuri Plisetsky--are Russian.  There are also skaters from Canada, Thailand, Switzerland, and Kazakhstan.  There are so many aspects of this show to love.

But I should move on, or I will simply gush forever.

In the season finale, one of the skaters, Phichit Chulanont from Thailand, thinks about his dream of having an ice show, to show the people of Thailand how fun skating can be.  He imagines all his skating friends in costume with him.  It's a lovey scene, and it shows how optimistic and bright a character Phichit is.

The costume Phichit wears is elaborate, and I've seen cosplays of it already.  I was more drawn to the other skaters' costumes, and the adorable hamster hats they wear.

The first thing I did was make the hat.  I did this the day after the season finale because I couldn't get over how cute the hamsters were.  And since it was December, I had plenty of opportunities to wear it outdoors to keep my ears warm.
I started with this tutorial on how to make a fleece hat.  I've used this pattern countless times and could do it in my sleep.

I cut it out of brown fleece, then trimmed about three inches off the bottom. 

I cut out a white fleece, about five inches,  and sewed it to the bottom.

Next, I worked on the ears.  I made them rounded, and cut them from the same brown fleece.  I also added a smaller white circle to the center for contrast.  I sewed them together with a blanket stitch.

I folded both ears and placed them face down on the bottom piece of the hat.  

I sewed the matching top piece over (right side to right side).  So when flipped, the ears stuck out at an angle.

I stitched up the V at the top, then folded the white bottom up two times to give me a puffy brim.

I cut out a small strip of white fleece and sewed a line through the center for teeth.  I also cut out a nose, eyes, and eye glimmers.  I hot glued all these accents on, since my fabric was too thick to sew through.  I also added just a bit of hot glue around the brim so it would stay up.

 
Now, for the rest of the costume.  The skaters wore two different outfits, and while I'd loved to make the one with the ruffles, I don't think my sewing skills are at that level.  So I went with the striped happi instead.
I looked online and found a simple happi pattern.  What made it not easy is that I could not find any fabrics with wide blue and yellow stripes.  My dedication to authenticity reached a new height, so I decided to buy plain cotton fabrics in both colors, cut them on a diagonal, and sew them together.  

This was very, very time consuming.  But I loved the end results.  Totally worth it.

After that, I simply cut out the front two pieces, and the back piece.  

I sewed them together and hemmed the bottom.

Next, I added on the pink collar.  I also used a bit of the pink to finish the hem on the sleeves.  With the little I had left over, I made a thin belt. (It was crunch time by this point so I didn't get pictures of the last few steps.)
I paired the happi with a long-sleeved white shirt and white leggings.

 
I loved this cosplay.  It's pretty obscure, because it's only shown during a ten second scene, but I enjoy the moment it represents.  Phichit is one of my favorite characters on the show and I was happy to include something from his dream into my cosplay repertoire.

Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of “Fandom Flair.”  For this week, I want to share a project I had planned for JordanCon9.  Meridian and I had talked about doing a sul’dam/damane duo for the costume contest.  Unfortunately, neither of us could make it to the convention this year.  So my half-finished dress stayed in limbo, until I realized I could wear it to the Phoenix Comicon, which was the last week of May.
 
First, a note on canon sources.  This is the cover of New Weaves in the Pattern, part two of The Great Hunt when it was broken into pieces for a YA audience.
 

 
And this is official artwork from Ariel Burgess.
 

 
I love both these pieces and used a bit from each to compose my dress.
 
For materials, I started with two yards each of a red poplin and a blue poplin.  Poplin is a wonderful, durable fabric.  It's great for heavy dresses or cloaks (we did a Harry Potter cloak here.)  On the downside, it's very hot.  Not a material you want to wear in warm temperatures.
 
I also bought a yard of thin, silver silk.  This was for the added lightning bolts.  I needed a whole yard since I had to double up the fabric to make it thick enough to stick to the fabric adhesive.
 
For the pattern, I used the same one as my Aes Sedai dress.  The pieces were already cut to the correct size, and it was a design I was comfortable with.
 
I did have to get creative when dealing with the color split.  I decided to make the back and sleeves blue, and cut the front panels in half with alternating colors.  The front panel was red on top and blue on the bottom, and the two side panels were blue in top and red on the bottom.
 

 

 
Next I bought double sided iron-on fabric adhesive to bind to the silver silk.  Then I drew a lightning bolt on the back, cut it out (wasting a lot of fabric and glue), and then ironed the other side to my dress.
 

 
With the help of my mom, I measured the length and hemmed the bottom.
 

 
Then I made larger, longer lightning bolts for the two red side panel (even more wasted fabric and adhesive).
 

 
My waist lines were wonky, so I made an obi belt to hide them (I followed this tutorial).  I actually really like the added belt because it mimics one of the design aspects in Ariel’s artwork and gives more definition to the dress.
 

(And here's my beautiful damane. I made a miniature dress for the sole purpose of dressing up my dog….)
 
For the a’dam, I had trouble.  As I said, this was for a large, crowded convention.  Safety had to be my number one priority.  Any item connected to a person’s neck had to be able to come off with the slightest pressure.  The eventual answer to this was magnets (I tried other methods first, but I'm too embarrassed to discuss them).
 
I bought a 72” linking chain from Wal-Mart, for less than $4.  It was constructed of tiny, four sided, rounded cubes that connected to each other with prongs.  It was easy to remove the link by pulling the prongs loose with pliers.  I measure my wrist and removed a section that length.  Same with my neck measurement.
 

 
I used 7mm jump rings to connect metal clasps to both ends.
 

 

 
Finally, I connected the rest of the chain (still probably 50” long) to both the necklace and the bracelet.
 

 
It turned out beautiful!  And the magnetic clasps came off very easily.
 
I had so much fun at the convention!  I even caught myself a damane!
 

 
And I ran into this adorable Mistborn cosplayer.
 

 
 
That's all for now.  Next time, I show the other outfit I wore to the Phoenix Comicon.  (Here's a hint… it has to do with Yuri on Ice.)   Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of Fandom Flair. This time, I want to show you some easy (and one not-so-easy) way to do casual cosplay for Wheel of Time characters.

For those who don't know, cosplay is when a person dresses up as a specific character.  These costumes can be super elaborate, as I'm sure you've all seen from conventions like the San Diego Comicon, or even our own Jordancon.  

Casual cosplay, however, tones it down just a bit.  It's normal clothes that you can wear in public but is still based on the ideas or themes of a specific character. I love to casual cosplay at work!  Most of the time, no one can tell I'm wearing something special.

So, for Wheel of Time characters this can be pretty easy.  I have two cosplay outfits that were put together pretty effortlessly.  Let's talk about those first.

Aviendha

I love Aviendha, and the Aiel in general.  Their culture is one of the most fascinating in all of Randland.  And Aviendha is a strong, capable, but still stubborn, woman.  I love how unbreakable she is!  

Putting together an Aviendha outfit was the simplest of the bunch.  I based it off her Wise One outfit, choosing a brown, bulky skirt and pairing it with a white shirt.  Though Wise Ones shouldn't wear one, I did have a black scarf to be my shoufa.

For accessories, I switched Aviendha’s bracelet and necklace.  I wore “snowflakes” around my wrist, and a flower (substitute for ivory rose) necklace.

I also have super adorable turtle earrings that remind me of the turtle brooch angreal Aviendha borrowed from Elayne.

Mat

There could be better ways to cosplay Mat, but I put this together with clothing I already had.  I would rather have a military-esque coat to give more allusion to Mat’s purpose in the novels, but, whatever works.

I started with just jeans and a black shirt.  I wore a green cardigan over, and added a black scarf to cover the hanging wound.  Lastly, I wore boots.  

I wish I could have had lace or maybe even a pink scarf.

For a final touch, I added dice to a hair clip.  For this, I bought a five pack of dice and had an adult drill through the center with a very small drill it.  The hole is only about 5mm.  I slipped a thin, metal wire through the hole and twisted the wire to fasten it to the clip.  I have five dice total, but could only incorporate two.  I'll keep thinking of a clever use for the other three.

Rand

This one took some thought.  I wanted something grand for the Dragon Reborn, so I modeled this off Paul Bielaczyc’s amazing Rand cosplay.  

I started with a crimson shirt.  Next, I found gold iron-on fabric at Joann Fabrics.  It was about $5 for one sheet of the metallic material.  I only used one sheet, so not a bad price.

First: the dragons.  One major characteristic of Rand is his Dragon tattoos.  I printed out a copy of the Dragon from the chapter heading onto cardstock.  I cut it out, then traced it on the back of the gold fabric.  Then, I flipped it and traced it facing the opposite direction.  I needed two because, “Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost. Twice the Dragon, for the price he must pay.” (The Great Hunt, Chapter 26, “Discord”)

After that, I decided to add swirls to the neckline of my shirt.  I drew two different swirl patterns and traced them, reversing one a few times so it would go in opposite directions.

I cut out all the gold pieces then played with positioning.  Once I had it right, I ironed them in place.

For the outfit, I paired the shirt with a black skirt, a headband with golden leaves, and my Aes Sedai necklace and Great Serpent ring, since Rand is an Aes Sedai after all.

It wasn't a difficult project, but it was a lot more time consuming than the others!

That's all for this week.  Let me know who you like to cosplay as!  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "Fandom Flair."  For this project, I wanted to try to decorate some shoes to be Aes Sedai (or White Tower) shoes.  This was pretty easy, just tedious.  I don't know about you, but I get bored by repetitive activities, and this got very repetitive.  But, it's a cheap way to show off some Aes Sedai love.

First, I bought a pair of white, canvas shoes.  I think I got them from Wal-Mart, and they were about $5.  

Next, I bought a pack of Sharpie markers, making sure I had all the colors of the Ajahs (Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Gray, White, and Brown).

I started by measuring the front face of the shoe.  I took that measurement and divided it by seven, giving me a little section for each of the seven colors.

Next, I continued adding that measurement to the sides of the shoes.

When I got to the back, I had a big chunk left over.  My symmetrical-thinking mind wouldn't allow it to be less than perfect for the color scheme, so I decided to do the colors again, but aligned vertically.  Not sure this was the best option, but it was the only one I was capable of doing.

Finally, I sketched a flame into the center to leave white.  Then, I outlined everything in black and colored in each space with the designated Ajah color.

As I said, super easy, but really boring.

I didn't have enough room to outline the back so the colors look very smeared.

The front got a bit smeared, too.  But I'm still pleased with the outcome!

Next time, I want to show you some easy ways to casual cosplay as Wheel of Time characters.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to a special Halloween edition of "Fandom Flair." So many of my craft ideas can be applied to Halloween costumes, so it was difficult to pick one to highlight for the month. Since I've done a lot of sewing tutorials, I wanted to do a sew-free craft this time. Here are a couple of different ways you can incorporate Harry Potter, or Hogwarts Houses, into a simple Halloween costume!

Witch or Wizard Wand

For this project you need:

Paint brushes (for the wand)

Paint brushes (for painting)

Oven baked modeling clay (I used the Sculpey III brand)

An oven

Paints in various shades

First select you wand. I did this project with my sister, Mavin. We had an assortment of brush sizes and we each picked different ones.

I chose a thicker one; Mavin picked a daintier one.

Starting with the bristles, cover the brush in a layer of clay. The bristles will be the wand's handle, so you may want to make that area thicker.

This is completely customizable! You can design your wand to fit your personality however you see fit.

For mine, I made the handle smooth and rounded. But for the top portion, I wanted it to mimic rough wood. Mavin, on the other hand, kept the brush free of clay on the top--giving her an incredibly smooth finish--and only used clay to sculpt the handle and a decorative swirl.

Any color of clay will work since you will be painting over it. We used white, but brown may have been the best choice since we painted them brown in the end.

Once finished, bake in the oven as the directions state. You want to make sure they're fulled baked before you paint them. Allow them to cool as well.

Again, with painting, you can customize! We had an assortment of browns, with white and black to lighten or dull the colors. I painted my handle a darker brown than I did for the rest of the wand.  

I painted all I could while holding it, then allowed it to dry by placing the end in a Styrofoam holder.

Once that dried, I painted the rest. I added in darker veins along the length of the wand to give it a wood look.

Mavin's did the same, but also used the darker color on the decorative swirl!

They turned out amazing, and were very simple to make!

DIY Hogwarts Uniform

Another super easy way to do a costume is by buying iron on patches. You can find several patches at in-store locations, like Spirit, or even Hot Topic. I was able to get a Ravenclaw patch on Amazon in the book colors of bronze and blue. 

From there, iron on the patch onto a cardigan, or a shirt, and you're all done! I bought a cardigan for $5 at Goodwill and it turned out great!

Pair it with a button-up shirt, a tie, and a skirt or slacks. Easy Hogwarts uniform!

This costume is so simple, and very kid friendly. I can wear it to the elementary school where I work with no problems!

Next time we'll stick with the no-sew theme and see a different way to design Wheel of Time inspired shoes!  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "Fandom Flair."  As promised, but a little late, here is a tutorial on how to make an incredibly easy Pokeball.

Materials needed:
Red fleece

White fleece

Black fleece or felt

Sewing machine

Thread and needle

Stuffing

Hot glue gun

This is a simple project because fleece is a great fabric to work with.  It's also possible to sew this completely by hand.  It would be more time consuming, but the fleece is thick, which makes it easy to stitch.  The whole project took about 30 minutes total.  In an afternoon, you could craft a whole poke-arsenal.

The Pokeball--as a ball--can be intimidating to tackle.  But it's actually quite effortless by using four triangles to construct a dome.  I started by cutting out four rounded triangles in each color (red and white).  I made them about 3 inches wide and 3 inches high.

Next, focusing on the white ball first, I sewed the triangles together, right side to right side, along one edge.  The color of the thread doesn't matter since all these seams will be concealed within the Pokeball.

Sew all four together in this fashion.

Then, sew the two edges to each other.

Repeat for the red half.

After that, put the white part inside the red--right side to right side--and stitch along the edge.  Leave an inch or two open.

Flip the ball inside out and stuff with stuffing.

Now, hand-stitch the rest of the opening close.  Again, thread color doesn't matter.  It will all be covered in the end.

With the black fleece or felt, cut a long rectangle, about an inch wide, and long enough to fit around the circumference of the ball. 

Use a hot glue gun (or other fabric glue) to fasten down one end of the rectangle along the middle of the ball.

Carefully glue the rest of the rectangle down and trim the edge to fit snugly.

Next, cut out a black circle and glue it down over the seam.

Finally, cut out a smaller white circle and glue it atop the black circle. 

And that's it!  You have a great, palm-sized Pokeball to do as you please!  I used mine to capture a couple of Pokemon around my house.

Next time, we'll take a look at a great Halloween costume idea.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to “Fandom Flair,” Dragonmount’s blog that shows you how to incorporate fandom love into everyday life. 

Last time I promised to show you how to make an Amyrlin Stole with the scraps of the Ajah quilt.  The two projects are actually very similar in execution. 

Materials Needed:
3 inch by 60 inch strip of fabric in every Ajah color
10 inch by 60 inch strip of backing fabric
Sewing machine
Thread
Pins

If you look for pictures of Amyrlin Stoles online, you’ll notice most of them are knit/crocheted.  Knitting or crocheting is a pretty easy way to get the thin strips of colors side by side.  With fabric, you can’t just buy 3 inch strips.  Most places will only give you a minimum of 1/4 yard (9 inches), and most fabrics don’t come in 60 inch widths.  That’s what makes this difficult, unless you bought the fabric for other projects (as I did with the Ajah quilt).  So, if you don’t want to invest in so much fabric just for a Stole, knitting or crocheting is a great alternative.  Personally, I don’t have the patience to knit or crochet, so this is the only option for me.

Step 1: Cutting your fabric

I was left with 22 inch by 60 inch cuts of all seven fabrics after the quilt was finished.  The first thing I did was cut off a small 3 inch sliver from each color.  I used a rotary cutter for this since it was easiest to slice the 60 inches. 

Step 2: Sewing

Once again, I wanted the colors to be authentic to canon.  The order on the Stole is blue, green, yellow, red, gray, white, brown.

Just like the quilt, I put the blue face up, the green face down, and sewed up the right side.  I used 1/2 inch seam allowance which, in theory, would give me an inch strip of each color for the finished product.  (It actually wound up being about an inch and a half; an inch would have looked better.)

Next, I put the yellow face down on the green and sewed.

I sewed the red to the yellow, the gray to the red, the white to the gray, and the brown to the white.

The whole process was very quick!

Once they’re all sewn together, iron down the seams.  I folded the seams away from the white since it was the most see through.

Step 3: Backing

Here’s a cool tip: use the backing as an opportunity to have a Keeper’s Stole!

Pick a fabric in your Ajah color (mine is White) and use that as the backing fabric.  That way, if you flip it around, you have a Keeper’s Stole, just in case.

I had a large chunk of a white satiny fabric that I chose for my back.  I decided to pin my stole down to the backing, right side to right side, and cut along the edges.  This gave me an easy way to ensure my backing fit.  As I said, I tried for 1/2 inch seam allowance, but I’m not always the best with getting my seams straight.
 

 

Step 4: Make a pillow

With the fabrics right side to right side, sew all along the length, along one of the sides, and up the other length.  This creates something similar to a pillow.

Next, flip it inside out, paying attention to get the corners as sharp as possible.  Fold the raw edge under an inch or so and sew closed with clear quilters thread.

And you’re done!

Altogether, this project didn’t take more than a few hours.  It’s much simpler than the quilt, and maybe a little bit more impressive.  Next time, I want to hop on the Pokemon Go craze and show you how to make a pokeball plushie.

Welcome back to “Fandom Flair.”  This week, I’ll show you how to make an Ajah inspired quilt.  Of course, like most of the projects I’ve shown, this is completely customizable!  More on that in a moment.  First, here’s a list of materials:

About 72 inch x 11 inch rectangle of fabric in all seven Ajah colors

About 4 yards of a backing fabric

White fabric (for the Flame of Tar Valon)

9 yards bias tape

Quilt batting for a 72 inch x 72 inch quilt

Clear quilter’s thread

Sewing machine

Scissor

Pins

Measuring tape

Step 1: Select your fabrics

I decided to attempt this project with my sister, Mavin.  This quilt requires little bits of a lot of fabrics, so it made sense to divide the cost in half.  We wound up purchasing two yards of each fabric (giving us our desired 72 inch length), then slicing it in half width wise to divvy it up between us.  We both got 72” x 37” rectangles from all our seven fabrics.  With my half, I was able to cut that 37” in half again, giving me my need 11” width and an extra 27” left over for other projects.

We selected our fabrics with patterns.  This added just a bit more character and individuality to the quilt instead of having just plain cotton colors.  Because of this, we selected a pattern that fit each Ajah’s theme—even if only in our minds.  The blue looks lacy and regal, like my idea of Moiraine.  The green is leafy, like a Warder’s fancloth cloak.  The brown has swirls inside, like the chapter icon for Tel’aranrhiod, and that reminds me of Verin, who gave the dream ter’angreal to Egwene so long ago.  This is where you can customize to your specific wants.  Make this quilt completely your own!

For the back fabric, I wanted to have that secret Ajah incorporated, so I chose a black with white flowers.  Mavin, wanting to go for comfort and personal Ajah identification, chose a yellow fleece.  Once again, pick what’s special for you.  It makes the finished product that much more meaningful.

For the Flame of Tar Valon, I picked a white satin I had on hand.  Mavin used a white fleece to match her backing.

Step 2: Cut your fabrics

As I said, we had the intention of slicing each cut of fabric in half, giving us each a 72” by 37” rectangle.  I played with several ways to set up the quilt—one version using the whole 37” of each color—but decide it would look best as a square.  Since our lengths were 72”, that meant our width needed to be equal to that.  Simple math says you divide the total by seven to get about 10.5” per color (including seam allowance).  It’s easiest to use a rotary cutter and a cutting mat to trim the rectangles to the proper length.

Step 3: Sewing the face

I am going to call the side with the seven Ajah colors “the face,” or the front, of the quilt.  The Black Ajah is, of course, the back.  For the Ajah colors, I wanted to have them appear in the order that they are on the Amyrlin Stole, so I had to look at an example in canon where they are shown.  The order, from top to bottom, is: Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Gray, White, and Brown.

First take your blue and green fabrics and place them atop each other, right side to right side, with the green fabric on top.  Straight stitch them together along the right edge. 

When you flip them open, the blue is on the left side; this will signify up, or the top.

Next, lay the green flat and put the yellow on top, right side to right side.  Again, stitch up the right side.  When you open them, you have blue, then green, then yellow.

Lay the yellow flat and place the red fabric on top, right side to right side.  Stitch up the right side.  Now you have blue, green, yellow, and red.

Sew the gray onto the red.  Sew the white onto the gray.  Sew the brown onto the white.

When you lay it flat, it should look like this:

You’re done with the face!

Step 4: Backing

Since you can’t buy fabric that is 72”x72”—at least, as far as I know—you need to construct the back to be the proper size.  I cut my 4 yards of backing fabric in half, giving me two 2 yard pieces. 

Since the length was already 72”, I didn’t need to change that.  But the width on both was 52”.  I sewed the two pieces together, right side to right side, along their 72” side.  This gave me a 72” by 104” rectangle.  This created a lot of waste since I wanted the seam to be right in the middle, but I saved the scraps for other projects.

Step 5: The Flame of Tar Valon

You could just as easily add the Flame to the face of the quilt.  I think it would look great either way.  I didn’t want to cover up any of my beautiful Ajah fabrics, so I decided to put it on the back.  I cut my white satin into a circle, then drew out the sinuous line that separates both sides. 

If done correctly, this will give you two equally sized Flames.  Since my satin was a bit thin, I layered both of these pieces to give me a more opaque finish.

Measure to the center of your backing fabric, both length and width.  Pin your Flame in place.  Stitch around the edge with a white thread, or the clear quilter’s thread. 

If you’re using a fabric that frays—like my satin—I’d recommend using Frey Check on the outside edges to keep the seam clean.  This can be applied before or after you sew it down.

Step 6: Stacking the quilt

With the face and the back done, we can start laying the quilt.  Place the backing face down on the floor.  Next, lay down the batting.  Finally, lay the front of the quilt face up. 

Pin all three layers together and trim the batting and backing to the same size as the face.  You may see a lot of excess fabric from the backing, but don’t panic.  You can save it!   Never underestimate fabric scraps!

Step 7: Quilting

If you’ve seen traditional quilts, you’ve probably noticed that the layers get sewn to each other in a sort of pattern.  Typically, if the quilt is made up of squares, the quilting line goes diagonal through the squares' corners.  Since we’re dealing with rectangles, and ones that are divided quite clearly already, I didn’t want the diagonal stitching to be a distraction.  I decided to stitch in the ditch with the clear quilter’s thread between each color divide.  This hid the seam on the face, and it’s barely noticeable on the back. 

One thing to note about the back.  I didn’t want to ruin the beauty of the Flame, so I decided not to sew through it.  I marked where the Flame was with a pin, and stopped my seam right at that line.  This made the red layer and gray layer not completely sewn through, but the results are amazing!  You don’t notice the seam isn’t all the way across on the face, and the Flame really stands out without seams going through it!

Step 8: Bias tape

Bias tape comes in many sizes, colors, and materials.  They make a special satin bias tape for quilts—usually seen on blankets made for babies.  The quilting bias tape is a lot thicker and softer than the other types.  It’s a great choice for this project.  However, you can also go with the double sided bias tape.  This has its benefits too.  For one, it’s smaller, so it makes the edges less obtrusive into the final product.  On the other hand, that smaller size makes it more difficult to sew.  Pick which ever one you feel most comfortable with.  You can also customize the color.  Mavin chose yellow to match her fleece backing.  I decided to go with white because it looked the best with the Ajah colors and the black on the back.

If using double sided bias tape, the ideal way to use it is to unfold it and sew down one side first.  This gives you nice, clean seams and you’re sure the catch all layers of the fabric in one go.  It’s also very time consuming.  I chose to sew both sides at once.  It’s more difficult, but cuts the time in half.

First, I left about four inches of the tape un-sewn. 

Then, using the clear quilter’s thread, I stitched down the bias tape, making sure to pinch all three layers together as I went.  I stopped every five or six inches to readjust and make sure all the layers were being caught in the thread. 

At the corner, sew to the edge and then back stitch a few inches.  Fold the tape at a ninety degree angle and fold under the edge at a forty-five degree angle.  Stitch to the edge of the angle, then with your needle in the down position, lift the foot and rotate the quilt ninety degrees to align with the next side.  This is an easy way to get a nice looking corner!

When you run out of your first bias tape here’s a trick for making it look continuous.  (I used about two and a half packages, meaning I had to sew the tape twice.)  First, stop with at least six inches un-sewn.  Take the new bias tape and the edge of the old tape and unfold all the sides. 

Lay them flat together, right side to right side. 

Straight stitch them as close to the edge as you can get. 

Trim off and excess.  Fold it back under. 

Now it looks like it’s all the same tape!  Keep sewing the tape down in the same manner.

Once you get to the end of the quilt, use that same trick to join the very beginning and the end.  Stop about six inches from the end and cut your tape to the correct length needed. 

Stitch the bias tapes together, right side to right side, and then fold it all under.  Stitch the seam all the way closed.

And you’re done!

Now you have a great Ajah quilt to snuggle up with, or just to throw over the couch as a way to make visitors ask questions.

Next time, we’ll use the scraps from the quilt to construct an Amyrlin Stole!  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another exciting edition of “Fandom Flair.”  As promised last time, I want to show you how to make really cool (though incredibly warm) Pokémon pajama pants.

Materials needed:

About a yard to two yards of fabric

Elastic

Sewing machine

A pair of pajama pants that fit well

Step 1: Find comfortable fitting pajamas

This project is easy because you don’t need a pattern.  You simply copy a pair of pajama pants you already own.  And if you’d rather they be pajama shorts, all you do is use shorts at the template.  Super simple.

Step 2: Select your fabric

As stated already, I found a fantastic Pokémon fleece.

I bought it on sale, probably $6 a yard.  I purchased two yards, just to be on the safe side. 

With projects like these, you can customize your outfit as much as you want.  Would you rather Star Wars pajama pants?  Buy a Star Wars print.  Would you rather flannel instead of fleece?  Buy flannel; the pattern works the same on all types of fabrics.  Would you rather have Pokémon print on one leg and Mario Party on the other?  That’s doable, too!

I like to work with fleece because it’s such an easy fabric.  It doesn’t fray, so you don’t need to worry about hemming.  The lazy side of me loved that there’s less work involved.

Step 3: Trace your pattern

I’m going to include pictures from another pair of pajama pants I made since they turned out a bit better.  Those were crafted out of flannel, so you can see how any fabric will work fine.

First, take your existing pair of pants (or shorts) and fold them in half.  Lay your fabric on the floor and fold up one side, just long enough for your folded pants to fit.

Trace with a fabric pen, leaving about an inch in all directions for seam allowance.  One thing to note here: make sure you stretch out the waistband.  Typically, pajama pants have elastic along the waistband which makes the top much smaller than you actually need.  Stretch the waist out as far as it can go, then trace.  Otherwise, the top will be too tight on your stomach.

Once it’s traced, cut out the fabric. 

When it’s unfolded, it’ll look nothing like pajama pants.

Step 4: Repeat for the other leg

On your fabric, lay flat the piece you just cut.  Trace around it—leaving no room for seam allowance.  Cut it out.  Now you have two identical pieces.

Step 5: Sewing the legs

Place these two pieces atop each other, right side to right side. 

First, you’re going to sew along the curved line.  Do this on both sides.

Next, you need to open up the fabric and fold it so the two seams you just sewed are touching. 

Now, you can see how these will eventually become pants.  Sew a straight stitch from the bottom of one leg, up to the middle, and down the other leg.

Step 6: Adding the elastic

For the top hem, fold the waist down wide enough to fit your elastic in.  Sew a straight stitch all the way around, leaving an opening about 2-3 inches wide. 

Cut your elastic to be about the length of your waist—when stretched—and add a half an inch.  Using a safety pin, thread the elastic through the casing at the top of the pants.  Once the elastic is pulled all the way through, use your sewing machine and stitch the elastic to itself. 

Now you can sew the rest of the waist seam.

Step 7: Hemming the legs

Now that you can get the pants on you, find out how long you need the legs to be.  If you’re using fleece, you can simply cut with scissors and be done.  Or, trim the legs an inch longer than they need to be, then fold the hem inside that inch and straight stitch it down.  Do this on both legs.

And you’re done! 

This project is so easy to do!  Just imagine all the pajama pants you can have!

Please join us next time when I show you how to make an Ajah inspired blanket!  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of “Fandom Flair.”  This week, I want to highlight a very easy way to show off your favorite fandom on your shoes.  All you need is fabric!
I found this cotton fabric at Joann Fabrics last year.

I’ve been a huge lover of Keroppi ever since I was little.  I didn’t have any sort of project in mind, I only knew I needed to own this fabric!
 

Then I saw a tutorial for covering shoes in fabrics.  It was the perfect way to put my Keroppi fabric to good use.
 

List of materials:
1/4 yard of fabric
Mod Podge glue (or equivalent)
Scissors
X-Acto knife (optional)
Shoes
 

Step 1: Select fabric
You all might not be as big a Sanrio fan as I am, so you might not see the appeal of Keroppi shoes.  But, never fear!  There are so many fandom fabrics available!  If you’re comfortable shopping for fabrics online (which can be tricky since you can’t guarantee colors), try Fabric.com.  You can also do places like Joann or Hobby Lobby, online or in person.  Just a search of online fabrics pulls up everything from Harry Potter, to Star Wars, to Nintendo, and beyond!  You can find a lot of fabrics to fit your fandom needs!
 

Step 2: Select shoes
I used canvas shoes, since I had an old pair with a hole.  I’ve heard that canvas works best; the glue will stick better to this material.  However, I also fastened a lacy fabric to leather shoes, and it worked fine (pictures of this are mixed in below because I had better pictures)!  I suggest using an old pair that you don’t mind if it gets ruined.

Step 3: Construct and glue
Cut a rectangle out of your fabric that is long and wide enough to fit on your shoe.

Next, cut a slit in the center of one of the shorter sides, making sure the slit is long enough to cover the sides of your shoe.
 

Starting at the toe, use Mod Podge to adhere the fabric to the shoe.  Do just a little bit at a time, no more than an inch in either direction.  It works best if you let it dry for 10-15 minutes (or longer).  But, if you’re impatient, it’s possible to do it all at once—it’s just stickier and messier. 

Next, use the Mod Podge to glue down one side of the fabric.  Pay attention and make sure that the strip of fabric on the side touches the rubber sole.  Work your way to the back, leaving the top part of the fabric sticking out over the top of the shoe; we’ll fix that later.

At the back, trim your fabric so it’s a little longer than halfway.  Glue it down.  Let it dry.

Next, tackle the other side of the shoe, repeating the same steps.  Except, when you get to the back, trim the fabric a little longer and fold under the end seam.  This will create a thick divider between the two sides, similar to how the back of a shoe normally looks.

Once they’re all dry, you can start trimming the bottom.  This is where the X-Acto knife comes in handy.  Use it to slice the fabric right at the seam of the sole.  In some shoes, there’s a tiny gap between the sole and the shoe’s material; you can use a pointed object to shove the sliced seam into this gap.

If you don’t have an X-Acto knife (and I don’t have one), just use a pair of good, sharp scissors to cut the fabric as close to the sole as possible. 
Cut this way completely around the shoe.

Next, trim the top half of the fabric down to about an inch above the shoe’s top.  Start where the shoe’s tongue would be.  Cut a slit in the fabric at the corners, allowing you to fold the fabric under the tongue.  If the shoe’s tongue is very curved, you can cut notches into the fabric for easier gluing.  It’s a bit tricky to get the glue on the bottom part of the tongue.  I deposited some glue onto my finger and applied it that way.  Makes a mess, but it got the job done! 

I’d suggest waiting for the tongue portion to dry before moving onto the sides.

Next, glue the sides down inside the shoe.  Again, I used my finger to apply the glue, as it was a better way to get in at that angle.  Work from the front to the back, and you can let it dry in portions for easier handling. 

After your shoe is completely covered—and completely dry—you can add a top layer of Mod Podge to really seal them good.  This makes them look shiny and pretty, but it also hardens the fabric, making the shoes very, very stiff.  This worked fine for my Keroppi shoes—except getting my foot in is a bit of a hassle.  If you left off the top layer, you could simply add a little bit of extra glue around the sole to ensure the fabric won’t come undone.  This would keep the fabric a lot looser and give you a bit more comfort when wearing the shoes.  That's what I did to the lacy pair; they have no rigidity from the glue at all.

Next, repeat everything on the other shoe!

Now you have two beautiful fandom shoes, ready to wear and be admired!

(Or in this case, be worn to a wedding....) 

Next week we'll stick with the fabric theme and look at how to make amazingly comfortable Pokemon pajamas!  Thanks for reading!