u/YikesItsConnor

Hi hi!

I would normally ask this in the sewing subreddit, but I am wanting to compete and that factors largely into what I'll choose to do.

I'm making a petticoat for a cosplay that I'm hoping to enter into a competition in a few months. I wanted to know if anyone here has any experience in making a petticoat for a competition because I don't know how I should be finishing the edges between the tiers(the parts where you gather the next tier into the one before). If it has no impact on judging or its an acceptable method, I was just going to use fraycheck. If the judges would care, I'll do rolled hems on every raw edge. I'm making the petticoat out of organza, so I can't just leave as is, but rolled hems on thousands of inches of fabric would take much longer obviously.

I'm making this post/talking about this because my birthday was over the weekend. I turned 21 and had a blast, but noticed when receiving gifts that no one really got me anything that was meaningful... I got the usual money and I got some shots to do because it was my 21st, but the other little things weren't personal or even things that I will keep or do anything with.

I'm not saying this to complain, because I am very grateful for all that I got, but more to talk about special interest stigmas. My special interest is fashion dolls. I've collected Monster High dolls since I was a kid, and more recently I've branched out to other brands. I got a birthday Cinderella doll from my mom as well as two nice lego sets that I've been asking for. They were the best gifts ever because my mom gets me and appreciates my special interests. She is consistently the only person that gets me things I want and is the only person who will buy me things that I am excited about without me asking for them. She takes the time to learn about my interests and actually listens and appreciates me info-dumping.

No one else in my family will buy dolls or legos for me. Even if I specifically ask for them or put them on my wishlist, I'll get stuff that I didn't ask for over a doll. And I'm not even asking for dolls that are collector/expensive. I still collect Monster High and the cheapest ones are $15 each. I have extensive spreadsheets I can send people that list what I want and don't have. But no one cares. And everyone knows that I still collect dolls because I literally get them from my mom for every holiday and will talk about them. I don't info-dump to anyone else because I know that people don't really care and think that my special interest is childish.

If anyone else has any experiences like this, please share them in the comments. I'd love to know that I'm not the only one that feels not seen by their family.