Not Always A Struggle

Although being crafty in a sorority world seems to be more of a curse than anything, it will sometimes surprise me just how fun and stress relieving it actually is when the pressure is off. When I’m not making a banner within two days time or painting coolers for formals, crafting goes back to how it was before I was in a sorority, before I had people depending on me to be creative, and before I had two day deadlines.

This past week was just what I needed to remind me of why I love crafting and why I love being creative. Last Wednesday, my best friend, Maddison, had a date party with the theme Dynamic Duos. She came to me for help with coming up with a good idea and making that idea become a reality. We came to the unanimous decision of Lilo and Stitch as the perfect Dynamic Duo.  Maddison’s costume was the easy part, her date’s costume, however, was the fun part. We painted his body blue and I made him ears out of a head band, wire, and blue velvet material to really make him look the part of Stitch. 

Getting to spend time with one of my best friends and using my creativity to help her was such a fun experience. Her and her date were by far the best dressed at their social function.

The fun continued when I went home for Easter. My mom and I spent part of Saturday making an Easter bunny cake. We made two circle Funfetti cakes and then cut and shaped them to look like a bunny’s head. We made homemade cream cheese white and pink icing to decorate the cake. We also used jellybeans and Twizzlers for the eyes, nose, and whiskers. 

Fun little projects like Lilo and Stitch costumes and bunny cakes allow creative, crafty people, like myself, to utilize their talents, yet not have to stress about being perfect and finishing at a specific time. These activities were both so much fun and helped me relax during such a stressful time of year full of exams and final grades. Although crafting is mostly a struggle in a sorority world, it doesn’t always have to be.

Big/Little Reveal

Big/Little Reveal Week is typically a happy week full of presents, secrets, surprises, and growing families. It is the week where new members or “littles” are united with active members in the above pledge class or “bigs” to help welcome the new pledge class, bring everyone closer together, make life long bonds between Bigs and Littles, and to spread some sisterly love.

            From the Little’s perspective, this week is fantastic. They receive endless amounts of shirts, painted canvases, pandas, food, and other goodies.  As the week goes on, the amount and quality of the gifts continue to improve. By the end of the week, the girls are anxious to meet their loving and generous Bigs.

On the other hand, from the Big’s perspective, this week is beyond stressful. The amount of time, energy, and money spent when it is all said and done is absolutely ridiculous. Because they received the same generosity the previous year, they are willing to put in all the work and effort. However, it does not mean they enjoy the sleepless nights of crafting and the shrinking of their bank accounts.  But luckily, it seems to all pay off when they each see just how much their Little appreciates them at the end of week and they are all revealed.

I personally was not a huge fan of being on the Big end due to all the stress it caused me. The shirts, pandas, food, and other goodies were not the hard part. It was the sleepless nights of crafting that brought the stress to a whole new level. I wanted to make my Little the best canvases and make her other creative crafts that no one else would think of. I wanted my Little to be impressed by my crafting abilities and in order to do so, I had to be creative and make everything to the best of my ability.

My hard work seemed to pay off! My Little was extremely appreciative of all of her gifts and was very impressed with my crafting skills. It has been about 7 months since Big/Little reveal and my Little, Katherine, is one of my very best friends. Lucky for her, I will be able to help her next year, so she will not have to suffer as much as I did this year.

How Crafting Is Like Writing a Research Paper

For a perfectionist, crafting is a lot like writing a research paper. Before starting, you brainstorm ideas. You then research those ideas to help narrow them down to a more specific vision. You proceed by sketching rough drafts over and over again until you feel prepared to officially start the final product. Once you know how you want to execute your work,  you begin and make slight changes along the way. It takes patience and a lot of trial and error to master your craft, just like a well-written research paper.

To demonstrate this systematic process, I am going to go through some of the thought processes and steps I used to create this year's lip sync costumes for our newest pledge.  

Step 1: Since I was making nearly fifty costumes with a tight budget and in a short period of time, I had to be smart about the design; meaning, I wanted something not too elaborate, but something that made a statement and look fierce on stage.

The theme was Billboard’s Top 100, so each chapter got to select a year to choose songs from; our year was 2005. Once the coaches picked the songs they were using for the routine, I brained stormed trends and fashion from 2005. I then searched each song they selected and took notes on the artists’ style in each music video.

Step 2: I focused on the artists and styles that stood out the most to me. With songs like "Beverly Hills" by Weezer, "Sugar, We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy, and "Holla Back Girl" by Gwen Stefani, the costumes had to be “bad-ass”.

I made sketches of my ideas to help me picture the end product. However, it wasn’t until I went to the craft store to purchase the materials that my ideas finally started to form into a vision. I bought enough material to make a few practice costumes.

Step 3: While making the practice costumes, I found a couple complications with the stripe I wanted to sew down the sides of the pants. I went back to the drawing board to try and find a simple solution for the problem. I luckily found a cheaper, faster, and much less complicated way to add the stripe. My solution = duck tape!

Step 4: After hours of brainstorming, researching, sketching, planning, and testing, I knew what I wanted them to look like! I purchased the rest of the materials and after many, many more hours of actually putting together the outfits for forty-eight girls, I was finally done and proud of the finished products! 

Here are some photos from Lip Sync: 

"The Banner Girl"

Growing up with a mom who hand painted all my birthday dresses, was known as “the bow lady” at my old cheerleading gym, and made just about every one of my Halloween costumes, crafting is basically in my blood.

My inherited skills definitely can come in handy quite a bit, especially being an involved member of the Alpha Omicron Pi fraternity at the university of Tennessee.

To most sorority girls, being crafty is a blessing, but what they do not know is that it can also be a curse. There is always something going on that requires some type of artistic ability and once the word gets out that you have any ounce of artistic ability, you instantly become the new go-to girl, every single time…

It wasn't long after I accepted my bid that the word got out, and similar to my mom, I officially became known as "the banner girl." It takes me on average a good twenty plus hours to come up with a creative design, sketch the design on a large piece of fabric, and then paint the entire thing. With that being said, sleep deprivation is a guarantee. 

Here are a few examples of the banners I have drawn and painted for philanthropy events:

Kappa Sig South Seas 2013

Lambda Chi Watermelon Bust 2012

Sigma Chi Derby Days 2013

Banners, however, are not the only projects I am asked to help with. Now that Spring has arrived, so has the season for fraternity out of town formals, aka season for painting coolers. Although, I will not be attending a fraternity formal this spring season, I will be helping paint at least three coolers, and by help, I actually mean I’ll be designing and painting everything except for maybe the first basic coat of paint.

I am currently working on a cooler for my little, as well as, a cooler for my best friend who will be attending Kappa Sigma's formal this coming Saturday. Although the fact that people come to me for help is a great complement, my perfectionist side comes out with every project, which causes me great stress. With that being said, the struggles of being crafty in a sorority world are very real!
Sincerely,
  Alyssa Perrone 
"The Banner Girl"