It's no secret that I love pop culture and, hence, internet memes. One of my favorite crossover things is Texts From Last Night put to various fandoms. Shakespeare, for example. Or Disney heroines. Or Dr. Who. Check out this fantastic Avengers one. And, of course, if you want, more Avengers ones...

There is no http://textsfromstartrek.tumblr.com/

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE

Here are forty good questions to ask yourself or others, link courtesy ms_danson.

I encountered a small crisis last night with Sherlock. ...Um. Before I go on, do other costumers call their costumes by name? Or do you mostly refer to the item as an item rather than an entity? In other words, would you call the project "Sherlock," or would you call it "the Sherlock coat?" I think it's interesting that I have never named my cars (which seems to be a common thing in our culture), but I've always named my costume projects. Hm.

Anyway.

I encountered a small crisis last night with Sherlock. I don't know if it's a factor of the heavier weight of the wool (compared to the mock-up and prototype fabrics) or if something got tweaked in the final alteration, or if I was supposed to fix something and forgot, but something is wrong with the back length and the back waist hits me about an inch lower than it should. When I discovered this, it was 9:45 last night and I figured it was best to sleep on it and decide this morning if I would continue with the coat being a little oversized or if I was going to rip out the side seams, detach the back skirt, and attempt to shorten the back piece from the bottom.

There is always the chance that shortening a pattern piece from the edge will make things...wonky-fitting. It's why pattern pieces have a line about 1/3 to 1/2 way through the middle that says "lengthen or shorten here." I do have enough fabric to re-cut the back should absolute worst come to absolute worst.

I'm just a little mystified as to how it happened in the first place. It's got to be the weight of the back skirt. That fucker is massive. I just didn't realize it would pull the entire back down to that extent.

Of course, the good news of this is that sherwood21's gracious and competent assistance allowed me to feel confident enough to start cutting the wool in the first place! She made that armhole alteration look so easy. And, really, it was. Now that I've seen it done. I like being able to add to my seamstressing vocabulary.

Welp, guess I should get to it. I can probably get the whole thing taken apart and (possibly) basted back together before I leave for my acupuncture appointment.

Update: Ha ha ha ha!!! Okay, maybe I should just dick around on the interwebs until after my acupuncture appointment. I just ripped out ten inches of the front princess seam instead of the side seam.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on the software issue yesterday. I might have a reprieve, since a kind soul offered to put together a poster for me. If that pans out, it'll give me a chance to test out some different types of software later this summer before buying one.

Random link:Like we needed more proof that spot-training isn't as effective as compound, integrated movements.

In an effort to squeeze more time out of my day, I'm going to the 4:30 WODs during the summer since the office closes at 4:00. This means I beat feet home, change into workout clothes, and hightail it to CrossFit so as not to be late. The penalties for showing up late to a WOD are unpleasant.

Because I don't want to waste time washing off my makeup, I'll be coming to the office bare-faced on MWF for the summer. I haven't come to work with no makeup (I mean nothing, not even a dusting of powder) since...I don't know when. Since years ago? And man, under these lights I look like death warmed over. Well, not even that. I look like death half-warmed up in the microwave before you changed your mind and put him back in the fridge, then pulled him out after another two days and realized he'd gone moldy.

Last night I hit another wall with Sherlock. My final prototype of the coat fit me great when I was wearing just a button-down shirt. However, when I put on the suit jacket I'll be wearing under the coat for the Masquerade, the the back pulled horribly, and the armholes were a teensy bit snug. I adjusted the shoulder seam for a broader, more square shoulder, but now the armholes are way too tight (which I should have thought about, but I'm getting a little brain dead on this project). I don't know how to open up the armsyce and make sure that the sleeve still fits. It's already a close thing, with hardly any ease in the front of the sleeve at all. Making the curve of the armhole bigger is going to cause the sleeve not to fit. Can anyone point me to a tutorial on how to do this last fitting adjustment for my Sherlock coat? I'm having no luck with my own searches, and I feel like this is something I can't really fudge (like I did with the collar *ahem*). I'm about sick to tears of this project, and at this point wish I'd never seen the damn show.

STUPID BBC AND YOUR AMAZING WARDROBE DEPARTMENT.

No Child Left Behind is working really well, you guys.

Yesterday I planned to make Great Progress on the Watson coat mock-up. I wound up making only Mediocre Progress thanks to my 1. Failure to trace (and cut) a pattern piece, 2. Failure to notice I was missing said pattern piece before stitching pieces together 3. Half an hour spent ripping out a serged seam, and then 4. Breaking a needle on the serger.

/o\

The needle breakage brought everything to a halt. Because I can't find/don't have the correct screwdriver to change out the needle on the serger, I have to take it over to Lawrence Sewing & Vac today after work. It's unlikely that they'll have time to switch it out for me right then and there, so I'm looking at a 48 hour delay. I'm also out of pocket this Saturday since I'm going to be at the women's healthcare march/rally in Topeka all day.

So frustrating. Yet so typical.

Oh! I put up a new Tumblr collection (finally!): Beautiful Places, April 23.

Last night was my first eight-hour night of sleep in over a week. Apparently the trick is get really drunk and fall asleep without washing my face.

I'm pretty thrilled with this morning's weather. Definitely finishing the art project today.

Star Struck Clothing downtown agreed to sell my bloomers in the store. I'm going to see if I can expand the seasonal aspect of them and market them a bit to the KU Swing Society. KittenCat Bloomers--they're not just for winter warmth! She said she'd been talking up the bloomers (before even seeing them--how awesome is that?) and one girl who visits the store regularly has already expressed an interest. Nicely encouraging. I need to make up some sizing tags so she can get these stocked in the store asap. I have only six pairs right now (four Mediums and one each of Small and Large). I should probably boost my inventory a bit so the selection doesn't look so thin. I also need to make up a store display petticoat so I can clock my time on that to determine price. Those take a lot longer to make than the bloomers, and use a lot more fabric, so they'll only be available by custom order.

Anyone here who wants a pair of bloomers is welcome to order, too. If you're local, you can arrange to come by the house to pick out your own fabric and lace combo.

On a whim, I measured my waist and hips this morning and was pleased with the numbers--twenty-nine and forty. I suspect that the extra inch remaining around my waist is due to lack of exercise. After breakfast (three scrambled eggs and a handful of toasted almonds), I'm up a hair over two inches around my waist--putting it at thirty-one and a quarter inches. My hips are down two inches from when I measured them on Sunday, and remained at forty inches after eating. This body. Sheesh.

I do not need a new tee shirt. I do not need a new tee shirt. I do not need a new tee shirt. Thanks, chronovore. Thanks a lot.

I made myself stay up until 10pm yesterday. So, I was awake for about twenty-one hours. Whew. This morning I woke up at 2:30, but managed to fall back asleep until 5:30. So, seven-ish hours of sleep last night. Not great, but not bad.

I certainly do get a lot done when I have insomnia.

The drum case looks fantastic, but I think I probably won't ever make another one, despite my mentioning making one for Brayden, Egotista's lead drummer and organizer. Maybe someday, when I've forgotten the painful tedium of it. Pics next week when I can download and edit them.

Today: meeting with saffronhare to discuss the selling of some bloomers and knitting needle cases and to hand off my yogurt maker and yo-cheese maker. Yay for getting unused items out of the house and making a spot of cash!

Man, I miss dairy, though. A lot. The memory of a big spoonful of home-made yogurt, first thing in the morning? Mmmm.

I need to find a way to get more fermented foods in my body, because I wonder if my Mercola probiotics just aren't cutting it anymore. The only option available to me is sauerkraut, though, and my past two attempts at sauerkraut have failed. I used this method of making kraut both times (figuring maybe I just did it wrong the first time), but both batches came out tasting like mildly salted and slightly wilted raw cabbage. Absolutely no fermentation either time. I threw them both out, because ew. I like store-bought kraut, but most (all?) of the good gut bugs have been killed off in those. Anybody got suggestions on what else to try for my kraut-making attempts?

A bit of digging on Paleo Hacks would be good, but for some reason that website just makes my eyes cross. I feel the same way about most web answer sites. Too much humanity in one place, maybe.

On today's agenda: Meet with saffronhare. Tidy the sewing room (how can I make such a mess during every single sewing project?). Get started on the coveralls so I'll be ready to work on on the Chevelle when parts start arriving. Watch final episode of BBC's Sherlock with my Holmes and Moriarty (squee!).

Damn, I'm liking this series. I think I could probably get into this fandom. Well, as much as I get into any fandom. My "getting into a fandom" basically entails following a few Tumblrs and reading lots of slashfic. Although I think perhaps the costume stuff automatically enters me into some higher level of fandom.

I must remember to document my progress on this costume. Pics, notes, thought processes, etc. I'll do those as separate LJ entries, though, so I don't bore the non-costume, non-sewing types and so the info will be easier to find later. I also need to work out with Moriarty how much she wants me to work on her costume and how much she wants to do herself. Ask that today.

A million thanks to gamera_spinning for being the absolute sweetest for sending me the Sherlock DVDs. I owed him big time for another favor involving DVDs (the man is a champ at supplying such things) and I think the Sherlock introduction bumped the thank-you card I was planning to something a little more special. Oooh. This vacation week would be a good time to work on that. It'd be good to have a project that doesn't involve sewing for a change, and something that I can wrap up in a day. Maybe I'll do that today instead of the coveralls. Yes.

I think I might quit smoking cigarettes for a while. I smoked way too much yesterday because I was trying to stay awake. They sure helped (I think I wouldn't have made it as well as I did otherwise), but damn my chest is full today. Or maybe that's just allergies. I noticed my eyes were crazy red yesterday afternoon. That could've been the sleeplessness, though. Anyway. Considering it. One of my and mckitterick's friends, who is a long-time, hardcore smoker was on his fourteenth day of not-smoking yesterday. I'm proud of him, and I like him a lot, so it'd be nice to tell him next time I see him, "Solidarity, bro!" Of course, there's another one of our friends who hasn't quit and he looks so damn sexy when he lights up. I dunno, I dunno. Why are my bad habits so fun?



Okay, this entry is way longer than I expected it to be. Off to tidy the sewing room.

ETA: Before I put away the tape measure (see, I really am tidying the sewing room), I decided to measure my hips in addition to my waist. My hips are up four inches from October. o_O I am starting to wonder if this is more than just swelling issues. Maybe I really am gaining weight--real weight--again. Fuck. FUCK. I don't want to go through another three years of thyroid level testing. And depression. And hair loss. And everything else. *iz depressed nao*

On Wednesday night I packed up my winter clothes (!sob! my wardrobe is the only thing I like about winter) and put out the summer stuff. I am so bored with my old summer wardrobe. I want to make some new stuff, but I'm still having such terrible swelling issues that I don't want to invest the time. I like to hope that I'll have this problem resolved (or at least minimized) by May or June. Spending hours making a new summer wardrobe to fit my current body doesn't seem to be the best use of my time.

Right now I have two summer dresses that fit, and no skirts. I didn't have the courage to try on the pants. mckitterick took a look at me last night and said "It looks like you put on twenty pounds in the last twenty minutes." Thursday morning, I was still up two inches around my waist, from what I would guess was a high of four and a half or maybe even five inches the night before. It was worse than the comparison photo I took last year. Much, much worse. I should have taken another photo, but it was just so depressing. And uncomfortable.

Blah.

Thank goodness for stretchy jeans.

After getting through my f-page (and all the ontd_p posts), I can honestly say that I am fucking done with humanity at this point. Done.

Exhibit A: Southern Miss Band Hurls 'Where's Your Green Card?' Chant At Latino Player

Exhibit B: The Arizona Senate is considering a bill that would give all businesses the option to exclude contraceptives from health insurance coverage.

Exhibit C: 'We Have No Choice': One Woman's Ordeal with Texas' New Sonogram Law

My heart physically hurts after reading that third one.

There are times when I become so enraged and terrified at the prospects of women's and reproductive rights that my brain just starts spinning in circles and I can't form coherent thoughts. As someone who has been very sexually active for her entire adult life (and then some), those issues are important to me, and I'm incredibly sensitive about them. Perhaps it is my unreliable feminine nature, but I can't even discuss them rationally. These issues should not be up for debate, and in my world they are not. If you disagree with me, keep it to yourself. Trust me, you don't want me to know.

And now I really need to get away from the internets before I have an aneurysm (or heartburn). Time to start my first day of vacation.

I gave up on finding a pair of coveralls for working on the car and decided to pick up an old jumpsuit pattern on eBay to make my own. Here's the pattern I bought. It should arrive next week. I'll make it out of some heavy brown and white striped denim that I got for super cheap a couple years ago. Fresh off the sewing machine it might be a little blinding with the narrow stripes, but give it a few weeks of washed-out grime and it should look pretty awesome.

China has a really old buried forest. Click that. It's cooler than I make it sound.

Today I took off from work in the hopes that not sitting at my desk for eight hours would be the final boost my back needed to heal up. So ciao, kids. I'm off to go do some stuff that involves either standing up or lying down.

I am increasingly convinced that my reliance on home-sewing and thrift stores as my main sources of clothing is the best choice for me for a number of reasons. This morning, I added a new argument to the list!

I've always been envious of a friend's fab ensembles that she puts together with items purchased from H&M. So imagine my delight when I heard one of their stores opened on The Plaza. Then I read this article and I don't think I can give H&M my money. "...Real bodies would be totally distracting for shoppers looking at product shots. 'We do this to show off the clothes,' says Andersson." Yeah. Right. Douche Hats.

A couple people (not here, I don't think) have called me out for shopping at the Salvation Army because of their (admittedly reprehensible) "service" tactics. But I don't believe they're making too much of a profit on a $2.99 blouse--especially when I purchase most items after they've been there long enough to be sold at half price. I figure the benefit I'm getting from the inexpensive clothes is significantly larger than the benefit they're recieving. So I'm fine with shopping there.

H&M, though...I fear they just got dropped into my "never to be experienced firsthand" pile. Come to think of it, the only clothing items I've purchased firsthand (excluding underwear and shoes) are the jeans I got at Sears, about a year ago.

Yes, really. Sears. I have no shame. They make my ass look even better than my favorite pair of old Dickies (pictured in the icon) and the Sears jeans cost $20. Awesome.

Do I love or hate this new Vogue pattern? It's the dress equivalent of a mullet, but I can't deny the appeal of the bustle reference. I'd have to see it in person. And I suspect it wouldn't look all that great on curvy, short-legged women. So best to just leave it alone, yes? Might have to purchase this one, although I'm uncertain if it's really as gorgeous as I think it is, or if it only seems so because of the absolute dearth of decent designs from any of the major pattern companies this season. I don't know why I continue to look and shop for new patterns, anyway. I could make one garment a week without ever re-using a pattern in my current collection, and I doubt I'd run out of patterns before the end of the decade.

mckitterick left the heavy bag up for me yesterday afternoon, so when I got home from work, I could do some punching all on my own if I wanted. And I did! So I did! I only lasted about fifteen minutes, though. And that was broken up into thirty seconds (or so) of punching with long breaks between to catch my breath. By the end of the fifteen minutes, my hands were shaking and my teeth hurt from my heart pounding. Good times. I like punching things. A lot. I'm even starting to incorporate a kiai in my back-fist punch. Hardcore, bitches!

So, yesterday's Obscure Culture Reference Reveal. Regarding the use of the "like a boss" phrase + my reference to Nazi fashion? Hugo Boss provided uniforms to the Nazis. There you go.

I was considering attending a kirtan on Saturday night, but I think I'll stay home and get plastered instead. I'm pretty sure I know what that says about my level of spiritual enlightenment, and I'm pretty sure I don't give a fuck.

Creative Chat

Clipart from Clipartheaven.com

About Creative Chat


This Week's Topic:
What is your current sewing avoidance?




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My answer to this question has two parts. A general avoidance/fear, and a specific avoidance/fear.

My general avoidance/fear right now is a tailored oxford shirt. There are lots of things about this garment that make me nervous: altering a shoulder cap and armscye, fitting the waist without throwing off the grain (and, thus, the hang of the garment), making a collar that doesn't flip up on one side (another grain issue)...the list is long and intimidating. Like most articles of clothing that contain more than three separate pieces, a quality men's dress shirt walks a line between art and science. In the case of the tailored shirt, though, I think the weight leans a little more toward the science side. There's also the fact that I do not have anything that even remotely resembles a man's body, and so I'm unfamiliar with the ways an ill-fitting shirt might feel on a man's body. The problems I encounter with women's oxford shirts (buttons gaping over the breasts, cuffs too large around my wrists), aren't an issue with most men (at least not with those dressing as and identifying as men).

But there's also a specific aspect of the tailored shirt that worries me more than any of the others: The Front Placket. Anyone who sews clothing will tell you that sewing a straight seam is not an easy thing. Honestly, I am not very good at it. I'm not saying my seams are crooked, but they have the occasional crooked stitch in them. And a crooked sewing line is not an option on a front placket. All eyes are on that very visible stripe down the front of a shirt, and there's no room for even a hint of wobble. Talk about pressure.

It's interesting that this question came up so early in the game of auroraceleste's Creative Chat series. Because mckitterick asked for a tailored shirt for xmas. I bought David Page Coffin's shirtmaking book, but have only made time to skim through it. The whole idea is very intimidating to me.