Macrame Bookbag
Posted on January 31, 2024
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:macrame
In late 2022 I prepared a batch of drawstring backpacks in cotton as reusable wrappers for Christmas gifts; however I didn’t know what cord to use, didn’t want to use paracord, and couldn’t find anything that looked right in the local shops.
With Christmas getting dangerously closer, I visited a craft materials website for unrelated reasons, found out that they sold macrame cords, and panic-bought a few types in the hope that at least one would work for the backpacks.
I got lucky, and my first choice fitted just fine, and I was able to finish the backpacks in time for the holidays.
And then I had a box full of macrame cords in various sizes and types that weren’t the best match for the drawstring in a backpack, and no real use for them.
I don’t think I had ever done macrame, but I have made friendship bracelets in primary school, and a few Friendship Bracelets, But For Real Men So We Call Them Survival Bracelets(TM) more recently, so I didn’t bother reading instructions or tutorials online, I just grabbed the Ashley Book of Knots to refresh myself on the knots used, and decided to make myself a small bag for an A6 book.
I choose one of the thin, ~3 mm cords, Tre Sfere Macramé Barbante, of which there was plenty, so that I could stumble around with no real plan.
I started by looping 5 m of cord, making iirc 2 rounds of a loop about the right size to go around the book with a bit of ease, then used the ends as filler cords for a handle, wrapped them around the loop and worked square knots all over them to make a handle.
Then I cut the rest of the cord into 40 pieces, each 4 m long, because I had no idea how much I was going to need (spoiler: I successfully got it wrong :D )
I joined the cords to the handle with lark head knots, 20 per side, and then I started knotting without a plan or anything, alternating between hitches and square knots, sometimes close together and sometimes leaving some free cord between them.
And apparently I also completely forgot to take in-progress pictures.
I kept working on this for a few months, knotting a row or two now and then, until the bag was long enough for the book, then I closed the bottom by taking one cord from the front and the corresponding on the back, knotting them together (I don’t remember how) and finally I made a rigid triangle of tight square knots with all of the cords, progressively leaving out a cord from each side, and cutting it in a fringe.
I then measured the remaining cords, and saw that the shortest ones were about a meter long, but the longest ones were up to 3 meters, I could have cut them much shorter at the beginning (and maybe added a couple more cords). The leftovers will be used, in some way.
And then I postponed taking pictures of the finished object for a few months.
Now the result is functional, but I have to admit it is somewhat ugly: not as much for the lack of a pattern (that I think came out quite fine) but because of how irregular the knots are; I’m not confident that the next time I will be happy with their regularity, either, but I hope I will improve, and that’s one important thing.
And the other important thing is: I enjoyed making this, even if I kept interrupting the work, and I think that there may be some other macrame in my future.
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/01/31-macrame_bookbag/index.html
Right now, I'm really glad that I have a set of leather thimbles in various sizes that I've made to give away to people who want to start sewing by hand because
a) my middle finger is hurting too much to wear my metal one
b) the sewing on my leather thimble has just self-destroyed
c) I need a thimble to be able to re-sew a leather thimble
In questo momento sono *molto* felice di avere dei ditali di pelle in varie misure che ho fatto da regalare a chi vuole iniziare a cucire a mano, perché
a) il mio medio fa male e non riesco ad usare il mio solito ditale di metallo
b) le cuciture del mio ditale di pelle si sono appena autodistrutte
c) ho bisogno di un ditale per riuscire a ricucire un ditale di pelle
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I was measuring ingredients for a dough in a bowl, using the tare button of the scale after each ingredient. Then I removed the bowl, and the number on the scale was 404.
which is extremely appropriate for a bowl that is missing.
reshared this
Stavo misurando gli ingredienti di un impasto in una ciotola, usando il bottone per la tara dopo ciascun ingrediente. Poi ho tolto la ciotola dalla bilancia, e segnava esattamente 404.
che mi pare *estremamente* appropriato per una ciotola che non c'è.
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Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
just rockin' and rollin'
thinking about that post of people assuming ao3 has an algorithm and also about how bonkers persistent the view is that ao3 is social media lite. like with startling regularity I get comments saying...mad-dame-zou (Tumblr)
Mre. Dartigen [maker mode] reshared this.
Here I am one again #fighting against #appstreamcli validate
given this (image urls are not important here)
[...]
<screenshots>
<screenshot>
<image type="source" xml:lang="en">https://[...].png</image>
</screenshot>
<screenshot type="default">
<image type="source" xml:lang="en">https://[...].png</image>
</screenshot>
</screenshots>
[...]appstreamcli validate complainsE: [...]: screenshot-image-source-missing
A screenshot must have at least one image of type `source`.... ok?
this works:
[...]
<image type="source">https://[...].png</image>
[...]but them flathub validation will complains that a lang attribute is required.
So here I am once again commenting out ninja test from PKGBUILD
End note:
$ appstreamcli --version
AppStream version: 1.0.1
Oh, also:
https://puri.sm/posts/specify-form-factors-in-your-librem-5-apps/
E: [...]: custom-key-duplicated Purism::form_factor
A key can only be used once.
Specify Form-Factors in Your Librem 5 Apps – Purism
Purism makes premium phones, laptops, mini PCs and servers running free software on PureOS. Purism products respect people's privacy and freedom while protecting their security.Purism SPC
Filed under: perspectives.
“It's just a pair of jeans, it's a relatively quick sew, once I have a fitted pattern I can easily make a pair in one week¹”
(this is half a subtoot and half a sub-phone-call-with-my-father)
¹ I can only sew a short time each day, maybe an hour or two
IMHO jeans take longer to make because of all the topstitching - if you care about it looking good.
And if you find that the fabric behaves differently to the one you've nailed the fit with - and care about that. 😄
@Lil Meow Meow well, most of the clothing I make tend to use either french or flat felled seams, and having to topstitch is already faster than flat felling by hand :D I'm not bothering with contrasting thread, however, and that already helps :)
as for the fabric, I was thinking more in the general direction of “I have made and used a regular pair of jeans, and then I can reuse the pattern every time I need new jeans”, more than the stage after the mockup and before the first pair :D
Confy 0.7.1
Diego Roversi reshared this.
Today I have watched a few videos¹ about traditional Karelian dress; I don't think that the (autogenerated, i assume) subtitles have *ever* managed to get that word right.
However, one time it was subtitled as Carribean, and now I have these visions of people dressed like the pirates of the Carribeans on the lakes between Finland and Russia, and I can't unsee them.
¹ the first one in the series is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GECRnLSbXgI
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
Oggi ho guardato dei video¹ sul costume tradizionale della Carelia, e non credo che i sottotitoli (suppongo autogenerati) siano *mai* riusciti ad azzeccare quella parola.
Una volta Karelian è stato sottotitolato come Carribean, e adesso ho delle immagini mentali di gente vestita come i pirati dei Caraibi sui laghi tra Finlanda e Russia, e queste immagini non usciranno più dalla mia mente.
¹ il primo della serie è https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GECRnLSbXgI
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
I was looking for something else (which I then found), but I stumbled on this
periodic reminder that Mazzini and Vetinari are the same person.
from: https://mebic.comune.milano.it/mebic/rsmoriggia/museo/OAGIC_I0160-00723?mode=2&position=51
First short trek after months. With snow! Not bad!
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Aaaaaaand I've done all of the boning channels on the #AugustaStays I started in (checks for the old post) November 2022! And one spool of thread was enough! (I have another, luckily, as I plan to use the same thread for other seams, but for those I would also have had alternatives)
And since I took the picture I've also finished the eyelets on one of the center back pieces, and added boning to both of those and to the side fronts (but the sun has set, so there will be no more pictures until tomorow).
Now I only need to finish the rest of the eyelets, and most importantly to sew the whole thing :D
Maybe in January 2025 it will be done :D If I don't get distracted.
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
all eyelets have been done
the small panels have also been boned, I still have to do the big front ones (and I've used about half of the boning called for by the pattern).
tutti gli occhielli sono stati rifiniti.
i pannelli piccoli hanno anche le stecche, ma mi mancano ancora i pannelli grandi del davanti (e sono più o meno a metà delle stecche necessarie secondo il cartamodello).
all panels boned, first fitting done, and now I'm turning the sewing allowances and I've started to attach two of the pieces.
The instructions still have *a lot* of pages.
stecche inserite su tutti i pannelli, prima prova fatta, e adesso sto rifinendo i margini di cucitura e ho iniziato ad attaccare due pannelli.
Le istruzioni hanno ancora un *bel po'* di pagine.
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
all panels have been joined together!
hopefully this afternoon I'll attach the shoulder straps
and then I have to decide whether I want to add seam tapes or not.
tutti i pannelli sono stati attaccati tra di loro!
se tutto va bene oggi pomeriggio spero di attaccare le spalline
e poi devo decidere se mettere le fettucce sulle cuciture o se saltarle.
I've decided, no seam tapes.
I couldn't find narrow tapes other than white herringbone ones, and I don't care about the way the look, and the instructions say that it's mostly decoration, so...
I'm currently sewing seam tapes :D
because just after I had decided, I saw the 20 m roll of light blue tape I've bought for the binding, and thought that if I fold it in half it can work as seam tape, too.
ho deciso, niente fettucce sulle cuciture.
Non riesco a trovare fettuccia sottile se non quella spigata bianca, il cui aspetto non mi dice molto, e le istruzioni dicono che è soprattutto decorativa, per cui...
Sto cucendo della fettuccia sulle cuciture :D
perché immediatamente dopo aver preso la decisione ho visto la confezione da 20 metri di fettuccia azzurra che ho preso per rifinire i bordi, e mi son resa conto che piegandola a metà può funzionare anche sulle cuciture.
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varve reshared this.
suddenly, I no longer received new posts from the rss feeds I follow.
it was DNS.
(I think it has been (re)solved)
(I'll see myself out)
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Do you remember this project? https://social.gl-como.it/display/3e3ce0df-1364-ba5d-e582-0a0037482860
Well, I'm thinking to Transform the old project into a modern multimedial boombox.ì by adding two lateral speaker.
@Diego Roversi > non credo che fossero *chili*
valhalla> no. aspetta, controllo
valhalla> 330, 340, 340. uno virgola zero uno chili! si può usare il plurale!
diego> va beeene
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This happened in Italian, but for people who are following me because they want to learn Italian here's a translation :D
valhalla> …and yesterday I've brought home *kilograms* of jam
@diegor@social.gl-como.it> I don't think it was *kilograms*
valhalla> they weren't. wait! let me check.
valhalla> 330, 340, 340. there! one point zero one kilograms! plural is fine!
diego> oooook
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
/me, has a work confcall today
/me, yesterday evening “I should really ask @Diego Roversi to make me a new jack - jack cable that I need to hear audio from this computer, because the one I'm using is on its last leg, but it's late, I'll do it tomorrow evening”.
guess what I had to do this morning? :D
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/me, ha una confcall al lavoro oggi
/me, ieri sera “dovrei chiedere a @Diego Roversi di farmi un nuovo cavo jack - jack per sentire audio su questo computer, perché quello che ho sta tirando le cuoia, ma è tardi, glielo chiederò domani sera“
indovinate un po' cosa ho dovuto farestamattina? :D
New little toy project in #vala #gtk4 / #libadwaita : Oliver, a simple GUI for PHPStan.
Select a folder, it runs phpstan found in vendor/bin subfolder, shows (searchable) results, monitors reported file for modification to automatically analyze project while coding.
It's called Oliver because, you know... Stan... Oliver...
Code here:
https://git.sr.ht/~fabrixxm/oliver
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Mini Books
Posted on January 13, 2024
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:bookbinding
In 2022 I read a post on the fediverse by somebody who mentioned that they had bought on a whim a cute tiny book years ago, and that it had been a companion through hard times. Right now I can’t find the post, but it was pretty aaaaawwww.
At the same time, I had discovered Coptic binding, and I wanted to do some exercise to let my hands learn it, but apparently there is a limit to the number of notebooks and sketchbooks a person needs (I’m not 100% sure I actually believe this, but I’ve heard it is a thing).
So I decided to start making minibooks with the intent to give them away: I settled (mostly) on the A8 size, and used a combination of found materials, leftovers from bigger projects and things I had in the Stash. As for paper, I’ve used a variety of the ones I have that are at the very least good enough for non-problematic fountain pen inks.
Thanks to the small size, and the way coptic binding works, I’ve been able to play around with the covers, experimenting with different styles beyond the classic bookbinding cloth / paper covered cardboard, including adding lace, covering food box cardboard with gesso and decorating it with acrylic paints, embossing designs by gluing together two layers of cardboard, one of which has holes, making covers completely out of cernit, etc. Some of these I will probably also use in future full-scale projects, but it’s nice to find out what works and what doesn’t on a small scale.
Now, after a year of sporadically making these I have to say that the making went quite well: I enjoyed the making and the creativity in making different covers. The giving away was a bit more problematic, as I didn’t really have a lot of chances to do so, so I believe I still have most of them. In 2024 I’ll try to look for more opportunities (and if you live nearby and want one — or a few — feel free to ask!)
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/01/13-mini_books/index.html
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@Luca Sironi @lorenzo :misskey: :xmpp: faccio un quote toot per non intasare il thread di là
https://sironi.tk/objects/ec185d38-5251-4d5d-90d7-c38a9fd5029e
il problema del self-hosting individualista è che richiede soldi, conoscenze e/o tempo, ed esclude tutti quelli che non li hanno.
Non sono quantità di soldi enormi, non sono conoscenze che richiedono studio di una vita per essere raggiunte, ma se non le si ha si deve avere più tempo da dedicare (e non avere altro, magari di altrettanto importante, che si vorrebbe fare in quel tempo).
Il community hosting non risolve tutti i problemi, probabilmente qualcuno non viene raggiunto comunque, ma almeno allarga il range dei potenziali avvantaggiati da “i soliti nerd” a “i soliti nerd e tutti quelli che conoscono un nerd o che conoscono qualcuno che conosce un nerd”, ed è un aumento significativo¹
¹ anche considerata la propensione alla socialità tipica del nerd medio, grazie al secondo passaggio :D
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Filed under: stop procrastinating (on one specific task) challenge 2024.
yesterday I've drafted a suitable womanswear trousers block. I've printed it out, so that I can start making a quick mockup before converting it into a jeans pattern¹ with all of the fiddly bits.
this morning I'm supposed to start doing that mockup.
and here I am, writing stuff on the fediverse.
I'm not starting very well, right?
¹ something like https://sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/contemporary_menswear/trousers/basic_jeans/index.html , except for people with more *bustle* than belly :D
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Kermode reshared this.
Le cose che mancavano erano un bottone e i passanti per la cintura, quindi stamattina ho deciso di finirli al volo. Ho deciso di mettere un automatico anziché il bottone tradizionale da jeans con l'occhiello, quindi è questione di minuti, giusto?
No. Quindi ho deciso di ascoltare qualcosa mentre lavoravo, il che ha causato la saldatura di emergenza di un nuovo cavo audio, seguito da ulteriori imprecazioni contro il bottone e dopo qualcosa come un'ora e mezza finalmente ho un paio di pantaloni dotati di bottone.
I passanti possono aspettare.
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
E le passanti?
https://invidious.projectsegfau.lt/watch?v=vvjhsZYaofk
Georges Brassens - Les Passantes
Georges Brassens - Les Passantes (vers d'Antoine Pol) Je veux dédier ce poème A toutes les femmes qu'on aime Pendant quelques instants secrets A celles qu'on connait à peine Qu'un destin différent entraîne Et qu'on ne retrouve jamais A celle qu'on …Le Flâneur | Invidious
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
A Corset or Two
Posted on January 7, 2024
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing, period:victorian, FreeSoftWear
CW for body size change mentions
I needed a corset, badly.
Years ago I had a chance to have my measurements taken by a former professional corset maker and then a lesson in how to draft an underbust corset, and that lead to me learning how nice wearing a well-fitted corset feels.
Later I tried to extend that pattern up for a midbust corset, with success.
And then my body changed suddenly, and I was no longer able to wear either of those, and after a while I started missing them.
Since my body was still changing (if no longer drastically so), and I didn’t want to use expensive materials for something that had a risk of not fitting after too little time, I decided to start by making myself a summer lightweight corset in aida cloth and plastic boning (for which I had already bought materials). It fitted, but not as well as the first two ones, and I’ve worn it quite a bit.
I still wanted back the feeling of wearing a comfy, heavy contraption of coutil and steel, however.
After a lot of procrastination I redrafted a new pattern, scrapped everything, tried again, had my measurements taken by a dressmaker [#dressmaker], put them in the draft, cut a first mock-up in cheap cotton, fixed the position of a seam, did a second mock-up in denim [#jeans] from an old pair of jeans, and then cut into the cheap herringbone coutil I was planning to use.
And that’s when I went to see which one of the busks in my stash would work, and realized that I had used a wrong vertical measurement and the front of the corset was way too long for a midbust corset.
Luckily I also had a few longer busks, I basted one to the denim mock up and tried to wear it for a few hours, to see if it was too long to be comfortable. It was just a bit, on the bottom, which could be easily fixed with the Power Tools1.
Except, the more I looked at it the more doing this felt wrong: what I needed most was a midbust corset, not an overbust one, which is what this was starting to be.
I could have trimmed it down, but I knew that I also wanted this corset to be a wearable mockup for the pattern, to refine it and have it available for more corsets. And I still had more than half of the cheap coutil I was using, so I decided to redo the pattern and cut new panels.
And this is where the “or two” comes in: I’m not going to waste the overbust panels: I had been wanting to learn some techniques to make corsets with a fashion fabric layer, rather than just a single layer of coutil, and this looks like an excellent opportunity for that, together with a piece of purple silk that I know I have in the stash. This will happen later, however, first I’m giving priority to the underbust.
Anyway, a second set of panels was cut, all the seam lines marked with tailor tacks, and I started sewing by inserting the busk.
And then realized that the pre-made boning channel tape I had was too narrow for the 10 mm spiral steel I had plenty of. And that the 25 mm twill tape was also too narrow for a double boning channel. On the other hand, the 18 mm twill tape I had used for the waist tape was good for a single channel, so I decided to put a single bone on each seam, and then add another piece of boning in the middle of each panel.
Since I’m making external channels, making them in self fabric would have probably looked better, but I no longer had enough fabric, because of the cutting mishap, and anyway this is going to be a strictly underwear only corset, so it’s not a big deal.
Once the boning channel situation was taken care of, everything else proceeded quite smoothly and I was able to finish the corset during the Christmas break, enlisting again my SO to take care of the flat steel boning while I cut the spiral steels myself with wire cutters.
I could have been a bit more precise with the binding, as it doesn’t align precisely at the front edge, but then again, it’s underwear, nobody other than me and everybody who reads this post is going to see it and I was in a hurry to see it finished. I will be more careful with the next one.
I also think that I haven’t been careful enough when pressing the seams and applying the tape, and I’ve lost about a cm of width per part, so I’m using a lacing gap that is a bit wider than I planned for, but that may change as the corset gets worn, and is still within tolerance.
Also, on the morning after I had finished the corset I woke up and realized that I had forgotten to add garter tabs at the bottom edge. I don’t know whether I will ever use them, but I wanted the option, so maybe I’ll try to add them later on, especially if I can do it without undoing the binding.
The next step would have been flossing, which I proceeded to postpone until I’ve worn the corset for a while: not because there is any reason for it, but because I still don’t know how I want to do it :)
What was left was finishing and uploading the pattern and instructions, that are now on my sewing pattern websiteas #FreeSoftWear, and finally I could post this on the blog.
- i.e. by asking my SO to cut and sand it, because I’m lazy and I hate doing that part :D↩︎
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/01/08-a_corset_or_two/index.html
Random Sashiko + Crazy Quilt Pocket
Posted on January 5, 2024
Lately I’ve seen people on the internet talking about victorian crazy quilting. Years ago I had watched a Numberphile video about Hitomezashi Stitch Patterns based on numbers, words or randomness. Few weeks ago I had cut some fabric piece out of an old pair of jeans and I had a lot of scraps that were too small to do anything useful on their own. It easy to see where this can go, right?
I cut a pocket shape out of old garment mockups (this required some piecing), drew a square grid, arranged scraps of jeans to cover the other side, kept everything together with a lot of pins, carefully avoided basting anything, and started covering everything in sashiko / hitomezashi stitches, starting each line with a stitch on the front or the back of the work based on the result of:
import random
random.choice(["front", "back"])For the second piece I tried to use a piece of paper with the square grid instead of drawing it on the fabric: it worked, mostly, I would not do it again as removing the paper was more of a hassle than drawing the lines in the first place. I suspected it, but had to try it anyway.
Then I added a lining from some plain black cotton from the stash; for the slit I put the lining on the front right sides together, sewn at 2 mm from the marked slit, cut it, turned the lining to the back side, pressed and then topstitched as close as possible to the slit from the front.
I bound everything with bias tape, adding herringbone tape loops at the top to hang it from a belt (such as one made from the waistband of one of the donor pair of jeans) and that was it.
I like the way the result feels; maybe it’s a bit too stiff for a pocket, but I can see it work very well for a bigger bag, and maybe even a jacket or some other outer garment.
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/01/05-sashiko_crazy_quilt_pocket/index.html
Hitomezashi Stitch Patterns - Numberphile
Ayliean MacDonald discusses Hitomezashi Stitch Patterns.More links & stuff in full description below ↓↓↓Inspired by work by Dr. Katherine Seaton… more at htt...YouTube
@Kermode if you follow the link to the post on friendica (not that to the blog) you can see how people on friendica sees it, with inline images :)
mastodon afaik doesn't support them at all
Compile your kernel (or whatever) withour wearing your ssd:
If you have /tmp on your SSD, instead of a tmpfs mount:
- create a new directory and mount it as tmpfs (1Gb)
# mkdir /tmp/tmp
# mount -t tmpfs -o size=1G tmpfs /tmp/tmp
- now tell gcc to use it:
# export TMPDIR=/tmp/tmp
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Non è già finito tutto l'hype?
Di meta e metastasi non ne ho visto l'ombra...
Ma poi siamo veramente sicuri che qualcuno lo stia usando?
Delle poche persone che conosco che usano Minkiagram nessuno ha la minima idea di cosa sia Freds 
@❄️ freezr ❄️ più che finito l'hype non è mai iniziato: che io sappia la federazione ancora non c'è se non per tre account sperimentali (e solo monodirezionale).
Però un po' di post sull'argomento li vedo ancora passare
Crescent Shawl
Posted on January 2, 2024
One of the knitting projects I’m working on is a big bottom-up triangular shawl in less-than-fingering weight yarn (NM 1/15): it feels like a cloud should by all rights feel, and I have good expectations out of it, but it’s taking forever and a day.
And then one day last spring I started thinking in the general direction of top-down shawls, and decided I couldn’t wait until I had finished the first one to see if I could design one.
For my first attempt I used an odd ball of 50% wool 50% plastic I had in my stash and worked it on 12 mm tree trunks, and I quickly made something between a scarf and a shawl that got some use during the summer thunderstorms when temperatures got a bit lower, but not really cold. I was happy with the shape, not with the exact position of the increases, but I had ideas for improvements, so I just had to try another time.
Digging through the stash I found four balls of Drops Alpaca in two shades of grey: I had bought it with the intent to test its durability in somewhat more demanding situations (such as gloves or even socks), but then the LYS1 no longer carries it, so I might as well use it for something a bit more one-off (and when I received the yarn it felt so soft that doing something for the upper body looked like a better idea anyway).
I decided to start working in garter stitch with the darker colour, then some garter stitch in the lighter shade and to finish with yo / k2t lace, to make the shawl sort of fade out.
The first half was worked relatively slowly through the summer, and then when I reached the colour change I suddenly picked up working on it and it was finished in a couple of weeks.
looks denser in a nice way, but the the lace border is scrunched up.
Then I had doubts on whether I wanted to block it, since I liked the soft feel, but I decided to try it anyway: it didn’t lose the feel, and the look is definitely better, even if it was my first attempt at blocking a shawl and I wasn’t that good at it.
I’m glad that I did it, however, as it’s still soft and warm, but now also looks nicer.
The pattern is of course online as #FreeSoftWear on my fiber craft patterns website.
- at least local to somebody: I can’t get to a proper yarn shop by foot, so I’ve bought this yarn online from one that I could in theory reach on a day trip, but it has not happened yet.↩︎
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2024/01/02-crescent_shawl/index.html
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Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
TIL: one of the presidential cars of Italy (not the main one, of course) is an Ape Piaggio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_state_car#Italy
thanks @Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua for the wikipedia trip that lead me to that page :D
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TIL: una delle auto presidenziali italiane (ovviamente non la principale) è un Ape Piaggio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_state_car#Italy
Grazie a @Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua per avermi spedito in un wikipedia trip che mi ha portato a quella pagina :D
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I've been influenced
Posted on December 30, 2023
By the influencers on the famous proprietary video platform1.
When I’m crafting with no powertools I tend to watch videos, and this autumn I’ve seen a few in a row that were making red wool dresses, at least one or two medieval kirtles. I don’t remember which channels they were, and I’ve decided not to go back and look for them, at least for a time.
Anyway, my brain suddenly decided that I needed a red wool dress, fitted enough to give some bust support. I had already made a dress that satisfied the latter requirementand I still had more than half of the red wool faille I’ve used for the Garibaldi blouse (still not blogged, but I will get to it), and this time I wanted it to be ready for this winter.
While the pattern I was going to use is Victorian, it was designed for underwear, and this was designed to be outerwear, so from the very start I decided not to bother too much with any kind of historical details or techniques.
I knew that I didn’t have enough fabric to add a flounce to the hem, as in the cotton dress, but then I remembered that some time ago I fell for a piece of fringed trim in black, white and red. I did a quick check that the red wasn’t clashing (it wasn’t) and I knew I had a plan for the hem decoration.
Then I spent a week finishing other projects, and the more I thought about this dress, the more I was tempted to have spiral lacing at the front rather than buttons, as a nod to the kirtle inspiration. It may end up be a bit of a hassle, but if it is too much I can always add a hidden zipper on a side seam, and only have to undo a bit of the lacing around the neckhole to wear the dress.
Finally, I could start working on the dress: I cut all of the main pieces, and since the seam lines were quite curved I marked them with tailor’s tacks, which I don’t exactly enjoy doing or removing, but are the only method that was guaranteed to survive while manipulating this fabric (and not leave traces afterwards).
While cutting the front pieces I accidentally cut the high neck line instead of the one I had used on the cotton dress: I decided to go for it also on the back pieces and decide later whether I wanted to lower it.
Since this is a modern dress, with no historical accuracy at all, and I have access to a serger, I decided to use some dark blue cotton voile I’ve had in my stash for quite some time, cut into bias strip, to bind the raw edges before sewing. This works significantly better than bought bias tape, which is a bit too stiff for this.
For the front opening, I’ve decided to reinforce the areas where the lacing holes will be with cotton: I’ve used some other navy blue cotton, also from the stash, and added two lines of cording to stiffen the front edge.
So I’ve cut the front in two pieces rather than on the fold, sewn the reinforcements to the sewing allowances in such a way that the corded edge was aligned with the center front and then sewn the bottom of the front seam from just before the end of the reinforcements to the hem.
The allowances are then folded back, and then they are kept in place by the worked lacing holes. The cotton was pinked, while for the wool I used the selvedge of the fabric and there was no need for any finishing.
Behind the opening I’ve added a modesty placket: I’ve cut a strip of red wool, a strip of cotton, folded the edge of the strip of cotton to the center, added cording to the long sides, pressed the allowances of the wool towards the wrong side, and then handstitched the cotton to the wool, wrong sides facing. This was finally handstitched to one side of the sewing allowance of the center front.
I’ve also decided to add real pockets, rather than just slits, and for some reason I decided to add them by hand after I had sewn the dress, so I’ve left opening in the side back seams, where the slits were in the cotton dress. I’ve also already worn the dress, but haven’t added the pockets yet, as I’m still debating about their shape. This will be fixed in the near future.
Another thing that will have to be fixed is the trim situation: I like the fringe at the bottom, and I had enough to also make a belt, but this makes the top of the dress a bit empty. I can’t use the same fringe tape, as it is too wide, but it would be nice to have something smaller that matches the patterned part. And I think I can make something suitable with tablet weaving, but I’m not sure on which materials to use, so it will have to be on hold for a while, until I decide on the supplies and have the time for making it.
Another improvement I’d like to add are detached sleeves, both matching (I should still have just enough fabric) and contrasting, but first I want to learn more about real kirtle construction, and maybe start making sleeves that would be suitable also for a real kirtle.
Meanwhile, I’ve worn it on Christmas (over my 1700s menswear shirt with big sleeves) and may wear it again tomorrow (if I bother to dress up to spend New Year’s Eve at home :D )
- yep, that’s YouTube, of course.↩︎
https://blog.trueelena.org/blog/2023/12/20-i_ve_been_influenced/index.html
it's done!
ok, almost. I need to floss it, but that can wait until I've worn it a few times.
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Avviso contenuto: cibo, discorso generale, pranzo di Natale
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
Avviso contenuto: cibo, discorso generale, pranzo di Natale
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
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Avviso contenuto: contiene prodotto in vendita, e link a influencer su youtube
Avviso contenuto: misoginia interiorizzata, consegne pacchi, +
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Avviso contenuto: misoginia interiorizzata, consegne pacchi, +
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rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
Avviso contenuto: misoginia interiorizzata, consegne pacchi, +
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And I've just realized that while I do have plenty of spiral boning and a length of shiny rayon boning casing in my stash, they are not in the size needed for each other.
I do have enough coutil to make self-fabric boning channels, I was just hoping to not have to, and enough twill tape to make boning channels out of that (but I'm not sure I'd like them as external channels).
And the front of the pattern is significantly longer than the busk I planned to use, and I don't understand how I didn't realize it from the mockup.
(Luckily I do have a couple of busks that I expected to be too long for me, but “you can always cut them down to size”, so I still have multiple options (either trim down the corset fabric or use the longer busk).
E mi sono appena resa conto che ho effettivamente abbondanti stecche di metallo e della canalina per stecche di rayon luccicose nello stash, ma non sono della misura giusta l'uno per l'altra.
Ho abbastanza coutil per fare le canaline, ma speravo di non doverlo fare, e ho abbastanza nastro spigato per farle di nastro (ma non son sicura che stiano bene messe all'esterno).
E il pezzo davanti è significativamente più lungo del busk (stecca coi ganci? non so come si chiami in italiano) che pensavo di usare, e non ho capito come ho fatto a non accorgermene dal provino.
(Per fortuna ho un paio di busk che pensavo fossero troppo lunghi per la mia misura, ma “si possono sempre tagliare su misura”, quindi ho anche qui un paio di possibilità (accorciare la stoffa, oppure usare il busk più lungo))
TFW a metà mattinata passi da piazzale Kennedy a Varese e ti casca l'orecchio su un avviso di guasti agli impianti in stazione a Saronno, per cui decidi di passare al volo in stazione a vedere cosa sta succedendo.
E boh, avvisano di potenziali ritardi, ma tutto sommato la situazione è abbastanza tranquilla.
Ci sono linee privilegiate, per quel gestore ferroviario.
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Elena ``of Valhalla''
Unknown parent • •@Kermode The trick is that I'm often doing repetitive things with my hand while I'm doing something else that requires concentration :) productive fidgeting :)
(also, I'm blogging stuff that I've done months ago and had not blogged yet)
Elena ``of Valhalla''
Unknown parent • •@Kermode right now he's the guy very close to me under the flannel sheets :D (I know, I know, we don't have real cold around here, but it still feels cold to us :) ).
he's also quite handy, but tends a bit more towards repairing things rather than making new ones (not exclusively, however), but our house *is* full of things that we have done something to.