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.
like this
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)
varve likes this.
Let it be a warning story for you, regarding smart home solutions.
Two years ago we have bough a house. Together with the house came a thermostat for controlling the gas boiler. The one from the smart kind.
Since the very beginning it was clear to me, this particular solution is a crap. The only way to control it was by login to the external web page and set the schedule and temperatures there, and the device at home periodically has checked if there is a change to fetch. Also, this particular device has only volatile memory. So, when power is turned off, the device needs to fetch the settings from the server.
I've tried to replace it with another smart solution, but failed at it (and I have wrote a little bit about that as well).
So, I am still using the one which came with the house.
And the servers went down somewhen during last two weeks. So far the device is still working, with recent settings. So, I am not in dire needs. However, the first power failure means I am being left without heating.
And what is the lesson for you? If you want to buy any kind of smart home solution, please make sure it will work decently without internet connection.
The very basic check you can do is to open home-assistant.io/integrations…, find if there is available support for the device you want to buy, and check its IoT class. If this is local push or local polling, it would rather be OK. If this is a cloud push/cloud pulling, then further research is needed, as without the internet (or servers) available, the device's functionality will be degraded. Sometimes slightly, sometimes severely. And it is up to you to decide, if it is OK to be stuck with device having degraded functionality.
PS. To make this clear - I have a backup plan, so no advice is needed. Unless you have a recommendation of a smart thermostat with temperature zone control, which works fully locally. Then I'd be glad to hear.
#smart #smarthome #smarthomes #heating #thermostat #thermostats
reshared this
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
like this
When I get started I can do a good hour, or two and even into a third one. But then I will leave the project lying around for ages. I don't understand it myself. Maybe because I stop at a point of difficulty? Or I just think it's going to be difficult? I really don't understand myself. It's a bit frustrating.
Enjoy your project!
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes 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 youtube.com/watch?v=GECRnLSbXg…
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua likes 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 youtube.com/watch?v=GECRnLSbXg…
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.
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua likes this.
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.
like 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).
like this
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).
like this
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.
NullNoMore likes this.
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.
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.
Kermode likes this.
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.
schizo likes 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)
like this
reshared this
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua likes this.
Grazie 🥰
reshared this
@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
like this
reshared this
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
like 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
like this
/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
LaVi likes this.
I’m pretty sure the most impactful thing I did this week was teach a colleague to git add with -p. And I feel pretty good about that.
Context in case it’s useful: - p is for patch. Command ‘git add -p’ presents the user with all their unstaged changes, one chunk at a time, and prompts for whether to add it or not. This is better than using a dot to all your local changes, or having to type long file paths to pick up just a few files and ignore others. Try it!
reshared this
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!)
like this
reshared this
highvoltage likes this.
reshared this
Here in Portland we have a long-running non-profit called Free Geek (freegeek.org/) which:
- accepts donations of not only cables but any electronics;
- trains people to disassemble, test, and reassemble computers;
- handles e-waste recycling for anything that isn't reusable;
- distributes usable equipment to individuals and non-profits who need it;
- and runs a little thrift store too.
It's fantastic and I would love to see more places clone the idea.
Are you interested in space exploration? Do you speak Italian?
The Italian Space and Astronautics Association (ISAA), a no profit for space outreach I'm on the board of, now runs its own Mastodon instance social.isaa.it (accounts only for board members & collaborators). Follow:
@astronauticast Human-curated news, info, resources.
@astronautibot Bot that posts events, data, images, links.
At @amoroso@social.isaa.it I post in Italian about space & astronomy.
ISAA Mastodon
Istanza Mastodon ufficiale dell'Associazione ISAA APS (Associazione Italiana per l'Astronautica e lo Spazio).Mastodon hosted on social.isaa.it
reshared this
@Luca Sironi @lorenzo :misskey: :xmpp: faccio un quote toot per non intasare il thread di là
sironi.tk/objects/ec185d38-525…
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
like this
reshared this

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 sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/… , except for people with more *bustle* than belly :D
like this
Kermode reshared this.
@StatusSquatter :squat: 🍫 @LaVi 🕊️📚🐈 no, la tasca dei jeans è fatta di una stoffa diversa dal resto dei jeans, perché deve essere di stoffa leggera (per non ingombrare), ma densa (per resistere a tutto quello che si può voler mettere in tasca, tipo i cacciavite). Nella foto è la stoffa più chiara.
La parte più scura è quella che si vede dall'esterno dei jeans, e deve essere fatta della stessa stoffa del resto dei pantaloni (soprattutto per estetica, ma anche per funzionalità, a seconda della stoffa che si sta usando per i pantaloni). Nella foto è la parte nera
Nella parte che rimarrà libera viene cucita alla base di materiale per tasche, gli altri lati vengono imbastiti, ma poi verranno tenuti assieme dalle cuciture del fianco e della cintura, che sono anche ciò che tiene stabilmente attaccata la tasca ai pantaloni.
sewing-patterns.trueelena.org/… <- qui ci sono le istruzioni con le foto passo passo di quel che sto facendo, e magari si capisce meglio come verrà assemblato tutto quanto.
like this
StatusSquatter :squat: 🍫 reshared 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↩︎
like this
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.
Mre. Dartigen [maker mode] likes this.
@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
like this
reshared this
like this
reshared this
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
❄️ freezr ❄️ likes this.
❄️ freezr ❄️ likes this.
I accidentally read my Mastodon instance's front page without logging in, and oh my, it looked a lot like Twitter, sans ads. Here in the fediverse, your experience probably depends even more on who you follow, because there is no algorithm and no paid ads.
My personal advice: If you're optimizing for mental health and happiness, find people who are illuminators and builders. Boost their words and work. You are the best algorithm for sharing goodness in the world.
reshared this
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.↩︎
The Y2K bug is a great illustration that a well-handled potential disaster looks like “nothing happened” in retrospect. The fact that Y2K seemed to be a non-event is a testament to how seriously people took this emergency, and how everyone buckled down and averted a worldwide infrastructure disaster.
I started working at Honeywell Aerospace (AlliedSignal back then) in 1998, and by that time people were already working on Y2K issues. We were in the GPS navigation business, and there were real issues that would have caused aircraft navigation to go awry unless they were fixed.
People buckled down, found the bugs, ran simulations, got FAA sign-offs, and deployed the fixes to all affected aircraft well before Y2K. Thanks to the effort, “nothing happened”. But I assure you (bad) things would have happened if we did nothing. infosec.exchange/@tychotithonu…
clacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 likes this.
reshared this
I had a similar experience. I started work at Cardiff University in 1999. Everyone wasooking at systems there and fixing two-digit year problems. We got it done and, of course, 'nothing happened'.
It was called a 'millennium bug' but really it's a century problem. So I'm wondering if we will have the same problem in 2099/2100.
@'ö-Dzin Tridral 🏴 I would sure hope they were updated to either four-digit years or epoch timestamps, so either they'd have no problem with 2100 or they might fail already in y2k38.
I highly recommend supporting the Standard Ebooks project. 📚
«Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven project that produces new editions of public domain e-books that are lovingly formatted, open source, free of copyright restrictions, and free of cost.»
Donate 👇
standardebooks.org/donate
Please boost 🙏
#standardebook #standardebooks #ebook #ebooks #publicdomain #book #books #reading #epub #standard
reshared this
like this
reshared this
@bookandswordblog my understanding is that this is not really the time when anything Disney has really become free to use, that there are still so many limitations on the use of Mickey Mouse as a character (thanks to trademarks, subsequent restyling, etc.) that they could afford letting the copyright expire (instead of lobbying for another extension) because nothing is really going to change anyway.
I'd love to be proved wrong.
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
Elena ``of Valhalla'' reshared this.
TIL: one of the presidential cars of Italy (not the main one, of course) is an Ape Piaggio.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official…
thanks @Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua for the wikipedia trip that lead me to that page :D
like this
reshared this
TIL: una delle auto presidenziali italiane (ovviamente non la principale) è un Ape Piaggio
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official…
Grazie a @Rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua per avermi spedito in un wikipedia trip che mi ha portato a quella pagina :D
like this
reshared this
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.↩︎
like this
MROWF MROWF
“Uh oh, I know that meow. That’s the COME LOOK WHAT I CAUGHT FOR YOU HOOMAM meow”
“I’ll get the paper towels, you go see what it is”
“Honey, hurry up, it’s a fairy and I think it’s still alive”
“Pity. Good kitty, mama’s full up you can eat it sweetie”
“What? But this is incredible, an actual fairy, who knew they were real”
“Women knew. And cats of course. Little bastards”
“I thought you liked cats?”
“I mean the fairies. Go look at a nineteenth century cemetery and count the gravestones of babies. That’s what happens when you don’t have enough fairy predators”
reshared this
TIL, la campagna sbb.ch/it/campagna/piedi-per-t… con il Berna come testimonial d'ecceziun.
navigando con firefox col preservativo non son riuscita a far partire i video, ma qui ci sono i link diretti su youtube che si possono passare agli strumenti appositi:
youtube.com/watch?v=nmMe_eSbhr…
youtube.com/watch?v=MYVwKHVQ1O…
youtube.com/watch?v=zKrIYim7gl…
per chi non sa, cercare Frontaliers (sempre su youtube)
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
reshared this
NoBeret :verified: Fun Killer reshared this.
mah, ora di quel punto eravamo più indirizzati verso i dolci, per la verità :D
i ditalini in brodo son troppo leggeri :)
(in realtà l'aspettativa vera è che ci saranno abbastanza avanzi per non dover cucinare per una settimana, a meno che parte degli avanzi non venga portata via, nel qual caso tre famiglie non dovranno cucinare per un paio di giorni)
like this
È il mio programma per il 26: molto brodo e molte cipolle, però con un poco di formaggio e crostini.
#SantoStefanoSenzaTroppeMenate
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.
- No matter how good your uplink is, localhost is faster
- Sometimes connectivity is poor or absent (on planes, country-side etc)
- Grep is faster that any search engine
- You can save on battery and metered SIM data
- Debian removes privacy-breaching images, javascript, cookies, ads
- Installed documentation is always at the same version as the language/tool/library
reshared this
Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
reshared this
like this
Oblomov reshared this.
like this
on the plus side, this means that the good ones fit in the container(s) I have, and it wouldn't have fit otherwise.
also thanks to the fact that a few pieces have disappeared between the time when it was baked and the time when I've put them away
I thought that there was a 80-ish kg cat in this house, but there must also be a 80-ish kg mouse :D
Dr Ms Kat likes this.
Elena ``of Valhalla''
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •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.
like this
Katy B. :debian:📚 🥛, Ondiz, giga 🔻, Panormus, ❄️ freezr ❄️, David de Groot, Yaku 🐗, not ready, Rolery, GiudyCorda, DiNessuno, Andrea - Metazoa, Oblomov, Carboanion e The Gib :startrek: like this.
reshared this
Yaku 🐗, Rolery e Oblomov reshared this.
Panormus
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •Yaku 🐗
in reply to Elena ``of Valhalla'' • • •Elena ``of Valhalla'' likes this.
rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua reshared this.