和 敬 西 洋

I passed Fashion 100 but the 101 class won't be available in the evening this fall, and probably not next spring, either.


And yet, here I am online, shopping around the different dress form options out there that are under $150.


Kinda stupid, huh? (And yet I found one that would match my measurements very well...)


I really need to get about ten-basquillion other projects done before I worry about tailor's tools I don't know how to use, y'know? o.O:: (Like the pattern I bought months ago for a variety of yoga items, including a zabuton that should be relatively easy to set up with thicker sides for sitting seiza at Tea. 4-thread overlock, here I come!)


I think I need to just scrounge up the willpower to sit down for two or three hours a week and sew. Track the time, if it's for to-be-sold items, but... just get stuff done. Heaven knows the office would only benefit from chipping away at the piles of fabric. (Which reminds me, part of Thursday's overtime check needs to go into more Big Plastic Bins and a table-top tiered drawer set for serger cones.)

ETA: I got a second wind an hour ago, and now have my fabric sorted in 'to be prewashed' and 'prewashed for [project]' piles. The already prewashed piles are stuffed in bins, labeled, and on the closet top shelf to be pulled down when I plan on using them, rather than sitting out in hopes that I might remember they're there. It's a start, anyway. I still need to work on a few other projects, but at least it's getting somewhere. :) There's more room for my chair, anyway, and now I can see my sewing reference books on their shelf.
. . . Now, I just need to chant 'I will not try to make a 15th century kirtle without a pattern' over and over until it sinks in, because I know I have enough fabric somewhere for it, but no drafting or fitted-garment know-how whatsoever, and that's just a recipe for disaster and wasted fabric. (Not to mention the kind of frustration that means I'll never pick up the project again in the future. I do MUCH better having been step-by-step shown how first.)

Did nothing today, and it was quite nice. (I had originally planned to take part in a study for a friend's masters program, but with the already early-for-Sunday-morning time being bumped up another 45 minutes, we agreed to postpone it until August. I still need to get serger thread from her, though, for coif sewing that needs to be done.)

Other than watching Sky High on Disney channel, then Some Like It Hot on TMC, then various BBC-A and NGC programs (am I the only person who thinks it would be girlish fun to have a trannie boyfriend? We could share makeup tips and we'd probably wind up in the same size of shoes and clothes, really...) I did nothing productive at all.

Still in a rather foul mood, and I wonder if it isn't fighting a bug, because I've had an upset stomach on and off all weekend plus a headache now that I'm wary of taking Benadryl for, because I'll be loopy for the rest of the afternoon. Bah, Humbug, etc etc.


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On a positive FYI - Funashin is a sushi/Japanese restaurant on Brookhurst and... Slater? -- It's in the strip mall behind Claim Jumper. The food is fantastic, and the service staff are pleasant and charming. They passed the scallop sushi test, too - plenty of scallop, not too much mayo (a little more roe might have been nice, but that's probably a matter of preference). The tuna rolls had tuna that was still cold - nothing sits after it's been made, which is A++ in my book. If I ever remember, I'll be hopping on Yelp.com to rate 'em. The udon nabe is enough food for ten people; if you order it, plan on splitting it two or three ways. [My only critique is that they use tap water to make their rice, and the tap water around here is really not good, which means the rice then tastes of the mineral/chlorine content in the water. And if that's the ONLY thing? They're doing pretty darn well.] I'll need to remember to specify 'sencha' instead of 'ocha' next time for tea, though; their standard tea is a black tea, and I prefer green. Seriously, though - good food, good service (that speak Japanese and know about Japanese culture), fresh fish, and while the place is smaller than some restaurants, it's not super-crowded, and it's laid out in a way that makes it feel intimate even when you're sharing a booth wall. Mom loved the food, so we'll be going back there far more often. (Come with us!) Next time, I'm going to order some a la carte sushi and a few appetizer items like the calamari basket and the cucumber salad. (Fish-based nabe does NOT reheat well; the cabbage sours everything. Learn from my experience, O Readers.)

Getting through the SCA laundry - the cloak is washed and dried and just needs to be taken to Ceridwen's for its Lining 101 class (and once the dryer finishes with the green flannel I bought for that purpose some time ago, I'm all set). The other dresses are hung to dry in the garage, the rest put away in the closet.

I managed to draft a basic hood pattern, but I need to add something like 6 inches to the bottom hem width to make it comfortable. Probably 8, and taper much more, as well as add to the finished length. But it's a start, and not too bad for what started as a sketch on notebook paper, then a sketch on muslin, based entirely on a brief inspection of what was probably the only not-sold hood on site Sunday. I still need to tinker with the opening for the face - it's a bit too deep, even for the purpose of retaining warmth. The prototype (made from a polar fleece blanket on hand) turned out all right, though.

Too bad I broke one of the needles on the serger trying a four-piece hat. Whoops. (The hat fits, BTW. Score!) I'll have to fix that before class next Wednesday. (Yey serger class!) If I get these things figured out, I could SO start a cottage industry catering to those caught unawares by weather at events. MUWAHAHAHAHAH!!! I'd probably even bother to charge reasonable prices, though I could only accept cash. No sense investing in a card machine and setup until I have an actual business going. (Though the idea that I could charge the other Tea students for the stuff I'm sent on errands to purchase, and tack on convenience and gas fees, has some merit to it. Hm...)

I also need to not forget to sign up for the intermediate serger class for some time after July. I doubt anyone will bat an eye if I just say it's an appointment that must be kept, since it's a one-day sort of thing. (The question is, do they have advanced classes? Hm....)

So, I cut and edge-finished with the serger a handful of han-eri and a date-eri (started as a han-eri, but the fabric was too darn shiny and the pattern's small enough it would work as just a peep of color, rather than a visible full layer), and used the basting-length stitch on my old machine to tack down a light pink cotton-with-pinker-flower-buds layer to one of my juban. It's the lightest fabric I have for the purpose at the moment, as most of my han-eri selections were made back in December or so. I still have one to cut and interface (keeps the wrinkling down with a layer of lightweight interfacing) that's a VERY Christmas-y pattern of black with gold, red, and green curliques all over. As well as a flannel-like brown cotton that's better suited to autumn.

Which means I should do some careful accounting before Tuesday and see if I can't go snag another 3/8 yard of some lighter, more summer-y fabrics (amybe something gauzy?) to make into more date- and han-eri. And more fusible lightweight interfacing.

This is my practice before I start cutting into my black kimono fabric, primarily because it's good practice for cutting 45"-long straight lines (though the fabric is pinstriped, so it's not THAT hard...), especially as I lack a cutting table or similar expanse of flat surface. (That and I may hold off on the project after all only because it's black polyester and we're hitting the beginnings of summer temperatures. So.)

One more little project I've finally crossed off my list, at least.

Still haven't studied for my midterm tomorrow though. Ah well.

I have money in checking. Like, actual money, that isn't checks waiting to be cleared. My Visa balance is this side of reasonable. I have money in savings. I have learned how to sew pajama pants. I successfully threaded my serger, and only referred to the diagram in the user manual once to find out where the tension problem was coming from. I put on makeup in a way that I don't look so much like a hungover prostitute as a normal twenty-something who has nothing more than a few pimples to hide.


If anyone asks what happened to the KittyBlue they used to know, I have no idea, either. I'm certain this is just a phase of some sort, but I'm liking it.


Oh, I WAS going to take pics of my Samurai Pants, but... Well, I found more fun Japanese fabric in an olive green, and I've been sewing pair #2, where I added 2" to the inseam so I can hem them properly. :D :D :D I still need to figure out how to buttonhole on my old Bernina, because it doesn't have a nifty computer-and-automatic-presser-foot like the ones at OCC, but hey, I got the thread colors right this time, too. [Remember, it's one shade DARKER, not one shade LIGHTER.... D'oh.]


Today has gone well - Mom made beef curry (with a little help from Dave at StaterBros for picking out the meat - L_S, he'd like you to call him about computer issues), and it came out nummers, though I was more than amused by the fact that it was beef curry night and we were watching the Tudors. Ah well. Anachronisms FTW! (And are there any characters besides Katharine of Aragon who actually WEAR underwear in that show?)


Anyhoo. Off to serge the hem edges of the pants so I don't have to fuss with seam finishes later. 'Ta!

Been feeling very un-sexy and un-desirable lately (to all the wrong people, including myself), which is probably why I've spent so damn much on makeup in the last two weeks than I had cumulatively in the last four years. Oy. (On the bright side, it's makeup that looks good on, is easy to apply, and is low-maintenance, and I've found at least a little boost to my self-esteem in taking the time to look good/better than nothing.) I've also had some success with the Neutrogena under-eye stuff I bought today, which is surprising after trying SO MANY under-eye treatments for dark circles that have failed (yes, I'm drinking water; yes, I'm sleeping enough; yes, I'm taking my vitamins - the double-black-eye look is genetic in my case). They don't look NEARLY as bad - the rejected linebacker effect seems to be reduced quite pleasantly.

On the TMI front, I got tired of feeling not only un-sexy in face, but thoroughly in the 'ass-ugly' category of appearance elsewhere, and am now quite thoroughly depilated from the waist down. At least for the next 12 hours. Then it will start growing back, because waxing is too expensive and those removal creams do nothing more than make my hair curl into mini spiral ringlets after 10+ minutes of waiting (and those are the 3-minute formulas, mind). Well, it will be nice for the few hours it lasts. (TMI-FYI - sitting in a tub full of an epsom salt and baking soda solution does wonders for NOT getting ugly bumps everywhere, and takes some of the red out of the lingering bumps from the last time I tried shaving a few months back. Razor burn effin' SUCKS.)

I'm understanding more and more why women go to such ridiculous lengths in plastic surgery - tucks, lifts, etc. I very much want the discretionary dinero to get a boob job and the sides of my thighs taken in. Not to mention a great deal of permanent hair removal.

Ugh. I've gone from 180 to 167 over the course of the last two months, my measurements are once more on the back of most commercial pattern packets, and I STILL feel like an unremarkably drab blob of nothing. I hate it.

And no, I won't go back on any medications, because I'm feeling creatively inspired, and enjoy books, and actually cry at movies, and it is INCREDIBLE how much one can miss that when one is stoned neutral about the world.

In less drab news, I only have a half-grand to go on digging out of the hole. This has been, what, three years now? I can see the end of the tunnel as something with distinct edges and brickwork, and not just a dim light in the distance. I can't fucking WAIT. [Double-plus-good being that because of the economy of the insurance world this year, there may well not be any particular financial bonuses until a few quarters have passed.]

I bought patterns and far too much awesome cotton fabric with cats and Japanese prints on them, and fully intend to have a grand time making pajama pants for school assignments and frilly aprons for fun for myself. (And I'm tempted to make a full-front apron a la the kitchen but adapt the top for Tea. We shall see how this goes.) Soon, I will know how to follow a commercial pattern... and then I can start on the many kimono patterns I've amassed. ONE of them has to work, dammit. I'm tired of envying the petite women of the world for their kitsuke that doesn't have to be specially ordered in plain colors from Japan (and that STILL hasn't arrived, for all it was ordered in December... Grr!).

I need to iron my now-washed fabric and pin the pattern pieces before Monday. I was going to do it today, but ran out of steam at about 4. (I blame the sinus headache du jour, for which I have bought several types of decongestant/antihistamines to try until I find one that works. One of these days, I'll find out what surgery cures the near-constant sinus pressure, and have that done, too. At least insurance would cover that, I would think; quality-of-life procedures are usually covered to some extent.)

I need to start studying again - the INS exam may not be until May, but it's a lot of unfamiliar territory, and I'm used to having lesson plans administered by someone other than myself. Hopefully, the exam won't be TOO difficult. Hopefully.

I feel ridiculously crafty tonight - I not only did a ton of sketching (in class - sssh! I sit in the back for a reason), but I finished my tea vest that's been sitting forever and a day waiting for elastic and straps, and slapped together a second one out of remnants. I don't think the straps on the second are going to work well - it's that plastic webbing stuff, and right now, it's long enough to knot. At some point, I'll work out a better fastening method that my limited sewing skills can handle and that still allows for variations in user sizes.

At least Sensei won't scold me for not having a vest now. ^_^;


I need to make another one, using darts and whatnot so that it lays properly, and once I have that one figured out, use it as a master template to make the ones I have planned (and bought fabric for, no less!).

I also need to try my hand at a Byzantine looking dress, if I can remember how I was shown it was cut out. Erg. I may settle for practicing a simple underdress instead (I'm not sure what to call it, exactly - I think kirtles and cotehardies have lacing, and this is just pullover styling). Either one is good practice that I need. [Note to self - win lottery, buy house with XL craft room and massive cutting table and ironing board. Also, install floor-to-ceiling cabinetry in said room to hold fabric and notions.]

I ought to figure out a sewing icon one of these days. Ah well. Waterhouse's Lady of Shalott at her loom will have to do for now. :) (Leighton's 'Stitching the Standard' would be good, or Penelope and the Suitors, which I think is Waterhouse. Alma Tadema likes the bright blue outdoors, so there's not much of the fiber arts portrayed in his paintings. Lots of flowers and marble, though.)

I'm still awake and feel like sewing, but I don't know WHAT, and I shouldn't start anything if I want to get up in the morning. It's already after midnight. Oy.