#<making myself a costume/sewing tag now

[ender-sheep]

my best friend gave me first pick for her costume birthday party before she sent the list to anyone else knowing i’d take the opportunity to make the most over the top one i could

she was right

i have until early-mid january and i’m leaving for a week or two for christmas

so basically i have like 2-3 weeks total to work on it 😭

[kittwix]

Punk In Luv

Hobie Brown "Spiderpunk" x Fem! Reader

word count: 2,278

tags: first kiss, friends to lovers, please excuse my poor use of british slang i tried, some violence but its not graphic, implication of harassment but nothing happens

You felt cornered. The group of men who had harassed you earlier have followed you and when you decided to make a quick turn down the alleyway, you were only met with a brick wall. Of course this happens to you, just when you thought luck was on your side, you kicked it right back in its ass and now it came to bite you back. It was hopeless, the only thing you could do was hug yourself and shrivel up to the corner of the cold wall as the three men slowly approached you. 

“Why the long face, toots? We ain’t gonna bite.” One of them called out to you, licking his lips as he stared at you like a starved man. 

“Unless you want us too.” Another one of them added, having a similar expression.

You trembled with fear, refusing to even look at any of them. For a moment, you truly did believe this was the end for you and that you would have to spend the rest of your life suffering with whatever these men plan to even do with you. Honestly, you’d hope they would just kill you already, you’ve already dealt with enough stress as it is, perhaps this could be the nail in the coffin to finally seal in your fate. In that moment, trapped with your own melodramatic thoughts and impulses, you heard a voice from above. 

“Now, is that really a way to talk to a woman?” 

You quickly looked up and so did the group of men. Your eyes widened at the sight of a man wearing latex, a web-like pattern sewed into the material and he wore a denim jacket over his shoulders along with ripped jeans and long sneakers that reached up to his knees with laces looped and tied together tightly. What stood out to you the most from his bizarre appearance were the notable spikes on his head and the way he was casually standing on the wall. 

All your racing thoughts finally came back together and you concluded that you were familiar with this guy. You’ve seen him before actually, the Spider-Men or Spider-Punk is also how people have recognized the hero. He was a big deal actually, this town was known to be a big shitshow with everybody going on with their own miserable day to day life and how big the crime rate was and how terribly the prime minister was. 

This city needed a change, a big one at that and coincidentally came along the Spider-Punk and how he manages to save the day and rescue civilians from harm, all while carrying that guitar of his and strumming it loudly that’ll blow away anybody’s eardrums. Yeah, you were familiar with him all right and you were relieved to see him here. The group of men that had followed you all glared at the vigilante, glaring and scoffing at the words coming out of the masked man. 

“Who the hell do you think you are, punk .” One of them spat and this only granted for Spider-Punk to click his tongue in annoyance, shoving his hands inside the pockets of the denim jacket he wore as he slowly walked down the wall before kicking his feet off and expertly landing a quick front flip as his feet planted flat on the concrete floor. 

“I should be the one askin’ you that same question.” He responded back. “You think I'm really just gonna let a couple of narcissistic pigs like you get away scotch free?”

“Heh, you really think we’re scared of a punk like you?” One of them spat back. 

“More like a Spider-Punk, nice costume, freak!” The three of them laughed together and you could only watch in fear at how the web hero stood there, acting unbothered by their comments. 

“And what of it? Nice, Innit? Customize it myself and all.” The hero boasted, showing off his costume. “I think you should worry more about how I'll knock the three of you out and watch you do your bird for harassment, yeah?” 

“Oh piss off, Spider-Punk!” The group of men grind their teeth together at the insults being thrown at them, not taking too kindly of how they were being told off by this guy. Just from their reaction alone granted a small chuckle from Spider-Punk and you swore you saw the way his eyes squinted in amusement but those thoughts were soon caught off by the way he reached over to grip the handle of his guitar that rested on his back. 

“Nah, mate. And for the record,” He trailed off, extending an arm as he shot a web at one of the men’s faces before quickly jogging past the other two and knocking them out with a punch and a swing of his guitar. “Don’t call me, Spider-Punk. ” 

It was like in a blink of an eye, those men that preyed on you were now injured on the floor as they rolled around in pain. One of them was knocked out cold and you feared that the spider hero had actually killed one of them, though it didn’t really seem like he cared and now he was standing in front of you with a somewhat curious look despite wearing a mask. It definitely caught you off guard now meeting your hero face to face like this, just a few seconds ago he was already throwing punches at their jaws. You didn’t realize just how tall and lanky he was as well, though you were still able to make up all the muscles around his body and especially by his chest to which you didn’t want to stare at for too long as not to make a rude impression. 

“Bit rude to stare, Innit?” He teased, his accent was thick but there was some real charm to it that made you smile warmly. “You alright?” 

“Huh? Oh.. Yes, I’m fine!” You blurted out almost in an instant, prompting Spider-Punk to let out a low chuckle at your mannerisms. You were certainly an oddball but so was he, he hates normality and would do anything but follow what the rules and norms of society were. “You saved me.. How can I ever repay you? Really, I owe you one! Is it money? What abo–” 

Your sentence was caught off at the way he reached up to grab his mask and pulled the latex off of his head, revealing his face to you at once. You gawked at the way his wicks perfectly sculpted his face, how his brown skin glistened underneath the moonlight and the silver piercings on his lip, nose and eyebrows made him all the more cool. If he weren’t a hero, you would’ve guessed that his daytime job would be modeling just by how gorgeous he was to look at. By your reaction alone made him smirk a bit as he lowered his hand that still held the mask he was once wearing.

“Maybe seeing a familiar face would make you feel less worried now.” He said before turning around to make his leave. Before you could even stop him, he swung away and you stood there dumbfounded by what had just happened. One thing was known for sure and it was that you wanted to see him again, no matter how long it takes.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You have come to figure out that the beautiful web-slinging hero who you keep running into and he keeps on saving you was named Hobart “Hobie” Brown. For the past few weeks, the two of you had hit it off greatly which resulted with you having to see him more often and you got to know each other pretty well. You learned about his extreme philosophy of being anti everything and it was admirable about how much he cares, especially in a broken city like the one they live in now needing a desperate change. Not only that but he was very humorous as well, cracking jokes and making smart remarks here and there that made you want to poke at his side and pinch at his cheeks. It was crazy just how fast the two of you quickly became friends, but of course you’d expect your feelings to be just as confused about where you stand with him. Of course you consider him a friend, you depended on him so many times for not only saving your ass but also giving you a place to stay and suggesting helpful advice that may or may not be aligned with his own beliefs. Though, you still appreciated his efforts. 

Just now, you were sitting around in your bedroom as you had invited him over and he brought his electric guitar along with him as well. He was sitting by the edge of your bed, tuning his guitar a bit as you ranted about a show you had just gotten into recently. It wasn’t anything crazy, just a very dramatic slice of life kind of show that left you on the edge of your seat after every single episode. What you had failed to notice, however, was a little smirk on his face as he heard you go on and on about the series.

“God, it was like a plot twist that I didn’t expect to happen!” You continued, it was almost like your eyes sparkled every time you talked with him, though it might also be the reflection of the light in your room too. Hobie chuckled at this before shrugging his shoulders at this.

“And what? Is that where the season ends or something?” He asked and you could only nod your head at this frantically. 

You were about to say something else until you heard Hobie’s watch go off and this made you wanna tilt your head to the side in confusion. You’ve recently started to notice that damn watch that he now has around his wrist that seems to go off from time to time and he always has to leave after hearing it go off. To say it upsets you would be a bit of an understatement, it always happens at random and you don’t even get a final word in before he’s already out the window wishing you a goodbye. You were well aware that he was Spider-Man and that he gets busy from time to time but it still made you feel just a bit disappointed when you’re having such a good time until he needed to leave.

Hobie got up from your bed and stretched his limbs out for a bit, turning his head to look at you and he always had that serious look on his face but everytime his eyes fell on you he couldn’t help but feel himself softened just a bit. He took a few steps towards you before having a hand cup your face a bit as he forced you to look up at him in the eyes.

“You know I’m a bit busy but I’ll always come back, Luv.” He spoke, already feeling how warm your cheeks had gotten and he stifled back a chuckle from even noticing. “Hero’s duties, get what I mean?”

“I thought you hated labels.. And you hate being called a hero.” You teased back with a playful pout and he laughed at this dryly before giving your head a little pat before opening your bedroom window and pulled his mask out from his other pocket as he slipped it over his head. 

“I don’t believe in consistency.” He said before jumping out the window and swung himself from the roof of your house. Your eyes widened, already scrambling to get out of your bed as you poked your head out and turned to see him still standing on your roof looking cool as ever. You gave him a little glare, a bit offended that he was already gone without saying goodbye.

“Hey!” You called out to him, to which he leaned him back and started hanging from your roof upside down. Even with the mask on, you could tell he was smirking underneath it. “You forgot something.” 

You could tell he was a little confused by this and before he could even say anything, you acted quick and reached to pull his mask down enough to where you could only see his lips and nose. Without giving yourself a second thought, you leaned in to press your lips against his own pierced ones, making sure to cup his cheek before pulling away. You could tell he was stunned by this, by the way his lips stayed parted when you pulled away and how his body was damn near frozen in place.

“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while now, I like you a lot.” You spoke again. “Please come back soon to visit me, I just want it to be the two of us.” 

“Damn, Luv. Since when were you this poised?” He chuckled before tugging at his mask to cover himself up again. “I dig it, you really are just free-spirited and do whatever that's on your mind. I knew you were an anarchist the whole time.” 

And with that he gave you one last kiss on your cheek through the mask before swinging away to do his own thing. Your heart was still beating fast and your ears were ringing and you could practically feel yourself wanting to melt from how utterly charming he was. Even the little pet name he gave you really made your stomach do backflips as you hugged yourself and smiled like an idiot all alone in your room now. You couldn’t wait to see him again.

♡

+ back to masterlist

[unityrain24]

Saw your tags about Star Wars, it seems Star Wars stans and modern MCU stans are two peas in a pod. :/

im not entirely sure which tags you were referring to, because i have reblogged several starwars posts with Tags, but honestly, the mcu and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And im honestly surprised there isnt more comradery/comparing between the fandoms

both started out as, while definitely not "high art" or anything, legitimately good enjoyable films, with relatable characters the audience could feel empathy and compassion for, exciting new powers and places, fun and adventurous stories, and more, which instantly became beloved classic that people thought about with nostalgia and pleasantness. And they were and by people who cared and the people who watched them were compelled to care and create communities.

But then both franchises saw a shift, from making films from a passionate and moneymaking point of view, to purely making films from a moneymaking point of view. While star wars saw this happen with the franchise being picked up a few years after to make sequels, the mcu's shift happened more gradually, since there was no time in-between making movies.

now, while i would not consider myself a StarWars Fan, my sister and cousins most definitely were, so i had to watch basically everything in order to keep a conversation with them (not that i didnt enjoy it, i quite liked it and all the lore, it just didnt hold the special place in my heart that thing i consider myself a Fan of do). I've watched the movies, the clone wars series, rebels, the mandalorian, etc all the way through. It's been a while since i was keeping up with everything, so forgive me for not having quite a comprehensive understanding and opions of it as i did say, 3-4 years ago lol.

But the starwars sequels are a lot like the latest phases of the mcu. While i cant remember if they explicitly go against any prestablished canon like the later mcu phases do, they definitely go against the spirit and point/purpose of the original (and even prequel) films.From what i remember, the sequels also had went through several different directers and had direction and script changes and was a whole mess, so even the three films were sort of inconsistent or at the very leat felt oddly-thrown together (<-i may be wrong on the specifics of that its been a while. but it was something along those lines). Also like the later phases of the mcu, they relied a lot on the "nostalgia factor" with not only easter eggs but bringing back old ideas, concepts, plots, even characters, since it "worked so well the first time," when really what the "first time" did was think of new things, present old things in new ways, and tell make art from a place of passion, community, and connection, rather than a "whats the least i can do to make the most money" mindset formula (a point brought up a lot by @therese-lokidottir on many of their recent mcu critiques).

Starwars, unlike the mc, did have a brief period of "redemption" where it looked like the franchise would be saved and given back to the hands of people passionate about starwars, stoytelling, and film, with stuff like the final season of clonewars, the mandalorian, and a few other things. That was a great time to be a starwars fan. I wasn't even a fan, and it was kind of magical for me. But now it seems like they are back of the capitalist art-destroying path, hard. They have been pumping out series after series after series (once again going for the "nostalgia" thing, bringing back the clonewars artstyle, several beloved characters, and more), but it all feels so hollow. The stories feel more like they are just putting in a whole bunch of "wow, thats so shocking" and sewing them together with "hey i loved that character!". The costuming and makeup is absolute trash. The worst by far is hera (an alien character from the animated Rebels series, showing up live-action in Ahsoka). It is hideous. I have seen cosplays of her better than what the actual multi-bullion-dollar corpoation disney with all the best resources put on that screen. The costume looked like it was from spirit halloween, the makeup looked patchy and strange, they left out simple details of her design, and all the colours were Off. Examples:

Hera in Rebels:

Hera Cosplayers (x and x):

Hera in the Ahsoka Series: (it is like. seriously disconcerting to me)

and again, the costuming was not the most pressing point. Its actually relatively low on the list of points of everything bad with current starwars. But its good for a visual example. My sister and my cousins loved starwars. Passionate. Ahsoka was one of my sister's favourite characters. She couldnt even get though a full episode of ashoka. I havent heard anything new of starwars from our cousins, either. And we see eachother relatively often. I havent watched a new starwars thing in like... forever now. And it seems like neither have they. And not because they got sick of starwas, i can tell you that. They got sick of the new starwars being pumped out and shoved down their throats where the only things that resembled what they had loved were twisted into something else. Which, at least in my experience, is far, far worse than if they just ended things ubruptly and unfairly. At least mutilated corpse can rest.

The mcu's decline was, again, more gradual, like boiling a frog. Thor ragnarok is where i would probably pinpoint the beginnings though. I didn't like it at first, because it was out of character, sort of reversed elements of the character's well-developing character arcs , narratively picked on some characters more than others, etc. But, it was still a well-beloved film by many, in-universe explanations for why the characters, arcs, and plots were so different could be plausibly thought up, it was fun and unique, and i could make myself ignore the bad parts and focus on the good and enjoy it for a while. But by the time the loki series came out? There wasnt even any of that anymore. No passion. No community. No love of art. No respect for the previous artists and their art, that the new makers were supposed to honour and continue. While ragnarok's morals of the story could be a little iffy at times (attempting to critique colonialism/imperialism, but falling flat because mocking loki for dismantling it; making jokes at points of the film where it was a little inappropriate), the loki series was straight up horrifying. Perhaps most noteably, fucking. GLORIFYING AND EXCUSING/SYMPATHIZING FASCISM??? and labeling genocide as a "necessary evil?" (though, once again, that was not the only immoral "moral" the series preached). Disgusting. And the MCU is pumping out way more films than starwars, and seem far deeper in the money-lust trenches too.

either way, both are suffering and both are bought by disney (and oddly, both keep giving more and more screentime to the fascist characters. but at least starwars isnt romanticizing it like the mcu is...)

and it hurts so much when something important to you is taken from you, and twisted, and ruined, and its mutilated corpse is hung up on string and paraded around as a puppet before your eyes, and burned into your mind even when you finally tear yourself away. And then swarms of people thinking your ridiculous for caring so much about something so unimportant, and others defending the very monstrosity that did this.

But its not ridiculous or silly or inferior to be attatched to a fictional character or fictional world or fictional story or whatever. They can provide comfort, and ways to explore and understand and even come to terms with yourself (or even others!) (and can be especially important coping mechanism for mentally ill people!). And art is a such an innately human thing, for us to express ourselves, and communal art (like film!) is a tradition across humanity and time!

And with the whole thing with people these days defending/denying what capitalism is doing to art, and denying the notion that art has any influence or effect on "real life"... why are these such absurd concept to you, that you liken to some crazy conspiracy theory? Are you really so blind as to not see it happening before you? Is the blindfold over your eyes really so soft it feels like nothing there? They say a bird who doesnt know its in a cage thinks its free. These people seem to think that drastic, unfair, unjust, immoral, inequal changes and systems are only things of the past. And often, the past doesnt feel real. Dinosaurs and the roman empire and some genocide in some faraway land in some faraway time can at times seem just as unreal as mythical creatures and stories. And even if such terrible things were to happen now, surely theyd be able to see it coming. But things like this dont change in an instant. They are gradual. Like boiling a frog. You dont notice. And even if things arent the worst they can be, and never become the worst they can be, they are still bad. Things arent required to be certified the worst of worst in order for change to be allowed to happen. The worst of the worst isnt even a thing.

Our art is being taken from us. We are being overworked and underpayed. Our whole lives are dictated by how "valuable" we are. Our environments are being polluted and decimated and our planet is becoming more and more inhospitable. Racism and queerphobia and ableism and more are taking lives. And none of those things are at the very worst they can be. They could all be much, much, much worse. But we shouldnt just sit around and be grateful its not worse and do nothing more, nor should we deny anything is wrong at all. If you had cancer youd want to do what you could to get better. If you If broke your leg youd do what you could to make it better. Even if you just accidentally cut your hand or finger while chopping vegetables, youd bandages it up. We always should try to make things better.

We deserve to have our art continue to be art. Just as we deserve all the much more pressing areas of our lives to be better too

Anyways, marvel and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And that pod is with other pods, and the plant those pods share is film. Or perhaps even art as a whole. The mcu and starwars are just really good examples of whats happening right now, because not only does it feel like perhaps its hitting them the most, but also because since they are such large franchises, you can really see and document the progression of whats happening with each instalment.

two peas in a pod :( <3

[amimere]

costumizing my my braces: part the third

(part 1 here, part 2 here)

so, there has been a little while since i last got to work on the braces, they are however now functional because i finished all the stitching!

first things first it turned out that when i ironed on the htv i also managed to iron shut the little pocket that holds the metal piece, yknow the thing kinda essential to the support of the braces....

now, on the right hand brace that was fine, the design sits on top of the hand and the metal support is on the inside of the wrist. on the left hand however, the design is Also on the inside of the wrist. so i had to make a new little pocket.

[ID in ALT]

its very simple, just some scrap with the ends turned in and folded so i can get the support piece in without it sliding out when in use. to save myself on bulk (and work) i just zig-zagged the edges shut, and then i whip stitched the pocket into the brace.

next up was the decorative stitches keeping the little flap on the inside of each brace down, green and purple cross stitches on the right, gray backstiches with red whipped(?) details on the left.

[ID in ALT]

my hand stitches are usually more even than this i swear, but the material + needing to make sure i catch the flap made it hard to be exact. plus; its punk, not perfect right?

as for the velcro parts i decided to sew them on by machine because i know ill need to replace them at some point ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

thats it for this time, next is the final decorations (post linked here when its up, or just check the "operation make the braces not suck" tag on my blog) and then ill try to get some good pictures of the finished braces!

[samwisethestitch]

Research for a Tudor-Inspired Ren Faire Costume

I've been going to renaissance festivals since I was a literal toddler, and for as long as I can remember, I've coveted those beautiful, elaborate Tudor gowns. I love them. I love the shape of them, I love the tiny details, I love the patterned fabrics. I love the way they move. And now that I'm an adult with adult money, I want to own one.

Unfortunately, finding a Tudor-inspired costume as a plus sized person has been... more frustrating than I'd like. Everything I've found in my size is either very cheaply made and looks Halloween costume-y, has a four-digit price tag, or doesn't have the silhouette and overall look of what I want. So, like any sane person with ADHD and a passion for reading history papers, I decided to learn to make my own.

This is by far the biggest sewing project I've ever attempted, but I do theoretically have the skills. I'm also not aiming for 100% accuracy -- I'm perfectly willing to "cheat" by using a sewing machine and other modern hacks. I'm also absolutely willing to use non-period fabrics and dyes. What I want is the iconic silhouette of a classic "Anne Boleyn gown" and hood, but aside from that I'm pretty flexible. After all, I'm wearing this to a renaissance festival, not a reenactment event.

But since my main inspiration is Tudor English fashion, I decided to start by familiarizing myself with that era of fashion history. For this, I bought a copy of The Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila and Jane Malcolm-Davies, a book which looks at both Henrician and Elizabethan fashion.

The Tudor Tailor was really helpful. It includes patterns for most basic Tudor garments, and goes into a lot of detail about how social class was connected to and displayed by clothing. Besides the patterns, I love the two-page chart that shows all the different fabrics available in 16th century England, ranked by how expensive they were -- so if you're planning a costume, you can choose fabrics based on the social class you want to portray. There's also good information about the dyes that were widely used in this period, but like I said, I'm not super concerned about period-accurate colors for this project.

From my research, I learned that the garment I want is called a French Gown, and that it was in fact popularized by Queen Anne Boleyn, although they stayed fashionable after her death. I'll be making a French Hood to go with it, and probably some period undergarments to get that very distinctive Henrician Tudor shape.

[junewild]

as a living history interpreter who also makes their own historical 'fits and obsesses over the accuracy... please elaborate on your tags on that post

oh hello fellow living history interpreter!! You've activated my trap card (asked about the overlap of many special interests) and I am going to find out if tumblr has a word limit the old-fashioned way!

I did interp very actively for about a decade as a youth & then more sporadically in the, uh, decade since then. Mostly 1820s–1930s. I have a to-die-for late '20s outfit sitting in my closet right now. (I did not make it. but I do have a project to make one like it, and it will only cost $450 and a couple hundred hours of work!) I worked in the costume department at my history site for some eighteen years, on and off, and so I've made a loooot of costume pieces, but only about two full period costume outfits. I don't have pictures of either of them, but here's a picture of me and my sister in an outfit that the department head made for me custom! (I would die for her. it's her fault that I got a master's in public history!)

I haven't made historically correct garb since last year, but some dear friends of mine had a wedding in February where the theme was "Medieval" (read: Ren-faire) and I... kinda... lost my mind about it, tbh?

Now: I did not create a historically accurate 16th century women's peasant outfit, although that was my first idea. (I'm sorry. I'm working on one right now tho) I decided to lean more Faire than SCA, since that's the background the Lich is from (he's actually getting into the circuit again this year!). I had about two months and a fairly small budget, so I started with a few yards of muslin and linen in blue and white (winter wedding! :)) I was originally going to refurbish a pretty yellow-cream-colored costume overbust corset into a more period corset, so the colors would all look good together.

I decided to go patternless for a couple of reasons. 1. no easy access to printer. 2. I hate myself. 3. my dear head costumer is the kind of person who can look at you and then make you a piece of clothing and it fits you like butter, and I want to be her someday. 4. I hate myself. So I looked at a lot of pictures of historical garb and faire garb and drew a lot of sketches and screamed into a pillow a lot and then started cutting things out and pinning them.

Pictured: (very short) pin test for a chemise, done in muslin so I don't fuck up any of the expensive linen / the pin test but it's sewed now (and bad) (also I ditched the corset refurbishment and bought a French Meadows corset for my Christmas present because I've always wanted one. the only thing I didn't make. but it's only a matter of time. I have a lot of boning bookmarked.)

Having learned a bunch of lessons about what doesn't work, I then made the actual linen chemise. And then a petticoat (not pictured). And then a skirt. All hand-sewn, all based on nothing except for looking at pictures and taking my measurements over and over again. (AUGH.)

Then I got about halfway through sewing a cloak and went... okay, I don't want to wear a white chemise to a wedding (feels rude) and white and blue are not even my usual color palette, even though they look really pretty with this corset. And then I looked at the calendar, which said that the wedding was happening in two (2) weeks. And then I bought linen in black and red. And while I waited for it to arrive, I finished the cloak and made a muff and embroidered a tie-on pocket. And when the linen arrived, I repeated the process really fast.

Pictured: first finished skirt fitting, 2 days before leaving for the wedding. Not pictured: the internal screaming and despair. If you look carefully, you can see that I figured out a MUCH smarter way to do the neckline/sleeves/waist on the black chemise than I had thought to do on the white one. I can actually raise my arms!!

Worth it.

And I wore the blue-and-white outfit to Faire this month, where it worked very well as a lighter and cooler version!

Neither of these are particularly good, tbh! I made a lot of dumb mistakes and figured out some much better things I could have done in hindsight! But for baby's very first patternless historical-ish outfits, made with nobody holding my hand or even giving me advice, I'm okay with them. I learned a hell of a lot and had a hell of a time and looked hella good at the end of it all. Sew it goes.

[csleko]

Boba Fett Cosplay (COMPLETE)

The "unrelated and more time sensitive project" I mentioned at the end of my Kinect tale? It was finishing this cosplay so I could wear it for the first time to Duke City Comic Con. I was actually almost considering not going because I found out about it on kind of short notice, and I didn't know if I really wanted to go by myself, but I mentioned it to my mom and she asked if she could go with me just for the heck of it.

So now that the project had a deadline, I could actually finish the damn thing!

If you've been following my #cosplay tags, you might notice that this armor is, in fact, not the worbla-covered foam version I previously posted. This is version *3* of the armor, and it is 3D-printed like every other solid piece of the costume. I just yanked the lights off the version 2 armor and stuck 'em on this one. The shoulder armor and belt buckle I modeled and printed myself, and my mom proved indispensable yet again by volunteering her vastly superior sewing skills to turn this jacket from Goodwill into the armor vest.

She also pulled out all the of insulation, and sewed some elastic loops inside it to hold little ice packs to help keep me from dying of heatstroke. Because it turns out the most unbelievable thing in the entire new Star Wars canon is that Boba didn't drop dead running around in heavy black clothes on a desert planet with two suns.

So yeah! Have a few more pics from the con, and then I'll go on a long rant about all the problems I discovered after wearing this getup for 4 or five hours.

The con had a rule about realistic weapons that was just vague enough that I didn't feel 100% comfortable bringing my EE-3. A little disappointing because it stands as one of the best props I've ever printed and painted. (See my post about that here!) But the guys running this prop booth had one of their own and called me over to pose with theirs. Interestingly, it felt just about as heavy as mine, so I could make a pretty good guess what their props are made of.

Gamora wanted a picture with me because, and I quote, "We're both green!" Mighty Thor went on to win the costume contest. (I didn't even place.)

"Hmm. Reminds me of that droid that was always following Solo around."

"Should've asked Mr. Hammond if he could clone a Mythosaur for me."

OKAY. NOW TO GO OVER ALL THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS COSTUME.

The gauntlets. Are too. DAMN. SMALL. When I first printed them on my resin printer, I had to either cut them into pieces or scale them down to get them to fit. I determined that scaling them down would be the better option because I have skinny noodle arms and the smaller gauntlets would still fit. When I reprinted them, I still scaled them down because 1, I thought they would fit better anyway, and 2, being smaller meant they would print faster. Turns out the scaled down versions are VERY tight and the hard edges kept me from moving my wrists, and dug into my hands the whole time I was wearing them. I had little bruises from that for the next couple days. When/if I remake these, I will print them at full size and maybe add foam or something to keep them from slipping around.

Get better at sewing. I sewed velcro patches into the shoulders of the vest to attach the shoulder armor pieces to and keep them from sliding down my arms, but one of them still came detached somehow so I kept having to adjust that shoulder. Also, I thought that I could get away with not sewing on the velcro for the chest diamond because it was small and the sticky pad could just hold it on. NOT SO. It kept falling off no matter how hard I pressed the sticky side onto the vest. Should've just taken the five minutes to do a quick and crappy stitch on it. All the other velcro pieces held just fine.

I also should've just found a real belt to use. This fake leather material apparently stretches easily, so it started to sag throughout the day. It's also why I couldn't hang the holster on it (which you can't even see in any of these pictures, but I hung it on the real belt I wore with my pants.)

As a famous Stormtrooper once said: "I can't see a thing in this helmet!" My visor fogs up after having it on for just a few minutes, and it gets unbearably hot inside that thing. That space inside the helmet to install an "optional" fan system? NOT REALLY OPTIONAL, unless you enjoy slowly boiling to death in your own sweat. Also the antenna keeps falling down, so I could probably stick a small piece of foam in there to hold it in place better.

And that's that. This 2 year project is concluded! I'll probably keep working on little bits here and there to iron out the kinks, but this is most likely the last big Tumblr-worthy update. I don't know for sure what my next big project will be, but I have some ideas.

If anyone wants links to the 3D printed parts I used to make this costume, here's the list!

Helmet: AprilStorm -

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4587505

Hand Guards: DeAdMaNWaLkIn -

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4901836

Knee Armor: DJJamesDub -

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4822653

Gauntlets: Camburu -

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4903763

Belt Bullets: BH1138 -

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3198489

Belt Buckle: Me! -

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5539506

Shoulder Armor: Also me! -

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6071489

[aliceat97point3]

Get to know me

I was tagged by @sherlock-is-ace (virtual hugs) thanks dude!

Last song you listened to Probably First Time by Hozier from his latest album. Very bittersweet about love, loss and mortality. Perfect fic writing music for me.

Last film watched Monstrous it was okay almost exactly my kind of movie but too many clues to the twist untwisted the ending for me.

Currently reading the Hobbit for a personal reading challenge. I haven't read many classic books. Wanna see what people like about them.

Currently watching Criminal Minds, revisiting a tweenage favorite. The best episodes are the absurd ones. The ones closest to reality are really depressing and I skip them. Also cow hoof trimming videos.

Currently consuming extra strength ibuprofen baby 😜.

Are you named after anyone Yes actually, one of my middle names is from my mom's favorite musical group Sweet Honey in the Rock.

When was the last time you cried I haven't the frogiest. Probably while I was working on a scene. I kinda play the parts in my head and I love it when characters cry.

Do you have kids not now but I want to foster someday.

Do you play sports or have you played sports No but I kinda wish I had as a kid seems like a good way to bond with people but I'm not very competitive so not sure if it would've worked.

Do you use sarcasm Sarcasm? Me? Never! /s (yeah all the time once I'm comfortable with people)

What's the first thing people notice about you physically: black and chubby. Personality: quiet but awkwardly trying to be friendly.

Eye color medium brown

Scary movies or happy endings Both please! Scary movies with Happy endings.

Any talents People say I'm a good at being funny and doing skits. Mom says I'm psychic but I think it's just anxiety.

Where were you born East coast of USA. Hope I can go visit soon. All our family is there.

Hobbies too fucking many. I love making things. Sewing (costumes, clothes, stuffies)knitting, crochet, painting, drawing, book binding, making props to go with costumes. I forbid myself to start any new hobbies I need to buy stuff for.

Have any pets I wish but don't have the room or the budget (unless I get snails 🤔)

How tall are you 5 feet 6 inches

Favorite subject in school history and science

Dream job right now Costume Maker for a theater company. But it changes all the time.

Tagging @undergroundbear @nevermindirah @onyxbird @bowieboosh @dude-watchin-with-the-brontes join in if you want

[maple-writes]

WHG 20 - The Chariots

WHG tag list: @concealeddarkness13 @ratracechronicler @pen-of-roses @grailfish @forthesanityofsome @pied-piper-of-hamlet (let me know if I forgot anyone! and no pressure_

--

The escort had to shake me awake when we got to the Capitol. “Wake up, we’re here!”

I sat up, still on the couch. How long had it been since leaving home? Since the dealings with the god inside Ares? I rubbed at my eyes and groaned at the ache in my muscles as I hauled myself to my feet. My head spun as dizziness swirled in my head. I stumbled and the escort caught me by my arm, shimmering glitter covering my shirt as soon as he did.

“Steady steady!” He held onto me a moment longer until I got my balance again. “Follow me, your friend’s already out there.”

Oh, really? I followed him without thinking. My shoulders ached and I reached over to try and massage the stiffness out, not sure if it was from sleeping on an expensive couch, the exorcism, the stress of yesterday, or maybe it was all of it. My stomach growled. How long had I been asleep?

Chatter and noise caught my attention as my escort escorted me out of the train and into a huge, hangar like spaced filled with tributes and stylists and make up and costumes. I stopped, stunned in the doorway. Colours everywhere, bright and glaring against the grey walls the grey floors. Noise and clatter from tools and sewing set ups and teams laughing and cheering over a successful job.

My escort nudged me along. “Most teams are already finishing up. Sorry I didn’t realize you were still sleeping back there but when they told me you weren’t here I knew I had to come find you. Didn’t want you missing out and all.”

He led me out of the train, weaving between groups crowded around unsuspecting tributes, several of them in the stages of arguing, struggling, or otherwise resisting anything their teams tried to do to them. Looking at some of the outfits they were presented with I couldn’t blame them.

The escort presented me to an overdressed team with a wave of his hand. “Here he is! He’s all yours.”

“About time!” The tallest, or maybe just the one with the tallest hat, pulled me forward by my arm. “Come on sit down we have a lot of catching up to do.”

She sat me down on a tall stool and stepped back, face scrunching as she looked me over. The escort vanished off somewhere and one of the styling assistants picked at a strand of my hair. I swallowed and kept still. It wouldn’t do me any good to fight with them about this, and my head still moved slow from sleep.

“You know what, I think we might be able to pull this off.” The head stylist waved to one of her assistants. “Might not even have to chance the colour schemes all that much, maybe just the sleeves.” She turned back to me, grinning. Her canine teeth were all dyed bright pink. “Sounds like our other team had some trouble with your partner so we were worried we’d have to overhaul our side too.”

“What kind of trouble?” I sat up taller, craning to see if I could spot her in the sea of tributes and teams but couldn’t spot her. “Is she okay?”

The stylist shrugged and started gathering her materials. “Well, physically. She’s awfully defiant though. Might be something wrong with her that way.” She clapped her hands together. “Now usually I like to spend more time but with the late start we’re going to have to work pretty fast.”

She and her team jumped straight to work, pouncing on me and their make up and supplies as they had me change from my clothes to theirs. They styled my hair, dyed the front strands a bright fiery orange, trimmed rough edges, rubbed expensive foundation into my face, darkened my eyelids, painted my nails a shimmering black. They dressed me in a tight dark shoulder-less shirt and pants, with some kind of orange and yellow netting running up and down my sleeves, and a thick, shiny leather falconer’s glove with orange stitching on my right hand.

“Sorry, no time for a grand reveal,” The stylist gently shoved me towards the waiting chariots. “Show’s about to start, off you go.”

I stumbled at the push, then wandered stiffly towards the first chariot. The pants were tight on my legs, restricting the movement and making it feel like I was walking with stilts instead of legs. Ares was nowhere to be seen yet as I leaned against the side of the shining chariot. Maybe it wasn’t just the peacekeepers that didn’t like her if she gave trouble to anyone who tried to control her.

Most other tributes were already here and waiting, clustered around their chariots. Most looked out of place. Even without knowing them, almost none of them seemed to be dressed in a way that was anything near natural to them. Except for one. A tall woman with a large-brimmed hat and a long coat stood talking with a man who didn’t look like he had decided yet if he wanted anything to do with her. Right. There was something to making an impression with the others, wasn’t there? I bit at the inside of my cheek. I’d have to decide how I wanted to come off, wouldn’t I? Was there merit to being friendly, or would it be better to come off as a threat?

Ares stormed over, slumping against the chariot beside me hard enough it rocked a moment before stilling. “They figured out I don’t exactly have magic anymore.”

“Already?” I frowned. That was fast. Then again, I hadn’t seen her here while everyone else was getting prepared. Maybe they’d taken her somewhere else, somewhere with a specialist.

“Yeah, they said I had to be a phoenix for the costume, and I refused because I didn’t want to, but they tried to force me to transform, so when that didn’t work, they figured it out.”

I frowned, glancing down at my glove. They wanted to make her out as my bird? They wanted to present her as something that I commanded? I’d heard of situations before where one tribute was presented as the better of the two, the more capable, at the expense of showing the other as weak, as lesser. I swallowed, unease rippling through my gut. Why me? What was going on that I would be slated as the powerful one?

“I…” I frowned deeper, looking her up and down. “I’m not sure they know what birds look like.” They hadn’t even done a good job on her. Was that intentional?

She smiled though. “I wouldn’t stay still for them to actually make me look like a bird.”

“Oh.” I nodded. “That… Makes sense.” I probably should have thought of that first.

A lull fell between us and I eyed the chariot, fidgeting at the cuff of my sleeve sewn tight enough my hand was starting to tingle. Each was tall, with large wheels and not a lot of standing room. “Do you think anyone ever falls off of these?’

Ares shrugged. “I’ll keep you steady. But probably not. Knowing the Capitol, they make some way to keep tributes from doing that.”

“That’s good.” My shoulders fell, relaxed just a little. Maybe I had managed to make one ally at least, if she was so quickly willing to offer me help. “I don’t have particularly good balance.”

“I learned good balance, so I’ll keep you steady.” She smiled. “Showing camaraderie would confuse the Capitol anyway.”

Camaraderie? She must have considered me someone to trust, someone she would side with then. Even if it was only to spite the Capitol having her on my side eased some of the nerves coiling through my body.

I smiled. “It sure would, having the bird direct the,” I raised my hand, air quoting, “falconer.”

The less I had to play into their manufactured imbalance, the better.

“They wanted me in a cage, but I think this works better, don’t you?”

I nodded, laughing a little despite the pounding of my heart as the doors opened at the end of the hall. “I don’t think I could have held a cage up that long anyway.”

“Good I wouldn’t have let you.” She clapped my back hard enough I stumbled, surprised, as she jumped up onto the chariot and offered me a hand up.

I took it gladly, gripping the railings with my gloved hand to haul myself up. “Thanks.” The chariot swayed as I climbed. “Can’t wait until this is over.”

Ares wrapped an arm around my shoulder to steady me as the chariot started to move and rattle. “Me too.”

I gripped the railing with both hands as it lurched into the light, bright and blinding. My stomach knotted and my legs trembled. There were people, crowds of them, standing around us and cheering and shouting and looking. Look at us. At me. At home, were they watching too? Watching me cling to the railings? What were we supposed to do?

“What do you think, wave or no waving?” I glanced at Ares. She seemed to know better how to make an impression.

“Fuck them. I’m not giving them shit.”

“Good call.” I didn’t want to let go of the railings anyway.

The sun burned hot on my back, the air dusty and drying through my nose. The crowd roared, all one sound, loud and inescapable surrounding us. Horses and riders set loose from their chariots raced haphazard around the circle like heralds. I frowned. That woman with the hat again. She raced her stolen horse alongside another tribute with bright green hair. If they were bold enough for this, what would they do in the arena? I didn’t want to find out.

They sped past and I followed them with my eyes until I fixed on someone, familiar in the crowd. Cirrus. He stood front and center in the stands, blending in just a little too well with a sheer white button up and shimmering blue-grey vest. I couldn’t help but smile. He’d even fucked up his hair to fit in, intricately braided with strings of pearls weaved throughout. He met my eyes with a quick nod before the woman next to him laid her hand on his arm and leaned in for his attention.

“Can I ask you a favour?” I turned to Ares, voice soft. “If a bird taps on any of the windows where they keep us, can you open it?”

She nodded eagerly. “If I can turn into a phoenix again by then, can I talk to it first before it goes to see you?”

I shrugged. “You can try. He might be a bit of an ass though.” I almost wished I could be there in the air with them to hear what Cirrus would say. And what Ares would say back.

“I’m a bit of an ass too.”

“Then you should be fine.” I smiled, tension easing from my shoulders as the chariots stopped.

I leaned against the front of the railing, resting my elbows on the brass and finding Cirrus in the crowd again, distracted by the pretty Capitol woman beside him. He said something and she giggled, blushing and leaning up against him and I rolled my eyes when he looked back my way.

Maybe he wouldn’t be up to see me quite so soon, but he was here. Ember must have told him and he must have flown straight over. Even if he couldn’t help me get out of this he was here.

I hadn’t noticed when the speeches ended until the chariots moved once more, taking us back into the hanger.

--

They ushered us quickly from chariot to the tower we would be kept in for the next week. The escort chattered on and on about our performance, surprisingly pleased with our show of solidarity together. When we reached our floor he gave us each a pat on the back, then nudged me towards the living area.

“You’ve got someone waiting for you.”

I frowned. No way Cirrus was here already. I knew him better than to think he would come straight here while that girl was practically pawing at him.

My shoes clicked on the tile floor as I rounded the corner to the living room and found Ginger sitting on one of the couches. She stood as soon as she saw me, blond hair tied back and pink velvet hoodie cast aside on the table. She was here. She was here too.

“What are you doing here?”

She rounded the coffee table, pulling on her white leather gloves before gently gripping my bare shoulders. “I couldn’t let you come here alone. Whoever they assigned to mentor you wouldn’t know enough to help you.”

I melted, leaning into her shoulder careful to avoid the exposed skin on her neck. She didn’t have to do this. Not for me, not for anyone. She didn’t have to get involved. How many things had she needed to postpone, to rearrange, to follow me here?

She continued, quieter. “I don’t know if I can save you, but after all you’ve been through, and all you’ve overcome, I’m not about to let you face this on your own.”

She’d done more than enough already for me. She didn’t need to do this too. I swallowed, tears slipping down my face and soaking into the fabric of her shirt. She could have, maybe should have, given up on me time and time before. She’d sacrificed days, weeks, months working with me, patient as she guided me back to myself.

“Get some rest,” she gently nudged me back. “Take the afternoon easy today. Training starts tomorrow.”

[broomchickabroom]

2022 greatest hits

I was tagged by @lantur; 

Ten good things that happened this year:

Alex and I got engaged! It’s been a long time in conversation, but having the ring on my finger is a very exciting thing! Also now I get to dress shop which I have looked forward to my whole life!

I got to go back to my old summer camp in a cabin counselor role—something I have always daydreamed about but never could quite imagine making happen. The opportunity ended up falling in my lap, and away I went!

I started anti-anxiety and depression medication even though I have been trying to tell myself that “it’s not bad enough to warrant treatment” all of this time...and guess what...it makes my life easier and better!

I started sewing clothing, something I have wanted to do for years. I launched myself into the process by setting a deadline to finish a Renn Faire costume in time to attend, and was so pleased with the results! So far I have only made two more things, but I’m on my way somewhere!

I tried out for three plays and got into two of them! I ultimately ended up picking just one because I don’t need to live the craziest life ever, but it was a nice feeling nonetheless.

I exceeded my usual 35 books read for the year with 38, and many of them were big winners.

I started a new job in July, and took on more of a leadership role than I had previously.

I was elected the president of my local PEO chapter.

I finally learned how to cross-country ski! Something I’ve been trying to do for 5 years now.

And last, and probably most importantly, I maintained and grew in my most important friendships and relationships. Shifting family roles and priorities have made me reconsider the way I spend time, and share energy, and I am starting to identify a fulfilling system. 

I tag you @northshoretragedyeagle and @thomasthegirl and @pixie-likethecut

[whennnow]

Old blog posts, new blog location

Hi, I'm Alex - a historical costumer and serial hobbyist (sewing, crochet, embroidery, jewelry-making, digital art, etc).

My grandmother shared her love of historic and vintage clothes with me. I learned to sew for my dolls and stuffed animals before growing into sewing for myself.

I went through J-fashion and steampunk phases before settling into historical and sometimes vintage fashion.

I started blogging about my sewing projects on Wix in 2017 and started sharing on Instagram in 2018. Then in 2023, due to some technical difficulties (aka not wanting to pay for media storage space for Wix) I backed up all my articles here.

I intend to share more as I continue to sew, especially now that I've joined a local SCA group!

Looking for something specific? Check out my Blog Tags!

[mimicofmodes]

🍵 Napoleonic era clothing

Oh man, so many thoughts.

+ You are likely not aware, but I wrote a book called Regency Women's Dress. (You are likely not aware both because I run this blog pseudonymously and because it was not very successful.) So I have put an inordinate amount of time into thinking about the minutia of dating fashions and construction techniques from this period.

+ I am honestly salty about the lack of success for a few reasons, and that has spilled a bit into how I feel about the period as well. D:

+ That being said, I also still love it, though I don't love it more than the other periods that I love (which is, like, all of them). I love the construction techniques and the materials and the Gothic influences.

+ Pinning your gown to your corset between the breasts was definitely a thing women did and we don't explore the weirdness of that enough or normalize it in costuming.

+ When I see a gown with tons of applied decoration at the hem I go nuts. I immediately want to sew one for myself. There are a couple of great options in the book; we've all had a tough time with the iOS tag ban so I'll give you one for free:

(All that stuff in the upper left corner is the sleeve. It also makes me go nuts because it's freaking amazing.)

+ Every movie does the necklines wrong. Every movie. Period necklines were super low or super high and film costumers want the more appealing middle.

+ THE BOOTS.

+ The vast majority of extant gowns of the period seem, like the one in the pattern, to fasten with a tie/hook at the back of the neck and a tie/hook at the back of the high waistline, with nothing in between and no evidence of being pinned shut. I have yet to figure out how the gaposis was handled. Artwork doesn't show us. My running assumption is that everyone wore a bodiced or strapped petticoat that had a layer of linen or cotton across the back to cover the corset lacing, and seeing a flash of that was simply not enough of a deal for anyone to bother writing it down.

+ I have a GORGEOUS peacock-colored silk taffeta gown based off another pattern from the book that I no longer fit into because I made it 6-7 years ago and I've gained like 10-20 lbs since then. I should sell it to someone who could wear it, but I love it too much.

+ I would do more sewing now but I've got to make a new corset, obvs, and I have always found this style of corsetry EXTREMELY difficult to fit for large busts. Also I hate sewing corsets and stays.

+ Lots of women in the period wore their hair held up with a comb, rather than in a bun held together with pins.

+ I love the bonnets that are shaped like top hats with more upturned brims. They are very cute and there should be more of them.

[vashti-lives]

I posted 7,154 times in 2021

256 posts created (4%)

6898 posts reblogged (96%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 26.9 posts.

I added 185 tags in 2021

#adventures in knitting - 35 posts

#laugh rule - 35 posts

#time to dye - 25 posts

#theda bara true millennial kitten - 22 posts

#miss kitty mewstache - 20 posts

#sessue of the secret stripe - 17 posts

#oh my god - 8 posts

#but like - 8 posts

#sewing with cats - 8 posts

#like - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#i said i was going to take better pics today but really i just took… more… because i couldn’t be bothered to haul the mirror upstairs

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

So I bought this pattern for a dollar last week when it was on sale—

(https://www.simplicity.com/simplicity-storefront-catalog/patterns/costumes/simplicity-sewing-pattern-s8866-missesmiss-petite-knit-costumes/)

Last winter I lost my mind over this dress and I didn’t buy it because I just could not justify the price even though— to be clear— the price was actually a very good deal at the time and is fair even now. Also I’m really too short even for the short version and while hemming the bottom would be easy hemming the sleeves would be more complicated. But even after not buying it and buying some other very good things instead I just kept thinking about it.

So here I am with this pattern. The sleeves are less dramatic BUT it’s got a hood!! It’s probably beyond my skill level but gonna be real here— that is not going to stop me.

Anyway as I was staring at this pattern wondering what on earth could possibly justify making it when uh, I have no place to ever wear it and also it theoretically takes 8 yards of fabric to make. It probably wouldn’t actually take 8 yards to make me a dress since I’d need to take out about a foot of length to make it fit but you know, I have no idea how much it would take, so 8 yards and leftover it is.

Then I remembered THIS fabric at Joann.

The thing is this looks super fancy but it’s actually basically pajama material?? Like it’s low pile stretch fleece with a metallic design. So the dress would look like something out of a fantasy book cover but SECRETLY it would be pajamas and therefore super comfy to lounge around the house in all winter.

Its 20 dollars a yard so uh, I have not yet bought it and instead just look at it a lot. Either I’ll break down or it’ll show up on sale. It also comes in a solid version but most of the colors of it are sold out so… hmmm…

25 notes • Posted 2021-07-11 22:15:03 GMT

#4

I fucking love that the novella is making a comeback. I obviously enjoy longer books but you can tell such a good story with 30,000 to 40,000 words— it’s a great length.

Also murderbot really reveals why basically every cozy mystery has a romance subplot because without them all cozy mysteries would be novellas. It’s structurally very revealing. I mean, I enjoy a good romance subplot but obviously that doesn’t work with murderbot. And yet it fits in the genre so well. So yet again I’m glad novellas are making a come back.

I was going to be like, if a murderbot cozy was going to be novel length you’d need Star Trek Geordi and Data shenanigans type b-plots instead with murderbot and it’s friends but even that doesn’t work because if murderbot thinks there’s even a tiny chance it’s humans might get killed there is no room in its mind for hijinks. Oh murderbot.

25 notes • Posted 2021-04-28 04:34:49 GMT

#3

I was deciding what kind of social media accounts different beings characters would have and it was pretty generic, mostly something to amuse myself? Jessie is all over Instagram. Flor and David both were on tumblr but David no longer has any time for any social media, etc etc.

But then. I had a thought. Bertie is definitely verified on Twitter. Oh no. Blue check Bertie. This gives me pain and also is hilarious.

Arthur has definitely had to lock him out of his account when he had a deadline coming up.

27 notes • Posted 2021-04-18 22:49:23 GMT

#2

Theo is precious.

33 notes • Posted 2021-01-18 06:03:27 GMT

#1

I just wanna be a mouse with a sword-- some thoughts on visible mending.

So I’ve seen posts about visible mending floating around a few times and I decided to try it out because aesthetically it really leans into “cartoon mouse in an 80s picture book-core(1)” which I like and also it involves reducing clothing waste which I also like. Plus I have a bunch of clothing I love that I would like to extend the life of but which are not so valuable that if I really fuck it up its actually going to matter.

One of my absolute least favorite things that crafty type influencers do is act as if time and money are not nearly identical resources. A DIY project that doesn’t require a lot of money upfront but is INSANELY time consuming is still an expensive project. Same with skill level and tools. A project that doesn’t need a lot of money and is pretty quick to do but ONLY if you’re already skilled in the craft and already own and have eaten the cost of the tools required to do it is not a cheap project. 

Now some of this obviously depends on your audience. If you run a blog or youtube channel that’s pretty narrowly focused and your audience is largely made up experienced crafters and people committed to becoming experienced crafters then “hey if you own a jig saw here’s an easy cool thing you can do with scrap wood” is a cheap project but if you a run a more generalist DIY blog you gotta account for this shit. 

Christine McConnell is just the worst about this-- she constantly talks about how you can save money antiquing by buying damaged stuff and fixing it up and then I watch what she means by fixing it up and my head explodes. Its my least favorite thing about her shit. But she’s definitely not alone in this.  

Anyway all this to say I saw all these amazing posts about visible mending and it IMMEDIATELY hit my “this is for rich people” senses. Or at minimum people with both some money and time to spare. AKA if you’re already too broke to easily replace your clothes when they wear out this is at best only marginally helpful. 

For me, someone already neck deep in fiber crafts, this was in actual money relatively inexpensive. Last summer I bought a long open cashmere sweater vest for about $28 on thredup only to discover the bottom was fucking FULL OF HOLES which... I was not impressed by. BUT I really liked the general garment and I’d already seen the visible mending stuff floating around so I just kept it. I did have to buy an embroidery hoop which was roughly $3 but I already had everything else. To find the thread/yarn I needed I just dug through my stash of sock yarn leftovers and I picked out the leftover merino/cashmere/nylon blend that I used to make my favorite dragon wing shawl. 

I had first intended to do swiss darning but quickly came to the conclusion that I value my eyes too much for that shit. So regular darning it was. I will say that my multi colored thread made learning to darn much easier, which is a mark in visible mending’s favor as far as beginner friendly crafts go. I created ten patches which covered all the most egregious holes. This took me roughly six hours. There’s more tiny holes that should be dealt with but I think I’m just going to sew most of them from the back. I might add one or two more darning patches more for aesthetic balance then anything else. So maybe I’ll work on things for another hour. And if we value my time at what minimum wage should be-- $22/hour-- that’s another $154. 

So the total I spent on this sweater in both money and time was about $185 which... isn’t bad. This is a high quality sweater, it probably retailed for between $250--300 AND its now a really cool personal art piece that matches my dragon shawl. 

(a close up of my crappy work haha. I bet you guys can guess which one of these larger patches came first.) 

But like. To be clear. This is not worth doing if you don’t a) like the style and b) like hand work. This is art its not a solution to fast fashion. I don’t even think its a minor solution to fast fashion. Its also not worth doing on clothing that was poor quality to start with. Like, there’s very little point in investing half a day’s work on a shitty shirt you bought from Target four years ago. 

I think this is also not terribly accessible if you aren’t already into fiber arts? At least visible mending on wool/cashmere sweaters. I wouldn’t recommend using anything but animal fiber yarn or thread and ideally you want your yarn to match the fiber content of your sweater as much as possible. This means you can’t just go to your typical big box craft store to find yarn/thread. The best you’re going to find there is Patton’s sock yarn which is not soft (in my opinion YMMV) and therefore won’t be good anywhere where the mend is going to touch your skin. 

This is also why I’m a little bit *squints* about all the crowing about how anti-consumerist this is since uh, AT MINIMUM one of the main people extolling this is also selling their own very high end yarns and threads to do this mending with. Which is fine! But again, not super accessible from a budget prospective and also you probably will have to buy some semi-expensive specialty items online and have them shipped to your house which is not precisely as anti-consumerist as you might wish. Though if you’re mending jeans or some other cotton based item this is less of an issue to be fair.  

Anyway I like visible mending, I have another sweater to do and I’m going to try some other techniques on some of my other clothes, but its just part of a conversation that’s been making me tired lately. Its great to talk about all the downsides to fast fashion but lately some of it has been... questionable. I keep seeing this quote that the average person throws out 80 pounds of clothing per year another quote that the average piece of clothing gets worn 7 times before being thrown away... I? Don’t think either of these things are true?? I’m very confidant that I don’t know a single person who does either of these things. This just. It sounds fake you guys. How are they even getting this data? Sometimes people make shit up or misinterpret data to try and prove an otherwise reasonable point and I think that’s what both these numbers are. 

Truthfully fast fashion is not going to be solved until we’ve pretty seriously restructured society because at this point people have neither the time or the money to stop buying fast fashion. There’s just currently way too many barriers to sustainable fashion right now.

BUT if you wanna dress like a mouse in a fantasy land in the hopes that someday a sword might manifest in your hand and lead you towards a quest where you have to fight a weasel this shit is rad.

(1)if you write core after something its a valid aesthetic right? also i know you might be saying “alix that’s just cottagecore” BUT it isn’t entirely the same(2).

(2) OBVIOUSLY there is overlap but as a devoted fan of redwall I assure you cartoon mouse fashion trends are not identical to cottagecore.

45 notes • Posted 2021-10-21 02:11:02 GMT

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[volterran-wine]

Hi! I was in you Felix tag and I saw how you think he would be a "ridiculously supportive husband" and I love this idea, would it be too forward to ask for a moodboard about it, maybe with a creative S/O who is into fiber art (knitting, sewing, embroidery, or even costuming and historical clothes)? Felix kinda seems like the kind of mate that would celebrate even that kind of accomplishments, or at least, I get this vibe from him! Thank you as always for sharing your creative talents with us!

Congratulations dear Anonymous, you are my very first Felix request when it comes to moodboards! This was such a sweet little moodboard to make, I used to do embroidery myself and I fully believe Felix would be a ridiculously supportive husband when it comes to these sorts of hobbies as well! The moodboard is now posted, and I hope it is to your liking 🖤

[geralt-of-baevia]

Happenstance

Summary: Henry is about to go to bed one night when he suddenly gets a text from a random number he doesn’t know. What happens when you accidentally text the star actor of The Witcher? Memes apparently. Lots and lots of memes.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Pairing: Henry Cavill x OFC (Lizzy Moore)

Word count: 1.3K

Warnings: None...yet! Just some fluffy flirting. Well okay and lots of mention of his crotch? 😬😘

A/N: So I’ve had this idea bouncing around in my brain for a LONG time and finally pulled the trigger and wrote it! It’s in texting format, and I hope you like it! This is my first time posting fan fiction on here so I’m nervous and excited!

Beta: Thank you to @avengeful-bunny​ for being my AMAZING beta. I don’t know what I would do without you. 💛💛💛

Tagging: I’m going to tag all those whose work has inspired me to write and post my work! Much love to ALL of you! @littlefreya @dancingwendigo @mary-ann84 @yespolkadotkitty @viking-raider @cavillhoney

Part 1: Oops.

(405:) God, girl. You will not BELIEVE the day I had. I'm pretty sure I lost a pint of blood today from how many times I stabbed myself sewing. 

(405:)

(Henry:) You should probably get a thimble for that. 

(Henry:) Also, I do believe you have the wrong number. Considering you started the text off with 'girl' and I am quite the opposite. But even so, please spill the tea. I’m dying to know about this UNBELIEVABLE day you’ve had. 

(Henry:)

(405:) Oh my god, MR. CAVILL I AM soooo SO SO SORRY. I must have accidentally clicked on your name and not my friend's name. 

(405:) I feel really awkward having your number when you don’t have mine. Do you want me to delete it? Just to make sure this doesn’t happen again? Also so some random crew member doesn’t have your number?

(Henry:) Oh god, please call me Henry. There’s no need for such formalities. And it’s fine, there’s no need to delete it. Since you mentioned crew and sewing, I'm assuming you work for the costuming department? 

(Henry:) Also, I have your number now, don't I? :P

(405:) By it’s fine do you mean this kind of fine?

(405:)

(Henry:) Oh no, it’s LITERALLY fine. I promise. 

(Henry:)

(405:) But to answer your question, yes! I work for the costuming department. I’m newer, so I get to do the usual stuff. Mostly just lots of mending at the moment. And JUST TO BE CLEAR, I won't do anything to abuse this number since you're Henry Cavill.

(405:) And you’re Henry Cavill. Also you are my co-worker, my I’m assuming super rich, god tier co-worker that I’m not supposed to make eye contact with nevermind TEXT. 

(Henry:)

(Henry:) But yes, my name is Henry. Please keep my number, we’re coworkers after all, it’s normal for coworkers to have each other’s numbers. Have we met on set before? 

(405:) We have once or twice, just in passing mostly. Once I brought you clothes to your trailer.

(Henry:) Are you the one with the brown and pink hair? 

(405:) That's me. :)

(Henry:) Don't tell me your name, I know what it is. 

(405:) Are you sure about that? You don't seem too confident :P 

(Henry:) I know it starts with an E. Is it Eloise? Eleanor? I know it was something old fashioned, too.

(405:) Man, you're so close. I mean, kind of. Think of historical dead English queens. Like, for example you were best friends with her dad. You were a fancy Duke who was good with the sword and ladies. Also, I’m sorry, aren’t you supposed to be a big nerd?  

(Henry:) ELIZABETH! 

(Henry:) And I am a HUGE nerd thank you very much. 

(Elizabeth:) Yes, that's my name haha. Also, whoa whoa, settle down there cowboy.  

(Elizabeth:) And it’s just Lizzy, with a Y. The thought of spelling it with an IE makes me cringe. 

(Lizzy:)

 (Henry:) Pretty much everyone? Who doesn't call you Lizzy? 

(Lizzy:) My dad, my grandma, my teachers, my victims, my doctor, the one girl in high school who hated me. 

(Henry:) Haha that's quite the list there Lizzy Borden. I think it’s your turn to settle down. :P

(Henry:) Well then Lizzy with a Y, it's nice to finally talk to you, even though it's over text. 

(Henry:) So I have to ask, I take it they were cracking the whip pretty hard in wardrobe today? 

(Lizzy:) You know, I was doing what I thought was a pretty damn good job of avoiding that subject.

(Henry:) Nope, you can't slip past me. This brain is like an iron trap. 

(Lizzy:) If you MUST know...

(Henry:) I really do. I'm sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation. 

(Henry:)

(Lizzy:) Okay well that just sounds sarcastic. I don't HAVE to tell you... :P

(Lizzy:) I'm kidding, kidding. Well, since you MUST know, I spent at least half of my day mending clothes, particularly the crotch of multiple pairs of your pants. Also a few pairs had the butt blown out. 

(Henry:) The crotch?

(Lizzy:) Yes, the CROTCH OF YOUR PANTS HENRY. :P Honestly I'm used to it at this point though. It's not the first time, or I'm assuming the last, that I'll have to mend the crotch of your pants. It’s not your fault the studio wants you in tighter fitting clothes that can show off how muscular you are. It’s just my job to fix it. ;) 

(Henry:) I guess I never really thought about who it was having to mend them when that happens. 

(Lizzy:) And it’s not just your crotch area I mend, it’s your inseams as well. I think your thighs got a little bigger since the initial fitting. :P

(Lizzy:) And yes, us little people taking care of you famous movie stars, making sure you stay looking like the heartthrob you are. Since that is your job and all. :P

(Henry:) Hey now, I’m more than just a pretty face. You make me sound like a talentless hack. But thank you. For your sake I'll try and not blow out any more seams, especially the crotch. 

(Lizzy:) You don't need to thank me, it's literally my job. ;) 

(Lizzy:) I mean, if your muscles didn’t rip through clothing on a regular basis I’d be out of a job!  How rude.

(Henry:) Well I mean in that case I COULD make it a habit. ;) 

(Lizzy:) All I have to say is I’m SO glad we don’t have to worry about shirt buttons on you during this. I’ve seen the stress you put on buttons during press junkets. The anxiety I feel, Henry. So much anxiety.

(Lizzy:)

(Henry:) Yeah, those shirts never seem to fit my chest right. I taught myself how to sew buttons on my shirts so I could stop asking others to help. 

(Lizzy:) Okay, the fact that you taught yourself how to sew on buttons because it’s a CONTINUING issue is both hilarious and adorable. :P

(Henry:) 

(Henry:) So I’m curious about something, costume wise.

(Lizzy:) Yes? I’m sure I can answer, costume wise. ;)

(Henry:) How long does it take to sew together a shirt from scratch? 

(Lizzy:) Well, it all depends on the type of shirt, and what it’s for. For the sake of film, there are so many steps. Design, pattern making, grading, construction, fitting. That’s just a fraction of it. It’s a very long process.

(Lizzy:) But if I was at home making a shirt for a friend, I could do it start to finish in a couple of hours. They're not hard. I can sew them together in my sleep.

(Henry:) A few HOURS? That's amazing. 

(Lizzy:) Eh, it's what I went to school for. ;) It’s not that impressive to me. 

(Henry:) Well, to me it is at least.  ;) 

(Lizzy:) 

(Henry:) 

(Henry:) Unfortunately, it's time for me to go to bed. I have an early call time in the morning. 

(Lizzy:) You're going to bed at 6 in the evening? I’m assuming you have a super crazy call time? One time I had a call time of 1 am because there were things that had to be fixed by the time you and Anya got to set at 4 am. Although it does have it’s advantages. I get to have the first pick of craft services, and sunrises are always nice to watch. 

(Lizzy:) But I’m sorry, that sucks. :(

(Henry:) Some days it does, especially when I can't seem to fall asleep. But today was exhausting so I don't think I'll have any issues tonight. Plus Kal has been extra cuddly tonight so I definitely won’t have any issues. 

(Lizzy:) Well then, I guess this is where we say goodnight. I hope you sleep well. :) 

(Henry:) Thank you. I hope you do, too. Hopefully tomorrow will involve less bleeding onto garments. ;P

(Lizzy:) Haha, I mean it really doesn’t matter. If anything it makes the garment just look THAT much more legit. I hope you have a good day on set tomorrow. :) 

(Henry:) Thank you. It was really nice talking to you Lizzy. I hope we talk more again soon. :) 

(Lizzy:) It was nice talking to you, too. And I would really like that. :) 

(Lizzy:) Goodnight, Henry. :) 

(Henry:) Goodnight Lizzy. Sleep well. :)

[crystalrose555]

Don't make me slap you pt 20

Oh boy, this one’s a long noodle~

“How about this one?”

“No.” “Ok, this one?” “No.”

“Levi, why did you bother tagging along if you are just going to turn down every outfit?”

“Because I still think that Marley shouldn’t go. She should stay home with me.”

“Over my dead body, Levi. This is one of the biggest parties of the year, anyone who's anyone is going to be there and Mochi and I are going to be stunning together~” Levi groaned as he looked around Majolish, seeing the vast amount of customers looking for clothing and outfits for the upcoming event. Meanwhile, Marley sighed as she placed clothing back on the rack and turned to the brothers.

“Yeah, I don’t think this is going to work. You demons sure are long, have any of you heard of the terms ‘plus and petite’?”

“See? Look, it’s fate, Marley and I are just going to stay home and marathon The Magical Ruri Hanai: Demon Girl.” Levi sharply proclaimed with a triumphant smile on his face.

Asmo gave a flat look at Levi before turning to Marley with a beaming smile.

“Mochi honey, why don’t we ask Levi to make your outfit?” Levi nearly choked on air as he realized what was happening.

“Wait, Levi, you know how to sew clothing?”

“Y-yeah, I just sew together cosplays and stuff, it’s not a big deal.”

“It’s a pretty big deal to me, all I can are patch-up jobs. It’s really impressive.” Marley smiled at the nervous demon.

Levi’s face quickly heated up as a crooked smile formed across his face. Asmo, seeing his brother falling for his bait, turned and held Marley close, sealing the deal.

“Don’t worry, Mochi, I’ll design something beautiful for you so that you don’t look like a costume disaster~”

“Like hell, normie! For your information, I’ve done custom requests that have won many cosplay competitions, so I can make something that will look great on her!”

“Oh really, then I assume you won’t need any help with Mochi’s measurements~”

“Her m-measurements?” Levi stammered out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright, make sure you are all on your best behavior. This may be a party but I don’t want an incident like last time, do you hear me?”

“Oi, why are you starin’ at me when you say that?” “Because you are usually the first one to cause trouble.”

Lucifer sighed as he took a good look at his brothers in their polished demon forms. Surely, there will be a day when they would be able to carry themselves like proper lords of Devildom but sadly this party wasn’t one of them. He peered through his fingers and took a glance down to see a grumpy Marley who had a purple bow on top of her head for the occasion. He smirked at the sight and took his leave, disappearing into the crowd to go to Diavolo’s side in the far distance. His brothers took a sigh of relief while Marley tried to scratch off the stubborn accessory.

“It’s no use, Mochi. It’s enchanted to stay on during the party.” Satan declared while stroking his chin.

She just snorted at him, flipped on her back, and flailed about wildly on the floor. Spectators stared and giggled at the fuzzy animal flopping on the marble, leaving the demon brothers looking away in embarrassment. In a haste, Mammon squatted down to her while his brothers tried to block some of the gazes.

“Hey, it ain’t comin’ off, so quit flippin’ out like a fuckin’ tuna!” He barked.

Marley stopped and barked back at Mammon’s face, causing him to fall back on his bottom. At that exact time, Asmo turned up his natural charm and drew the eyes of all the spectators to his form. Satan sighed and gave a slight nod to Beel who then picked up the irritated seal and quickly walked off with her slapping against his forearm in annoyance.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Levi paced back and forth in a less crowded spot in the grand hall while Satan and Mammon stared at him in disapproval.

“Levi, will you stop? You’re going to wear out the floor at that rate.” Satan pointed out.

“Why am I the only one who’s worried? This is a major story event and it always gets crazy during story events!”

“Can you translate? I don’t speak nerd.” Mammon jeered.

“I’m saying something already went wrong! She shouldn’t need this long to shed her skin, she was dressed back at the house!” “Hmm, maybe that bow had a stronger effect than we thought.” Satan contemplated.

“Naw, that ain’t it, take a look.”

Suddenly, Mammon pointed in the distance, drawing his brothers’ attention to Asmo leading Marley to the opposite side of the room.

“That dirty double-crossing normie!” Levi hissed as he slithered through the crowd, leaving Satan and Mammon to follow.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Isn’t she the cutest when she’s next to me?” Asmo chimed as he held Marley tightly while showing her off.

Simeon and Solomon chuckled while Luke and Marley shared a sigh from Asmo’s enthusiasm of showing her off as much as possible. 

“Yes, she’s very lovely, Asmo, but maybe you would like to let your friend breathe on her own.” Simeon gently suggested.

Pouting, Asmo released Marley from his grip and then latched onto Solomon’s arm. Marley straightened up and gently straightened her outfit with a sigh of relief while everyone else gave into soft laughter.

“But truthfully, you look astonishing tonight, Marley. I take it that Asmo designed it himself?” Simeon pointed out.

Marley looked down at herself with slight embarrassment before answering.

“Levi and Asmo made it for me when we couldn’t find anything on the rack. I have to say that when I heard about a party, I wasn’t expecting this.” She claimed while looking around at the extravagant hall.

“Hmph, I guess demons can throw a pretty decent party once in a while.” Luke snarked. 

“Luke, don’t be rude, besides you’ve been eating everything from the desserts since we’ve got here.”

“Only for research! Besides, I wanted to see Mochi again since I can barely find her at school.” Luke stammered out with a red face.

“You really like Mochi, don’t you, Luke?” Simeon teased.

Luke turned his head with a hmph and rushed over to the dessert spread in the distance. Simeon shook his head and followed after him, leaving Marley alone with Asmo and Solomon chuckling. The music picked up and swelled as demons began to swarm the dance floor in couples. 

“Marley, any chance I can have your first dance?” Solomon asked with a smile.

Marley tilted her head gently to the side.

“I guess so but I don’t know how to waltz.”

“Don’t worry, Solomon is a great dancer, Marley. I’m leaving you in good hands, so have fun~”

With that, Asmo left the duo alone to attend to his admirers. Taking his hand, Marley followed Solomon to the dance floor and slowly joined the musical current that had trapped all the dancers. 

“See, you’re a natural Marley.”

“Really? I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep up.” “I don’t think that’s what you’re really worried about. You’re worried that someone will recognize you from school, am I right? It would be bad for anyone to realize that you party-crashed this event.”

“I guess you got me there, but Levi and Asmo placed an enchantment on my dress to make me unrecognizable to everyone here unless I reveal myself to them.”

“I remember that spell, Asmo had me develop it so he could see what people say about him but that only lasted an hour or so before he wanted attention again.” He sighed causing Marley to chuckle.

“I have to admit, I’m having more fun dancing than I thought.” “I’m glad, it’s a lot easier to waltz on two feet than four flippers, huh?” “Yea-”

Marley’s mouth snapped shut as she shot a sharp glare on the white-haired sorcerer who smiled carelessly. Her grip tightened into a vice as cold air radiated from her body. Ice crystals started to form on Solomon’s shoulder as she dug her nails in.

“Easy, easy, that spell won’t last if you cause a scene,” Solomon warned with a smile.

Marley turned her head away from him, her eyes glanced over coldly.

“Come now, don’t give me the cold shoulder. I finally got a chance to talk to you. ” He chuckled.

“...How?”

“I had a bit of a feeling since seals aren’t common as witch familiars but Asmo confirmed my suspicions.”

Marley’s icy gaze returned along with her biting cold.

“Don’t be mad at Asmo, he had the best intentions. You want to go home, right? I’m surprised you lasted so long without returning to the sea but I guess hanging out with Leviathan has its advantages.”

The duo continued to dance and swirl while Marley remained silent.

“...What do you want then? There’s no reason for you to help me and you don’t seem the type to completely give in to Asmo.”

Solomon offered a warm smile in return.

“I just want a chance to talk with you, I’ve always wanted to meet a selkie. Your people are such rare creatures and whenever I find one, they always turn back into a seal and swim away.”

“Are you sure it isn’t the fact you’re a shady magician?”

“Come on, now that’s mean! ”Solomon laughed out hardily as they continued to spin.