#(well. mostly finished. i have to decide on sleeve closures. or if I even really need those)

[daincrediblegg]

Oh yeah so anyway part 1 of the lady terror ensemble complete👍

[trishmishtree]

Regency gown project: Part I-lost-count

As what is probably going to be the last thing I sew in 2022, I finally finished the bodice of the gown. Kind of. Mostly.

I’m pinning it in the front and will probably just go with pins for closures for the final dress. I tried button closures for the bodiced petticoat made from the same pattern, and I’ve decided that more buttons on the gown bodice would just be too bulky.

I only made 2 mockups when drafting the sleeve pattern, so I’m happy the process was relatively painless. I have no idea what the correct process for sleeve drafting is, but I just kind of vaguely cut out a shape that I thought would work, sewed it onto the bodice, refitted it until I was happy with it, took a pen to trace out the stitch lines, and then unpicked and cut out the final sleeve shape to trace onto a paper pattern.

As stated in the last progress update, it’s made from a lining of plain modern utility muslin and an outer fashion layer of cotton gauze. The gauze fabric has a floral pre-embroidered border that’s going to go around the bottom of the skirt. The rest of the embroidery on the dress will be done by hand.

There are 440 separate little dots on this bodice, not including the ones that go along the scalloped pattern on the ruffles of the sleeves. I know because I counted how many colonial knots I had to do instead of actually just sucking it up and doing them. The vine on the ruffles is also based on the extant gown, except I don’t think I got the proportion quite right because the leaves look like they’re spaced more closely together on the original gown. Oh well, I guess I’ll just do the vines right when I embroider the waistband.

On the extant dress, the dots and vine work are actually thousands of tiny metal staples, not embroidery. And they were originally silver, not black, but have tarnished over the last 210 years. But I actually really like the look of the darker dots, and the only pre-embroidered fabric I could find that would remotely work for this was the cotton gauze with a navy floral border that definitely isn’t historically accurate, so I’m sticking with navy blue thread embroidery for my dress. Attempting strict HA and making my dress as exact to the original is kind of moot since I’m already taking the liberty of giving this 1810s ballgown an apron-front closure for ease of getting in and out of it, instead of the back buttoned closure that would have been more popular by this decade and that I know for 100% certain the original gown has. Maybe someday I’ll try to make a more accurate replica, if I can source period-accurate cotton muslin and if I’m dedicated enough to attempt to do the entire skirt border embroidery by hand too. (If that ever happens, I might even go for back closures, except I would have to make them hooks and eyes instead of buttons because I 100% cannot reach back there with my right arm. And I’d need to contact the museum and ask if they have more photos of the back of the dress.)  For now I’ll settle for doing a bazillion colonial knots and apron front closures and conjectured side-back seam placements.

Here’s a view from the side to compare to the original museum piece:

You can’t tell from the front view, but I have to use my hand as a censor bar for the side view today. Mostly because my stays are doing exactly what they’re supposed to. I can’t show you what the stays look like (aside from the tiny sliver you can see through the gap in the petticoat) because they are under bust and my shift is translucent, and that would be even more indecent than me not covering my neckline in the above photo. I’m really happy with my decision to remake the stays. I know I was upset because they’re really wrinkly, but it literally does not matter because you can’t see them anyway. I can’t say I really recommend the Bernhardt stays considering how much of a fuss they were to make and fit and remake and refit. I think I made 4 mockups before I was satisfied, and that’s just really psychologically painful when you sew everything by hand. My final pattern required so much tweaking that the shape doesn’t really resemble the original Bernhardt pattern anymore. That said, it was a good starting point and the finished product definitely does the job.

What was not doing its job today was my shift. The neckline kept bunching up in the back and making lumps through the gown bodice, so I tried to redistribute the gathers. That helped, but then it made my front neckline too low. But if I tried to tighten the drawstrings of the shift, then the shift would feel tight in the bust and flatten out the silhouette. So I had to settle for the lower front neckline, which means I just constantly look like I’m spilling out of my stays. (It’ll be fine. It will all get covered up once I make the front bib that will complete the bodice.)

The skirt also still needs to be embroidered with probably 3000 (not hyperbole) more tiny colonial knots before I can assemble the whole dress together, so this feels like a good stopping place to close out 2022.

Until next time then.

[stregacorvina]

Shirts shirts shirts!!

Welcome back to our Thursday entry about a collection for BJDs! Today is not about a collection actually, but about a bunch of Lolita shirts I made to take pictures of the skirts.

As you already know, you can find these items in my Etsy shop, the shirts as well as the patterns to make them!

The first ones I did were the White shirts because I need something to complement my Cute Bunny collection.

For both of them I used the pattern I did for the pajama tshirt with a few changes, mostly the collar and the waist lenght. Unfortynately I do not have any picture of the making of because I didn’t think to do a whole post about them :(

I can talk briefly about the materials and the costructions but as I said I do not have progress pictures... For the base I used a really soft white cotton with a light diagonal stripe pattern on it and I decided to cut both of the front pieces on the fold so the closure will be hidden on the back. For the closure I used a stripe of velchro fastener sewn with my machine to make it very durable, sometimes it gets stuck in the hair but I think it is the best choice for dolls dresses. 

I decided to make a pointed collar for the button shirt and a rounded collor for the ribbon one, to add a little variation. Then it was time for my favorite part: of course is decoration! I decided to make some variations also with laces and notions, so I use the buttons only for one of them, for the other I added some nice satin ribbons and I changed a little the front panel.

This is the first one I did before the buttons.

I do not even take a picture of the finished second shirt except this one below, so I can only left you with pictures of them worn with different skirts. I hope you will like them! 

Here the finished shirts!

And the shirts worn with the Cute Bunny skirt.

After those white shirts I decided that I need also some Offwhite Shirts so I sew other two! 

This time I decided to make a long sleeves shirt with high collar, for a more Classic Lolita look, and a frilly shirt with the gathered top, more feminine and sexy.

For the fabric I choose a light offwhite cotton with no particular pattern on it and I serchead (a lot actually) for matching color trims and laces.

For the long sleeves one I decided to minimize the decorations so I just add a stipe of lace with satin ribbon on the front and two small pieces of offwhite cotton trim on the cuffs. I used this trim a lot in my other collections so I can pair this shirt with a lot of skirts!

The second one instead has a lot more decorations! I used a floral lace all around the neckline and the botton hem and I added a different kind of lace on the underbust seam with a wide satin bow on the center.

Even for those I do not have progress picture because I made them last minute to shoot the other collections so I will left you with some flat pictures ad well as other pictures with some skirts. I hope you will like them!

The shirts worn with some skirts from my English Rose collection (you can already find these next collections in my Etsy shop but I still need to write the entry about them)

Other pictures with my Mermaid Sea collection..

I used them a lot more than the Whites one XD

I also made a shirt (two of them actually) with the same fabric of the English Rose collection that you will see in the future.

I also filmed a little video tutorial sewing this last shirt when I was thinking about opening a Youtube channel but I never had the time to edit it properly so I don’t think it will never see the light XD

That was all for today entry! I hope you like these shirts even if they are not a proper collection themselves. I still haven’t planned the Tuesday entry so we’ll see..

Have a nice day!

Chiara (StregaCorvina)

Bentornati al post del Giovedi su una colezzione per BJDs! Oggi in realtà non parliamo di una collezione vera e propria ma di alcune camicette in stile Gothic Lolita che ho realizzato per forografare meglio le gonne. 

Come saprete già, trovate queste camicette nel mio negozio Etsy, così come i cartamodelli per realizzarle!

Le prime che ho realizzato sono delle Camicette bianche che mi servivano per fotografare meglio la collezione Cute Bunny.

Per entrambe ho usato il cartamodello fatto per la maglia del pigiama già realizzata con alcuni cambiamenti, soprattutto il collo e la lunghezza. Purtroppo non ho fatto foto mentre realizzavo queste camicette perchè non pensavo di fare un post a riguardo :(

Vi racconterò però brevemente dei materiali e di come le ho realizzate visto che non ho foto da mostrarvi... Per la base ho usato un morbido cotone bianco con una leggera trama diagonale e ho deciso di tagliare interi entrambi i davanti in modo da lasciare la chiusura sul retro. Per la chiusura ho usato una striscia di velcro perchè è il mio metodo preferito per chiudere gli abiti delle bambole, anche se ogni tanti vi rimangono impigliati i capelli...

Ho deciso di fare il collo a punta sulla camicia con i bottoni e rotondo sulla camicia con i fiocchi, per cambiare un pò i modelli fra loro. Ora è giunto il momento della mia parte preferita: ovviamente le decorazioni! Ho deciso di usare anche decorazioni diverse fra le due camicie in modo da avere modelli differenti: ho usato due pizzi diversi, ho aggiunto dei bottoncini su una delle due, mentre sull’altra i fiocchetti di raso e ho cambiato un pò le decorazioni sul davanti .

Ecco la prima che ho realizzato, prima dell’aggiunta dei bottoni.

Purotrppo non ho fatto foto alla seconda camicia tranne questa che vedete qui sotto, perciò vi farò vedere come le ho abbinate alla gonna.

Ecco le camicette finite!

E con la gonna della collezione Cute Bunny.

Dopo aver fatto queste camicette bianche ho deciso che me ne servivano anche altre color Crema perciò ne ho cucito altre due!

Questa volta ho deciso di realizzare un modello a maniche lunghe con il collo alto per un look più Classic Lolita, e un’altra arricciata con molto pizzo per un look più femminile e sexy.

Come tessuto di base ho scelto un leggero cotone color crema e ho cercato dei pizzi e delle decorazioni in tinta (e non è stato per niente facile abbinare le varie tonalità!)

Per la camicia con le maniche lunghe ho deciso di usare poche decorazioni perciò ho usato solamente una striscia di passanastro di pizzo nel centro davanti e due piccole strisce di passamaneria sui polsini. Ho usato questa passamaneria in molti capi nelle altre collezioni perciò riuscirò ad abbinare questa camicetta facilmente.

Per la seconda camicetta invece ho usato molte più decorazioni! Ho usato un pizzo floreale sulla scollatura e sull’orlo e un pizzo di tipo diverso sottoseno. Ho aggiunto poi un bel fiocco di raso al centro.

Anche di queste non ho fatto foto durante la realizzazione perchè le ho cucite all’ultimo minuto per fotografare le altre collezioni perciò vi farò vedere qualche foto da piatte e con alcune gonne diverse. Spero che vi piacciano!

Ecco le camicette con le gonne di alcune collezioni che trovate già nel mio negozio Etsy ma non ancora su questo blog, iniziamo con la gonna della collezione English Rose...

...poi con la gonna della collezione Mermaid Sea

Ho usato molto di più queste crema che quelle bianche XD

Ho fatto anche due camicette per la collezione English Rose con il tessuto della collezione, che vedrete più in la.

Avevo fatto anche una specie di video tutorial mentre cucivo queste ultime camicette (perchè pensavo di aprire un canale Youtube prima o poi...) ma alla fine non l’ho mai editato decentemente perciò non credo che vedrà mai la luce XD

E per oggi è tutto! Spero che vi piacciano queste camicette anche se non sono una vera e propria collezione! Non ho ancora deciso cosa pubblicherò nel post di MArtedi precio vedremo...

A presto!

Chiara (StregaCorvina)

[littlethingwithfeathers]

Alternate Endgame fix-it for “Friendship is Unnecessary”

So there’s no update this week for my Steve/Nat and sometimes Steve/Nat/Bucky series “Friendship is Unnecessary” because I’m still editing the next installment. It’s due out next Monday, but in the mean time, I thought I’d share a little of what might’ve been. I usually try not to work ahead of canon, but as Endgame grew closer and closer, I couldn’t help but start turning over ideas and what-ifs for a post-Endgame fic for my series. I had a feeling that this would be the end of the line (har har) for this story, but I still had no idea what shape that would take. But I was about lets call it 70% certain that Cap was a goner. And with that certainty came creativity. I knew Bucky and Nat would under no circumstances let Steve stay dead... so what would they do? How would they get him back? And I came up with an idea. So here you go... to tide you over to next week, I give you a little taste of what might have been had Steve been the one to make the sacrifice play. *** “I’m tired, Bucky. I’m tired of not having people to bury.” ***

"Hey Natasha?"

Both Natasha and Bucky peeled themselves out of the space of misery they shared to look back towards the door.

"Hey Clint." she said, looking mildly surprised at his greeting. It was strange to hear people speak these days. Grief and shock seemed to have stolen everyone's voices.

He didn't immediately come in, clearly conscious of the fact that he'd interrupted something. Well, not anything scandalous. He'd interrupted their grieving, and that was worse somehow.

"Nat, I… can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Clint." Both she and Bucky turned to face him a little more, and Natasha beckoned to him. 

Clint took a few steps into the room but still more or less occupied the doorway. Natasha saw that he had a folder in his hand. One with crisp edges and a tightly wound twine closure. And the front was stamped with a familiar stylized eagle.

The SHIELD logo.

“What is that?” Natasha heard herself ask, her eyes on the folder as if it were a coiled snake. Or maybe more accurately, a loaded gun.

Clint pressed his lips together before he replied. As if he were tasting his response before letting  it foul the air. "When you dumped all of the SHIELD and Hydra files onto the internet for the world to enjoy… did… did you read any of them?"

She pouted in thought. "Some. The STRIKE personnel files mostly. The ones we had to track down after the fact. But I stopped digging after awhile. Seemed like the deeper I got, the more people kept shocking me by being allied with Hydra. Decided it wasn't worth it after awhile. I have an archive of all the data, but I only go dumpster diving when I need something."

Clint just nodded, thumbing at the edge of the folder and finally stepping into the room.

"What is it, Clint?" she asked, the edge of her voice filed sharp. Not with malice or impatience. Just with a keen desire to cut through the haze of grief and disbelief that had them all bound up and silent these days. "What did you find?"

He huffed out a deflating sigh and then held out the file. "You… might want to look at this."

"What is it?" she asked, taking it and laying it out on the couch between her and Bucky.

"It's… Phil's file."

"Phil?" Bucky asked, scooting a little closer. He'd been quiet so far. Just watching the exchange.

"Agent Phillip J. Coulson." Natasha said crisply as she unwound the twine closure.

"Your old handler." Bucky said, eyes flicking between them. "And…"

"Yeah, that too." Clint filled in when Bucky had trailed off.

Natasha wasn't looking at either of them. She was flipping through page after page of familiar mission reports. "What am I looking for, Clint?" She asked, pausing after several pages of debriefs to look up at him.

"Keep going." He said darkly, folding his arms across his chest so that his tattoos peeked out the bottom of his sleeve. "You'll know it when you see it."

At first it was just mission briefs and records. All very much the same. Eventually, she got to the autopsy report. Gruesome pictures that she flipped through without so much as flinching. Though Clint clearly wasn't interested in this part. His eyes were everywhere but the file.

But then… they were suddenly back to mission reports. A physical. Working with a team on one of the Zephyr class aircraft. Another physical. Requested by Phil this time. More missions. New team members… then it all abruptly stops with the rise of Hydra.

Her brows crowded down around her haunted eyes as she checked and double checked dates. The new sets of mission briefings… they were all after the Battle of New York. But that… that couldn't…

"Clint, what is this?"

"Coulson was alive, Nat." Clint said finally. "He died on the helicarrier when... " his voice caught on the truth, but he tore it free. "When I broke Loki out of holding, but Fury couldn't leave him dead. He used some kind of alien voodoo to bring Coulson back to life. Gave him a new team. A new objective. Kept them all way off the radar."

"Even planned to make him director when he dropped off the map after Hydra took over." Natasha finished for him, her voice gone vague. "He… he's alive? He's-"

"As far as I can tell? Yes. I did a little digging once I found that file. Course, the trail goes cold after SHIELD falls. But Phil pops up in a few places. Mostly in conjunction with that ATCU and a U.S. General named Talbot. But… it's been a couple of years since anyone's really seen him or his team. Aside from an enhanced girl who went vigilante. Called herself Quake."

"I remember her." Natasha said, her voice still soft and feathery. "They… Fury brought him back to life and then didn't tell us?"

"Didn't tell anybody, best I can tell. The only people in SHIELD who knew he was alive and weren't Hydra were his team, Maria Hill, and Fury himself."

"How did they do it? It…" She thumbed back through the autopsy record. "It doesn't say anything here."

"Did some digging on that too." Clint said. "Turns out Fury had a pet project with roots that go all the way back to the late 90′s. Research into some kind of alien tech with the goal of securing a means of resurrection should an Avenger bite the dust."

"And he found a way, and tested it on Agent Coulson?" Bucky said dubiously.

"Didn't test it on him. Used it on him." Clint corrected. "He already knew SHIELD was compromised. Already had his doubts about the Security Council. But no one in their right fucking mind would doubt Phil Coulson."

"Sounds like someone we know." Bucky said, cutting his sullen gaze over to Natasha.

"Yeah. And that's kinda what I'm getting at with all this." Clint said. "Fury's toolbox is the only place the records of this resurrection tech were kept. Project T.A.H.I.T.I. it was called. You'll have to go get it from them at their new base."

"Well, where is it?" Natasha asked. "Does Phil still have it?"

"While I was skipping the fringe as Ronin, I did hear tell that SHIELD has changed hands to one of Phil's teammates. One Alphonso Mackenzie."

"I know that name. Mack, right?" Natasha flipped through the file again, looking for his profile. "Counter-terrorism unit? He was a mechanic. Worked with Agent Morse's squad." 

"The very same. Switched to field agent when SHIELD fell, and worked under Coulson for years. Then Phil handed directorship over to him at some point. Details aren't super clear. Like I said… trail kinda goes cold after Hydra." Clint replied. "I suggest you track him down if you want to find out how they got Coulson back. So… y'know. We can get on with getting the band back together."

Natasha flipped around through the roster of the Zephyr team. Some faces were familiar. May. Tripplet. Ward. But others not so much. A pair of young scientists, Fitz and Simmons. Daisy Johnson, also known as Skye. She was an ex-hacker with Inhuman powers… she must be "Quake." 

She flipped. And flipped. And considered.

"You really want to raise Steve from the dead that bad?" Bucky asked, as he watched her leaf through the pages.

"Look, the world's not going to stay quiet." Clint said, lifting one shoulder. "There's no use pretending that we won't be needed. That there isn't possibly something bigger and badder than Thanos out there and whatever it is has our names written on a very big stick. I don't want Tony to be right again. I've learned that lesson. I stuck my head in the fucking sand twice. I'm not doing it again. And I don't think you want to do that either."

Natasha cut her eyes to Bucky who still looked quite dubious of the whole thing. But then as he met her eyes, something cold, and black, and nameless rolled over between them and stretched its claws. Nameless because if they spoke its name they might cut their tongues. A bladed thing. A dark thing. But not something easily forgotten.

And something they could be together.

A solve to this problem.

They were good at solving problems.

"It can't hurt to ask." she told him finally. "Especially…" she sniffed, her hand falling over a picture of Phil on location during a mission… it looked like he was somewhere in the south Pacific. Sunglasses and a hat... "Especially if Phil's still alive… Like you said. We will need all the help we can get."

Bucky nodded. "Okay." he said. "Let's see if we can find Director Mackenzie and… get started."

[canaryatlaw]

okay. I’m tired and overwhelmed. I don’t feel prepared and I’m really worried I’m gonna get to the essays and just have no idea what they’re talking about because I can’t remember anything and just be fucked over. And I still suck at the multiple choice ones too. I’m so screwed. like I’m trying to be positive but really I’m so screwed. and like, failing would be the most embarrassing thing. it’s not like I was the class fuck up that just skated by, I was in the top 15% of my class and the vice president of two major student orgs, I have a solid reputation for knowing my shit and failing after all that would really just be the worst. Okay, anyway. today. I think I set my alarm for 10 again but obviously didn’t get up when it went off. I wrote off going to church today because it just takes up too much time (sorry Jesus) and I needed to focus on studying. I actually woke up some time after 11 and stayed in bed on my phone for a bit before getting up and showering, and getting dressed. I tried to have eggs for breakfast but I’m very finicky about how I like my eggs and they just were not doing it for me today, so that was a fail and I resorted to my usual sugary crap. I tried to pull up my secured transactions lecture and get started on that ASAP. it was another 2 hour and 50 minute one. Of course, this is the class I just took in my last semester, and somehow managed to get an A- in even though I paid attention literally like 5% of the time and then just crammed for the final, so I at least had a fairly good understanding of the concepts, so that’s gonna be more helpful than something like suretyship which I’ve never heard of before. So the lecture wasn’t bad. Once I finished with that I knew I had to make a run to the grocery store quickly, mostly for supplies to take with me tomorrow when I head down to the hotel. Idk if I’ve explained this in here before but they want you to stay in a hotel close to the test center for the few days so there’s no issue with traffic or getting there on time, so I’m going there tomorrow evening. I’m obviously not gonna have a chance to get breakfast in the morning being that the test doors open at 6:30 so I’m gonna wake up at 5:30 to be extra super cautious because I’m like that, so I wanted to make sure I had portable breakfast stuff to take with me, as well as some snacks and other incidentals I thought would be good to bring with me. I got a pack of gatorade because I obviously can’t bring my carbonator with me (which I did actually contemplate doing but ultimately decided against it) and I know that’s the only way I’ll actually consume a decent amount of water, so if I don’t have that I probably won’t drink anything and that’s not good, so I got some gatorade for like energy and electrolytes and shit, even if it’s mostly just sugar. I have some of the starbucks via packets for the berry hibiscus refresher I’m gonna bring with me because those have caffeine in them and have less calories than chugging a coke in the morning to wake up (which I have indeed done before) so I’m gonna use those to hopefully feel more woken up. They have all these rules for what you can bring into the test center and it all has to be in like, clear plastic bags, and they suggested you get these giant 2 1/2 gallon ones to put our laptops in instead of a sleeve so I got some of those. I’m trying to plan out how I’m gonna do this. I’ll have my laptop obviously, and then there’s just a very short list of things I can bring into the exam room itself, like photo id, credit card, transit card, keys, and like pads, so I can probably fit that stuff in a sandwich bag and I’ll be good. the only other thing is the stuff I gotta bring with me but can’t bring into the exam room, namely my phone, because I need it to get there but can’t bring it in, and they have like a designated spot to stash those things, but it’s unsecured and I’m not crazy about the idea of just leaving it in the open, so I’m trying to find a smaller opaque bag with a closure that I can stick like, my phone, charger, external battery, and painkillers in there and at least they won’t be right out in the open. so I’ll try to figure that out tomorrow. I came back from the store and put some stuff away, then got back to the essays I was doing going through yesterday with a few more of them. There was one secured transactions one that I was super confused about but I did still come to the ultimate right conclusion, I just didn’t know how I got there lol but then I tried another one and I knew exactly what to do so hopefully that will help. I also bought some cinnamon bread at the store because I wanted to make some french toast, and it was pretty good, I think I should’ve let it soak up more egg because it didn’t seem like it got all the way through. So I did those and then I spent a while (like 2 hours) going through the real property outline because that’s definitely my weakest area of the main subjects, so I wanted to make sure I had that down. After a while I moved to the couch and turned on queer eye while looking at the outlines for the other smaller subjects. I ended up finishing queer eye which made me sad because it’s so damn good, but I switched over to 30 Rock and watched like 2 episodes before getting ready for bed and WOW AM I TIRED RIGHT NOW so I’m gonna take that as a good reason to leave right now. Goodnight dearies. Have as lovely of a Monday as Mondays can be.