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redsugarx · 3 months ago

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Hundred-Pacer 百步蛇：Design Background

A lot of people seem to really like the Hundred-Pacer set, so I thought I'd do a detailed post on its design background as if I wasn't gonna do that anyway because I need somewhere to spout the nerd stuff you can't stop me.

The Hundred-Pacer is a two-piece Han Dynasty set consisting of a curved-hem robe 曲裾袍 and a waist piece. There were two main inspirations behind this set: the Mawangdui burial site, and the hundred-pacer snake itself, specifically its veneration by several indigenous groups in southern Taiwan.

馬王堆漢墓 / 马王堆汉墓 / Ma3 Wang2 Dui1 Han4 Mu4 / Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tomb

Hunan Provincial Museum exhibition banner. The artifacts from Mawangdui are regarded as national treasures. They have been on permanent exhibition since 2017.

I did a (questionable in accuracy.........) Newhanfu article on the Mawangdui burial site when I was still active there. It’s one of my favorite Hanfu relic dig sites: I learned about it in my early stages of hanfu research, and it was one of the first archaeological sites that I felt sort of a visceral connection to. People often ask why I like hanfu, and I usually answer with a little anecdote—combing through the records of Hunan Provincial Museum, sifting through page after page of data on decaying silk and wooden carvings, it struck me that those figurines looked oddly familiar—their faces looked just like me.

Anyway, it’s a very famous dig site; most Chinese people have at least heard of it even if they aren’t into hanfu. It’s an eerily remarkable feat of preservation that the contents of the tomb were so complete. I’ll do a separate rewrite of that article later, but for now all you need to know is that the tomb belonged to a ~50-year-old Xinzhui Furen / 辛追夫人 (aka Lady Dai) during the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty（西漢 / 西汉 / xi1 han4) in the Changsha Kingdom (長沙國 / 长沙国 / chang2 sha1 guo2), who died of a heart attack in 168-169 BCE, and the clothes she was buried with form the basis of our understanding of Han Dynasty clothing as a whole. A number of very well-preserved straight- and curved- hem robes were excavated with her.

褐色菱紋羅地「信期繡」絲綿袍 / 褐色菱纹罗地“信期绣”丝绵袍 / he4 se4 wen2 luo2 di4 xin4 qi2 xiu4 si1 mian2 pao2 / brown lozenge gauze base Xinqi embroidery silk down robe, excavated from the Mawangdui tomb. One of the most well-preserved curved-hem robes from the burial. Length 150cm, wingspan 250cm, sleeve width 28cm, waist 60cm across. The main material is brown silk gauze (luo) woven in a diamond pattern, embroidered all over in the Xinqi embroidery pattern, padded with silk floss. The trim is brocade and the lining is juan silk. The bottom section is bias-cut but not the top section. Src: Hunan Provincial Museum.

The robes excavated fall into two categories: straight-hem and curved-hem robes. All of them were long and cross-collared. Straight-hem robes are your classic floor-length robes, whose hems sweep the floor evenly. Curved-hem robes, or 曲裾袍 / qv1 jv1 pao2, have a hem that spirals up the lower body from the floor, resulting in a 'curved' hem. The resulting structure is an extra triangular piece extending out from the wearer's side that gets wrapped around the waist area and secured with a belt.

Of the eight curved-hem robes excavated, only two have a double-trim border decoration. The most well-known and the usual standard for recreations is the 褐色菱紋羅地「信期繡」絲綿袍 / brown lozenge gauze base Xinqi embroidery silk down robe. The other is the 絳綛紫色「長壽繡」絲綿袍 / dark purple Changshou embroidery silk down robe, but it's less well-preserved so there's less information out there about it; nevertheless it looks to be constructed very similarly. Both of these robes are padded with silk floss and have an embroidered body, with two different colors of taping along the sleeve cuff, collar, and hem: a darker color comprising of the wide taping directly adjacent to the main body and a lighter color comprising of the narrow taping distal to the main body.

絳綛紫色「長壽繡」絲綿袍 / 绛紫色“长寿绣”丝绵袍 / jiang4 zi3 se4 chang2 shou4 xiu4 si1 mian2 pao2 / dark purple Changshou embroidery silk down robe, excavated from Mawangdui tomb, length 130cm wingspan 232cm. Very similar to the other robe except with a different embroidery pattern on the surface and slightly less well-preserved at the edges. Src: Hunan Provincial Museum.

The curved-hem robe is a type of shenyi robe. Shenyi are defined as long robes whose torso and bottom sections are separately cut & sewn together, rather than just being a shirt/top that happens to be very long. The top half usually follows the same construction as any Hanfu top, whereas the bottom half is usually made up of 4-12 quadrilaterals pieced together to wrap around the waist and legs. Most shenyi will also have decorative trims along the hem and collar.

Structural line drawing of the curved-hem robe. Reposted by 春梅狐狸 (well-known online hanfu author, wrote 华夏衣橱), originally from 长沙马王堆一号汉墓 (official report). Confirmed—corroborated with multiple sources.

Both of the curved-hem robes have a similar shenyi construction, in that we can look at the top and bottom sections separately. The collar is a classic cross-collar (but with a characteristically wide collar piece), cut out in a curved shape. The sleeves are chuihuxiu, ‘drooping’ sleeves, in that they project straight out from the root and then curve upwards at the ends to meet the slightly narrower sleeve cuffs.

The bias grain on a grid representing the fibers that would be woven together to form a piece of fabric. Src: Designer Stitch.

The bottom ‘skirt’ section is made of four bias-cut panels sewn together. 'Bias-cut' refers to the orientation that the pieces are cut out from the full bolt of fabric, in relation to the grain: these panels were positioned so that the fabric grain ran across them diagonally, rather than straight up and down, allowing a non-elastic fabric to soften and stretch (think of a parallelogram being pulled from opposite corners).

This method is a very important feature of the curved-hem robe, because it allows for the bottom section to wrap around the hips and legs much more tightly, resulting in the pronounced, flattering silhouette we see in Han dynasty murals and figurines.

The rearrangement of parallelogram pieces cut out from a pain piece of fabric to extend the length with zero waste. Image reposted by 華服志; I'm not sure where it came from initially but have corroborated with multiple sources that it is accurate.

The trims are also bias-cut, with a no-waste method of extending the length of a strip of fabric by cutting and rearranging parallelogram pieces. I'm sure this has a name, I just don't know what it is. The other robes, gloves, virtually anything that required a long 'strip' of fabric from the tomb employ this same method, simultaneously lengthening and softening the fabric.

Modern recreations will typically follow the same cut & bias as the original pattern while substituting other fabrics. For this set, because of the nature of the trim fabrics and the placement of the design, some parts (especially the narrow trim) were cut traditionally while other parts were bias-cut. The solid body of the skirt section was bias-cut.

彩繪木俑 (Colored Wooden Figurines), Mawangdui #1 Han Tomb, Early Western Han Dynasty ~202BCE—9CE, Src: Hunan Provincial Museum

Additionally, we can also deduce from the depiction of curved-hem robes on figurines that they were floor-length, likely almost dragging on the front. We know that Lady Dai's corpse was about 154cm tall, while her robes were approximately 130-150cm long. Accounting for some shrinkage that likely occurred over time due to water loss, this measurement corroborates the suspected proportions. Both men and women have been depicted wearing curved-hem robes, though later on the majority seem to be women.

Inspiration 1: The Hundred-Pacer & Surrounding Legends

Src: Liu Rui Wei, iNaturalist, Photo 345941307, August 2023, observed near 三星鄉

Looping back around to where the initial idea for this set even came from: When we first started brainstorming for the Year of the Snake collection, one of the first things we decided was that each set would be based on a different species of snake. Yulan, being the ultra biology nerd here, put together a list of visually/culturally interesting snakes for us to start off on. One of those snakes was the Chinese Moccasin or Hundred-Pacer, Deinagkistrodon. I didn't know about its existence before she introduced it to me.

The Hundred-Pacer snake is one of the six great venomous snakes of Taiwan. It's called the Hundred-Pacer because there's a legend that once you've been bitten by one, you'll be dead within a hundred paces. Obviously that's an exaggeration, but the hemotoxin it produces can indeed be fatal. On the flip side, its venom has also ironically been used to make antivenins for a long time.

Src: Shao Qi, iNaturalist, Photo 406124328, July 2024, observed near 新竹

In appearance the hundred-pacer is very striking—the main distinguishing features are its triangular head, sharp pointy snout, and triangular body pattern (diamond-like from above). Lower down, next to the belly, they have a row of small black splotches visible from the side. They're most famous in Taiwan but can be found in many mountainous regions in Southeast Asia and southern China.

Most notably, hundred-pacers are considered sacred to several indigenous groups in southern Taiwan, such as the Paiwan (Paiwan: Kacalisian), Bunun, and Rukai (Rukai: Drekay) people (I was able to find more information on the Paiwan people so most of my research pertains to them). Many of their creation myths have to do with hundred-pacer snakes, and there are several folktales related to hundred-pacer gods. Some consider themselves descendants of hundred-pacers, others say they are protected by them—the Paiwan people call themselves the 'People of the Hundred-Pacer.'

Examples of the hundred-pacer depicted on various items belonging to the Paiwan people. Src: 順益台灣原住民博物館 Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines, top: scabbard (M015800), bottom left: gunpowder tube (M016100), bottom right: carved figurine (M070000).

In any case, the image of the hundred-pacer appears everywhere—in sculptures, architecture, nobility's clothing (for the Paiwan people, only the noble were permitted to wear the hundred-pacer on their clothing), and infinitely many decorations. It's one of their most prevalent symbols.

From a cultural perspective, this was specifically interesting to me and relevant to the Year of the Snake collection's intent, because it was a counterexample to the theory that snakes are universally considered bad because they are dangerous. Not only do these indigenous groups have an extremely positive view on the snakes, the snakes in question are undeniably very dangerous. To me, this proves that it's possible to have respect for an animal's beauty, not in spite of, but because of its powerful ability to cause damage.

This is already true of a lot of mammalian predators—tigers and lions can certainly be very dangerous, but they're still seen as symbols of strength and power, not met with the same disgust that snakes and similar creepy-crawlies tend to evoke.

Inspiration 2: Taipei Fashion Week

Runway photos from Taipei Fashion Week SS23. The model in the center has hundred-pacers on her arms. Src: The Daily Front Row, "Taipei Fashion Week Returned With A Thought-provoking Theme," 17 October 2022.

Taipei Fashion Week SS23 opened with a show titled “CrossLab: Dialogue Between Indigenous Art and Fashion.” The basic idea was to pair up 5 designers with 5 traditional indigenous craft artisans from various indigenous tribes throughout Taiwan, mixing modern fashion with traditional techniques that are in danger of dying out.

The artisans in question are incredibly well-respected masters of their craft, recognized by the Ministry of Culture as keepers of intangible cultural heritage. Many of them inherited their skills from their families and are now some of the only individuals in the world who still know how to use them. You can read about each designer, artisan, and collaboration in the archives of Taipei Fashion Week's websites. The looks are absolutely GORGEOUS, from the clothing itself to the styling & makeup—like peak couture. I've been obsessed ever since I found out about it.

youtube

I unfortunately do not have the truckload of sponsors and connections necessary to make a collaboration of this scale happen on my own (yet!!!!!!!!), but learning about this event did make me more aware that as cultural artists we have an opportunity to create, explore, and share beyond our comfort zones.

Quick Disclaimer on Culture

While some Taiwanese Han people including myself do have some detectable traces of austronesian blood, for many it’s a percentage so small that it’s virtually negligible. Studies claiming significant overarching genetic difference in the Taiwanese Han population due to indigenous blood have been largely debunked already. While I do claim descent from Taiwanese austronesian ancestors, I am NOT able to claim indigenous culture as my own, as I have not gone through the lived experiences and context required to earn it.

To be clear, my intention is not to claim these cultural aspects, but to share their existence with the world. If this post sparks interest in anyone, I want to acknowledge that my knowledge basically ends here. If you want to learn more I would encourage looking elsewhere (I will put some links at the end) for a more authentic source of information.

Though I did my best to research accurately and respectfully, information on indigenous peoples is often either not available, of dubious accuracy, or hard to access, especially with a language barrier. Also, historical categorization of Taiwanese aborigines has always been really iffy, so there’s some disagreement about terms and descriptions that complicates things. Colonization happened & continued to happen for a very long time and there are still a lot of issues within Taiwan related to the treatment and status of indigenous people. I only hope that I can continue to pay homage to those less-often recognized cultures that played a role, however large or small, in shaping the world that we live in today, and the identities we wear on our bodies.

I hesitated on this set and this post for a very long time because I didn’t want to offend or overstep, but ultimately I went ahead with it because I think that if people always refuse to interact with or learn about something for fear of doing it wrong, then no efforts will ever be made to spread awareness and understanding about new things. To me, my objective to share these cultural concepts is worth the risk of imperfection. I tried my very best and will continue to revise things as I learn, but if I say something inaccurate, misleading or otherwise offensive, please understand that it’s never my intention, and point me in the right direction (nicely please :<).

The Design

As mentioned before, the cut follows the same construction as the Mawangdui curved-hem robes with some modifications—some parts of the trim were not bias-cut because of the positioning and orientation of the printed pattern. However, most of the other parts of the robe follow the original structure.

The fabric making up the body of the robe is velvet chiffon, an ultra-light and soft fabric with the tiniest hint of a pile. It drapes like a dream and the pile gives it the tiniest bit of that sophisticated velvety sheen on the surface—but only a little; it’s closer to chiffon than velvet. To the best of my knowledge, the fibers are polyester. The color chosen is a deep plum purple shade, taken from the second mentioned robe in the Mawangdui section.

An earlier prototype had the robe lined with a cotton fabric, but there were some issues with it: the cotton lining was noticeably thicker than the chiffon surface material, which affected the drape of the robe as a whole. This might’ve been less of a problem if, like the lined robed found in Mawangdui, they were padded with some kind of cotton or silk floss in between, but we didn’t have that, so the separation between the inner and outer layers looked odd. In the end I elected to remove the lining completely—the wrong face of the velvet chiffon was perfectly smooth and comfortable anyway, and this would allow for some flexibility in climate, since the lined version was very hot.

Src: Photo by 齊玉 (@chiyu1024 on ig), modeled by Tangtang—shot January 2025 at Yangmingshan National Park

The trims on the robe feature two printed designs that I drew, both based off of the hundred-pacer’s diamond /triangle pattern. I wanted the wide trim to resemble the actual color scheme and visual texture of the snake’s scales a little more closely, so I used similar grey-brown colors and a scale brush to create mottled, alternating diamond scales.

One of the features that makes the hundred-pacer’s coloring so noticeable is that the delineation between the light and dark parts isn’t just a single switch of colors—on the dark triangles, the color gradually deepens as you get closer to the line; on the light diamonds, the color lightens close to the border. This emphasizes the shade contrast between them and also gives the illusion that the lighter diamond part is ‘floating’ above the triangles, since the super dark parts of the triangles appear like shadows.

Src: Liu Rui Wei, iNaturalist, Photo 315860941, August 2023, observed near 三星鄉

If you’ve ever painted you’ll be very familiar with what I’m talking about; to strengthen the appearance of an edge you increase the contrast on either side of it to ‘lift’ the brighter side and ‘push’ the darker side down. It’s nature’s very convincing imitation of leaves that have fallen on the ground—as obvious as it seems to us, it works extremely well as camouflage when the ground is littered with brown leaves.

The narrow border’s print has slightly different colors: the background is cream, like the snake’s underbelly, and the pattern itself alternates between dark red and purple. It’s more on the geometric side. One side has wide triangles, as the hundred-pacer’s pattern appears from the side, and the other has half-ovals, meant to imitate the round black splotches lining the edge of its belly. There are circles in between them representing the errant black scales that I’ve seen appear on their necks and bellies, and also to even out the overall appearance a little.

Originally I wanted to narrow border to only have the belly splotch pattern, but when the sample was made it looked a bit strange—the splotches ended up being too big in relation to the diamond pattern, and their unevenness was really pronounced, which I didn’t like. I re-designed the pattern to have smaller shapes scattered throughout, which I think was a lot more visually balanced.

That about wraps it up I think! I'm supposed to get edited photos back from my January photoshoot in Yangmingshan National Park by like... next week or so, I'll do a separate post about it with pretty pictures (this post is already long enough >.<)

hey look it me

Addendum—Sources, Resources, and Ways to Support Formosan Indigenous People

Keep in mind that a lot of these sources are gonna be written in traditional Chinese. Some of them have English translation options on their websites though, you just have to look for it/accept that there's probably gonna be some mistranslations.

順益台灣原住民博物館 / Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines: Located in Shilin District in Taipei, close to the National Palace Museum, museum dedicated to indigenous peoples of Taiwan. If you ever visit Taipei and have the National Palace Museum on your list I’d recommend carving out some time to come here too! Entry is $5 USD with a bunch of discounts for students/elderly/indigenous/disabled/etc. There are four floors (including basement) to explore and tons of permanent/rotating exhibits.

WilDesign Wildman Workshop: One of the indigenous-owned workshops I like. They’re not super duper active but they make just... really cool stuff. I got a necklace from them.

LiMA: A distribution platform dedicated to indigenous people’s handiwork. They have a physical location in Taipei on Yongkang Street that I visited (I was very shy and chickened out of chatting with the staff but it was VERY cool, it's where I found the Wildman necklace I bought). They’re endorsed by the Council of Indigenous Peoples. They have everything from jewelry to makeup to snacks.

DI NI Handmade Workshop: Another indigenous peoples’ workshop. I haven’t been to this one in person but have heard good things. It’s apparently run by a bunch of retired elementary school teachers, and they’ve got a lot of very cute jewelry, purses, pillowcases etc.

Council of Indigenous People: Council of Indigenous people’s webpage on Paiwan people. They have regular news and info coming out. For some reason the link breaks sometimes, idk why, but if it’s not working you can probably google your way there.

Explore the Sun Qadaw : Another organization, also associated with LiMA. They share stuff about crafts, travel, events, food, etc. I think they have an instagram but idk if they're very active there

I found this random article, I can't figure out where it's from but the info seems to check out with all the other sources????? So I guess I'll put this here too?????

National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts: This is a past event listing but it contains some information in it about the hundred-pacer and its depictions.

Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures: Some more depictions of the snake on carvings.

Taiwan Environmental Information Center: Article on the hundred-pacer legends.

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intergalacticfop · 2 years ago

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Minoan Kilt

The large, structural skirt worn by Minoan women in art is instantly recognizable, and when I made my own I combined current best guesses with my own personal tastes.

My kilt shape follows the hypothesis laid out by Bernice Jones in her book Ariadne's Threads: The Construction and Significance of Clothes in the Aegean Bronze Age. She describes the shape of that of a labrys, a double-headed axe with apparent ceremonial significance in Ancient Minoan culture. This garment may be depicted in Linear-B logogram *166 + we, we-being the backwards-s-shaped squiggle in the center which identifies the piece as a garment.

See pages 336 and 341 in Marie-Louise B. Nosch, The Textile Logograms in the Linear B Tablets

Actual details on construction and materials below the cut:

Construction:

The top and bottom edges of the kilt are concave, so the sides are longer than the middle. This gives the chevron-shape seen on layered kilts in art. In addition, the curved top half makes the skirt flare out, accommodating the hips and giving more freedom of movement to the legs. My kilt measured from my waist to my anklebone at the longest point, and about 1.5 times around my waist.

I chose to make a flounced kilt, with smaller strips of fabric and trim applied to a large base piece, rather than a tiered kilt, in which multiple kilt shapes of varying length are layered one on top of the other, so you end up wrangling 3 layers of fabric around the waist. The flounced kilt saves fabric and gives you a lot more freedom with whatever trim you might want. Jones' diagram for a flounced kilt is seen below:

Unlike the version in the diagram above, I chose not to attach ties to the garment itself both because the linen I used was very heavy and I was concerned about weight, and also because folding the skirt and securing it with a separate tie worked just fine for my tastes. In total I had four flounces: 2 alternating rows each of fabric and fringe.

The vertical edges of most kilts are left plain, probably representing either the selvage or an edge otherwise finished off to prevent fraying. For my kilt, however, I ended up with a couple inches of self-fringe on either side as I adjusted the fabric to the correct width. At least three examples of kilts with fringed vertical edges are known, all three from the so-called "House of the Ladies" in Akrotiri

Photos from Wikimedia Commons. Image 1. Image 2.

The vertical edges of these kilts are reinforced with a colored band or tape, probably to keep the garment from unintentional further fraying. Accordingly, I did the same on my kilt. I also like that it gave a nice vertical diagonal to counterbalance the horizontal ones.

Materials

I tried to use mainly linen and wool, the fibers most available on Ancient Crete, but some of my trim was cotton because sometimes you just have to use what's cheap and available in the today times.

The base of my kilt is a heavy, patterned linen in what's called a diaper weave, meaning that a repeating diamond pattern is woven into the pattern itself. A lot of the Minoan textiles depicted in frescoes are characterized by repeating geometric patterns, likely woven into the fabric itself, and that was something I wanted to capture in my own piece. My linen is woven with both cream and natural colored threads. The heavy weight is important to give structure to the garment--otherwise it would be kind of limp. My linen was from Burnley & Trowbridge (shameless plug), as was the plain cotton twill tape I used to bind the top and bottom edges of the kilt, and the dark red wool twill tape I used along the vertical edges.

I bought my cotton fringe from a rug supply store. I had to search a while to find a fringe that would work for me, and I ultimately chose fringes with a woven header rather than the more common knotted one, so that it would lay flat against the kilt. I hid the woven header under a layer of cotton fringed trim from Michaels (yes, Michaels) with this really great diamond and dots pattern woven in black.

The blue layers are from a bolt of vintage wool Kimono fabric. Blue appears frequently in frescoes, likely achieved with indigo or woad dye, or even murex/mollusk dye. The fabric is printed with an imitation ikat pattern of diamonds and squares that made me think "the vibes seem right!" because quite frankly, you aren't going to get "historically accurate" Minoan textiles (which there probably isn't enough archaeological evidence to definitively describe) without, like, hand-weaving it yourself or paying someone hundreds of dollars to do it for you (and that price is if the weaver really likes you). Neither of which appealed to my desire to just make a fun, low stress project. Good enough is good enough.

The narrow trim on the bottom of the blue flounces is vintage cotton/poly woven trim. This trim, while narrow, was quite thick and stiff, which was great because it added more weight and structure to the end of my flounces since the wool fabric itself was quite thin.

The top layer is a custom tablet-woven wool trim that I commissioned from MAHTAVAhandicraft on Etsy. I imagined this as the "centerpiece" of my kilt, and I'd arrange everything to complement it.

It's a kivrim pattern, which has itself only been traced to 19th-century Anatolia, but I didn't care. The way it looks like waves reminded me of how central the sea was to life in the Ancient Aegean and Mediterranean and it captured the idea and aesthetic I was pursuing. I mean, doesn't it remind you of these dolphins?

(I like the dolphins)

The whole thing was machine sewn with the exception of hemming and adding trim to the blue flounces. If you were to look at it from the back, you'd see lots of zigzag stitches, because i wanted to be fast! and have fun! not chase some unreachable ideal of "accurate."

As for wearing it, I chose to wear it with the top part folded/rolled down over a belt, so I have a thick tube of fabric around my waist. Many images, like the frescoes above of women with fringed kilts, appear to just show the kilt being tied closed. Other images are so fragmented or stylized that it's unclear what kind of skirt closure was used. Sculptures and figurines definitely show some kind of SOMETHING around the waist, whether this is folded fabric or a kind of belt is unclear. Different art could show different things!

I think I see evidence of a continuous line from the skirt to the waist-roll on the figure on the left, found in Troas, which I think indicates some kind of skirt-folding situation. The woman on the right, found in Crete, looks more like she's wearing some kind of long coiled belt, or perhaps snakes. Who knows? I don't! For my own part, I found the combination of rolled waist + tie belt the most secure for doing things like kneeling, stomping around, and wading into rivers to rescue bees. I also liked that it gave me the bulk around the hips that gives Minoan figurines such a powerful silhouette, and proportionally gives more of an hourglass shape. If you wanted to do something more firmly grounded in the sources, stick just with the waist tie or belt, wrapped around a couple times and tied in back. If you want to be like me, just say "well we don't KNOW it didn't happen" and just do whatever you want. Have fun! Whatever happens, it should be fairly easy to move around in the kilt--this is not a restrictive garment, just a heavy one.

#minoan #minoan crete #historical costuming #bronze age #reference #resources

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loadingbones · 7 months ago

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Hello!! breakdown of Choir Cosplay!! This is not really gonna be a step by step but a general vibe of what I did to make this cosplay :) To note: I haven’t sewn anything since I was in highschool which was 8 years ago, so a lot of this is like a ‘ya that works’ - make improvements where I could not :p Overall I wanted the cosplay to not be an exact copy of what is in game, personally I prefer more fitted clothing so I went close to my size with the pattern. Fabric: I used an ivory polycotton, ivory satin and black cotton. 1. I started hunting for a pattern that at least captured the vibe of the choir garb. I had split up the garment in my head into 3 separate parts: The base, the capelet, all the extra fancy bits. The big concern when picking fabric is I didn’t want the garment to be translucent, which is a problem for lighter coloured fabric. BUT!! I found that I didn’t have to make a lining and could instead flatline the fabric - where you cut double the piece and stitch them flat against each other - making it both thicker and opaque!

Flatlining tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N-qdP9tcc4&pp=ygUSZmxhdCBsaW5pbmcgc2V3aW5n

I found this pattern by Gunnar Deatherage on Etsy (as a beginner I loved this pattern, it’s very in depth and easy to follow)

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1270370974/maxi-duster-wrap-pattern-instant?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=gunnar+deatherage&ref=sr_gallery-1-14&pro=1&sts=1&dd=1&content_source=95a164c411331c5aaff8fee029dee1e6377d3f92%253A1270370974&search_preloaded_img=1&organic_search_click=1

I did not use the sleeve pattern from it, instead I made my own to have the right fall and size.

Use the sleeve cap from the pattern so it can attach correctly to the bodice/back pieces - then where the sleeve starts to become longer draw out diagonally on both sides. For length I used the original pattern and went slightly longer! :) I used the same pattern for the peplum sorta top section and again for the skirt on the bottom. It creates a stitch line along the front but it’ll be covered by the belt!

I bought this embroidered ribbon and attached it around the edges of the garment! https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/840215852/35-mm-golden-victorian-jade-jacquard?click_key=2c042e9416627d9bf9d2f1e85385ba93e48ca464%3A840215852&click_sum=1fe453a7&ref=shop_home_active_1&sts=1 Corset/rolled sleeves: I did this last Corset pieces: Cut out 4 pieces (twice) - and attach them together leaving the end open to turn them inside out. Use a grommet tool and punch some holes through your fabric - make sure they line up. Roll the sleeves to roughly where your inner elbow is and attach another piece of fabric around the width of the roll - pin it in place. Hand sew the corset pieces on and the other piece of fabric so it is all secure :) Thread some similar coloured lacing to the fabric through the holes.

2. The belt! (My mum helped me a lot on this and was my voice of reason) Originally I had bought an elasticated belt with a clasp, but it didn't work at all and ruined the fall of the garment.

I chopped off the end of the belt, leaving me with some elasticated ‘fabric’ and the clasp. Measured my waist and cut out a thick piece of fabric twice and one piece of iron on interfacing. The measurement I did with the base on and added slightly more for both seam allowance and so there was breathing room for myself. Put the clasp piece on either end of the fabric and sew it all together! :) (marks are from the paint of the chain rubbing off onto the fabric :P)

3. The caplet! For the capelet I used this tutorial Easy DIY Capelets | For Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas🎃🍂🎄 (The only issue with this is I couldn’t get my head around how to attach a non circle collar) Ivory polycotton + Ivory satin used. Doing the base of this is pretty straightforward with the tutorial - it’s just a circle skirt but for your neck. If you want to be evil to yourself, you can do what I did and hand sew bridal applique all around the garment. If you can machine sew it please do :p I went for a big swooping shaped applique in ivory - any gaps I had were filled with more applique https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/628065500/beaded-sequinned-lace-flower-wedding?click_key=d8b4937d8079ab34b301cf2d4dc7fbd0d6ede960%3A628065500&click_sum=81fb49a9&ref=shop_home_recs_1 I used poppers on the base and the cape to attach them together - it kept choking me if i didn’t 4. The collar - made me want to cry ngl I could not figure out for the life of me how to attach a non circle collar to the capelet (which is how I wanted it). Instead we have a removable collar!! I copied the size of collar from one of my own shirts and followed these tutorials TWO PIECE COLLAR TUTORIAL | KIM DAVE How to Sew a Collar and Collar Stand Easily by Sew Sew Live 5. Graduation hood???? For some reason you can’t just buy these in the UK without paying £30, so I made my own Cut out double for the pieces around your neck and one for the ‘hood’ part Gather the ends of the rectangular piece and attach them to the other pieces!

6. The Fancy back panel piece Measure from mid shoulder blade to the bottom of the garment for the main rectangular piece. Cut out two other rectangles of the same width coming into an arrow shape. Sew them all together and start sketching on the design. The great thing here is you can make it up, because it’s too complicated and nobody is gonna look at it and be like ‘u did it wrong’ I used a fabric medium and gold metallic acrylic

Once it’s all done, I machine sewed it to the back of the base garment because it’s hidden by the cape. 7. THE REST Chain: Me and the chain belt had a fight - Originally I used metal chain,, but I’m allergic to some metal and can’t deal with the smell,, I switched to a plastic chain with 2 D Ring clasps - had to sand it down but the gold spray paint loves to flake off. If I knew about it before, I’d use EVA foam chain :) Black pieces underneath: I bought a turtle neck and a long black skirt :P but you could make it as a dress or smth! Purchased long black velvet gloves, a pocket watch and a key necklace (I didn’t want to use a censer - and they are v expensive/idk how to make one) Ribbon + brooch: I bought chunky soft blue ribbon and found a vintage brooch on vinted

The mask: If you have contacts you’d probably be fine, but I don’t and this mask messed with my depth perception and balance so I had to take it off so I could wear my glasses :(

Use buckram plastic mesh - the thicker kind, used for fursuit eyes and in black! You can see out but nobody can see in. I made a mock up with paper but sorta looks like this shape :)

Eva foam pieces cut out into swirls and filigree like shapes, glue it onto the buckram I did a base coat in grey over the entire thing and painted it with black, gold and bronze acrylic! I hole punched and put the ribbon through it so the mask could be tied around my head.

If you’re making the mask and hat - I’d attach the mask to the hat so it’s one piece :) Where I went wrong/what I’d improve I wish I had been able to attach the collar to the rest of the garment. There is a gap that appears between the collar and the caplet/base at the back (mainly due to gravity and it moving) that can be annoying, since my hair is on the longer side it was covered but still I wish it wasn’t there. I’d also want a bigger collar! I’d not use satin as a lining for the skirt and capelet - it’s so annoying to use and it’s so slippery Maybe would not hand sew all that applique because it took me over a week :P BUT OVERALL for a first cosplay, it’s pretty good! I’m mostly happy with the outcome and it was one of my dream ones to do! :) I hope this helps, I didn’t take photos of all the steps unfortunately but hopefully it makes sense :)

#Choir cosplay breakdown as best as I could #with links and things to where I got my patterns and tutorials from #I hope it helps - if you wanna know more or see more photos feel free to dm and ask idm showing!!#bloodborne #bloodborne cosplay #choir cosplay #bloodborne art #bloodborne choir #cosplay #fanart #art #artist #fromsoft

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out-there-tmblr · 6 months ago

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Young zaundads wip (22)

The second section is NSFW. Sexy times where they're both still figuring it out.

***

It's surprising how quickly word of their new market spreads. The alcohol sells – the bottles of wine that the mess hall never stocks, the clear spirits that smell like paint remover to Vander – and the gas masks sell so well that Silco's keeping a waiting list for their next two orders.

Clothing is harder. It's too hard to know what size of clothing will sell, what style or colours. The uncut fabric still takes up a lot of space and requires someone able to sew.

"And we'd need somewhere to store it," Silco complains as they look through the captain's stock. He keeps running his fingers over the fabrics, fingertips grazing over anything smooth or shiny.

"Our place?"

"Somewhere I'm happy for other people to come and see the goods," Silco replies. He firmly believes the safest approach is to make sure no one knows where they sleep.

"We should ask Babette." Silco gives him a doubtful look, so Vander explains, "Her workers are probably the only ones who are going to pay just to look good. If we asked what they want, maybe we could get a selection and take it to them?"

"The captain's docked here overnight. We'll go now, check with Babette and come back."

Babette's working on the riverside this week, in a small fisherman's cottage with the tents set up behind it. They end up sitting in the front room, surrounded by scantily dressed women, waiting for Babette to be free. Vander's trying not to stare at cleavage and high cut skirts, but Silco's actually chatting away to a couple of girls in the corner, nodding and taking down notes.

He's relieved when Babette returns and leads them to a tiny kitchen out the back, with a small but serviceable table. Babette uses a small step to climb onto the chair.

"Vander," Babette says warmly, "and who's your friend?"

"Silco," Vander says, ten futures to face Silco's unimpressed expression. "I grew up on the riverside. Babette's been here as long as the bridge has."

"Longer, dear." Babette ashes her cigarette into a glass bowl. "I came here when they were building that. I remember you running wild in the streets, ten years old and trying to pretend you were grown, pouting when Callie wouldn't let you in the front door."

Honestly, Vander didn't think anyone would remember that but him.

Leaning an elbow on the table, Silco looks at him. Silco doesn't smile but there's amusement in his voice. "You tried to sneak into a brothel at ten?"

"Only to pickpocket my clients. Really, if you're not good enough to lift a wallet on the street, you shouldn't be dabbling in petty theft." Thankfully, she doesn't go into any further details. Vander has no desire to let Silco know about the time he had to run from a potential mark and hide in a barrel of chum for twenty minutes. He stank of fish for days. "Now, how can I help you boys? You didn't seem too interested in another companion."

Now, Silco smiles. "We have a business opportunity for you."

They make a list and go back to the ship. They find what they can and pay for it, and then return with their pile to Babette's back door. There are lots of flimsy fabrics, things that shine and sparkle in the candlelight. Lots of strong, bold colours.

They spread the rolls of fabric over the table and haggle good-naturedly over the price.

***

Vander's grown used to sleeping in beds that are only just wide enough for his shoulders. He's used to turning in bed very carefully, so he doesn't roll out of it by accident. The new bed that Silco buys them is double the width of the company bunks. With a thick wooden baseboard and headboard, with curves etched into the wood. It reminds Vander of the Piltover bridge, the combination of square lines and curves, a mix of practicality and beauty.

"Are you going to keep running your hands over that or are you going to get into bed?"

Vander looks over his shoulder. Despite the sharp words, Silco doesn't look annoyed. He's been sharper than usual tonight, but Vander mostly put that down to the frustration of taking the bed apart to fit it through the fissure entrance and then getting it to fit back together.

It's good and sturdy now. Vander gives the frame a little shake and it doesn't budge. "Nothing wrong with admiring a job well done."

Silco rolls his eyes and starts unbuckling his jacket. They've made the bed with a piece of cotton as a sheet and a few blankets. One pillow each, purchased from the company store. Vander wants to jump straight into it but it's probably better to strip his clothes off first. It'll be smudged with coal dust soon enough.

"You said," Silco says calmly, hanging up his clothes for tomorrow, "you wanted to fuck me when we got a bed."

Vander jerks in surprise, and then hears his shirt seam tear.

"Damn it. Remind me to fix that in the morning," he says reflexively. "And, yeah, I remember saying that. Why?"

"We now have a bed." Silco sounds fine about it but his knuckles are white as he unbuttons his pants. He slides them down and then shakes them out, hooking them on a loose nail in the wall. "So we might as well."

Vander grins to himself. It's such a practical way to approach sex – he doesn't know what else he expected from Silco.

Vander leaves his own clothes folded messily in the corner. "Have you done this before?"

"Have you?" Silco counters.

"There were a couple of girls on riverside. More fumbling than anything else." Vander shrugs. "But I haven't done… exactly this."

Silco fetches a small glass bottle from his jacket pocket. It's orange in a tall pyramid shape. "Babette suggested oil."

"You talked to Babette about this?"

Silco folds his arms across His scrawny chest. "She seemed the most reliable source of information."

Vander wants to tease him but Silco might take it personally and call the whole thing off. "Okay. Did she suggest anything else?"

"That it might be easier to relax lying on my stomach. Remember to use the oil. That the first time was bound to be uncomfortable," Silco admits, watching the bottle in his hand rather than meeting Vander's eyes, "but it would feel good by the end."

Silco presses a perfunctory kiss to Vander's mouth and pushes the bottle into his hands. Then he walks over to the bed, pulls back the blankets and then lies face down. He pulls a pillow under his cheek, and then sides his knees apart. "Are you going to stand there watching?"

"It's a very pretty sight," Vander says earnestly and Silco snorts. Vander isn't any kind of artist, he couldn't explain it if he tried. But there is something breathtaking about The warm lantern light on Silco's white skin, the shadows caused by the curve of his spine. It's something about the vulnerable backs of his knees, the long stretch of thigh, the curve of his ass. Silco likes to sleep with his hair pulled into a messy bun, but there are dark strands escaping, curling around the nape of his neck.

"You really are beautiful," Vanser says, crawling onto the bed and kneeling between Silco's legs.

Silco glares over his shoulder. "Hurry up, Vander."

The stopper is a little tricky to get free. It takes Vander an extra moment to work it out of the bottle and he has to ignore Silco's very judgemental, "Do you need assistance?"

It doesn't smell like engine oil, like diesel and machinery. It's thin and pale, and barely has a smell at all. Out of curiosity, Vander licks his finger but it doesn't taste like much either. Silco is still watching him over his shoulder, but at least he doesn't say anything.

Vander slicks up his cock first, a stroke or two to take the edge off, and then he smoothes the oil over Silco's hole, feeling it tense and relax under his fingers. He pushes two fingers inside to spread the oil, Surprised at the resistance, and Silco hisses into the pillow.

"Okay?" Vander asks, and Silco makes a muffled uh-huh noise, face still pressed into the pillow. Vander adds some more oil, hypnotised by Silco's hole stretched around his fingers. He pushes deeper and his knuckles disappear inside Silco.

Silco gasps, shoulder blades tensing as he holds tight to the pillow. Vander pushes in deeper, and he feels Silco clench around him, how hot and smooth Silco feels around his fingers.

Vander pulls his fingers out and lines up his cock. Silco is hot and smooth around him and tight. So tight. It's like fucking into a vise. "Relax, will you?"

"I'm trying," Silco snarls back at him. "Give me a minute."

Vander tries to stay still, to stop his hips from hitching forward. He presses his palms against the mattress, to either side of Silco's waist and tries to think of anything but how hot and tight Silco is around him. How he can feel Silco clench around him and then relax. How desperately he wants to bury his cock in deep.

"Silco," and it's a whine because Vander's going out of his mind. "Can I–"

"Yes," Silco says and Vander thrusts the rest of the way in. He takes a breath, tries to give Silco a moment to adjust and then he has his hands on Silco's hips, holding him steady as Vander pulls back.

He thrusts back in, fireworks skating up his spine and Silco's moan ringing in his ears. When he pulls back, Silco whines into the pillow. It's obscenely loud, the slap of skin against skin, the grunts that Vander can't stop making, the gasping whines ripped out of Silco. It drives Vander on, makes him thrust harder and hold on tighter, fingers digging into Silco's hips.

It catches him by surprise how close he is, has Vander scrambling to reach under Silco and get a hand around his cock, to jerk him off as Vander chases ecstasy with every thrust. He's desperate and clumsy but Silco is sobbing for breath, dragging in deep, wet gasps.

Then Silco freezes, clenching beneath him and around him. He comes with one last, low groan and Vander's only a few thrusts behind him. He comes deep inside Silco and then collapses onto his elbows, breathing open mouthed against Silco's back.

He can feel Silco's shuddering breaths. Can feel Silco's shoulders hitching as he forces his breathing under control again.

Vander pulls out and rolls off him, and Silco is out of bed, straight over to the flask of water and rag they use for cleaning up. He keeps his back to Vander as he washes his face first. He wipes himself down, front and back, but the whole time he's silent and keeps his back to Vander.

Silco dislikes going to sleep dirty – for any reason – but he usually has no modesty when washing and spends the time complaining that they don't have hot water.

"You okay?" Vander asks, sitting up. He stays in bed because he knows Silco doesn't react well to being cornered.

"Fine," Silco says quietly, facing the wall. He wipes down his chest again, and then fiddles with the rag, wringing it out and then laying it over the flask. "It's fine."

Silco turns the lantern down to a low glow and then comes back to bed.

Vander frowns, worried he might have got carried away. He's usually careful around people, has always had to be, but he forget around Silco. Silco would laugh at him for holding himself back and it's easy to forget the reasons Vander should. "You'd tell me if I hurt you, right?"

"It's not that," Silco says quickly, which proves it is something.

"Did you not like it?" That doesn't feel true, not with the noises Silco was making, but he's to ask.

"It's not–" Silco gives a frustrated sigh. "It was fine. It was good, it just…"

Vander rolls to his side, curves a arm around Silco's waist. He can make out Silco's familiar profile in the almost dark. "Tell me."

"I don't like the way it made me feel. Flayed open. Overwhelmed." In the dark, Silco takes a deep breath. "I don't want to do that again."

"Okay."

"Don't placate me! This was something that you wanted and now I'm saying no. You should at least be honest with me if–"

Shutting Silco up with a kiss feels like a good solution, especially when he kisses back. "I want you. However I get to have you."

"You mean, you like me on my knees sucking you off," Silco clarifies, confident enough to tease.

"I really do."

***

#zaundads #fic: brush off all the dirt

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literaryvein-reblogs · 9 months ago

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Writing Notes: The Human Body

A Quick & Simplified Guide: On Cells & DNA

CELL

The basic unit of life

You are made up of about 30 trillion of them

Don’t all look the same: A red blood cell looks nothing like a spleen cell, which looks nothing like a cell in the skin of your eyelid. That’s because they each have very different jobs.

But they still share some basic parts:

Nucleus - heart of the cell

Golgi apparatus - packages up proteins and labels them so they get to the right place; "the cell's post office"

Mitochondria - the cell's power generators. Like cars, you run on "fuel" too. It's called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). They do almost all the work of turning the energy from your food into ATP. Without the "fuel", the cell would die.

Endoplasmic reticulum - makes proteins that the cell needs in order to keep doing its job

To survive, cells need:

Food - especially sugars, which contain the energy that is turned into ATP

Oxygen - vital for turning the energy in sugars into ATP

Water - needed inside each cell for nutrients to move into and around it

3 Types of Waste (when making ATP from food)

Carbon dioxide - which you breathe out

Ammonia - after a bit of tweaking by your liver, this chemical passes out in your urine

Water - any water that your cell does not need eventually ends up in your blood, and exits your body in urine, feces, sweat, and breath

How "Big" is your Body?

Though your cells are tiny, they can join together to make big structures. In fact, unpacked, your body is enormous:

A pair of lungs, smoothed out, would cover a tennis court.

If you unravelled the airways within your lungs and laid them in a line, they would stretch from London to Moscow.

In the same way, all of the blood vessels (the veins and arteries and smaller blood-bearing tubes) in your body would stretch two and a half times round planet Earth.

DNA is extremely thin. You’d need 20 billion strands of it, laid side by side, to make the width of the thinnest human hair. But you have so much of it, and so many cells, that if you formed all that DNA into a single strand, it would reach 10 billion miles across the solar system, to Pluto and beyond. Think of it: there is enough of you to exit the solar system. You are, in the most literal sense, cosmic.

DNA

The "instruction manual" for making you.

Almost every single cell in your body has two copies of that manual:

The Double Helix

DNA - made up of two strands connected by rungs, making a kind of twisted ladder called a double helix

Stored inside the nucleus of the cell, in packages called chromosomes

Within your DNA are short sections called genes

A gene is a code that tells the cell how to make a particular protein

Most of the useful things in your body are proteins:

Some speed up helpful chemical changes going on inside you. Others are needed to ﬁght harmful invaders. And others make up bits of virtually all your body parts, including your muscles, your bones and your brain cells.

Different DNA

Your DNA is unique to you (assuming you don't have an identical twin)

Yet in all humans, 99.9% of the DNA is the same.

This makes us all nearly identical.

But my DNA and your DNA will still differ in three to four million places.

Given the massive amount of DNA you have, this is quite a small number, but it’s enough to make a lot of difference between us.

Where does DNA come from?

Almost all of your cells contain 23 pairs of chromosomes.

One of each pair came from your biological mother, and one came from your biological father.

Your DNA is, therefore, a mixture of your parents’ DNA.

But you’ll also have about a hundred of your very own personal genetic mutations.

These are stretches of DNA that don’t quite match any of those given to you by either of your parents – they are yours alone.

Some people have an unusual number of chromosomes.

For example, people with Down syndrome have an extra copy of chromosome 21.

DNA is extremely stable:

Probably nothing you own right now – no item of clothing or game or even computer – will still exist a thousand years from now, but your DNA almost certainly will.

Incredibly, scientists recently managed to get genetic information from a human fossil that was 800,000 years old.

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References

#writing notes #writeblr #writing reference #dark academia #spilled ink #literature #writers on tumblr #anatomy #biology #writing prompt #poets on tumblr #poetry #writing inspiration #writing ideas #fiction #novel #light academia #creative writing #writing resources

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chic-a-gigot · 9 months ago

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The Delineator, no. 4, Vol. XLVIII. Autumn Number. October 1896. Published by the Butterick Publishing Co. London & New York. Colored Plate 18. Figures D39 and D40. Promenade Toilettes. Internet Archive, uploaded by Albert R. Mann Library

Figure D 39. — LADIES’ STREET TOILETTE.

Figure D 39. — This consists of a Ladies’ jacket or blazer, a vest and skirt. The jacket pattern, which is No. 8669 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen again on page 437 of this publication. The vest pattern, which is No. 6398 and costs 1Od. or 20 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and is shown again on its accompanying label. The skirt pattern, which is No. 8643 and costs 1s. 3d. or 30 cents, is in nine sizes for ladies from twenty to thirty-six inches, waist measure, and may be seen again on page 445 of this number of The Delineator.

Fawn faced cloth is here pictured in the jacket and cream-white cloth in the vest, both garments being finished with machine-stitching. The skirt is made of wine-colored zibeline. The jacket or blazer is here worn open and made with rounding lower front corners, but it may be closed at the bust and have square lower front corners, if preferred. Side-back and under-arm gores and a curving center seam render the jacket close-fitting at the sides and back and extra widths underfolded in box-plaits below the waist produce the popular outstanding ripples. A broad sailor collar that is curved to form three points at the back extends below the bust and shapes a point on the front of each sleeve. The newest effect is seen in the one-seam leg-o’mutton sleeves, which flare in puff style at the top and fit closely below. Pocket-laps having rounding lower front corners give a natty finish to the loose fronts; they are completed with machine-stitching to accord with the edges of the jacket and collar.

The low-cut vest is close fitting and is fastened at the center with buttons and button-holes; with it is worn a striped percale chemisette having a white linen Piccadilly collar and a black satin band-bow.

The six-piece skirt is made with a straight back-breadth and has straight edges that meet bias edges in the seams; it falls in flute folds at the sides and back and flares stylishly at the front.

Pleasing effects may be attained in the toilette by the association of harmonious colors and materials. The most successful jackets, in point of fit and style, are made up in this manner of broadcloth in either light biscuit shades or in the deep, rich Autumn tints of dahlia, green, mulberry, chestnut and wood-brown and various shades of blue and gray. Machine-stitching is the usual finish, although the trim self-strappings are not at all in disfavor, being, in fact, preferred by many fashionables. An inlay of black silk was added to the collar of a jacket made from green mixed cheviot to accompany a black vest and a green canvas skirt. For the skirt, the new camel’s-hair, serge, heather mixtures with their artistic commingling of subdued colors and broadcloth are suggested.

The brown felt hat is stylishly trimmed with ribbon, lace, feathers and flowers.

Figure D 40.— LADIES’ COSTUME.

Figure D 40. — This illustrates a Ladies’ costume. The pattern, which is No. 8658 and costs 1s. 8d. or 40 cents, is in thirteen sizes for ladies from twenty-eight to forty-six inches, bust measure, and may be seen in four views on page 414 of this number of The Delineator.

Canvas wool suiting and velvet are associated in the costume in this instance, and a ribbon stock and pipings of silk and small buttons add refined and elegant decorative touches. The basque, which is closely fitted by double bust darts and the usual seams, is in rounding outline in front, where it terminates at the waist, while at the back and sides it extends in a short skirt that is shaped to stand out in stylish, rippling folds. Gracefully tapering revers extend down the front at each side of the closing and impart a dressy effect to the waist, being slashed to form two tabs over each sleeve ; the tabs are trimmed with small buttons and the revers are prettily piped with silk. The one-seam sleeves flare in leg-o’mutton puffs at the top and fit the arm closely below; they are completed with pointed, flaring cuffs that are piped with silk. A ribbon stock covers the standing collar and is stylishly bowed at the back.

The seven-gored skirt is gathered at the back and possesses the grace and elegance characteristic of the newest styles. At the sides and back it ripples fashionably and at the front it flares broadly.

The new rough-surfaced goods—canvas wools or boucles—will make up stylishly in this manner, and the novel zibeline wools belonging to the camel’s-hair family are also commended, as well as faced cloth, with velvet for the small accessories and pipings of silk and small buttons for decoration. A ribbon stock is quite essential to a dressy effect and there are so many methods of arranging and trimming this fashionable bit of lingerie that no suggestion of sameness is ever given by its use.

The hat is trimmed with bright rose ribbon having a velvet edge, and a fancy buckle in front is chic and pretty.

#Delineator #19th century #1890s #1896 #periodical #fashion #fashion plate #color #description #internet archive #Albert R. Mann Library #dress #gigot #october color plates #one color plates #devant et dos

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sicksweetcreamy · 2 months ago

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Kyubey Plush Translated Instructions

Material -Fur (Short Haired) 145 cm Width... 60 cm -Felt (pink) (red) (black) -Cotton -Button (red) 1.3 cm... 12 pieces -Wire (thickness 3mm) (thickness 2mm) -Underlay (any transparent plastic sheet will do) -Stuffed Toy Joint Diameter 3 cm -Cover Button Kit 18mm... 2 pieces -Soft pastel (light pink) -Spray (yellow) -Glue You can make your own original design with a home printer! -Printed Cloth

Mouth and Eye Pattern (copy and scan it to use) -Eyes for iron-on printing (please flip left and right if necessary) -Mouth -Eyes for 18 mm Covered Buttons

How to Make Unless otherwise specified, you can use either backstitching or machine sewing. Basically, sew with front sides facing each other and then turn it right side out for later. 1) Make your stomach Sew [Front Legs (inside)] to [Body (belly)]. Look at the alignment marks and pay attention to the front and back.

2) Back making Sew the Back of the Body [Body Outer]. Leave the opening in the middle unstitched. Look at the marks and pay attention to the front and back.

3) Align the torso Sew (1) and (2) together, leaving a hole for the butt and neck (approximately 8mm or 1 cm for the joint). Open the tips of the front legs to the side, flatten them, and sew (see bottom right).

3a) Detailed diagram of how to sew the front legs [Front legs (back side)] <- -> Spread the tips of the front legs out to the side and flatten them l V [Front legs (back side)] Sew in the shape of a foot. Cut off the excess seam allowance.

4) Making hind legs. Sew the left and right lines of the [Hind Legs (inside)] and [Hind Legs (outside)]. Sew the darts of [Hind Legs (outside)]. Sew on the [soles] of the legs.

5) Sew on the body Pay attention to the direction of the legs and sew the hind legs to the body. Line up the alignment marks and make sure they go straight down.

6) Make a tail Leave the opening and the base where the joint will be attached unsewn, and turn it inside out. Attach a joint at the base of the tail.

7) Make a frame The wire is shaped into a ring and spray painted (yellow). The wire is attached to the cut out transparent file with glue, and passed through the ears.

8) Make triangular ears If you sew the felt and fur together lightly, the fur will float, but this is fine for now.

9) Make floppy ears Turn it inside out, leaving an opening for turning, and insert wire to sew the opening. Color it (the ends with the soft pink pastel), thread the gold ring (attached to the cut out transparent file) through it, and attach the (red) buttons.

Color with soft pastels. Apply a thick layer and shake off any excess powder to get the desired effect.

10) Make the head Sew 6 darts in total and sew the front and back together. Leave a hole for the neck to pass the joint through and an opening for turning. Once sewn, turn it inside out.

11) Combining. If you want to move the head or tail, use joints to connect them to the body. If you can't get hold of joints, sew them together firmly by hand. Look for them in the stuffed animal section of a craft store.

12) Insert the wire Insert wire into the body and tail. Make a circle above the neck so that the head can rest on it. After roughly shaping it, insert wire through the opening and align it.

13) Fill the body, tail, and head with cotton. Use a stick to push the remaining part in. Pack it evenly, avoiding the wire.

14) Sew the opening Seal the back, head and tail.

15) Make eyes Scan the pattern from the magazine and transfer it to the printed fabric, then cut it out. Make a covered button that fits the base. Refer to the package for instructions on how to make a covered button. If you temporarily attach the fabric and base with double sided tape before making it, the center will not shift.

16) Make a mouth Stick the pattern onto the back of the sticker felt and cut out the shape. 17) Add ears, eyes, and mouth and back patterns Bend the triangular ears and sew them to the head so that they are evenly balanced. Sew the drooping ears to the inside of the triangular ears. Sew the eyes on like buttons and stick number 16 on for the mouth. Stick the pattern on the back as well.

Kyubey says: You can use felt for the ear buttons instead. If you make the body out of fleece and the eyes with iron-on printing, it will look like this. If you use a joint, it will move but will be a little wobbly, so if this bothers you, you can sew it on directly without using a joint.

#pmmm #madoka magica #magia record #kyubey

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weavebro · 5 months ago

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Made You Look • 2023 • blue and red cottolin warp and weft • 8 yards in length, 12 in width, 24 EPI with 12 set • double cloth pick-up

#weaving #floor loom #textile art #textiles #fiber art #my art #my weaving

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hockpock · 2 years ago

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Glasses Review - Firmoo

Hello vision impaired friends, I bring you the gospel of Ordering Your Damn Glasses Online

I have previously ordered from EyeBuyDirect (luxotica/lenscrafters'/America's Best in disguise, sorry.) and Zenni Optical ( most well known online provider, A+ would recommend) and have seen lots of ads for free pairs from a competitor, Firmoo. I have too much prescription for the free pair offers to ever work out from ANY provider, but their fun designs put them on my list.

When my current glasses broke, I was dinking around and saw their current promotion is Buy One Get One Free PLUS 20% off lenses and as lenses are the real $$$ I jumped on that like tigger on crack. I am VERY nearsighted with astigmatism and the average pair of glasses from lenscrafters used to cost me $300 minimum.

After much deliberation with a million tabs open and a poll I ignored the results of for Reasons, I ordered a pair of clear frames and a pair of purple steampunk-y wireframes . Two pairs of HIGH PRESCRIPTION glasses for $87 shipped. I could cry, y'all.

Note: I have an up to date prescription and a nifty app that measures Pupillary Distance or 'PD'. you will need both these things accurate to have the best experience buying your glasses online.

I ordered them 9/22, they shipped 9/25, I received them 9/29 with regular shipping. They came well packed - each pair was in a bag made of cleaning cloth material inside a sturdy plastic case and they come in a foil bubble mailer.

Both pairs feel well made, with lots of attention to detail-

however I did not pay attention to detail or pay extra money for the Re-he-heaaallly thin lenses. So the clear ones are slightly too big and I hate the way the nose pieces sit, while the purple ones are a wee bit small across the temple and heavy to boot. I haven't had dents in my nose like this since I was 12.

the website lists their exchange policy as 30 days, the pamphlet that came with the glasses says 60. Either way it was pretty painless to go into my order history and select "exchange". The form I filled out with my reasons for dissatisfaction promised me I would be contacted within 24 hours.

My 'personal Firmoo consultant', 'Karen', emailed me with a code for the full price before discount of both pairs + standard shipping, as well as the usual customer service canned answers about checking the sizing information and did I know I could upgrade the lenses?

Also I could keep the failed pairs 'FOR NOW', here are some places that accept glasses as donations. (mixed messages, Karen, but sweet!)

New friends are April006, round anodized wireframes with a cute dingly gem thing, and Sandy020 , literal tortoiseshell cat eye frames.

This time I used the site's search terms to cut the temple width and earpiece length options down and double checked the weight of the base frames. (14g vs 24g for the round wireframes before my coke-bottle lenses. RIP my nose. )

New order was placed 10/5 and they arrived 10/17 . (last time I checked the tracking estimated arrival had creeped from the 19th up to the 23rd so grain of salt. This may be a tactic to make the order feel like it got here faster or legit delays. In my case there was a federal holiday involved.)

Complete disclosure I'm gonna grab a pair of pliers and take the little dangly off the wireframes. It makes a noise when I move my head and if I don't fold the frames in the right order when I take them off it'll scratch up the lenses. I ain't gonna remember to avoid that, so off it goes.

The Good:

Large selection, Good Quality, Good Communication. Lots of Off the Beaten Path options for internet weirdos. Firmoo p much always has a promotion going.

My wallet is so happy. SO HAPPY. Frames run $20-30ish to start. lenses will vary with your prescription and options.

If y'all want 50% off your first frames and to give me a $10 credit they have a referral program and my code is T4Z8I2. BOGO20 is a better value but it expires 11/01/23.

The Bad:

Not flexible about lens options- you go down one track and pick your options within that. If there was a way to put tinting on a pair of glasses other than blue light blocking I couldn't find it. (in contrast I believe Zenni lets you choose a range of colors and tint depth on any pair, designed as sunnies or not)

You Will Get Emails. Firmoo REALLY wants you to buy more glasses and post about it and tell your friends and HERE THIS CODE IS ONLY GOOD FOR 3 DAYS, GO BUY NEW GLASSES. They are marketing themselves to fashionable young influencers who change styles every month. Unsubscribe with impunity.

like Zenni, this is a company with the majority of it's functionality based overseas. It's cheaper because you're ordering directly from a factory and not paying Luxotica's markups to itself. Customer service is mostly English as Second Language speakers and there may be delays.

Not For Emergencies. I was able to coast on a pair of glasses from a prescription or 2 ago but it's gonna take time for your order to be made and shipped.

Overall I'm very happy with them and will probably order again.

Next time I have spare money I'm aiming at Wherelight because y'all. they are next down on the list of reputable to shady AF but they have the most amazing WTF designs.

#glasses #low vision #review #pock posts a thing #firmoo.com #vision impaired #long post

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hyperpregmacy · 23 days ago

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A quick, picture tour of how I make my belly. It's not the most glamorous (mainly bc I'm typing from my phone) but it lays the foundation of my "style" if you wanna call it that

This is the belly-stuffing where you can put as many blankets, weighted blankets, etc into a tower and wrap them up with double nots on both pairs of opposing corners of the blanket.

Use another blanket double-knotted at side-corners to create two loops to slide yourself through.

Have one be slightly bigger than your waist and the other be larger than your shoulder width*

(*ideally, it may very for others)

Roll/place/slide the blanket belly initially into the pocket while only having the bottom loop around your waist. Once it's in position wiggle yourself through the top loop, arms and all and slide both knots to wherever they're comfortable on your back and enjoy!

You may use any kind of clothing that ought to fit and/or shapewear.

Enjoy!!

-Macy

#fake pregnant belly #pretend pregnant #pregnant cd #fake belly #fake pregnancy #fake preg #fake preggo #heavy belly

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soobadnoonecanstopher · 2 years ago

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Can I Stay? (A Baekhyun Story) Part 16.

Pairing: You x Baekhyun

Rating: M

Word Count: 7.2k

Warnings: whoops plot. I didn't really proofread this — sorry. Also sorry it is taking so long for the chapters to come out. I hope you still love me.

A romance between two adults with an unspecified age difference between them, an English story that uses the word Noona for lack of another word in English that carries the same feeling, if you don’t like this, then don’t read this story.

Links: Part 1, ….. Part 15, Part 16, Part 17

Tag List: @andimoon @his-mochi-cheeks

Maybe it was the expensive clothes you were wearing. Maybe it was the understated, quiet luxury of the handbag you walked through that office door carrying. Could it be the shoes? Surely the casual observer couldn’t have noticed the bright red soles of the brand new Louboutins on your feet as you walked.

Perhaps there was some extra oxygen filling up your chest somehow making you carry yourself with an added bit of confidence; making you feel as if you could float away with even the slightest breeze.

You felt as if you were a completely different person. You felt as if the others could tell. It couldn’t just all be happening inside of your head either because you caught evidence of some reactions to you; little things. Tiny double takes as you walked by. Slight widening of eyes when you entered your meetings; slight twinges in the expressions of their faces; barely detectable save for how very aware of yourself and of all of them you felt inside of your skin right now.

So much was new. So much felt different.

You were, in very new and very real ways, very suddenly and unequivocally … somebody’s.

And that somebody he was — he was yours too.

It had a taste to it — it was rich and sweet and secretive and quick. A fresh baked cookie swiped when Mom’s back was turned. Hasty kisses stolen behind heavy wooden doors and brushes of warm fingertips over the back of a hand as you walked by. The whispered lean of a warm shoulder against your own as you both stood in an elevator; surrounded by people; acutely aware of the rhythm of only eachother’s breathing.

A smell like very early morning just before dawn on Christmas Day; the smell of pine and cinnamon and the crisp chill of snow outside, like hiding at the top of the stairs to catch a forbidden glimpse of Santa Claus.

Warm brown eyes from across a hectic room touched into yours again and again. You knew you were staring. You had very little control over it though. This was so very unlike you. Baekhyun was as busy as you had been. The project was wrapping today and loose ends had to be tied up. Final documents had to be submitted to clients. Plus he had been training his replacement on all of his tasks and duties. Tomorrow would be the wrap party. You could hardly wait to unclench. You’d have some drinks with your team and you’d even get to dance. Maybe you could get away with a dance or two with your soon to be ex-assistant without drawing too many curious gazes.

You could dance together one or twice, couldn’t you? You could stand to be held in his arms and swung around the dance floor without leaning in too close or gazing too deeply into his deep brown eyes as you did it, right?

You did your absolute best to look at something else; at anything else.

Those deep brown eyes had found yours once again. Again and again, he found you. Maybe it wasn’t only you who had been staring at him as he showed Assistant Cha the ropes; as he leaned in and spoke very closely with her; as he told her things that made her head roll back and big belly laughs erupted from her bosom that shook like jelly when she laughed dramatically with her whole body.

She reached a hand out and her fingertips touched lightly along his forearm; making contact for a fraction of a second — no more time than the width of a strand of hair. Not enough time of actual contact to warrant any sort of comment about it at all. It was not even any real touch on his skin even; she got his shirt sleeve. This was nothing. This certainly wasn’t anything that warranted such a ridiculously detailed description inside the ever-present internal monologue that played through your head when you thought about this man. It could hardly even be called a touch, really.

Still…she touched his arm. She laughed and giggled and smiled a sickeningly sweet smile at him and you knew, you knew what it felt like to look at him and talk to him and feel that attraction and desire and lust and want. You knew of the kinds of irrational and impossible fantasies that would fly through her head at the very thought of just one of her desperate touches being returned by him.

You could not blame her. He was beautiful.

He moved his arm down and away; probably purposefully. He was reaching for something and just before he spoke, just before his movement nagged at her focus and pulled her dreamy eyes away from his pretty face and down onto what he had to show her, just before his focus dropped to the papers or notebooks or tablet or whatever the hell it was that he held inside his hand, you had them once more; those deep brown eyes that looked into yours from across this space; those brown eyes of his that found yours again and again no matter where you were and no matter where he was — it was like a magnet. He looked at you and you looked at him and the sound and the commotion and the ever present din inside of this busy workspace fell weirdly silent to your own ears.

You had to stop this.

You pulled your focus away from the two of them and you looked around the room at your team. It took so much effort to do.

With the exception of one person, the entire team was immersed in their own tasks. There was a bittersweet vibe in the air and each and every one of these people, to the very end, was giving it their all.

As your eyes made their way around to each desk, glimpsing lightly over its occupant, you reached a person who’s presence had been so familiar to you that you only half jumped to find her looking right at you.

Sandi, a senior member of your translating team and the person who occupied the seat closest to your office door, the person who had worked with you for probably the longest out of all of the group, who you had shared many long nights with over the course of your career, Sandi was watching you with a quiet amusement on her face.

You met her eyes with as much strength and fortitude as you could manage but you admittedly felt a bit taken aback to have had her attention during this time; this time when you foolishly had assumed no one could possibly be paying any attention to you.

You weren’t sure what you were expecting. Perhaps a small smile in your direction and maybe she would resume her work. Or maybe she was watching you because she had a question for you. You strengthened the eye contact with Sandi and lifted your eyebrows in question. Doing your absolute best to keep any guilty expressions from manifesting in your eyes.

You definitely hadn’t expected the next words that came out of her mouth.

“You should stop watching them. She doesn’t hold a candle—“ she began out loud but just as suddenly as she spoke, her words halted abruptly as she closed up her mouth with a start, shaking her head in quick shallow passes. The small self-satisfied smile that had been coloring her lips before she opened her mouth had now slipped away and her eyes widened as she turned her head away from you; averting her eyes. She lifted a hand to cover over her mouth, clearly surprised that she would say such a thing out loud.

Sandi may have been surprised by herself, but you felt blindsided. You felt your mouth go dry and a spindly tingling slowly crept up the back of your neck.

She knew.

Sandi knew.

You felt sick.

The panic that surged through you was swift and complete and it took your breath and what was left of your rational mind.

Without your mind working, all you could manage was to stare down at the girl in silence until you exhaled a purposefully slow breath through your mouth. She had both of her hands over her parted lips and she was reeling. You felt similarly but thankfully years of working through impossible and stressful situations where your facial expression mattered, kept the reeling happening inside of you where it should stay.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry, Miss Manager. I didn’t mean—”

“Sandi — come see me in my office, please.”

Sandi knew you better than most. You’d worked closely beside her for so many years, if anyone would have noticed the obvious change in you since you’d met Baekhyun it would be Sandi. It made the most sense that she would have noticed something was going on. But still, you felt blindsided by this revelation. It wasn’t that you didn't trust the woman, you did. If anyone in this office was going to know such a damning secret about you, it might as well be Sandi.

You felt guilty. You felt very much in the wrong. You’d always strived to set such a good example to your team members and here you’d been caught red-handed, having done such a thing with your direct subordinate of all people, with your assistant! Yes, yes you had already processed his transfer, met with his new team lead, you were doing your absolute best to remove Baekhyun from any and every position beside you, beneath you, any connection to you as quickly as you possibly could. But the fact remained, you were in direct violation of company policy. You should have come clean to HR the second you’d realized just how inappropriate the professional relationship with Baekhyun had turned to have him transferred out that very day.

But you had been weak.

You had delayed it; torn by the very thought of losing him from your side and now…now someone knew. What if she had the wrong idea? What if she thought you used your influence over him to coerce him into the relationship? What if she thought it was one sided, or what if she used this new-found information to hold over you?

You shook your head back and forth as she walked through the doorway of your office and quietly closed the door behind her. Her head was downcast and she moved slowly through the space to take a seat beside where you sat with your hands clenched together in your lap on the small sofa in the center of the room.

“Miss Manager, I really didn’t mean anything bad by what I said. I was just thinking out loud and it slipped out.” She began quickly, as soon you felt the cushion dip when she sat down.

“Can you tell me what you meant by it?” You kept your voice low and careful as you replayed her words again in your mind, a quiet disbelief dancing along the edges of your memory. Maybe you heard her wrong, or maybe she didn't mean it exactly as it sounded to you. Maybe your guilty conscience had you running when nothing was even chasing you.

She didn't speak for a few moments and you swallowed the moisture inside your mouth, lifted your head and looked around the clean space of your office.

“You said that I can stop watching them, who do you think I was watching?” You probed again, realizing that your face, which was angled away from her now, might have not been as in control as usual. You could feel the dampness in your eyes and you blinked quickly.

“Baekhyun and Assistant Cha. Nothing is going on there. There is nothing to worry about. I’m on your side, by the way — both of you.”

You had confirmed it.

She knew.

You felt your steady resolve crumble with the deep sigh of defeat that left your chest and the oxygen leaving your lungs pulled your eyelids closed until all of the light was shut out for a moment. Just for a moment.

You only needed one moment.

“How did you know?” The delicacy of your words, tantamount to a confession, balanced lightly on the tip of your tongue. Your voice sounded so much smaller than you were used to hearing from yourself.

Her reply did not come instantly but the delay in her response, you knew, was more imagined by your own sense of urgency than in anything she was doing. Still, you were impatient to know; enough to turn your gaze from the safety of the silent bookshelf full of items you had owned and controlled for years to look anxiously upon the expressions written on her face and the unpredictable and uncontrollable harsh truths you might find in her eyes.

“Does anyone else know?” You whispered another quiet question, despite the fact that she hadn’t answered the first one yet.

Her eyes watched your face and in them you saw a lightness and warmth. On her lips was the smallest sweet smile that brought you back again to the woman you knew so well; the woman you had worked with closely over the years on several projects, through countless sleepless nights, tirelessly and side by side. The valuable member of your team who proved herself to be trustworthy and reliable. The woman you sought out first when something needed to be handled discreetly and quickly.

She was watching your face and she inhaled a small breath to speak.

“I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who could possibly know,” she said with that soft smile still inside her warm eyes. She was reaching into her pocket to pull out her cellphone and you looked down at her illuminated screen as she opened up an app. It was Instagram. She clicked a few times and eventually landed on a profile that was familiar. It was Baekhyun’s account and a few harmless pictures down his feed, her fingers stopped scrolling when she reached something that you knew would be a picture he had posted one of the nights he’d spent in your bed.

It was an innocuous shot of his hand holding your hand with only an alarm clock visible in the background. The time read 02:16 A.M. and it sat atop a wooden bedside table. Nothing else was in focus. The background of the picture was blurred beyond recognition with only a hazy outline of the very tip of the tail of your darkened bird lamp but definitely not anything that was recognizable about it. Neither of you wore any jewelry that might possibly come back to you. You looked at the words he wrote below the image — ‘I die for any little bit of you, my love.’ — and while yes, it had filled you with butterflies and made you kick and scream under your covers in secret when you saw what he wrote, for the purposes of Sandi identifying you from just this— was she a witch? How could she possibly have known?

There was nothing there. Nothing that pointed to you so conclusively that she would present this evidence to you with such conviction.

“From his posts, I knew he was seeing someone, but when I saw this, it suddenly made sense — how you could have changed so much since he joined. Anyway, I bought you that clock as a Secret Santa gift last year. So obviously I would be the only one to recognize it. I am glad to see you still use it.”

“Would you believe me if I said I gave the clock away to my sister, so that couldn’t possibly be me in the picture?”

You said it jokingly; feeling as if a switch had been flipped with Sandi since she knew something so very damning about you. What authority and respect? This woman saw and knew too much. You now had a confidant and maybe even a friend. Oh no! What if you had to transfer her to another department too? You couldn’t keep losing your best people like this just because you couldn’t keep your work life separated from your personal life.

You honestly felt as if you’d lost all control in this job the moment that man walked through your office door on his first day of work.

“You don’t have a sister.”

“Right,” you conceded quickly.

“Miss Manager,” Sandi began after a few moments, “you don’t need to feel so guilty about this. I really don’t think either of you have done anything wrong. And isn’t that why he’s being transferred so suddenly? To avoid any problems with the company.”

“And let me guess. He made the first move, right? I’m certain of it. I noticed how he looks at you. Since last year even.”

“Last year? You knew him from before this project?”

“You don’t remember him? He was interning with Manager Jung Ho. Ahhh maybe it was the red hair and the glasses.”

Sandi still had her phone out and was scrolling again, this time through her own photo albums that went back through the years. You recognized yourself in many of the shots. Candid pictures as you both worked, a few of the group laughing together as the team unwound after some particularly hectic days. Her scrolling stopped abruptly and you looked down to where she touched with her index finger on a pretty boy with wavy red hair, wearing round gold wire glasses and standing literally right beside you, his eyes looking at you while you were about as busy as could be focusing on putting out several fires at once.

“Here he is. Always following around Miss Manager Noona. Always staring at Miss Manager Noona and talking about Miss Manager Noona. He was so annoying,” she said with a hearty laugh. She scrolled again and image after image showed a similar scene, Baekhyun taking stolen glances at you and you with your mind so occupied at the time you didn’t even remember him. The more pictures you saw of the young red-head with the glasses the more the actual memories of him popped into your mind.

He was bright and chipper and you never did catch his name at the time. He was noisy and full of laughter and full of life and you…well, you had a dark storm cloud hanging over your head back then. Last year was a hard year for you. You had some professional failures that you still dwelled on and some even worse personal failures involving one relationship that still burned you to think about. You’d nearly given up on all things romance at the time; sworn off men forever with their lies and their cheating ways. It was no wonder your eyes had been so blind to the entire person standing beside you; rooting for you; building you up as he had done back then.

You remembered him more as you looked at the pictures. Now his face was so recognizable to you, after you had fallen in love with everything about him, you’d even be able to spot him with bright blue hair and a fake mustache on. But apparently all it had taken was a pair of glasses and a wavy red perm.

“I can’t believe he pulled a Superman-Clark Kent on me — ohhhh…look at how cute he was!” You cooed right out loud. A momentary lapse made you forget where you were and as soon as the sickeningly saccharine words left your lips you lifted a hand to cover over your parted lips.

She laughed out loud , “Oh no, you’ve got it bad. You’ll invite me to the wedding, won’t you?”

She was joking when she said it but you closed up your mouth and pulled both of your lips between your teeth, biting down to try and keep from doing something stupid like squealing from the pent up excitement you felt when you thought about marrying him. Your strong reaction was yet another confession. She had gone motionless the moment you didn't laugh it off as just a funny joke.

“Of course you are invited,” you whispered just under your breath and her laughter quit suddenly, her lips hung open, and her eyes widened significantly.

“Oh my god. What? What?!” She was whispering, but it was a very loud and very excited sounding whisper. “Are you serious?”

You felt her hands grip around your upper arms and she gave you a good shake. It made the laughter break free from your chest and you were giggling now. It was useless to fight it. You could feel the excitement building the more she shook you and the louder her whispering giggles grew. You lifted both hands to cover over your face as your entire body shook with laughter.

You gave into it; the joy and anticipation that her genuine excitement brought out of you and by the time you heard the soft two knocks on your office door you had to wipe away moisture from your eyes from giggling so much before you could compose yourself enough to call out to whoever was knocking that the door was unlocked and they could come in.

The door was pushed and a familiar head of blond hair poked inside just before you saw the rest of his face.

“Miss Manager,” Baekhyun spoke cautiously with his face carefully controlled as he said it. Not even any flirtatious tones hidden in a sweet grin or a secret wink. He was on his best behavior today with so many witnesses around. You hadn’t had a single pointed look from him in hours. It had been at least two hours since you felt the warmth of his fingertips on the skin of the back of your hand. It had been a solid hour since he had looked into your eyes for longer than thirty seconds and allowed those eyes to slip down and steal a glance at your lips.

“You have a meeting upstairs in five,” he said and he pushed the door open further. You could make out Assistant Cha standing just behind him; a thick and heavily scribbled notebook held up to her chest with both of her arms wrapped tightly around it as if it carried all of the secrets of her very new and scary universe.

You nodded your head to the pair of them and quickly gathered your end-of-project meeting materials.

Sandi was excusing herself quietly; if not rather slowly. You caught the lingering examination she gave to Baekhyun as she made her way around the sofa you both had been squealing on moments earlier and seemed to be taking her time with the exit. If he noticed anything amiss, he didn't make it known, but after a few moments of her looking into his face she simply nodded her head once, smiled a sweet smile in his direction and said a quick, “Okay, okay. I can see it. I could have sworn you used to wear glasses.”

You bit down on the side of your tongue to suppress any remaining giggles.

Baekhyun’s eyes danced around her face for a moment in mild confusion and he frowned his lips with a tiny pout, inhaling lightly and parting his lips to respond. But before he could offer any explanation she turned her head back in your direction, gave you a small wave of her hand and a quick, “See you at the wrap party, Miss Manager,” and she then was gone.

You’d made it half of the way through the rows of cubicles when a tap on your shoulder halted your steps and pulled your attention behind you. You recognized that the person calling you was Baekhyun and your eyes were pulled down toward his hand in which he held a small post-it note.

“Excuse me, Miss Manager, I think you dropped this,” he said as he pushed the small folded-in-half piece of colorful paper into the palm of your hand. You knew you must have had a questioning look inside your eyes, at least for the first few seconds of this, but you quickly recovered with a nod and a quiet thank-you on your lips. You slipped the paper inside the pocket of your blazer.

As your legs moved, you noticed that Baekhyun and Assistant Cha held back some, and your curiosity about the small token from your boyfriend felt absolutely itchy. It was as if that small note was pulsing as it called to you from inside your pocket. You slipped your hand in and pulled it out, glancing around quickly to take note of the fact that no one around was paying you any attention at all and with Baekhyun’s steps so far behind you figured no one would mind if you read whatever little details might have been written just for you on this note.

‘I miss you today. You are right here and I miss you to death. I am being so brave about it. You can compliment me about it later, if you want.

P.S. Which season do you like best?’

You silently slipped the note back inside your pocket with a lovely little tap over the fabric to make sure it was secure. You felt as if this elevator you stood inside was carrying you straight into the clouds above this building. He probably couldn't text you freely because of the close proximity of his shadow, Assistant Cha. Or maybe he just wanted to hand you this adorable little note as a physical token of his affection; something you could hold in your hand and lightly touch with the tip of your finger. You half wondered if you should just text him back the answer to his question.

Instead you held your finger over the elevator button to keep it open long enough for the pair of assistants to finally join you inside and you caught the briefest touch of his brown eyes as he stepped inside.

His eyes did not linger. Yours did not chase but you did feel the distinct presence of the warmth of his body as he stepped into the space directly behind you. There were no secret touches or hidden attempts to reach for you inside this space. The high speed elevator surged up quickly; its destination was amongst the upper floors and with the abrupt movement you rocked lightly on your legs to keep your balance. You reached a hand out to rest it over the bar and a glance to your right, just over your shoulder afforded you the view of a familiar hand doing the same. Long slender fingers flexed once outward in your direction, but his hand did not move any closer to you and eventually those fingers simply wrapped around the silver pole for the remainder of the elevator ride.

You would not let your fingers leave his skin tonight.

You’d had your fill of denial.

The meeting was typical for this stage of a project. You paid exactly enough attention as you needed to. Your presentation showcased your team’s successes and honestly, although you didn’t tend to toot your own horn, your own performance looked incredibly impressive as well. Although with such a capable team it was hard not to look incredible. You gave credit where credit was due as you always did and as the other managers and directors said their parts you pulled out a small note pad from your bag and began penning a response to your boyfriend. You did your best to keep your face from showing too much but you could feel the elation pulling your lips into a small smile as you drew the little sad faced emoji in the middle of the note.

‘You are very brave, and doing so much better than I am. I got caught staring at you today. :( Sandi knows now.

P.S. I like the fall. Winter is too cold, Spring is too sneezy, and Summer is too hot. Although you kissed me in the summertime so I like it now too.

P.P.S. I remember you now, from Jung Ho’s project. I didn’t know you wore glasses.

P.P.P.S. It’s not fair for you to look so handsome in every hair color. ’

You stopped writing when you ran out of space. This all could have gone so much smoother in a text message, but there was something magical about writing all of this out in a note to secretly pass to him in person.

Your meeting ended and there was another meeting coming up just after lunch. Your busy schedule and the ever present assembly of people around you didn’t give you any opportunities to pass on the note. And when you would have normally both found yourselves alone with each other, now there was an entirely new person around with her own set of eyes, watching and learning all sorts of things about her new position. And hopefully just that.

She was fine. You could tell that Baekhyun was right about her. She would do well and she would succeed in her new role. You would come to depend on her and appreciate her too. Maybe even the strange undeserved bitterness you felt when you looked at her pretty young face would fade.

But now, you wished she had some other place she desperately had to be.

You found your chance just after lunch when Assistant Cha had departed to the bathrooms. You spotted Baekhyun leaning against a pillar on the ground floor checking the time on his watch, looking about as handsome as could be in his suit and ignoring the many curious glances from various ladies and men who walked by him. He seemed to be waiting for something and you slipped closer to where he stood, careful not to be spotted as you made your way around the other side of the pillar.

You’d reached a hand out to tap on his shoulder at the exact moment that a ping sounded out on his cell phone and he moved out of the way just as your fingers extended so that they touched nothing. You felt a little silly.

While you felt a tinge of disappointment that you’d missed your chance, you also felt a surge of mild curiosity about what he was up to. He made his way toward the security turnstiles and met with a run-of-the mill food delivery man who handed him a small black bag from a local bakery down the block. You’d recognized the logo of one of your favorite shops that had the absolute best fruit tarts you’d ever had and a chocolate cake slice that you’d just about sell your soul for.

He was walking back with his head and his focus turned down into the small bag and you spun on your heels behind your pillar so he would not see you stalking him.

Your feet moved lightly, feeling like you were in some sort of spy movie as you moved along with him, yet just out of his sight as he made his way toward the elevator. The button was pressed, the lights illuminated and after a few moments the soft ding let you know that he would be stepping forward into that quiet space. What kind of deal with the devil did you have to make for that elevator to be empty?

He stepped inside and you held back. You counted in your head just a few times before moving and just as the doors were closing you slipped inside the space, earning the quiet gasp from the very center of his chest when he saw you.

It was empty. You had him alone for a few seconds at least.

“Excuse me, Assistant Byun, I think you dropped this.” You did your best impression of him and held up the little colorful note you had with a cheeky smile that he returned instantly as he reached out quick fingertips to grab the note.

Baekhyun wasted no time. His fingers pulled the small sheet apart and his mouth moved as he silently formed the words of your message with his lips.

“Oh my god,” he gasped quietly; having absorbed the bad news from the note first, “Sandi knows? How?”

“She’s a better detective than Batman,” you shrugged rather casually. Both because you trusted Sandi and you figured if you weren’t freaking out about this, then maybe he would take it in stride as well. “She showed me some pictures of you from last year.”

“Did she?” His lips were pulled into a smile and you caught the little lift of his chin and the scrunch of his nose.

You nodded twice, acutely aware of how telling the smile on your face must look to him. “I remember you. I didn't know your name though. But you looked very cute with the little glasses and the hair,” you lifted a hand to make a waving motion with your fingers above your own head. “Did you get LASIK? Where are the glasses?”

He was reaching a hand out to press a button on the elevator panel and his eyes narrowed slightly as he pursed his lips.

“Oh, that was just fashion. They never had any lenses in them. I have perfect vision.”

His clarification made you laugh out loud. You leaned against the back wall of the elevator and looked into his face freely, feeling every bit of the affection and attraction you had for the man fill up your chest with contentment. At last, you had a moment alone with him. You could look at him. You could stare at him and you could daydream and you could let every single recent memory of the love you shared with him flood your mind freely in this shared space without onlookers or witnesses.

Baekhyun leaned against the side wall, doing just about the exact same thing to you and when his head leaned back against the elevator wall his eyelids sank down half closed, his jaw relaxed, and his lips parted with a slow exhale of air from deep within his lungs.

“I wish I could touch you,” he whispered under his breath.

“Me too,” you confessed, “stupid cameras,” you added without breaking eye contact with him; although you did let your head fall some to rest against the back wall.

“I’ll kiss you in the wintertime,” he said with a smile pulling at his lips, “so you don't feel the cold so much.” His sweet words and that pretty smile pulled a matching smile from you. You lifted a hand to cover over your mouth, tapping lightly over your lips with your fingertips.

“Let’s have a winter wedding,” he said.

“This winter? So soon?” You didn’t hear any objection in your voice. Only curiosity.

He nodded and blinked his eyes slowly; a truly dreamy expression taking over his features.

“We can honeymoon somewhere without pollen and I will kiss you in the springtime.”

You couldn’t stand it. You felt ready to burst right here inside this elevator; just from his sweet, romantic promises that coated you from head to toe.

In the recesses of your mind; in the bargaining parts, you could hear the questions parading by.

What if you reached a hand out and pressed the button for the ground floor on this elevator panel. What if you pulled him by the shirt sleeve — didn’t give a good damn about who saw — and marched him right out of this office building, out onto the street, and hailed a cab destined for your apartment. What if you said screw who knew the truth, screw the wrap and the endless droning meetings, screw this job. What if you took him home and you locked both of you inside your home for a month straight. Nothing but the two of you and the privacy you would find in that bedroom.

“I miss you,” he said softly under his breath with his eyes still locked onto your face. Your mind had been wandering but his words pulled you back into yourself.

“I’m right here,” you said with a small smile, blinking your eyes slowly and purposefully in his direction again and again, as if you could send him a message with their movement — I love you, I love you, I love you — your eyelids called out to him.

“I miss you, though,” he said again with a long exhale from his lungs. “What am I going to do next week when I can't look up and see you whenever I want?”

The elevator slowed its rapid upward movement and you could feel it in your stomach as it slowed to a stop. Someone must be joining; you hadn’t yet reached your destination but it appeared that someone would come and interrupt this. Damn them. A soft ding let you know the doors were about to open. Your few moments of alone time with him was coming to an end.

Baekhyun was still talking though; still lost inside his own head and caught up in the dread of the upcoming changes you both would need to adjust to.

“I sound pathetic, don’t I?” You had to look away from his face but from your peripherals you caught the small step he took in your direction as he moved closer to you.

“Baekhyun, someone is coming in.” You didn’t have time to reassure him that this feeling he was going through was not something he was alone in. You also felt the loneliness and the ache to touch him. You were also feeling the sense of dread for the upcoming weeks without him by your side.

But right now was not the time. Not with this camera above both of your heads and the elevator doors about to open and whoever it was that had called the elevator was about to walk in.

A few simultaneous sensations happened. You could feel the jolt as the elevator came to a full stop and, at the same time, Baekhyun’s soft fingertips brushed against the back of your hand. He had taken another step it seemed and he was beside you; his wandering hand reaching down to run a slow path over your skin down the back of your hand. You felt the moment his fingers wrapped around your palm and slipped lower as each fingertip slipped just in-between your own fingers.

You had to pull away. The doors opened.

You pulled your hand out of his grip quickly, if not a bit forcefully, and you stepped away at the same time; putting a good two steps worth of distance between the two of you. You brought your hands in front of you and clasped them together and you looked up just in time to make eye contact with a terrifyingly familiar set of brown eyes. Brown eyes that bore a strikingly frightening resemblance to the very same brown eyes that had been burning a hole into your heart all day long.

You were sure the first few moments of the eye contact, you had a look of absolute panic. You were certain he would have seen fear in your eyes.

You did your best to push a smile to your face. Inside of your chest your heartbeat had jolted to life, sending thundering booms through your entire torso. You felt the trembling from it. You swallowed nervously and you could hardly hear your own words from your lips over the echo of your racing heart inside of your eardrums.

“President Byun,” you said softly; wincing internally at just how terrified you sounded as you said his name. “Lovely to see you, Sir.”

Your greeting earned you a curt head nod and his eyes immediately moved to touch upon his son’s face.

“What floor?” You were closest to the buttons and you inhaled through your parted lips and forced the air back out slowly, desperately hoping your question hadn’t sounded stupid. He was the president and every one knew his offices occupied the top floor.

“Top?” Your finger hovered over the button and your nervous question another swift nod of his head. He spared you only a fraction of his attention before he was standing beside Baekhyun, who kept his eyes fixed securely on the closing elevator doors.

The doors closed and you stepped back, holding your hands together in front of your abdomen so they wouldn't tremble and give away the raging anxiety that was surging through you right now.

You hadn’t been ready for this. You knew seeing his father again after all that had transpired between you and Baekhyun would bring some strong emotions but you were having about as strong a reaction as you could take quietly. It was the suddenness of this.

You kind of just wanted to run away from this. Yet you were trapped inside this moving box with these two men who hadn’t spoken a word to each other despite sharing a familial bond, sharing a bloodline, sharing a home for most of Baekhyun’s life, you couldn't help but notice that Baekhyun hadn’t even said hello to the man. Nor had the man said anything to his son, but the two of them merely stood side by side in this elevator and looked ahead with blank and passive faces.

You felt a tickle in your throat. It was the nerves. You fought the urge to cough and quickly realized it was useless and you turned your head a little and cleared your throat, trying to rid yourself of the annoying feeling without actually coughing inside a closed elevator in a time when coughing in public was a major faux pas.

The sound of your own throat cleaning was timed perfectly with the sound of President Byun’s feet as he took a single step forward so that he was standing ahead of the both of you and he inhaled a breath into his lungs to speak out loud into the space right in front of his face.

“I have received some very interesting news this morning,” President Byun said in a steady and confident voice without any flinching in his body language to favor one side of him or another. There was nothing given to indicate that he was speaking to any one of you in particular.

“What is that, Sir,” Baekhyun said; at last acknowledging his father. You couldn't find the nerve to get your own voice to work. You held your breath and then tried your best to keep your breathing steady and even. You felt the slight pain in the back of your hand as your nails gripped hard into your own flesh.

He didn’t turn around to look at either of you when he spoke again, he merely inhaled a breath, opened his mouth and dropped a bomb right on top of both of your heads.

“I heard that you think … that you’re getting married.”

[To Be Continued]

Links: Part 1, …. Part 15, Part 16, Part 17

#exo #exo fanfiction #exo smut #baekhyun #exo fic #exo scenario #baekhyun smut

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cloud-kaiju · 1 year ago

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Will continue the Werewolf Story post TF, under the tag #teethingproblems, so number 1.

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Luc stumbled with the first step.

The sensation had faded now, and her long tail and strange wings flexed to balance her as if standing on tip toe was second nature. Having virtual exercise balls glued to her chest and perhaps double the mess was not second nature though.

She looked over again- paw-claw-hands, pale white fur and blood red hair, the body beyond voluptuous. Just as Luc had designed his character to be for the virtual reality game, Tales of Lore. But the game, the virtual reality stuff, and all his clothes were gone, and instead he- she- was this no middle sliders vampire werewolf character.

How human even was she? Curiosity pushed her through the small flat, tail flailing for balance, to the bathrooms shaving mirror. Was she like a ravening monster face? Or like, Sonic style?

FLUFT.

Her momentum came to an abrupt stop as she ducked through the doorway, and felt a wooden vice on her abundant hips. She took another step, but her fleshy rear overfilled the portal’s width, and she slammed her paws against the frame, straining with a frustrated resounding GRRRRRROWL.

The wood creaked in response as her paws scrabbled off the floor, her mass bounced with the effort, and cracks began to spread from the point of pressure. He had designed this character to be max strength, a complete bombshell aesthetically and effectively, there was no way a puny doorway could stop her!

#teethingproblems #werewolf #transfur #monstergirl #size tumblr #posttf #lycanthrope #furry art #furry tf #vamwolf

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crowlines · 3 months ago

Note

i am SO excited for the puppydog spring drop next week!!! my partner and i were both interested in getting some shirts, but we had questions about the sizing chart! we've both had a LOT of trouble finding plus size clothes that actually fit and i was wondering if your size chart was fully accurate? ex. im normally a 3/4x in most shirts and i seem to be a 2x according to the chart! super excited to buy anyway and just wanted to make sure we pick the right sizes!!! thank you so much!!!

Are you comparing the size chart to the measurements of shirts you already own (not your body measurements)? You should take an existing button up you own that fits you well (preferably also cotton or non-stretchy material), lay it flat, and measure the width from armpit to armpit. Then double that number and compare it to the "chest" measurement on the size chart. The shirt needs to be a little bigger than your body measurements to account for movement.

Any customers who wear 3XL/4XL please comment your experience!

#ask #not art

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morri-draws · 1 year ago

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Gwaine x Reader - 'The Threads That Bind Us' - Chapter 2

Story Summary:

You, a humble dressmaker from Camelot’s lower town, are commissioned to make a new gown for Queen Guinevere. Impressed by your skills, she offers you the position of Royal Clothier. During your time in the castle, you catch the eye of one of the knights of King Arthur’s inner circle, Sir Gwaine. What starts as a sweet courtship is turned upside down when misfortune strikes and you must deal with the aftermath, as well as an unwelcome visit from Gwaine’s unpleasant sister.

Rating: Mature

Tags: Female Reader/Gwaine, set between seasons 4 and 5, fluff, angst, hurt/comfort

Words: 4,757

Read Chapter 1

Read on Ao3

Loading up the last of your belongings in a small, borrowed handcart, you begin the difficult ascent from your small shop in the lower town to Camelot’s citadel. The journey is prolonged somewhat by the need for regular stops to rest, but eventually you make it across the bridge and into the castle’s large courtyard.

You wheel the cart about halfway across the square when a young man with short, dark hair and a red neckerchief approaches.

“Are you (Y/N)?” He asks.

“Yes, that’s me,”

“I’m Merlin, King Arthur’s manservant,” He introduces himself with a bright smile. “He asked me to assist you with moving your belongings into your new chambers,”

“Oh, that was thoughtful of him,” You set the cart down and shake the ache from your arms. “We might have to do a few trips,”

Merlin peers into the cart. “I think we can make it in one,”

You raise your brows in disbelief.

“I’m really good at carrying things,” He assures.

Merlin grips the cart’s handles and wheels it across the remaining length of the courtyard, positioning it beside the main entrance stairs, then begins removing your belongings from the cart, placing them over his shoulders and under his arms. You join him, taking your bag of clothing and the wicker basket, which is filled with sewing implements and kitchen supplies. Glancing at Merlin, you see he’s loaded himself up like a pack horse.

“I admit, I might have to come back for those,” He inclines his head to the remaining bolts of fabric in the bottom of the cart.

“A splendid effort, nonetheless. Are you sure you can carry all that up the stairs?”

“I’m sure,” He grins. “Shall we head up?”

As Merlin leads you through the castle, you try to memorise each staircase, corridor and corner to your new home, until Merlin stops in front of a door in a quiet passage.

“Here we are,” He says, reaching into his jacket pocket with some difficulty.

He pulls out a key and inserts it into the door’s keyhole. With a turn and a click, the door swings open, emitting a brief creak. You step into a large, rectangular room which is indeed well-lit, with several small windows along the right wall. To the far-left is a fireplace, with two chairs placed in front with a small round table between them. In the middle-left of the room is a dining table with a long bench on either side. On the right of the room, against the windows, are two large worktables, perfect for spreading and cutting fabric. Next to those is a full-length mirror, a wooden dressing screen and a large shelving unit. A few well-placed rugs already give the place a homey feel. You can’t wait to arrange your belongings in here.

In the centre of the far wall is another door. You stride across the room and open it to reveal a smaller chamber. Sunlight floods the room from a window on the left wall, under which is a bed, about double the width of the one in your old home. On the right side of the room is a wardrobe, a trunk and a modest bookshelf. Against the wall closest (the one which the door is positioned) is a washbasin with a small mirror, and a bathtub.

“This place is amazing!” You say as you step back into the main room.

“I’m glad you think so,” Merlin smiles as he places your belongings down on the dining table. “I’ll just go and fetch the rest of your things,”

“Let me help,” You rush forward to go with him.

Merlin holds out his hands to stop you. “It’s alright, I’m good at carrying things, remember?”

“If you’re sure?”

“I am. You can start making yourself at home,” He shoots you a toothy grin and heads out, closing the door behind him.

You only manage to put your clothing away in the wardrobe and trunk in the bedroom by the time Merlin returns. He places the last bolts of fabric on the table next to your other belongings.

“Before I go, Arthur wanted me to tell you that some of the knights will be stopping by tomorrow. Something about gambesons, I think,”

“Alright, thank you for letting me know, and for all your help today. I highly appreciate it, Merlin,”

“You’re welcome. It’s nice to be appreciated.” Merlin smiles. “Anyway, I’d better get back to Arthur. Bye!”

He rushes out the door before you can respond.

The next morning, you find a place for your remaining belongings, making sure everything is neat and presentable. The shelves in the main chamber are now filled with fabrics, and atop one of the large tables, your sewing journal, quill and ink are ready for the day’s work.

A knock at your door startles you, but you take a deep breath, ready to greet your first client. You open the door to find not a knight, but the queen.

“My lady,” You greet her with surprise.

“Gwen,” She corrects you with a smile.

“Of course. Please come in, Gwen,” You step aside and gesture for her to enter.

She steps inside and looks around. “I hope everything is to your satisfaction?”

“Oh yes, I am more than satisfied. This will do very nicely indeed,”

“I am glad,” Gwen smiles. “Arthur informed me this morning that he’s planning to send some of the knights to you today. I thought he may have been a bit hasty, so if you need more time to prepare, I can put them off,”

“No, that’s quite alright, thank you. I am ready to get to work,”

“Very well, I should leave you to it. The first of the knights shouldn’t be too far off. Good luck on your first day,”

“Thank you my lad– Gwen,”

She nods with a smile and leaves your chambers.

About twenty minutes later, there are three firm knocks upon your chamber door. You rush to answer, and are greeted by a knight, one you believe you saw riding through the lower town a few days ago. He is tall and slim, with curly, dark blonde hair and a short beard.

“Welcome, sir?” You say, beckoning him inside.

“Leon,” He says, stepping into your chambers.

“Sir Leon, how may I be of assistance?”

“I’m in need of a new gambeson,”

“Alright, if you could just strip down to your tunic and trousers, I can take some measurements,”

The knight stiffens, brow furrowed in confusion. “Shouldn’t we wait until the clothier arrives?”

“I am the new clothier,” You state.

Sir Leon’s cheeks redden. “I’m sorry, I meant no offence. Just… is it really appropriate for a woman to fit a man’s clothes?”

“Since I haven’t asked you to strip down to just your unmentionables, I think we’ll be alright,” You smirk.

You swear you see the knight’s cheeks deepen further, as he nods and begins to unbuckle his cloak. You step closer and take his cloak when he’s removed it, standing by to do the same for his chainmail shirt and gambeson. You take the clothing to one of the worktables and place them down neatly, grabbing your tape measure.

“Lift your arms please,” You say as you approach him.

He does so, and you slip the measuring tape around his chest, bringing it together at centre front. You mutter the number to yourself, and step over to the table to mark it down in your journal. You do the same for his waist, then measure the length of his arms, before standing behind him to measure the width of his shoulders and the length of his torso.

Once all the figures are written down, you take his old gambeson from the pile of clothes and spread it out on the table. It’s clearly been well-used, the fabric worn through in some places, as well as rips and slashes in other areas. Grease stains cover the garment, made by the armour worn over it.

“And the new gambeson is to be in the same style and colour as this one?” You ask.

“Yes, thank you,”

You flip to a new page in your journal and take a quick sketch of the design.

“Very well, Sir Leon, I should have your new gambeson made up in a few days,”

You grab his pile of clothes and take them to him. He hastily gets dressed and clears his throat.

“Thank you,” Hey says, heading for the door. “Sorry about before,”

“That’s quite alright. Until next we meet,”

You close the door behind him once he’s stepped out, and exhale. You hope not all the other knights will be the same. You’re sure you’ll get sick of having to explain over again that you are in fact the woman for the job, not just an assistant.

You hardly have time to relax before there’s another person at the door. You answer to find Sir Gwaine.

“Sir Gwaine, please come in,”

He steps inside, looking about the room. “Nice place you’ve got,” He spins around to look at you. “I just saw Sir Leon on my way here. He looked flustered. What did you do to him?” He gives a lopsided grin.

“I didn’t do anything,” You defend yourself. “He was perhaps embarrassed that he basically said it should be a man in my role,”

Gwaine shakes his head playfully. “Ah, that’s Leon for you. You’ve got to cut him some slack. He’s been around since Uther’s time, so I suppose you could say he has a bit more of a… traditional outlook on some things,” He smiles. “Then again, he may have just been flustered from being alone in the presence of a beautiful woman,”

You scoff. “I don’t think so,”

“I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it. Leon is the nervous type. He’s not so skilled at talking to ladies,”

“Whereas I suppose you are, and are very confident in yourself,”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Gwaine shrugs.

“Anyway, I have a job to do. Stand here please,” You gesture for him to stand by the worktable. “What is it you need today?”

“A new cloak,” He grabs the sides of his cloak and spreads it out like scarlet wings, revealing several rips.

“What did you do, get dragged behind a horse?”

He laughs. “Something like that,”

“Well, remove the cloak please,”

He undoes the buckle at his throat and does as you say, passing the bundled cloak to you. You place it on the table and grab the tape measure. You stand behind Gwaine, measuring his shoulder width, marking it down in your journal before returning to your spot behind him, placing one end of the tape measure at the nape of his neck.

“Hold this here please,”

Gwaine reaches his hand behind his head and glides his fingers down until they brush against yours and over the tape measure.

“That’s it, now keep it still,”

He does as you say, and you extend the tape measure down, lowering into a crouch until the tape meets the floor. You mutter the measurement to yourself and stand.

“Thank you,” You retrieve the tape end from under Gwaine’s finger and he drops his arm down.

Back at the table, you mark down the number in your journal and unfold the cloak partially, to reveal the embroidered insignia. Flipping to a new page, you begin to sketch the design of the golden dragon for you to use as reference later. Sir Gwaine comes into your peripheral, leaning against the edge of the table next to yours. You feel his eyes on you and glance up.

“I expect you to take better care of the cloak I will make for you,” You say. “I will be very cross if you return here with it ripped to shreds,”

“Upon my honour, I will treat my new cloak as my most prized possession,”

Finishing your sketch, you pass the cloak back to him. He swings it around his shoulders and starts on the fastening when your stomach rumbles loudly.

“Please excuse me,” You say, embarrassed.

“Have you eaten today?” Gwaine asks.

“I admit I… may have forgotten. I’ve been busy getting ready for my first day,”

“No matter, let’s go to the baker’s and get you something,” He finishes fastening his cloak and heads for the door before looking back at you expectantly.

“I thank you, but there’s no need to trouble yourself,”

You glance over to the kitchen area of your chambers, spotting only a stale end of a loaf of bread to eat.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble,” Gwaine says, following your gaze.

“Alright then, I suppose I should get some things from the market as well while I’m out,”

You cross the room swiftly and pick up your basket before heading for the door.

“Let’s go,”

You walk with Gwaine from the castle to the town’s market street. He leads you to a small and familiar bread shop.

“I enjoy the fruit buns from here,” You say as you cross the shopfront.

“Have you ever tried the ones with custard in them?” Gwaine asks as he holds the door open for you.

“No, I haven’t.” You reply. “Since they cost a bit more,”

“Today’s your lucky day then,” He smiles before approaching the shop counter.

He orders two of the buns and the baker retrieves them from the angled shelves behind him, placing each bun in a small sheet of paper and passing them to Gwaine. The knight drops a few coins in the baker’s hand and steps back outside, where you follow him to a nearby bench to sit and eat. Gwaine waits for you to take a bite first, after which you look up at him with wide eyes.

“Good, isn’t it?” He grins.

You nod enthusiastically while chewing the mouthful.

You both eat the buns, Gwaine finishing his in three large bites. When you’ve finished yours, you wipe your mouth on the back of your hand.

“I really should do my shopping so I can head back and get started,”

Gwaine sighs. “I should head back as well. I hope you enjoyed your late breakfast?”

“I did, thank you Gwaine. I shall have to return the favour one day,”

“Nonsense. Having a fine cloak made by your hands will be repayment enough,” He stands and extends a hand to you.

You take it and stand as well, brushing crumbs off your dress. He lets go of your hand and gives a small bow.

“Good day to you, my lady,”

He smiles and turns around, walking back up the street to the castle.

After doing some shopping at the market, you head back to your chambers and use the rest of the day to start working on Sir Leon’s gambeson and Sir Gwaine’s cloak.

The next morning, you remember to eat breakfast, and with no new clients for the day, continue working on Sir Leon’s gambeson. An hour or so into work, a sharp pain swells in your lower abdomen. At first you push through, continuing with your sewing, but the pain intensifies, to the point you’re doubled over, gritting your teeth. You berate yourself for losing track of your cycle. You’re usually on top of it, but with all the changes recently, you’d let it slip your mind.

You rest for a while, waiting for the pain to pass, but every time it seems it’s going to subside, it rears its ugly head again. Irritated that if it continues, you won’t be able to get more work done today, you decide that you need to visit the herbalist in the lower town. You have seen her in the past for when your monthly pains have been particularly bad. You fetch your cloak from your bedroom and head out.

You slowly make your way through the castle, taking careful steps as not to jostle yourself too much. The stairs are particularly difficult and you take them at a snail’s pace. At last you reach the exit and start your descent down the main stairs into the courtyard.

“Hello, how are you settling in?”

The voice startles you, and you look up to find Merlin, giving you a warm smile.

“Oh, hello Merlin,”

Your jaw clenches as a wave of pain rolls over you, causing you to stoop over. Suddenly a hand is on your back.

“(Y/N), you’re unwell. I’ll take you to see Gaius right away,”

You look up at Merlin, his face lined with concern.

“That’s quite alright, Merlin. I’m just going to a herbalist in the town. She has helped me before,”

“You can’t walk all that way in this condition. I’ll take you to Gaius, he’ll be able to help you,”

You groan at another attack of pain, and lower yourself so you’re sitting on the steps, holding your knees against your chest. Merlin kneels on a lower step in front of you.

“I appreciate the offer, Merlin, but what afflicts me is… a women’s issue,” You say, sure it will get the man to leave you alone at last.

But he shows no revulsion, not even the slightest flinch.

“Gaius is a very skilled physician, and knows how to treat all sorts of ailments,”

You sigh, thinking how you would rather not have to walk through the busy streets of the town.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me,”

You reach a hand to Merlin and he stands, pulling you upright. He offers you an arm, which you grip firmly as he guides you up the stairs.

You remain on Merlin’s arm until he stops at a worn wooden door in a part of the castle you haven’t seen yet. He opens the door and guides you inside, an arm around your back. An old man with shoulder-length, silvery-white hair looks up from a book he was perusing, snapping to attention when he sees you.

“This is (Y/N),” Merlin says. “I caught her struggling down the stairs in the courtyard. She has severe menstrual cramps,”

“Bring her to the bed here,” The old man gestures to a simple bed nearby.

Merlin escorts you there and helps you to sit on the edge.

“A pleasure to meet you, (Y/N). I am Gaius, the court physician. Are you taking anything for the pain currently?”

“Not at the moment. I was just on my way to get something from a herbalist woman in the town,” You explain.

“You need not make the journey, you can come straight to me if you have any ailment,” He points at you with his thumb every few syllables, his voice stern but kind. “Do you know when your cycle is due to begin?”

“With the way I feel right now, I’d say tomorrow. I’m usually on top of this, just with the move into my new lodgings and everything, I lost track,”

“That’s quite alright. These things happen,” Gaius steps away to a long wooden workbench.

He sets up some equipment and beckons Merlin over, instructing him on certain ingredients he needs. Merlin swiftly steps across the room to a large bookshelf, packed with small glass bottles filled with various liquids, herbs and other things you don’t recognise. Merlin picks out some of the bottles and brings them to Gaius, who begins using the ingredients immediately.

“I will give you something for the pain now,” He turns his head toward you as he speaks. “But in future, I will be able to give you something to take a few days before your cycle, which should ease the discomfort,”

You hear crunching and scraping as he uses a mortar and pestle, followed by a low bubbling as a plume of steam rises from his workbench. You watch the physician work, until he presents you with a small bottle filled with a translucent green liquid.

“Take this now,” He says, passing you the bottle.

You hold it against your lips and tip the contents into your mouth, tasting an unpleasant bitterness as you swallow it.

“It should take effect in about twenty minutes. I will give you some vials to take with you,”

You hear a clink of glass on glass before Gaius turns around with a small parcel wrapped in hessian cloth.

“You can only take this once every six hours I’m afraid, but it should help. You may rest here until you feel ready to return to your chambers,”

“Thank you, Gaius,” you give the old man a smile, which he returns. “And you too, Merlin,”

After having rested for a time in the physician’s chambers, Merlin takes you back to your rooms and you part ways. Feeling quite worn out, you head to your room to lie down, hands clasped over your belly. Eyelids becoming heavy, you begin to sink into a slumber when a knock at your chamber door startles you. Swinging your legs over the side of the bed, you get up and head to the door. You open it to find Sir Gwaine looking back at you.

“I saw you in the courtyard earlier with Merlin while I was coming back from training,” He says, brow furrowed. “Is everything alright? You looked unwell,”

You step aside to let Gwaine in and he steps inside, his eyes still locked on you.

“I was unwell, but Merlin took me to see Gaius and I’m feeling much better now,”

A dull throb courses through your lower abdomen, causing you to flinch.

“What is it?” Gwaine asks, rushing to you, an arm on your shoulder.

“It is nothing to be concerned about,”

“I can take you back to Gaius, he ca–”

“If you must know,” You interrupt. “It is women’s monthly issues I am dealing with,”

Understanding washes over Gwaine’s face.

“And you are now the third man today I’ve had to speak to about it, so feel free to leave in disgust,”

“I’m not disgusted and I’m not leaving,” Gwaine stands firm. “Come and sit by the fire,”

He gently leads you across the room and into a chair in front of the fireplace, before beginning to pile kindling and firewood in the grate. After a few moments, he’s started a fire and steps back, taking the other chair beside you.

“I’ve heard the warmth can help,” He says, holding out his palms to feel the heat.

“You’ve heard?”

“Living with my mother and sister had me learn of these things,” He explains.

“I didn’t know you had a sister. Is she here, in Camelot?”

“No,” Gwaine says, reaching for the iron poker and jabbing it into the flames. “And that’s for the best,”

“Why do you say that?” You ask. When you look at him, you see his expression is not a pleasant one. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to pry,”

“No, it’s alright,” He sighs. “I suppose you could say that we don’t see eye to eye,”

You nod in understanding. “Family can be complicated,”

Gwaine hums in agreement, staring into the fire for a moment, before he gets up.

“I’m sorry to leave so soon, but I need to get ready for training,”

You start to stand.

“No, don’t get up, I can find my own way out,” He says. “I hope you feel better soon. I’ll check in tomorrow if it’s not a bother?”

Your automatic response is to tell him not to worry about you, but it has been nice to be looked after.

“It won’t be a bother. See you tomorrow,”

You plod along the next day, doing bits of sewing here and there, taking rests in between. The day seems to crawl on especially slowly, until at last the sunlight fades and you put your sewing away. Having no motivation to cook anything, you eat a simple dinner before sitting by the fire with a candle beside you, making a start on the dragon embroidery for Sir Gwaine’s new cloak.

You bundle your legs up on the chair as the pain returns, wondering if Gwaine will be visiting after all. Perhaps he is very busy of perhaps he forgot. You try to decide which to be more likely when there’s a soft knock at your chamber door. Placing the embroidery hoop down on the small table beside you, you get up and cross the room.

“Sorry I’m calling late,” Gwaine says as you open the door. “I went to the market straight after training and spent ages trying to find what I wanted, then I had to head back to my chambers and get washed and changed, and – you don’t need to know all this,” He gives an abashed smile.

“What matters most is that you’re here now,” You give him an assuring smile and beckon him inside.

He steps into your chambers when you realise his different appearance. Until now you’ve only ever seen him in his knight’s kit. Now he’s wearing a brown jacket, with leather bodice and quilted fabric sleeves, over a grey tunic, cinched at the hips with a leather belt. His posture suggests he feels more comfortable than when he’s in uniform, and you can’t blame him. You’re sure the chainmail shirt would weigh one down eventually, even a knight.

“How are you feeling?” He asks.

“Better than yesterday,” You lead him to the fireplace, gesturing for him to sit in the chair beside yours. “Although Gaius’ potion is starting to wear off and I can’t take another dose for a few hours yet,”

“Well I did bring something that’ll hopefully help,” He reaches into his jacket and pulls out what appears to be a red cloth bag and passes it to you. The weight and feel of the bag surprises you, and the contents sag as you hold it. It feels as if it’s filled with grain. Upon inspection, you find that the bag is sewn shut on every side.

“What is it?” You ask.

“My mother and sister used them to help with their monthlies. They called it a wheat bag. You heat it by the fire, then place it against the place that’s painful. The heat is said to help ease the pain,”

“Is this what you got from the market?”

Gwaine nods.

“The thing you spent ages trying to find?” You ask.

“Well…” He scratches the back of his head.

“That is very thoughtful of you,” You say, touched by his actions. “You must show me how it is heated, I don’t want to set it aflame my first time using it,” You pass it to him.

He places in on the ground a few feet in front of the fire.

“Have you eaten dinner yet?” He asks.

“I had some bread and cheese earlier. I didn’t want to bother with cooking,” You admit.

“Ah, good old bread and cheese, that’s classic late night tavern fare,”

Gwaine grins, reaching into his jacket again, pulling out a paper bundle. He unwraps it to reveal two fruit and custard buns.

“Will you be wanting some dessert?” He raises his brows.

You gasp and take one of the buns. “How could I resist?”

“I almost couldn’t,” Gwaine takes a bite of his bun. “I considered eating mine before I got here,”

“You showed great restraint,” You say between mouthfuls.

After finishing the bun, Gwaine removes the wheat bag from beside the fire and passes it to you. You place it in your lap, against your lower belly, and take up your embroidery again, stitching away while you and Gwaine talk. He shares amusing stories from his times with the other knights and you share anecdotes about particularly rude or misbehaved customers. Not until you get up to retrieve more thread do you realise that your pain has almost completely subsided.

“That worked wonderfully, thank you Gwaine,” You say as you sit down again. “I must repay you in some way,”

“There is no need for that. To spend time in your company is enough for me,”

Your cheeks warm. Gwaine groans as he stands up.

“Speaking of time, I really should turn in. Morning training tomorrow,” He grimaces.

“That doesn’t sound like much fun,” You say sympathetically.

“It really isn’t. Sometimes I think our king is in love with sweat and pain. Anyway, goodnight my lady,” He bows.

“You realise I’m not a lady,”

“Perhaps not officially, but to me…” He places a palm against his heart.

“Oh hush. Get out of here before you speak any more nonsense,” You hold back a smile.

“As my lady wishes,” He gives a deeper, exaggerated bow and exits your chamber.

#gwaine x reader #gwaine #sir gwaine #merlin #bbc merlin #merlin bbc #reader insert #merlin fic #bbc merlin fic #my writing

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