#fashionable spider

[shopwitchvamp]

“Omg, I love these! They go up to size 6X AND they have pockets?! Wow!! But do you have anything longer?”

Sure do, no problem!!

“YES these are great!!! But what about.. longer?”

I gotcha!! Comin’ right up!

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about! But... how about if I'm feeling like it's the kinda day where I need my clothing to be bifurcated???"

Never fear, joggers are here!

*wild cheering* /scene

🖤witchvamp.com🖤

[tanuki-kimono]

Black summer kimono customized with hand painted higanbana (red spider lily).

Unpatterned all-black kimono are mofuku (mourning items), and pretty easy to find second hand in Japan as they are often worn only once / or are dead (ha!) stock. Seeing them repurposed for DIY projects is not unsual :)

[alongcameaspooder]

Of course I'm a Weaver. 🕸 It's in my blood~

[0houseofpsychoticwomen0]

[soranatus]

Hobie & Gwen By Sweeney Boo

[heysomeday]

handmade spiderweb belt loop chains 🕸

[snootyfoxfashion]

Spiderweb Crochet Shawl from StepbystepUA

[3uhedral]

spider girl!

[beakers-and-telescopes]

With the fast fashion industry… how it is… finding sustainable ways to make fabric is super important.  Fibers from synthetic fabrics make up 35% of the microplastics that make their way to the ocean.  Natural fibers sourced from plants or animals are much more environmentally sound options, including silk.

Currently, the only way to get natural silk on a large scale is to harvest it from silkworms.  You’ve probably heard about the strength and durability of spider silk (it is 6x stronger than Kevlar!) but as of yet there hasn’t been a good way of getting it.  Raising spiders the way people do silkworms isn’t really an option.  Spiders need a lot of room to build their webs compared to silkworms, and individual spiders don’t produce that much silk.  Plus, when you put a whole bunch of spiders in captivity together, they tend to start eating each other.

Attempts to artificially recreate spider silk have also been less than successful.  Spider silk has a surface layer of glycoproteins and lipids on it that works as a sort of anti-aging “skin”- allowing the silk to withstand conditions such as sunlight and humidity.  But this layer has been very tricky to reproduce.

However, as scientists in China realized, silkworms produce that same kind of layer on their silk.  So what if we just genetically modified silkworms to produce spider silk?

That is exactly what the researchers at Donghua University in Shanghai did.  A team of researchers introduced spider silk protein genes to silkworms using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and microinjections in silkworm eggs.  In addition to this, they altered the spider silk proteins so that they would interact properly with the other proteins in silkworm glands.  And it worked!  This is the first study ever to produce full length spider silk proteins from silkworms.

The applications of this are incredibly exciting.  In addition to producing comfortable textiles and new, innovative bulletproof vests, silkworm generated spider silk could be used in cutting edge smart materials or even just to create better performing sutures.  In the future, this team intends to research how to modify this new spider silk to be even stronger, and they are confident that “large-scale commercialization is on the horizon."

[guillotin3d]

[90s-2000s-barbie]

K-Mart (2002) 🎃

[ghw-archive]

Sequin spider web gown by designer Loris Azzaro, photographed by Helmut Newton for the 22nd December 1972 Daily Telegraph magazine

[tanuki-kimono]

Sleek higanbana (red spider lily) themed modern outfit by Furifu.

This kimono is a modern take on the “muso” technique, a see-through tailoring which uses fine sha silk to unveil a pattern painted on the lining.

Here Furifu calls this tailoring nijuushitate (二重仕立て, lit. double tailoring), and drapes blood red higanbana under a misty over layer.

The matching obidome adds a very cool detail!

[historical-fashion-polls]

[beary-good-finds]

🎈 Vintage Halloween party sweater by Design Options 🎈

Source: Thrifty Wanderlust on Ebay

[shopwitchvamp]

🖤 May Preorders LIVE Now 🖤

★ Skirts & Joggers with BIG pockets ★ 40 designs w/ unlimited inventory! ★ Returning guest artist @vetiverfox ★ Black Petticoats are back! ★ Skirts in XXS-6X; Joggers in SM-5X

Open for six days: 5/16 - 5/21. Any help spreading the word while there's still time is hugely appreciated!! Thanks for your support!

🖤witchvamp.com🖤