Notices by Sini Tuulia (sinituulia@eldritch.cafe), page 3

Another one of my linen shifts has torn at the elbow! This one is about ten years old so it's not surprising, but at this rate I'll have patched elbows on all of them. 😄
Guess I'll try to fix this one in a quick enough way that I can still put it in the laundry today. Let's be good and do a diagonal patch, too.

#Mending

Went into my bookmarks for a Victorian manual to check how the octagonal patches work, came across this one: "Instructions for patchwork - A new book of patterns and instructions for making fancy patchwork"
Enjoy, if such falls within your interests!

https://archive.org/details/instructionsforp00inga/mode/2up?view=theater

#VisibleMending #Victorian #OldManuals #Patchwork

@laumapret Oh it's pretty much impossible to find a dressform that is actually your shape unless you get one of those ones that are made with a 3D model of yourself. 😄 I used to have a basic one, but none of my jackets ever fit it because my torso is *so small* but it was useful for hanging and hemming skirts.

I'm pretty flexible and can use my left hand for precision work also, so I just fit on myself. If it requires enough contortion to disturb the shape, it's a lot of eyeballing, taking it off, pinning and trying it on again!

@laumapret (You can also make them yourself, but it's a horrible hassle and not as good to use if you'd like to pin into it, and sourcing and affixing the stand is also complicated at home.)

@valhalla I have multiple fond memories of the trek to see the city fireworks! All the things along the way left a more lasting impression than the fireworks themselves. 😄 And even the feeling of the crowd watching the same thing could have been something else. I do think they're pretty, just way too ephemeral and all the bad sides are not worth the very very fleeting enjoyment.

The professionally done displays big and well done enough to possibly be seen by hundreds of thousands of people at the same time? A much better bad to good ratio, there!

This is a gripe post about fireworks. Do not read if you like fireworks.

You know how there's the fucking noise. It's terrible for humans and animals, good fucking grief RIP the birds that it's not healthy to startle, too. And then there's the air quality, which drops like heck when everyone is launching their rockets and whatnot, it's just all in the air for days.
But then. THEN. Then there's the fucking mining. The mining!
So many people work in deplorable conditions to dig up finite and hard to reach substances, metals and otherwise, to turn into a little sparkle in the sky? And the environment! You know most countries it's cheap to get the materials from (where they thus get bought from) have absolutely no remediation required after digging their series of worker killing holes. And quite likely very little protections for the workers, either. AND THEN. It all gets carted around the world in horrible polluting ships to then get trucked around to places, all the while being a health and fire hazard.

Fucking fireworks. Bastard things.

I understand there's cultural significance to it as a tradition, but we also did use to pour tin on New Year's Eve. Except it wasn't tin, but pure lead, which children and adults alike then would handle with their bare hands.
And we stopped that, too.

Leave them to the city to do. Go look at the professionally done, much safer and prettier display. It's really fucking expensive, and the money could be spent on so many other things, but if you must.

@valhalla If you've not made a lot of introductions before, it's a great way to become The Bread Neighbour in their minds. 😂 "Hi. So, a funny thing and a minor lapse in judgement happened..."

@valhalla 😆 There is... going to be some quantity of bread later, too.

Continuing the pattern drafting for what may become the #CinnamonLinenJacket - I realised I didn't actually need the darts in the front and side pattern piece. I recalled seeing a drafting diagram for a short bolero type jacket at some point with NO body seams at all, and I don't want to go that far... But it did exist! Look at it!

#Sewing #PatternDrafting #HistoryBounding

Meanwhile, it's actually taking a bit longer than expected not because of the strange shapes, but because I'm trying to figure out the collar and lapels, and fitting over a blouse with very large sleeves. I want to wear the large sleeves under the jacket, so this is very good, but it does change the shape of the arm's eye a lot!

Oh, and. I'm very familiar with drafting patterns and fitting for a shape that very very closely follows the body. There's quite a bit of staring thoughtfully involved when the damn thing is meant to hang open in the front, and on top of blousy full shirts and such, too. Persuading it to lie flat in one spot and gracefully aloft in another is certainly something. For now I'm attempting to fit the arm's eyes and upper back so nicely that everything else sort of falls in place.

Behold my trials. For the second mock-up this isn't bad, though I obviously borked up the shoulders a bit. But they're a fairly easy thing to fix as long as you're patient. The lapels are pretty okay as is, the collar is a mess... This is the floppiest of toiles but it's not terrible, so I might fix these things and then try to add another layer, for some structure.
(Open image for a gif of the fitting.)

@blogdiva I'm told I also look like my grandmother. 😄
The orange tie is indeed for the petticoat, it's not the correct shape at all for the blouse and jacket but I'm only fitting the top so I don't feel like changing!
The skirt/petticoat is made from a fairly old duvet cover of unknown providence, it's an extremely high quality, dense and heavy cotton, I wouldn't even know what to call it. The whole thing is just pleated onto waistbands. It makes a very good house skirt.

And thank you! I've made a billion of these linen shirts or blouses this year, and trying different things. 😄
The back is princess seams, and the only vertical seams there are. I think the shape of the side back is slightly off, and the upper back a bit too long, but I'm willing to mess with it until it's right. 🤔 The fabric is also a flimsy old bedsheet!

@blogdiva The new beddings of today are not as good as the vintage ones, either! I've lately either been buying cotton batiste (which is always flimsy and sheer and breaks apart fairly easily) or pure linen, linen is just so nice! Costs a lot more, especially when certified organic and/or Okö-Tex, but worth it. A lot of the time other fabrics are just disappointing 😐

@blogdiva I like making 18th century petticoats out of old sheets and such because there's pretty much nothing wasted... But also when they start to go, I can use them to make mock-ups for other sewing!

@catsalad Listening to speech without subtitles on the screen? Impossible.
Listening to speech while doing a jigsaw puzzle or sewing at the same time? Effortless!

Brain why like this

@valhalla The imp is a fairly simple choice!

The hairy legs are just the legs, I'm afraid. But yeah, would definitely save on the sock yarn... 😄

Sir, please do NOT learn how to operate those!

#SewingWithCats #Cats

Here in Finland we celebrate Christmas on the 24th and though I'm not doing much for it this year, here's this collection of three different greeting cards from me in general, painted at different times!

First off, there's this little Eurasian Bullfinch, which is very Christmassy for some reason. A birb!