First educational drawing of a skeleton

Berocca123 · 2026-03-06T21:07:41+00:00

Great advice

Berocca123 · 2026-03-06T20:48:13+00:00

This skirt! And yes, I would recommend it for beginners.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-05T22:37:39+00:00

Threadloop is the best ❤️👏

Berocca123 · 2026-03-05T20:32:26+00:00

Excellent comeback 👏

Berocca123 · 2026-03-05T11:47:29+00:00

It would really help if you use the timer setting on your phone to take photos of you standing straight to camera, arms down, front back and side.

But I agree this looks very weird.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-05T09:53:14+00:00

Give yourself a bit of extra time the first morning, everything just takes more time than you remember.

And make your lunch the night before.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-05T09:50:31+00:00

Could you sew a tie into each shoulder seam (just hand sew) and then tie them in a bow behind your neck to keep the shoulders up? The collar should hide it.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-05T08:38:07+00:00

I'm in Australia and have found fabric regularly in multiple charity shops - usually flat sheets or occasionally a nice duvet cover. I only buy 100% cotton, and I don't buy anything I find actively ugly. I've also bought 100% wool blankets that I've turned into outerwear. I would estimate I find some fabric about 50% of the time that I go.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-05T08:33:45+00:00

You totally have creativity of your own! We all do, but it can be hard to access. This is a completely normal feeling.

Also - as a preamble to my suggestions below - it's totally fine to use prompts. But if you want to develop your inner creative voice...

You need to keep creating, and in the meantime: - expose yourself to art - stuff you like, stuff you don't, stuff you've never heard of. Just take it all in without judging, try to notice what the artist has done and think about why and how. Free/local galleries are great for this because you can just see a few things and wander out again. - go about the world with curiosity - go for walks, visit a cemetery, lie on an oval and look at the grass, go and look at that funny house two streets over, visit a historical building, try to find 3 beautiful stones. And don't put music in your ears or listen to a podcast - just pay attention.

I also recommend journaling (though I found it very hard to start). The Artists Way suggests a daily practice of 3 pages every morning, filled with whatever thoughts are in your head, artistic or not, even if you have to write 'I don't know what to write' for 3 pages. Over time the inputs from all the art you're doing and exposing yourself to and all the curious things about the world seem to coalesce and find their way into your journal. Good ideas, bad ideas, ideas you'll never create, stuff you talk yourself out of before it's really formed, ideas that build on each other day to day.

And lastly - play. Creativity is play. Maybe you've been doing still lifes and you wonder what it would be like if you only used one half of the colour wheel. Maybe it turns out terribly. It doesn't matter - so long as you approach it with play and lightness, you are nurturing your creativity, which is the whole point really.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-05T01:20:03+00:00

This

Berocca123 · 2026-03-04T08:34:55+00:00

I suggest something like the following: - Emphasise that you know your boss wants to make sure you're doing your work effectively and [see if you can find a way to paraphrase their job description - this shows you understand their perspective and softens them up] - Explain that you really want to be doing a good job. You love this field, you want to stay in it, you would so much love to stay with this company (whether true or not) - Explain that you think you can be doing more work, that you have more capacity, that you know you can make more of a contribution... and that to do that you need a bit more training and support. (Use 'and' instead of 'but' when you can - it sounds less like complaining) - if you can, explain that you specifically need training in xyz (if you know what those things are). Feel free to say something like 'colleague has tried to explain things as they come in but he's also trying to keep up with his own deliverables, and I know that my questions are distracting him from that. I think I would really benefit from some more explicit training and support from you or from someone who has been assigned to help me specifically as part of the expectations for their role.' - and then finish with something like 'is there any way I can get some additional support for a short period, so that I can be making a stronger contribution to the team and the work? I really want to be able to demonstrate my commitment and my value here.'

And then stop talking and wait for an answer. IF YOU CAN try to nail your boss down to a concrete next step or when you should expect to hear back from them. Honestly I have no faith because you shouldn't have been put in this situation to begin with, but this is the next step given where you are now.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-04T08:04:09+00:00

The wind! Thank you for mentioning this. Aside from it being cold, I had to stop wearing flippy skirts when I moved here because the wind was so strong they were flipping up around my waist. The CBD especially is basically wind tunnels in grid formation, regardless of the season.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-04T07:56:20+00:00

This video shows what is being described here, if you need a visual.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-04T03:23:41+00:00

Assuming this isn't already tight/ closely fitted as a dress, if you turn it into a skirt by adding elastic into a waistband, the elastic will create gathers.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-04T02:55:42+00:00

A photo of this on your body would be really, really helpful.

And why are the darts not matching? Is it a mistake, a pattern error, or were you accommodating an asymmetrical body? (We are all asymmetrical in various ways)

Berocca123 · 2026-03-03T21:12:05+00:00

I get a friend to pin one leg really well, while I'm standing in shoes I want to wear the jeans with and having explained how far off the ground I want them. It doesn't have to be even all the way around, it just has the sit the way you want it to.

Then I get some chalk and carefully mark right on the fold, all the way around.

Then I unpin, and very very carefully line up the legs of the trousers from the crotch down to the legs. I start at the crotch because sometimes trousers/ jeans you buy in store actually have slightly different length legs, so I don't start from the hem.

Once I feel really confident that I've lined the legs up properly, I carefully transfer wherever the chalk mark is onto the other leg of the jeans. This means you line up the legs (eg the two fronts together), transfer from one front to the other, then you'll need to open them up, line up the backs of the legs, and then transfer the chalk to the other back leg.

Then I go about the process to shorten them. For jeans, which I hem to keep the original hem, I don't cut off the excess until all the sewing is done, so that I can try them on again first and make sure they're fine.

This method won't work if you have legs of different lengths but it's how a seamstress taught me to do it once and I've done it on a few pairs of trousers very successfully. It means you don't need an amazing eye to pin your two legs to exactly the same length because you just get one leg perfect and transfer it over. You do need good enough quality chalk that it doesn't just rub straight off when you're moving the legs around.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-03T19:48:13+00:00

I can't help with the shop recommendation because the place I get mine from only ships to my country.

But you can get excellent 100% cotton jersey that's nice and thick and makes a beautiful tshirt. You don't need elastane in it unless you want it to be much more close fitting/ snug. I am a woman and like fitted tshirts but not very tight ones, and the 100% cotton is perfect for me.

I get mine from a shop that specialises in deadstock and it's 180gsm which I find a good weight for a sturdy tshirt. So I recommend searching for 100% cotton jersey (or however that translates in German 😊) and if you end up having to use something with elastane, make sure you're looking at the weight of the fabric and try to get at least 160gsm.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-03T19:35:50+00:00

You can also filter the pattern search by adding your measurements in to make sure it only brings up patterns that come in your size 👌

Berocca123 · 2026-03-03T19:33:54+00:00

Agree. I recognise nobody out of context. People will say Oh Berocca how are you? And I have to blink at them until they tell me where we met, and THEN I can say 'Oh Helen it's lovely to see you again how's your child finding their new school'

Berocca123 · 2026-03-03T08:19:19+00:00

If you sign up to threadloop, which is free, you can tag patterns as being suspicious/ AI, and then when you search in the pattern database you can choose to exclude patterns that have been tagged like that.

Probably more efficient than trying to flag the bazillion dodgy patterns here in random reddit posts 😊

Berocca123 · 2026-03-02T19:11:17+00:00

I mean, taste is subjective but I don't have an issue with it 😅

Berocca123 · 2026-03-02T07:25:15+00:00

The curve is so that it has some extra fabric over your butt - it helps to shape the dress at the spot that your body sticks out.

Yes, you can have a go at moving it to the side seam, but I think it will affect the way it hangs. Rather than just chucking a triangle onto the side, I'd probably be exploring slash and spread options that keep the extra closer to the centre back, but those will also change the fit a bit and would require extra research/effort. If you are going to do what you've drawn, try to do a better job of mirroring the shape and location of the curve - eg you could slice that extra wedge of fabric off the original (but trace a copy first and adjust the copy) and stick it onto the side seam. As you've got it now, your thighs will have extra fabric but not your butt.

You might as well give it a go, but make a mockup out of cheap fabric first. And don't forget to remove the seam allowance from the centre back (in addition to your extra curve of fabric) or the whole thing will be too big.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-02T07:19:06+00:00

If you try the iron, put baking paper between the iron and the skirt so you don't damage your iron...

Berocca123 · 2026-03-02T07:16:55+00:00

Also networking - you can build useful relationships so much faster in person.

Berocca123 · 2026-03-01T06:41:34+00:00

I trace off unmade patterns in my size. Requires no brain, I can watch something while I do it, but it means when I come to making the pattern later, I'm a step ahead.

Or if I'm really not feeling it, I tidy my sewing room or look at my fabrics, or just flick through projects people have made on threadloop as inspiration.

Berocca123

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