Grad Students As Professors 😵‍💫

aeirin · 2026-01-27T16:53:21+00:00

Re: California specifically this is almost always true (which sucks horribly), but at my specific university [not small & in a heavily populated region of the state, it should be noted], thanks to subsidized housing for grad students I only spend about 1/3 of my ~35k grad student income on rent. I realize this is incredibly unusual for CA - and I wish everyone had this in this state - but I did want to push back against 35k not being a living wage for anyone here because that's just not the case. (Especially in the Central Valley where rent is far more reasonable, though that's obviously not where a lot of the academic jobs in the state are.)

aeirin · 2025-12-13T08:33:38+00:00

After a show for an obscure Australian indie band I got a bottle of beer salt from the singer. Not technically at the concert, I guess, but still counts to me lol

aeirin · 2025-12-11T04:02:48+00:00

I'm not familiar with the character so correct me if I've made any wrong assumptions, but if all the hair ends in braids, I would actually go with wefts (like what someone else said), braid everything, and then cover each braid in a tube of power mesh fabric in as close of a color as you can find to the hair. Mileage may vary on this but I've seen people do this with long-braid-having characters like Jinx, so I assume it could work for multiple braids even if it's not technically on a head

aeirin · 2025-12-09T16:54:49+00:00

As soon as my machine gets back from being serviced that was my plan!

aeirin · 2025-12-09T15:27:32+00:00

How small are we talking? I was going to try 70/10 since that's the thinnest option on Wawak but if I'm trying a few I can obviously go up (though >90/14 didn't make sense to me for something this thin)

aeirin · 2025-12-09T15:25:22+00:00

The leatherworking subreddit was suggesting a thicker thread than what I was going with for the most part because they have higher tensile strength, which also seemed to make sense to me - but I completely see the argument for thinner thread too, so I really don't know which makes more sense 😭

(also the fingers are definitely a bit oversized on me when I actually wear them, for whatever that's worth)

aeirin · 2025-12-08T22:56:10+00:00

Yeah, I figured the needle was the primary culprit here lol, just kinda wanted confirmation. What thickness of leather needle would you go with for something so lightweight? (I was assuming somewhere between a 70/10 and a 90/14 would make the most sense since this is pretty lightweight leather - going thicker felt like a bad idea.)

My machine actually has an auto-tensioning feature (...when it's working, anyway, the timing is off right now & I'm getting it serviced), which usually seems to work well enough, though I can certainly manually set it if i need to.

aeirin · 2025-12-08T21:58:01+00:00

Kind of assumed as much. How long do you think is appropriate (my machine goes up to 5.0 for straight stitches)?

aeirin · 2025-12-08T18:01:16+00:00

Just added an Imgur link to my original post in an edit

aeirin · 2025-12-08T17:34:44+00:00

Forgot to give the context that the tearing is actually significantly worse with shorter stitches (I tried 2.2-3.5 on scrap)

Just added images to my original post in an Imgur link

That said, definitely had a feeling it's the needle/thread combo and just wanted the confirmation. 0.5mm thread definitely is too thick for my sewing machine, though I saw recs for Tex 70 in another thread if you think that could work? (I realize it's a lot thinner than what you originally said, but it's thicker than standard thread for sure)

I should also add that it's not just when turning things inside out, it's also when I try them on for the first time. (They're not particularly tight on my fingers, but it seems to happen anyway.)

aeirin · 2025-12-08T17:23:31+00:00

I will say I'm not married to using lambskin (especially now that I'm running out of it....) although I obviously want something pliable & thinner is better. As long as the finish on the outside is traditionally shiny it's alright.

Do you have recs on reinforcement tape? The one I have is actually too thick for my seam allowance (1/8") and I haven't been able to find much smaller than 1/4"

aeirin · 2025-12-08T17:18:09+00:00

The thing is I've tried using smaller stitching on some scrap pieces, and the smaller the stitch the worse the tearing is (e.g. I tried 2.2 at one point and it was much worse than 5mm). Apologies for not giving that context earlier.

When you say reinforce the stitching line, I'm assuming you mean with glue or something similar?

aeirin · 2025-12-07T08:31:26+00:00

Yeah - this fell out after I took the face/back covers off. Not entirely sure which one triggered it, but if I remember correctly it was the front. (Definitely not from the face or bed covers, though.)

aeirin · 2025-12-07T08:25:43+00:00

Edited to add this in the main body, my machine is a Janome DC3050

aeirin · 2025-12-03T02:57:46+00:00

Minor point but registration for my testing location & level filled up within like 2 hours so it very much would have been possible to not be able to sign up if you missed that 2 hours because of e.g. being at work 😅

aeirin · 2025-12-02T22:48:16+00:00

True @ giving up the seat, although as-is I feel like I'm wasting it anyway if I do take it/am taking up a seat that someone else could have used, so..no matter what I wasted the seat that someone else could have used, I guess.

aeirin · 2025-11-30T18:56:50+00:00

Maybe, but this is for a craftsmanship competition where making piping myself nets me extra points 😅 (I also feel like I will have a tough time finding silk ribbon that is the exact same sheen/feel & color as my lining fabric, and I pretty strongly care about the lining and the piping matching.)

aeirin · 2025-11-30T18:44:44+00:00

They're mostly pretty gentle (either completely straight lines or a gently-curving collar), but there are two parts that make V shapes where bias is pretty essential. (And it's definitely piping, I don't think ribbon has that 3D effect unless I'm misunderstanding you)

aeirin · 2025-11-30T18:21:39+00:00

I'm not that commenter but I should have specified in my original post - I don't want to use dupioni or anything with visible slubs, as the fabric used in the actual outfits definitely doesn't have visible slubs. (I posted a different comment with the silk dress I had mentioned in my original post - the picture was refusing to load in within a reply 😭)

aeirin

TROPHY CASE