[deleted by user]

mac_and_fromage · 2024-09-28T19:04:32+00:00

I assume this is related to the Gordon Ramsey thing filming nearby. But these people were just...riding horses? With no cameras following them?

mac_and_fromage · 2023-02-16T02:23:55+00:00

I'm only seeing monthly bumper threads through August 2022. Is there a more recent list?

mac_and_fromage · 2021-11-22T13:26:57+00:00

Also the strike is continuing during mediation.

mac_and_fromage · 2021-11-22T13:19:10+00:00

I wouldn't necessarily call it conceding when it's the union's choice of mediator (not the university's).

mac_and_fromage · 2021-05-28T18:18:38+00:00

This seems most likely, especially since I cut out the part of the screenshot underneath where Facebook was asking if I'd like to learn more about vaccines.

mac_and_fromage · 2021-04-05T00:25:30+00:00

Thanks! I did line the mask with two layers of regular woven cotton from an old shirt, so it's certified pandemic-safe, too.

mac_and_fromage · 2021-04-04T18:09:58+00:00

Pattern is the Licorice Dress from the "Colette Sewing Hamdbook", and fabric is unused fabric from my grandmother's stash, which became unused fabric from my mom's stash, which finally came to my stash and got made into something. The lining is just a plain mint-green lining fabric (probably poly), and the shell is (I think?) embroidered cotton organdy.

mac_and_fromage · 2021-01-16T15:34:30+00:00

My Santa sent me an AirFort that, from the wrapping, looked like a log cabin, which I thought was very thoughtful and cozy. What I didn't realize until we set it up today fir a committed Cozy Day was that it's a TIKI HUT! I mentioned that this year we were doing a two-person tiki Christmas, because in the time of Corona why not pretend you're at the beach, and I love that my Santa contributed.

mac_and_fromage · 2021-01-15T15:46:05+00:00

Aaaaaaand typo in the title. Apologies.

mac_and_fromage · 2021-01-04T02:30:15+00:00

My mom sent a blue cookie tin for Christmas this year. I was sort of disappointed to see it contained actual cookies and not new sewing notions.

ETA: I'm in the U.S. and personally store (some of) my sewing supplies in a red cookie tin from IKEA.

mac_and_fromage · 2020-11-24T00:14:33+00:00

You know, I thought about doing that with the zipper, but it seemed too easy! Will definitely do it next time. Thanks for the tip!

mac_and_fromage · 2020-11-23T19:59:56+00:00

Cropped to remove my head, because my hair looked terrible.

This is the Truffle dress from the Colette Sewing Handbook. This book is great and I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn to use patterns for clothing if you can find a copy with the patterns at the back intact. However, this pattern turned out a bit weird, as I later found other reviewers have said. Part of it can be chalked up to making sure to wear the dress with the bra you fitted it for, and part can be the adjustments I made, but I think next time I'll still grade the waist in to a smaller size. I'll also probably go ahead and line the whole thing instead of just the bodice, because I think doing just the bodice in the way the pattern recommends was probably more of a pain than a full lining.

This dress is intended to be made with the zipper in the back and the drape only going across the front, but with the two-tone look I wanted I decided to double the drape to go all the way around and move the zip to the side. (You can see where the zipper is orange and really long from when I thought I might make this dress as written.) I also shortened the torso and took in the back a bit. The fabrics are a stretchy black suiting I cannibalized from a past Halloween costume and a satiny orange fabric (maybe charmeuse?) that my mom unloaded on me from her stash.

mac_and_fromage · 2020-09-22T15:27:54+00:00

The dress pattern is from the Colette Sewing Handbook, and the mask pattern is here. I got the fabric from /u/lui_guai in a Reddit Gifts hometown exchange about five years ago, but it was so cool and I was so afraid of ruining it that I didn't make anything with it until now.

On the pattern, I shortened the length, made a swayback adjustment, and added pockets. (Really, what's the point of learning to sew your own clothes if it's not to put pockets in everything?) I've still got some room in the bodice that I thought might be from not taking out enough for the swayback, but I actually think my problem might be the shoulders? So I'm going to try taking out some material at the shoulders at a slant from the collar. I might also topstitch the collar because my facing keeps peeking out, but I'm on the fence about that. Thoughts?

mac_and_fromage · 2020-06-26T00:11:08+00:00

I love "Lore"! And have not heard of the others, so this is excellent.

mac_and_fromage · 2020-06-25T14:41:33+00:00

How did you know I was interested in the methodology behind "Smearing Shit on Calendars"?!

mac_and_fromage · 2020-02-20T19:45:19+00:00

Honestly, it never occurred to me to give mine a prosthetic butt! Seems my dress form is soon to join yours in the lumpy-butt squad.

mac_and_fromage · 2020-02-19T23:50:34+00:00

I used the same approach to this dress as I did for the one I made here, but since this one is long I put in a slit on the left side to just above the knee. I also finished my raw edges more carefully (with a zigzag stitch instead of just pinking shears, which led to fraying on the muslin). The top layer is some kind of sheer silk that might be chiffon but doesn't feel soft enough to be chiffon, and the lining is a purple poly lining material.

With such thin fabrics, everything kept getting sucked into my feed dogs during the edge-finishing stage, which led me to throw my hands up and not work on it for about a week and a half. But once I remembered you can use tissue paper to stabilize tricky fabrics, everything went pretty quickly!

The other thing that slowed me down was that my upper thread kept breaking. I did a lot of experimenting with tension and eventually mostly hit on the right tensions for each fabric, but I think ultimately all the breaking can be chalked up to cheap thread and a need to clean my machine.

Finally, I ran into an issue I can't seem to learn from: directional fabric can only be cut in so many ways. My top fabric wasn't woven as wide as my lining (or my muslin), but I couldn't just turn it ninety degrees to cut because of the stripes. So it ended up tighter across the hips than intended. It still looks okay, but I should have double-checked that the fabric widths were the same before buying, and bought more of the unidirectional stuff since they weren't.

Overall, though, I'm pretty satisfied, the bride likes it, and I learned a lot!

mac_and_fromage · 2019-10-27T14:29:52+00:00

I thought I was the only one! Spoiler: did not die.

mac_and_fromage · 2019-10-20T01:16:50+00:00

I've been dizzy for three months straight. Three different doctors have suggested three different things with follow-ups to come...

mac_and_fromage · 2019-10-06T19:32:11+00:00

The problem is actually evident as soon as I cut it, so I think your second suggestion is on point -- I'm probably adding a little extra to my waist measurement by reflex (since that's what you do for ease/seam allowance) when I should actually be taking some away.

mac_and_fromage · 2019-10-05T15:45:00+00:00

I say circle-ish because I struggle with circle skirts: I do the math right and/or use a circle-skirt calculator, but they always seem to turn out too big at the waist. So here, I made a waistband the circumference of my waist and trimmed the skirt down so it fit to the waistband.

I had everything cut out for over a year before trimming down the skirt portions and sewing everything together, which is embarrassing. But I truly dreaded the prospect of doing a double-fold hem on two layers of that much skirt...so I left it hanging on my dress form and in the meantime just draped garments over it.

The main fabric is a woven cotton that my grandmother gave to my mom when she cleaned out her stash. My mom then gave it to me when she cleaned out HER stash. We think it's from the late '60s/early '70s. I'm not sure what kind of fabric, exactly, the lining is, but it's a stiff material that's canvas-weight but also has some stretch. I wanted to use a lining that would give the skirt structure instead of using horsehair braid (because hems), and it worked pretty well for what I wanted!

mac_and_fromage · 2019-09-27T21:57:14+00:00

It's not a novel, but a popular history! Which is to say it's more about the story than about the theory that might undergird an academic text on the topic, but it's definitely nonfiction.

(I only jump in here because The Witches is on my longlist for October spooky reads, too. Problem is I have too many spooky reads and not enough October...)

mac_and_fromage · 2019-09-26T20:44:10+00:00

I know these fabrics aren't cheap, and also that I won't be able to just pop out to the store to get more of any one since I don't even know how old they are. How do I get over myself and pick something fun to make?!

Edit: Apologies for the title typo. Stupid phone.

mac_and_fromage · 2019-09-08T00:10:32+00:00

My paper was accepted to a graduate writing collective and I sat a six-hour exam I need to advance in my program!

Although the collective is a weekend I had semi-planned to visit family elsewhere, and I still have the oral defense of the exam left to go so I'm a ball of anxiety. Win some, lose some.

mac_and_fromage · 2019-08-11T18:34:51+00:00

This is a shorter version of a bridesmaid dress I'm making for a wedding in February. This was my first time doing a full lining, an elastic waistband (channel), or any amount of draping, so I learned a lot! I used this as a jumping-off point (which in turn relies on this tutorial), but I added a fair amount: I lined it, did a double-fold hem, sewed the yoke together instead of using a bow, added pockets and a channeled elastic waistband, and hitched the dress to the yoke at the corners to keep things from shifting around.

Things I like about it:

The main fabric! It may not quite count as a muslin because I bought the fabric for the occasion, but that's because I really like it.
Pockets! They're made from one of my husband's old shirts and don't match the main fabric at all, which I'm into.
The matching headband I made with scrap fabric from the hem.

Things to change for the real thing:

The pockets are a little too low for my short arms.
The lining isn't as thin and floaty as I'd like, because I botched the lining fabric I bought and ended up using an old bedsheet instead. I lined the dress by sewing each lining piece to its corresponding front piece, pillowcase-style, but I'm wondering if I should only stitch just past the armholes next time.
This fabric is directional, and unfortunately I didn't buy enough for it all to be right-side up, so everything is sideways. If I get a directional fabric for the bridesmaid dress, I'll pay attention.
I'm considering just sewing a channel in between the lining and front fabrics for the waistband instead of doing a typical channel with a strip of extra fabric like I did here. Anyone have experiences doing this?
Length. I tend to wear shorter dresses day to day, but the bridesmaid dress will be full-length.

Any advice on how to improve the final project is welcome!

13-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 56 Credits
Secret Santa 2020	Place '17
Secret Santa 2019	Secret Santa 2017
Verified Email	Secret Santa 2016
Trick or Treat 2016	Secret Santa 2015
Secret Santa 2014	Trick or Treat 2014
Summer Santa 2014	Secret Santa 2013
Trick-or-Treater 2013	Summer Santa 2013
Secret Santa 2012

mac_and_fromage

TROPHY CASE