Lorien is not too bright...

I had a break down over this sleeve because I couldn't figure out how to make the shorter side of the sleeve long enough to match up without distorting the lower portion of the sleeve.  Then I realized that part of the triangular gusset was to accommodate the missing 2".  Here is a poorly made paint image to let you know of my dumb.

A&S Update...

So I've mostly settled on my A&S entries for Adiantum's competition in January.  I'm torn between doing a reconstruction of Livia's hairstyle, and doing a research paper on the position of Ornatrices in Roman households.  The former would be easier, because I've worked out how to accomplish the hairstyle already, my trouble would be how to flesh out the documentation to make it feel like it was worthwhile.  On the other hand, I have very little actual research on the position of Ornatrices within a household, though I have done a little preliminary book searching.  I mostly like the first option because of the visual aspect of doing the hairstyle is a little flashier, and I'm known in the area for hairstyling.

The other entry I'm intending is my soon to be made Housebook dress.  I decided to make this dress because my family has graciously given me tickets to go back to Texas for a visit at the beginning of December.  I'll get to be home for Stargate's Yule, and was pondering whether or not to make something new, and was talking it over with my best friend.  We both mentioned that the only dress we were interested in making at the time was the two different styles of dress that we would be wearing with the cute red fringed hats I made months ago.  Since the styles were different, and the colors were different enough, I felt we wouldn't be too terribly twinkie, and we could go ahead with the plan.  We've now challenged each other to make a fancy new dress, though The Boy thinks there should be a prize for the "winner." Her boy has promised to take us out for a drink.

I've been working on it slowly, and most of the info is posted over at our shared blog.  I've got the underdress, the hemd, done enough to wear, though I would like to hand finish all the seams before entering it in at Midwinter.  I've included the inspiration image, which of course I can't find the actual citation at this moment, but came originally from Eme's Compendium.  You also get a couple photos of me in my hemd and cute red fringed hat, and a lovely Paint sketch of my pattern for my hemd.  It came out of about 4 and 1/3 yards of 3.5 oz linen from Fabric-Store.com, which I had originally bought back in February to make a smocked hemd for my Trossfrau.  I've gotten the bodice patterned, but now need to figure out the sleeve pattern.  I also got to use a fantastic local resource, the Eugene Textile Center, to dye the wool coating I was given as a thank you to a gorgeous teal color.  The whole thing is coming along, but I have about a week and a half left to sew the whole thing together, if I allow time out because of travel to Seattle for Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping it will all come together, but I think it will be okay.

Made something new for Etsy...

One of my friends back in Texas started a group on Facebook designed to give artists motivation to complete new works.  Hearkening back to the days of high school art classes, she gives us a topic and two weeks to create a new piece of work in any medium we like to represent that subject.  This week's topic was your favorite color.  I decided that whenever I made something for these challenges, I'd try to sell them on Etsy, and see if it won't motivate me to keep putting items up for sale.

Here's a few bathroom mirror photos of the newest fascinator.

The "feathers" are made from millinery wire covered with blue silk dupioni and silk charmeuse.  The blue wire wraps around the base and helps anchor the feathers onto the comb.  I put it together in about two or three hours, once I was inspired.

So I'm trying out a new website...

I am a rather busty woman.  I've always been a busty woman, much to my dismay when it comes to shopping.  I haven't been able to purchase bras from a department store since I started high school.  I was buying from Lane Bryant throughout high school, and now I'm too busty for them.  So I am trying out a website geared towards busty ladies, Big Girl Bras.  They are currently running a sale on a few things and have a fairly generous return policy, so I thought I'd give them a shot.


So far I'm impressed.  They have a large variety, let you know what is and isn't in stock right up front, and give the shopper a sizing chart to show how the different brands line up with a standard U.S. sizing.


I wandered through their "Everyday Bras" page, uninspired to really purchase anything, as my main motivation when purchasing a new bra, regardless of fit or comfort, is that I want a bra my grandmother wouldn't approve of.  After that I want fit and comfort, but if I think my grandmother would approve I don't want to wear it.  When I purchase a bra, it must be attractive.  Besides having a man in my life that will see it, if my bra isn't pretty, I won't feel pretty.  And being a larger woman means I don't always feel pretty, so I don't see a reason to start off a step behind.


So I popped over to the "T-Shirt Bras" page and decided to purchase the Le Mystere Bra 9955.  It had good ratings for the five reviews given it, and was currently on sale(ish), marked down from $69 to $62.10.   I have enough money to try it, and can always return it if it doesn't fit correctly and try again with a different size or different style.  When I got to the check out page, they gave me the coupon code "dancing" as an extra 10% off the purchase.  Which brought my purchase to just under $61 with the generic shipping that is non refundable if the bra doesn't fit.


I've since noticed that they have this code on their webpage and it's good through Nov. 10 for purchases over $35.  They also have a coupon code for free shipping on purchases over $75.  Considering that just one bra could be over $75, that's a pretty easy way to free shipping.


I'll let the internet know when it arrives and if it fits.  I can't decide if I want it to fit or not, so I can test the return policy...