Mortem's Tricks or Treats: Lackadaisical Crafters Anonymous.

I am such a flake...

It's not that I don't care about the person, definitely not the case...
I prefer to craft and write at my own pace, this is the sheer and ugly truth-- ugly because if my heart is not into it, I take forever and a year to do it.
My actions do shame me, especially when a loved one is waiting for something... but every time something is requested of me, I can never seem to do it in a timely manner. I just don't know how to counter this, so it keeps happening. Ho-Hum.


A few months back, the same friend whom made me sully my hands and sewing machine with her Trooper Pinafore, asked me to make her a WW pilot wonder woman corset that I mentioned in that very post.
Well, I finally got it done. Her event has gone and past, but at first the delay was for the unfortunate business of not having a home and just a hotel room to live in. Then it was realizing the movers lost my package of zip ties I was going to use for boning; which by the way are incredibly hard to find in a 1" width.
So after a long time searching, I finally did find the boning... but more delay came from the loss of interest in wanting to work on it.

If it wasn't for my husband's constant nagging, it probably would've taken a lot longer to get it done, heheh. Love that man.

Reporting for duty!... finally...

She had sent me the Simplicity pattern 2067 to work with; I completely redrafted it to her custom size and my design details, so in other words, this made a pretty good sloper to start off. I have to say, this was the first time I had ever done such extensive tailoring for someone who couldn't be present. It took a lot of back and forth, but we got it right, and it's not too bad if I say so myself... doesn't look flattering on my dressform because it obviously wasn't made to fit me, heheh.

Original sketch

I think the most annoying thing about this endeavor was the binding... I hate making and applying bias binding-- curse its beautiful appeal! Second was drafting in those pleats... it took more time than adjusting the bust size to waist ratio.

While I was still living in Holbrook, AZ I had my neighbor help embroider one half of the gold stitching with me. It created a nice afternoon of cocktails and crafts.

All in all, I'm glad I was able to complete this.
There weren't as many tears as I would've expected...
She promised me that she'll take a shoot with the trooper and this corset, so you will all get to see them on whom they were made for!

Skeleton Closet: Tentatively Barefoot

One thing I love about other blogs' outfit posts is that they're almost always different from the next.

Back in Canada, I probably could've done the same-- I had mountains of clothes and footwear to choose from.
These days, I am finding it harder and harder to formulate an outfit for Skeleton Closet... quite frankly, it's bare bones in my current closet (badum-tss!). My shoe rack is especially sparse... I think I've worn all the shoes I have more than twice already in my current posts.

Without becoming redundant, and also because it's different-- I went barefoot this time.
I know... blasphemy.

I also noticed two exciting things:
1. I am currently 5 readers away from 100
2. July 22 marks an entire year of blogging

so you know what this means...

Whichever one I get to first, it means a giveaway! And boy this one will be a good one, I promise.

This time it'll be more goodies over candy-- my first was mostly candy because it was for Hallowe'en, and you can't do a giveaway on Hallowe'en without candy... it just doesn't work like that, in my book.

Let's just say I have a few favorites I would like to share with the winner...

What I am Wearing:

• Skirt: Self-made
• Top: Thrifted
• Corset: Louise Black
• Necklace: Self-made
• Barefeet!

Spooky Basket: My Louise Black Corset Purchase

At one point or another, we've all seen these... these devastatingly gorgeous, totally covetable under bust corsets. And if you haven't, well go check out Louise Black on etsy quickly and gawk at her original cameo corsets.

Hell I've been yearning and saving for about a year, until I finally made my purchase back in Jan to Feb. Some people have warned me that their customer service is less than helpful... but this wasn't the case when I got up the gal to press "checkout".

They were very helpful and my request was processed and shipped very quickly and timely! I was happily surprised.

Proud owner!

In the beginning of January I had requested a custom fit faux leather ribcage cameo corset before this passed May when I would be attending the Rammstein concert in Glendale (which by the way, blew my mind beyond the zenith). Sure enough it came before the expected arrival in mid February.
It's one my single best purchases, and I did not regret a single penny of it.





 The construction is immaculate, and the fit is beyond comfortable; it would feel like a second skin if the steel boning didn't stop me from bending over all the way, hehe!
However, these corsets are not constructed with a busk or with a modesty panel; it makes putting them on and lacing them yourself a little bit of a hassle if you haven't done it as much, as was the case with me (I usually get my husband to do it, but for the pictures I had to do everything myself).

Many corsets will come with busks making them a hell of a lot easier to put on; here is a video demonstrating the process with the average constructed corset:

 But for corsets like Louise Black's, there is a little trick (somewhat obvious, but doesn't dawn very quickly) that I wish someone had told me or I had found during my research before getting my first corset. If you're like me, you hate lacing anything up, it's time consuming and exhausting. So to prevent any unwanted unlacing while I shuffle my way into my corset from the top, I tie the tips of the four laces by pairs in a simple firm. but loose enough knot

Another little tidbit is that if you're going to purchase a corset, you should purchase a tube top along with it if you plan on wearing nothing underneath it (maybe for a burlesque show, I don't know). Corsets are never fully washable, as many well finished ones have steel boning that could rust and bleed through fabrics. Having a tube top will help prevent a lot of that sweat and B.O. coming off on your corset. I spray a cloth with a bit of fabric freshener and gently go over the inside of the corset to keep it smelling nice.


 I love Louise Black and her corsets so much, I am beginning to save for two more, maybe even three! And I know just the ones I am going to get...

Here is the choker I made, which I am wearing in the full body shot.