Fashioning My Cyber Microcosm: Stitch 'n Heal.

I should've known that, that one day of peaceful tranquility was the proverbial 'calm before the storm'
Since my previous post, the pain of my gallbladder grew exponentially, and when it was apparent that nothing I was trying was working I decided to make the call to the general surgeon.

In less than a few days, I consulted the doctor, and promptly received the procedure on the following Monday.
It was the only surgery I have ever received, and nothing frightened me more than being "put under".
I heard people say you don't dream while you're under, and I felt comfort in that small notion, that my brain couldn't possibly be conscious on any level...
Well, I don't know whether it was during the actual surgery or in the mere seconds during wake up, but I did dream...
Let's just say it was a very unpleasant dream that I wish I could forget.

I've spent the past couple days before yesterday in bed, unable to walk without agonizing in pain from the stitches in my abdomen; this photo was taken by my wonderful hubby who took the week off work to care for me.

With the time I spent laying in bed, I spent it honing in my double knitting and loom knitting skills.
The projects I completed are meant as Christmas gifts, so I won't be able to post pictures of them until the receivers have opened them.
I made a couple hats on my loom utilizing a raspberry-like stitch.
And a wall hanging on needles that was initially meant to be something of a much much smaller scale...
I think the needles I used were far too big.

Sneak peek of double knitted project.

I was quite surprised to find out that I didn't have removable stitch markers, and with this pattern I certainly needed their help. My dearest husband brought me the wire and beads I needed in order to make the ones shown-- and for extra fun, I decorated my row counter in the exact same stuff.
I'm searching for the perfect bat charms to add to the loops at the bottom of each marker, but they work perfectly. I made 2 sets, 6 markers for 6.5mm and lower, and 6 markers for 10mm to 6.5mm.

I'm in the process of fashioning myself a travel knitting tin containing all I would need during those long drives out of this town; hours from anywhere of note.
I'm waiting on a pair of TSA approved scissors from ebay, and I shall be complete and ready to show and tell.



Verticalland @Ebay

Skeleton Closet: Prim On A Whim

Today felt euphoric. 

I'm not sure I could quantify the feeling properly, though I'm almost positive everyone has felt it before-- and maybe even today, with me.

Some people call it a 'lazy day', but that seems to belittle the beauty of the inner tranquility a special day offers, like today. 

Though I have oodles and oodles of time, days like this really are rare for me-- I'm fairly good at masking my displeasure through my propensity to craft and write while I'm blue. 

I took full advantage of the feeling, and just relaxed. I let go of any sense of urgency the things in my life were provoking, and did whatever my hearts whim desired.

I guess that meant going through my wardrobe, heh.

I unearthed yet another piece I brought back from Canada during my last trip, and realized that I didn't remember when I last wore it...

So I dressed up!

The featured piece is the blouse; a delightfully vintage-eque mutton sleeved slice of whimsy.

The blouse was given to me by my mother; I feel like one of the only adults that allows her mother to dress her up... I love it. And why not? Her taste is immaculate.

I paired it with a lovely long velvet full skirt. It appears to be black, but it shifts with gentle shades of rich brown; it reminds me of cola!

Wouldn't you know it, but when I stepped outside to take the photos, I noticed that a creeping vine was playing through the weaves of our outdoor furniture-- how lovely it is! I should light the fire pit, and spend more days out on that furniture, especially with how magnificent the fall night sky is unhindered by blinding city lights!

The outfit couldn't be complete with two other pieces I haven't yet featured; the belt and the boots.

Along with my pvc lace up boots, I brought back with me my lace Victorian boots. I found them at a bargain at the local Flea Market.

The lowest number they had was size 6, but with a lace up boot the extra length doesn't pose much of an annoyance-- and they are quite narrow which I'm very happy with!

The belt was purchased on ebay (I'm an ebay-holic) for a whopping $3.80 with free shipping!

Lilyyangstore @ Ebay

I purchased it from the store I linked in the photo caption; shipping was about a months time, but that is to be expected from its location. The quality is the same as the quality you'd find at a mall retail shop-- it's surprisingly good for how much it sells for... considering that at the shop I worked for, this piece would retail for $30.

Well, anyway. The weather had its part in todays sheer beauty; it was softly warm, with a cool breeze blowing in from the horizon. Just perfect.

What I am Wearing:

• Blouse: Gift
• Skirt: Thrift
• Belt: Lilyyangstore @ebay
• Boots: Flea Market
• Jewelry: Self-made

What do you do on whimsically euphoric days?

Mortem's Tricks or Treats Return Of The Copy Bat.

I wish I would've sewn this on Halloween day... then at least I could've said I did something on the day of. But I didn't.
It was an after thought.

In fact, Halloween day was exceedingly uneventful, and it saddens this Halloween-aholic to have let that day pass with not a single gesture of spirit.
... *sigh* ...

Still, I have a lot to show for the month of October despite everything else. I did a bit of Halloween shopping throughout the month. Biggest purchase was a haul of Halloween fabric I made roughly 2 weeks ago, among other odds and ends throughout that didn't cost over $10. Joann's was clearing out their Halloween stock to replace with Christmas junk.
And by the way, Joanns, it was too. Damn. EARLY!

*Ahem*

I found this skeleton shirt at Walmart for $6. It was the only one on the rack left, and it was a men's large.
Why do men get all the good prints? The universe must be telling me I should sew more...

Well, without further ado!

The Kreepsville-inspired-skeleton-dress-a-la-copy-bat

Phew, quite a mouthful.

As a matter of fact, it's a good thing I found this as a men's shirt, because I was heavily debating buying the original tunic dress that Kreepsville has; the purple and black one... I still may make that purchase. It's purple and black... I mean, c'mon!

Well, the compromise to this one is that it glows in the dark, and the Kreepsville one does not.

Here is the shirt in its original glory... or shame, if you'd rather. A thought struck me to give this to my husband, and unfortunately it was too small-- otherwise if it did, it would not be the dress that it is now. Not sure whether that's lucky, or unlucky.

I laid my best tank top and skirt atop the shirt and traced about a half an inch away, so to compensate for seam allowance; makes cutting out easier. 

I then took my french curves and rulers to clean out the the lines so they'd be as close to perfectly symmetrical on both sides as I can make it.

Having a set of french curves will save you a lot of fuss during reconstructions such as this... but if you don't care if your sides are even, then skip them. I am just a stickler for finishing a garment properly.

Next, I pinned on the inner part of the chalked lines and cut fairly close to the line... 

Cutting is so much easier when you don't have to remember to add in seam allowance.

I wanted to add in my own subtle touch to this dress, so I cut out some of the back in order to create something like a yoke. More french curve action! I used a weaved sheer material-- it wasn't quite mesh, since it just barely had any stretch to it.

So, yup... that is pretty much the entire process in a nutshell. And now I can enjoy a skeleton dress, heh.

I accessorized with other little things I made; a skeleton hand hair clip and simple skull necklace.

Funny enough, they were also made from Halloween goods. It was all part of a cheap Halloween necklace you'd find at Dollar Stores (in my case Dollarama in Canada); the pendant was the hand, and the strand was made of the little acrylic skulls that make up the pendant of my necklace. 

An entire outfit composed of items revamped from Halloween goods! Take that!

I took my outfit just to go grocery shopping and finally my pvc pea coat fit into my outfit seamlessly.

I wish I could say the same about the actual fit of the coat....

I bought it ages and ages ago... I kept thinking I'll grow into it, since I was in jr. high (I think 16?) at the time of its purchase. Alas, nature had shorter plans for me. Heh...

Fashioning My Cyber Microcosm: Looks Like Sweater Weather (Monthly Theme)

Isn't it uncanny how Mrs Kitty can unleash her theme upon the blogosphere and almost always be just in time for the current mood?

This month is aptly themed sweaters!

Arizona is a tricky little piece of land.

The assumption is that it's always hot, or at least during the winter season, so mildly cold that one can still wear their summer clothing during a visit. That is true... unless of course you're in Northern Arizona. 

So, I'm here to tell you about a place. My place. 

There is a spot, smack dab in the crossroads to the famously beautiful wooded areas of Flagstaff, Prescott and Show Low, where nary a tree can be seen until you draw nearer to the aforementioned towns... where just so happens to be the place where life has taken me. 

Since it's flat desert as far as the eye can see, the biting winter wind from the altitude at which we lay blows harsh during the winter, often bringing snow... only, it goes unimpeded by structures, like dense trees or tall buildings.

Still... for all my whining, it's not quite as cold as where I once lived in Canada; my hair would oft begin to freeze on a particularly cold day.

I adore sweaters, and because I come from the "cold belt" of Canada, my sweater collection is gargantuan. Sadly, packing sweaters is a bit like packing books; they are very bulky and heavy in large amounts. I was only able to bring my absolutely favorites of my favorites.

The air is much colder at night, and the difference can be as stark as a 30 degree drop...

It certainly makes me miss all my sweaters...

Because of my former work at a clothing retail shop, I have acquired quite a taste for sweater dresses-- we specialized in them during the winter. This particular one, I found at a thrift store many years ago. It sat in the back of my closet for all that time until I felt comfortable with my curves; I was your typical ugly duckling in high school.
But that's really besides the point. The moment I started wearing this sweater dress, marks a time when I visually transitioned from girl to woman. Trading off my baggy teenage angsty attire, and rediscovering form fitted articles as stand alone pieces, that made me feel beautiful and mature. I hoarded these articles away for "some other time"; these are the moments worth junk piling for...

Anyway, more than anything else, this theme has reminded me of how much the cool weather provokes the need to knit! Because nothing is better than cozying down to a horror flick with your two needles, hands and creativity. And of course, a hot brew of your favorite tea.

Fashioning My Cyber Microcosm: The Life of A Bat

As a self proclaimed Halloween-aholic, it comes to the surprise of many that I actually have no plans for Halloween this year. I didn't even give much thought to a costume.
... Well... I didn't last year either, but anyway-- at this point I would have at least been looking forward to doing something.

Luckily, one of my husband's colleagues threw a pumpkin carving party over the weekend, and gave me a damn fine reason to celebrate the only special holiday I look forward to each year.
Sadly, I forgot to take my own camera along in the frenzy and excitement to get ready for the party... but my friend gave me permission to use some of the ones she took of the event.

It was just the occasion to wear my pretty eyeball dress to, but I spent the majority of my time baking bat cookies with my friend to put much thought into what to accessorize the dress with. Happily she came to my aid with a pair of bat wings, which was just enough for this batty gal to be happy with.

You might notice I am lacking my second pair of eyes, aka spectacles... that is because I finally took the dive into wearing contacts. This is the first time in what feels like forever, that I've seen without the weight of glasses on my face. I vaguely remember the same foreign feeling when I was first prescribed glasses at age 14... I never thought I'd get used to them on my face, and now I can't really remember what it was like never having them, even though it's only been 11 years!
Anyway, I like them despite that nagging little thought that perhaps I am forgetting something...
Now I have to pick which color I would like-- I narrowed the choice down to violet or honey colored yellow.

Either way, I would like to make my gaze as interesting as I'd like to believe I am...

Again, usually I have meticulous plans for what I would like to do during this joyous holiday...
Last year I carved a sugar skull onto my pumpkin. This year I decided to wing it, and came up with something along the traditional lines of jack o'lantern carving.

It reminded me more of Jack Skellington than I initially intended... we even had someone carve the pumpkin king himself onto their pumpkin.

I was far more impressed with another friend's pumpkin. It was surely the party favorite among the lot of carved goodness; hers was the headless horseman that sits right beside the Jack face. Up close, you would easily see why-- this does not do it enough justice!

The pumpkin that belongs to the friend I went with is the one that says 'boo' in its mouth, that I also find all kinds of cute. And of course, the Star Trek one is near to my heart, too-- though I don't really know who carved it... I myself was debating whether or not I should do something similar, but my love of Halloween far exceeds my love of the United Federation of Planets.

There was a surprising amount of Trek love in this party, besides the pumpkin. The friend who carved the headless horseman was wearing a Star Trek command shirt; she also gave me a deck of Voyager cards to gush over. Oh what joy to find two of my passions in one place!

And so to wrap up this exceedingly wordy post (feels a little more than usual), I and my fur babies bid thee a happy halloween! (even if in reality they hate dressing up!)

Skeleton Closet: Attack of the Killer Copy 'Bat' + Pattern Review

And by 'killer' I mean awesome... hahah!
I should make a sectional of my blog for my copy cat dealings-- hmm.

So in one of my previous posts, I wrote that my mother sent me some money for a little retail therapy during my health issues. In it, I expressed the desire for a couple Hell Bunny dresses, but one seems discontinued while the other is not viable financially.
For the price of both of these dresses, I was able to purchase everything I needed for all the dresses I planned for in that post-- a total a 4, including the one I didn't mention much.

Last post, I revealed a sneak peek of the dress I was working on, but did not mention which one...
Well, dear readers...

Voilà!

Sporting my broken spare glasses...

This is the New Look pattern 6457 in view A.

From afar the pattern of the fabric merely looks like multi colored polka-dots... but when you come up close, it reveals itself to be eyeballs on a faint spiderweb background. This dress is meant to somewhat mimic the simplistic but outrageously awesome Hell Bunny eyeball dress.

As some of you know, I currently have a "thing" for eyeball things... this dress was an inevitable contribution to my wardrobe.

Knock-off dress with my knock-off hair bows

The dress itself needed some fit adjustments around the curvature of the bodice side front pieces, since I am not as well endowed as your average woman-- I still have the body of a teen that just barely hit puberty. And believe it or not, it can sometimes work in as an advantage.

Another adjustment to be done was the length of the skirt. It wasn't a huge deal since the pattern inadvertently lays it out for you.

The line which you're supposed to sew your ribbon trim also works in shortening the skirt overall. I chose to cut on the highest line-- on me, it creates the perfect length just a bit above my knees since I am merely 5 feet tall.

It goes without saying that the straps needed adjustment also. I have excruciatingly narrow and short shoulders, disproportional to my torso-- meaning nothing off-the-rack with straps ever fits properly.
The instructions mention only overlapping the front of the straps, while keeping the back untucked.
I didn't think that looked clean enough for me, so I simply did the same at the back as in the front.

Once the band is stitched on, the inside looks super clean and tailored. It would be even better if this dress was lined, but I didn't buy any fabric be able to do that.

The only disappointing factor was the difficulty I had matching the pattern of the fabric with seams; it's an absurdly random pattern, and I just couldn't find the magic formula to prevent cut offs-- I did my best, but it wasn't enough! Ugh. Guess that is my penance for mismatching my husband's shorts, heh!

Pattern overview:

• View A is a simple silhouette, there was little to no road blocks in dealing with adjustment issues; basic level knowledge. Great for the beginner.
• Optional extras: tailor's ham to press around curves for better sewing results.
• I would sew this dress again; it's fun, cute, and works really well with busy prints.

I'm pretty stoked that I now own an eyeball dress-- huzzah!

Also, you must check out my awesome tights, as I'm equally stoked about them, too! I found them at Dollar General... isn't that crazy?!

What I'm wearing:

• Dress: New Look pattern 6457
• Anatomical heart necklace: self -made
• Eyball hairbows: self-made knock off
• Tights: Dollar General
• Belt: Fairweather Co.
• Boots: K-mart

Creepy Craft Crusades: Emotional Brew

Such a mix of feelings this month has brought so far.

A mix of several inconveniences, and one giant wallop of good news.

The good news is that government shutdown is officially over.
My husband went back to work this past Thursday from his two week and a half furlough. What's more, we've received news that the whole time will be back-paid to us... at least the federal employees. 

I wouldn't call the lost time a "vacation", because that would mean ignoring the worry and anxiety of waiting for a conclusion, for the perception that this time was somehow enjoyable...

Anyway.

Since it was an emotionally taxing month, it seems only natural that I would immerse myself completely in my sewing... it's the best way that I can wind down or blow off steam, and it works oh so well.
I admit to being slightly surprised that this sewing streak is still going strong despite having lost a great chunk of worry-- at this point my fingers and brain would be telling me to slow down and enjoy the "victory"... but no.

I have begun yet another commercial pattern (from my latest pattern haul) which will later be reviewed upon successful completion. For now, all I have to offer is the muslin stage of the bodice from one of the said dresses, and a semi-panoramic view of my sewing room in its current state:

Before this pattern and after the shorts I created last post, I (reluctantly) drafted the pattern and already sewn a pair of Star Wars shorts for my husband. They feature my very first attempt at seam pockets-- which came out beautifully.
The reason for my reluctance was purely because it's Star Wars, and I'm a Trekkie.
I think it's safe to say that love hath no boundaries.

However!  I am allowed one petty act, I think, heh...
The miss-matched pattern of the fabric was an intentional but subtle jab.
I didn't want the shorts to be the very best that they could be, even though it really really disturbs my inner seamstress.
As I've finished mentioning, we may be husband and wife, but I am and was always a Trekkie... at least the rest of it has my best efforts, hah!

He's also sporting a bleach dye shirt I made him, too! It's one I made him months ago, but I just never blogged about-- there's a lot of projects that go unblogged. It's a Spinal Tap shirt!
Here's the back of it:

If you haven't seen the mockumentary that started a real band, then I suggest you watch it ASAP. It's quite funny, and surprisingly catchy.

And so comes the part where I let you in on a couple bits of bad news...
One of the issues that caused the shutdown was really only postponed... meaning this all could potentially happen yet again!
And for extra fun, both my main and spare pair of glasses suffered unfortunate accidents...