Thursday, April 24, 2008

Story Time

I've had my story floating around in my head for a while now, mostly from the perspective of one of my most... cynical characters who is also a control freak, it's more amusing that way. The problem is, well, one of them anyway, that I don't want to write the entire story from her point of view, it's rather undynamic, if that's a word. I know who I want to use but I'm having trouble transferring the point of view without loosing the sauciness that I so love to read and write and making the whole thing terribly dull and historical. I've been doing what ever the equivalent to doodling is in writing lately, I expect it'll pay of in, oh, say, six years. :X :P

The hardest part of writing, I believe, is not so much getting your thoughts on paper but getting them on paper in such a way that makes the people who read them enter into your thoughts and, subsequently, care. These are my characters in my own world (well, sorta, you could argue that every piece of high fantasy is nothing but highly extrapolated plagiarism, dungeons, dragons, castles, ladies in distress... you get it). Their emotions run as high as my own but how can I make others feel that? How to help them smell the grass of the battle field, how to feel the cold of the mountains, how to see the crystal clear water or feel the sweet soft breeze. How to make each nuance impeccably clear. I suppose it isn't truly possible, not through a medium, but still I try.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Skirt

I took in a skirt today.

My husband took me shopping last weekend and he found this skirt on clearance. It was a beautiful skirt: dark brown; nice, swirly embroidery with flowers; lined, good quality. Great skirt, size 12. I'm between a 2 and 4 usually so, naturally, I wrote it off and continued looking. Then he asked if I could take it in (curse learning to sew and a super supportive husband). I did not want to take it in. I had no good reason, I just didn't want to. But I flipped it inside out and took a look at how the seams came together and decided that, yes, I could take it in, that it would be the most complicated thing I've done to date, and there was no way I knew of to take it in and have it look like it hadn't been taken in. But it was only $7, he said, so it wouldn't matter if I messed it up totally. I still didn't want to do it but he was trying very hard to be helpful. I bought it.

So this morning I started looking at it again and pulled out the first seam to get a better look at what needed to be done so it would look reasonably well done. I was right, in my experience, it was really complicated. I tried my very best to be objective about it all, my perfectionist nature would have loved to make a basket case out of me. I made decisions and stuck to them. I pinned the seams and checked them all at least twice before I sewed them in. I finished it all in one sitting (so to speak since I had to keep getting up to make sure the skirt would actually fit when I was done) and my husband tolerated my very focused, please don't speak to me attitude, for which I am very grateful. It turned out well. All my mistakes are on the inside and fairly undetectable on the outside. I'm not entirely pleased with how the waistband turned out but I have no idea how to make it any better without pulling the whole skirt apart, which I am not willing to do, so I am content.

The first picture is a front view of the finished skirt, the second picture is a side view of the side that I took in.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Outfit #4


So, remember that I got to talking with my lil sis and ended up making our Easter dresses? Well, this one is mine.

For those who care it's Simplicity 6557, with a modesty panel. Any time you ask your husband if you can wear a dress and he replies "in our bedroom" odds are it's too low or too high :P Which is pretty easy to fix. It zips in the back, is fully lined and really comfortable to wear. I am wearing a shirt under it (that would be the sleeves) but it's just as good sleeveless, just a little cooler. The weather's actually decent now so there are no extra layers underneath. The belt is just a standard chain belt and the shoes are sturdy slip-ons.

I'm really pleased with this dress.

Belt - Cato's
Shoes - Goody's
Dress Pattern - Walmart