Bookworm's Musings

Have you ever read bad!fic? I don't mean bad!grammar or bad!spelling fic, I mean fic that is so horrible that it gets stuck in your mind like that song from Lambchops.
I recently read this story with a mildly interesting premise which was then utterly destroyed by plot holes big enough to drive a semi-truck through and a complete lack of anything resembling an internal reality. What's worse, it was a Sentinel crossover, which I usually love. But suddenly, without warning, Jim was raping Blair (not just a little pseudo non-con, actual rape), and everyone was okay with that! Apparently, it was part of the Bonding process, and getting over it together was what would cement the Bond. It was just...wrong. Yuck. Yuck!
On top of this, there was pseudo incest on the part of some of the other main characters, an insidious Mary Sue, and, to top it off, a 'good sex will fix everything' attitude on everyone's part. It was horrifyingly terrible. Mind you, I knew right from the beginning that this story was going to require some suspension of disbelief, but there was no real warning concerning the horrors that lurked within - they just appeared out of nowhere! And the worst part? I read it four days ago! Even after four days, it still creeps into my thoughts at the most irritating times - I just can't seem to forget it, it was so horrible! I'm afraid that bad!fic of this sort might be contagious! What if I have been infected? I might write equally horrible fic without even realizing it! *shudder*
I feel a sudden urge to scrub my brain with steel wool. Help!

Well, I finished the Sedona Skirt on Thursday.
( See Pictures )

Total Cost, including Pattern, not counting labor or cutting errors: $32.72

I think it looks pretty darn good, especially for a first project!
As you can see, I top-stitched all the seams, which was rather nerve-wracking, since mistakes would show! Because of a cutting error, the diagonal lines are facing in the opposite direction from the pattern. Also, I accidentally got the waistband elastic pocket about 1/8" too large - I'll know better next time.
The waistband is the one time where I deviated from the instructions - instead of installing the elastic by placing it under the fabric fold and sewing along the edge while stretching, I made the pocket first and then threaded the elastic through. I don't know if that effected how the waistband looks or not, since I've never done it the other way. Still, I tend to wear my shirts untucked, so it doesn't really matter.
In the future, I need to pin and sew the panels together from the bottom up, not the top down. That way, the hemline will be perfectly even without needing to stretch any of the pieces, which is what I think happened this time and why a few of the seams appear slightly shorter than the others. That sort of problem will be much easier to hide in the waistband.
For the next skirt, I'm thinking of adding about 2" of width to each panel, allowing for more elegant draping and folding. We'll see.
This pattern, however, is most definitely a keeper! It was very easy to sew and the end result is very beautiful.
The only thing to look out for is the cutting layout: the pieces are asymmetric and cannot be cut on folded fabric.

So, I just thought of a great project: A del.icio.us collection of all Sentinel crossovers & fusions. Gen, Het, Slash. Any fandom. Any pairing. Any length. Any quality. If it uses any concepts from The Sentinel (even if the Sentinel characters themselves don't appear), it would be cataloged. I love Sentinel Crossovers and am always looking for more, and have often wished that such a database already existed. Does anyone know if a similar project already exists? If so, where is it hiding?

Well, the Sedona Skirt pattern arrived on Wednesday. I cut it out, and then cut the moleskin. I ran into a little trouble here. I accidentally mistook the 45" layout for something that could be cut on folded fabric (don't ask me why, my brain took a short vacation). I therefore cut my 5 yards of moleskin into table-lengths and stacked it, intending to cut all 5 copies at once. Oops. The pieces are asymmetric and must be cut with the fabric all facing up. I ended up with three pieces facing wrong side up. So, I turned the three pieces over and cut two more facing the same way. The diagonal lines will now run in the opposite direction from the pattern. Good thing I had that extra two yards, right? In the end, I was left with two extra upper skirt panels and three extra lower skirt panels. I put them away in a bag. As I amass remnants from other fabrics, I will cut pieces from them, and when I have enough I will put them together to make another skirt. Since moleskin has a lovely, satiny backside, I briefly considered simply alternating front and backside facing forward pieces, but decided not to in the end.
I just finished attaching the lower skirt panels to the upper skirt panels. Now I just need to attach the skirt panels to each other, and do the waistband and the hem.
In other news, I picked up almost a yard of dark blue velvet for just $0.50 on Saturday.

I just finished another impulse project today. I made a wrap-around skirt/swimsuit cover from a lovely piece of fabric that I bought for just $0.50 at a yard-sale. The fabric was about 1 & 1/2 yards long and almost as wide (at first glance, it looked like a perfect square). I measured from my ankle to my waist, added 2 & 1/2" for the waistband, and cut the fabric so that I could use the selvage as the hem. Then I put a very narrow hem on the raw edges of the sides, then made a deep hem as the waistband. Next, the waist ties, which were very easy to make. And tada! Wrap-around. Because I have wide hips, it doesn't fall to my ankles anymore, but it's length is perfect and exactly what I wanted. Basically, this is meant for casual wear around the house. It's so hot here that I wear as little as possible in private, but I still need to be a little more covered in the public areas of the house, and the wrap is very handy for that. No picture this time, but I'm very pleased with the finished product. I also made myself a flaxseed snake. Stick it in the freezer, and when you take it out, you have a nice, flexible ice pack for cooling off. I plan to make another tomorrow so that I will always have a cold one.

I feel so smug right now. Fred Meyer's has Petite Cut Sirloin Steak on sale for $2.97 a pound right now, which is a pretty good buy. But when I got to the store, I noticed that about half of the family-size steak packages were incorrectly labeled as Pork Country Shoulder Ribs for $1.99 a pound. So I grabbed three of the improperly labeled packages and headed for the checkstand. That's right. I got 21 steaks for just a $1.99 a pound! I did let the cashier know about the error (it felt dishonest not to), but I got the $1.99/lb price anyway! Sirloin Steak = $2/lb! Wow! I am amazing! If I hadn't taken the time to check the packages and grab the incorrectly labeled ones, I wouldn't have saved an additional $0.98 per lb., so yay for me!

So, I finished my first sewing project today (well, I finished the test muslin for the skirt, but that doesn't count). I made a set of curtains for my bedroom window.
( See the Picture )
As you can see, the curtains turned out great. In fact, I think they look store-bought. I used 2 yards of navy blue wool that I got at a yardsale for $4.00, and lined them with two yards of muslin. I didn't use a pattern, simply eyeballed it. I actually cut it so that I didn't have to hem the sides - I just used the selvage instead, which cut down on the work and helped them drape so nicely. This was an impulse project brought on by finding the wool, but it worked out beautifully. The curtains should help keep the heat out and the cool in. It only took me about an hour to finish these, and most of that time was spent ironing, not sewing.
Total cost, not counting labor: $8.00.

Upon closer consideration, I have decided that I don't like the skirt pattern. It doesn't drape nicely on me, I don't like the way it flares, and I don't think any of this will be fixed when I use the moleskin. So. I've found another pattern that I think will look much nicer:
Great Copy Patterns #2460 Sedona Skirt

I think that this will drape much more attractively on me, and will be a lot closer to the look that I see in my head.
It will be a couple of weeks before I can order the pattern, so in the mean time, I will make the previously planned sash, then my sewing machine cover, and then I will get started on the muslin for my dress pattern:
Sense and Sensibility 1940's Swing Dress

I'm really excited about this dress, and I hope that it will go together smoothly and look lovely.

And the muslin is finally done! The hardest part was the hem, surprisingly. The trick to blind hemming on the machine is all in the pinning. Lots and lots of pinning. Blah. I ended up taking a bit too much off the hem, which I'll need to watch out for on the real skirt. The moleskin has more drape and weight than the muslin does, so I'm hoping that it will fall a bit more attractively. I washed the moleskin tonight, so I'll layout and cut it tomorrow. Now that I'm a bit more confident, it should go faster. After I'm done with the skirt, I'll make my sewing machine cover, and then start the muslin for the dress. The dress muslin should involve some actual fitting, which will probably be both fun and frustrating. Thankfully, the pattern-maker included D cup pieces, so hopefully the fitting will be minimal.

Your result for The Fashion Style Test...

Brainy Student

And the muslin waistband is done. Just the hem left to go, which I'll do tomorrow, in order to get some practice with the blind hemming foot on my machine. The waistband was pretty easy, although if I had done it the way the pattern suggested, it would have been much more difficult. The pattern said to iron down the fabric for the casing, measure out the proper amount of elastic, sew the elastic ends together, lay the elastic ring in the grove of the casing, and sew the casing all the way around, stretching as necessary. That sounded really awkward to me, so I sewed the casing closed first, leaving a 3 1/2" gap, and then threaded the elastic in, sewed the elastic ends together, and sewed the gap closed. It worked quite well, but given how touchy sewing that gap closed was, I don't even want to think about how frustrating it would have been to do it their way!

Why are gas prices so high? Here's one reason.

Well, I'm partway through putting the muslin together. I just have the waistband and hem left to do. So far, it fits just fine, so no worries there. I'm still glad I made the muslin, though. I had sewed 5 of the 8 seams when I realized that the 5/8" marker on the machine didn't take the position of the needle into account. Thus, I was sewing ~3/8" seams instead. Oops! So, out came the seam ripper. I then resewed the seams with the proper allowance. Plus, mom showed me how to keep the machine from drifting to the right, as it was inclined to do, so my second set of seams were much straighter. Tonight I'll clip & finish the seams (for practice), install the waistband, and pin the hem.

This week, I made the necklace and second pair of earrings that I mentioned in a earlier post, as well as the flaxseed pillows for my mom. My photographer, my brother, is temporarily without a computer, so expect pictures later.
Meanwhile, I have started my skirt project.
I am using Kwik Sew #3364, view A.
( Pictures )
I cut out the pattern pieces last night (from the paper, not the fabric) in preparation for starting the muslin today. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this skirt only has one pattern piece! (Well, it actually has two, but they are identical.) It doesn't even have a separate waistband piece! Instead, you make a self-casing at the top of the skirt for the elastic. This is going to be really, really easy to make, but I'm still going to make a muslin first. Mostly because I'm concerned about the fit around the hips and waist, but also because I want to experiment with seam finishes and hemming techniques. Because the seams curve a bit, I don't think I can use French seams, so I need to decide what finish would be most appropriate without being too time-consuming. Also, it calls for a blind hem, which I plan to do on my machine. But I've never done one on the machine before, so the muslin will give me a chance to practice without worrying about it. I plan to cut the muslin tonight, and put it together tomorrow.

Title: Oaths of Citizenship and Duty
Author: BookwormDragon aka bookworm_2005
Beta: bitterfig, kimberlyfdr
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG
Summary: Independent Atlantis AU World-building.
( Read the Story )

Well, I've pulled out the beading kit several times this past week. Not only have I made some new earrings, but I also took apart some of my old earrings and remade them using the new techniques and some of the things that I have learned about attractive design since I first made them. I have spent close to a hundred dollars on beads and findings recently, but at least part of that was at a rummage sale, where I picked up some lovely focus beads on the cheap. Despite that, I am once again out of gold earring hooks. Either I have to go back to silver, or buy some more gold ones. Frankly, except in a few cases, I really prefer using the gold-tone findings, as it appears to lend a much more finished look. Besides, my watch and rings are all gold-tone, and this way my earrings match properly.
( See Pictures and Descriptions )
And that's it for now. This upcoming week, I'm planning to get started on my summer sewing projects. First, I will read the manual for my new sewing machine. Next, I will do the mending, etc. that has piled up. Then, I have two pillow covers to make. Then, I'm making mom two flaxseed pillows. Then, a muslin pressing cloth. Then, an apron for my brother. Then, it will finally be time to make the muslin for my new skirt. I wouldn't bother, except that I'm a little concerned about the fit around the hips and waist. Finally, if all goes well, I will start on the actual skirt early next week. So expect more pictures soon.

Mawahhaa! I feel soooo smug!
I just reorganized our chest freezer (which we just got about a month ago) and it's already about half full of various foods. I buy bulk now when it saves me money in the long run, and we just freeze the extra. We bought some wide-mouthed canning jars for freezing liquids (they work beautifully and cost less than plastic containers of the same size), and a vacuum sealer for meats and other solids, which works great. Yesterday, I stocked up on chicken breasts and ground turkey, both of which were on sale, and saved almost 50% of my bill with coupons and sale prices. I took advantage of some great bargains, which would not have been practical without the freezer. But today, oh today! I bought 16 pounds (yes, pounds) of butter for just $1.25 a pound! *Dances with glee!* Into the freezer it goes, and now we no longer have to worry about butter for baking projects, etc. Heehee!
I bought a whiteboard to use to keep track of how much of what is in the freezer, so we don't have to dig around or miss things, which is why I was reorganizing. Just seeing the list of food we have makes me feel all smug and prepared.
Ok. Enough gloating. I'm off to study for my finals.

I finally got around to pulling out my bead kit and making a pair of earrings to replace the pair that broke about a month ago. I'm really pleased with them, they look really finished. I went with gold-tone findings instead of silver this time, and I finally got the right kind of pliers for making loops, so they look pretty professional, I think. I got the idea for the flower cups from a beading book I glanced through about a week ago, and I liked the results so much that I bought some more cups today, in several different colors.
Estimated cost, not counting labor: $2.25 per pair.
( See Pictures )
No matter how hard I try, whenever I actually buy beads, I never leave with less than $25 worth.  It's amazing how quickly those $0.05, $0.10, and $0.35 beads add up! I had only planned to pick up some more gold-tone findings and some more flower cups today, but I ended up spending about $26.00. I found some really cute green leaves that should look lovely as leaves for the flowers, and about 10 different colors of flower cups, among other things.

My sewing machine arrived last night!
It's a Brother XL 2600 that I got for $90 on Overstock.com (yeah, I was shocked by the price, too. I had budgeted around $400 for this, but..). I've taken it out of the shipping box, but not out of it's plastic bag yet, but it looks great. It's refurbished, but appears to be in good condition.
I'm so excited! I'll be really unpacking it this weekend, after I get my midterm paper done. I've got some material I picked up at a yard sale that I'm planning to use to make an apron as a warm-up project, plus a couple of pillow covers that need finishing, a t-shirt I'm going to turn into a pillow cover, some mending & taking up, etc. Then, after finals are done, the real projects will begin!
I decided to get back into sewing again because it's so difficult to find clothes that fit me, look nice on me, are comfortable, and don't cost an arm and a leg. Skirts and pants are especially hard to find. I've been trying to find some new clothes, a very frustrating task, and wandered into the fabric store. The new owner was very friendly, coming right over, asking about what kind of sewing I do, was I planning any projects, etc. I told her about my dilemma, and she showed me some nice patterns, etc. Next thing I know, I'm dragging my mom down there to consider things further, and then buying a sewing machine and all the sewing supplies, planning what skirts I'm going to make, looking at fabric, etc. And here I am. I plan to add at least two more skirts, a pair of pants, and possibly a couple of dresses or jumpers to my wardrobe this summer. We found the cutest skirt and jacket pattern that will be perfect for work once I graduate. I never wear tight skirts (if it has a slit, it's too tight) or anything much shorter than mid-calf, so finding an actual suit that I like is usually a case of mix & match & make do, but this will look so nice. Sooo excited! Can you tell?
And, since most of my equipment budget is still left, I might even get a serger. I remember how wonderful they are, but now that I've got such a good price on the sewing machine, I've suddenly turned into a pinchpenny, lol. Besides, I'm not exactly sure what kind of serger I need, since I've never had one before. The sewing machine was easy, we used to do a lot of sewing when I was a kid, and mom helped me decide on the right one, but neither of us has ever owned a serger, although I used one in Home Ec. in High School. There are so many choices! All I want to do is finish seams and maybe do rolled hems, but the machines look so complicated! Maybe I'll just spend the money on more outfits instead. We'll see.
A side effect of this is that I might become more social. The more pretty outfits I see, the more I want a reason to wear them! Sewing - #1 reason not to become a hermit.