Outfittacular!! And my personal history with sewing.

I thought I'd take a break from my usual angry rants about fat stigmatisation (fun and hopefully educational though those are), and talk about a few other things that people might be interested in with regards to me.

First, what I wore today!


A more full profile:


And a close-up of my annoyed-looking, double-chin-tastic face:

I am watching you...

My face is looking a bit spotty at the moment, which is irritating. It always happens when I regularly apply the 3-way cleanser toner moisturiser thing. Nothing against Clinique's system or anything, but my skin seems to fare better when I'm not using any type of cleansing product. I'd stop using said cleansing products, but I use the cleanser as shaving cream (more on that unfortunate aspect of my my beauty routine in a later post)

Anyway, so, the shirt is one of my new favourites. Purchased from yoursclothing.co.uk, I love the two-tone off-the-shoulder style. There's something subtly sexy about it, as far as I'm concerned. And I'm all about subtle sexiness.

The trousers are also a pair of my favourites. Loose cargo-type affairs that I got for my 21st birthday (along with many other clothes). There's nothing flashy about them, but they're light and comfortable and I don't feel like I'm having difficulty breathing when I sit down in them, which if beyond fantastic for a fattie in these jeans-enlightened times. My one complaint about them is that they keep falling down, so I'm forever hoisting them up while walking. This problem could easily be solved by me wearing a belt (or my "belt-scarf", as I have christened it), and I've only just realised that these trousers have belt loops, so I think I'd better start doing that, hehe.

I was also really pleased with my hair today. My hair is... difficult, at the best of times. And it always has been. It has come to my embarrassingly recent discovery that my hair is naturally quite curly, and that if I start treating it as curly hair then I should notice a difference in how it looks and feels. I've been looking up ways in which to give my hair the lovin' it deserves, and some of them have proven quite positive. I've stopped brushing it and I've stopped using shampoo. I apply liberal amounts of conditioner instead and work that into the scalp. I also don't towel-dry it, instead using an old t-shirt to scrunch my hair up and let it fall down. And I don't straighten it any more, although I might be wont to do that on very special occasions. So now my hair feels amazing and there is certainly more curl coming through, but the frizzy bits are still a bit problem. I'm beginning to think the only solution for that will be to use some kind of mousse or gel. dammit. i hate mousses and gels - they make my hair crunchy.

The sacrifices me make for beauty, hey?

Anyway, onto my second topic for today, sewing. I talk often on various journals and comms about my sewing efforts, so I thought that I would outline my history of sewing and why I've recently gotten into it as a way to extend my wardrobe for the better.

I learned how to sew when I was... young. :P Six or seven, I think. I really enjoyed it, even then. There was something about the rhythmic action of pulling a needle and thread through fabric over and over again that had a calming effect on me. I also enjoyed the idea of creating something with my hands.

As a kid, I grew up in a poor household. I wouldn't say that we were part of the working class, and I've never identified as somebody of the working classes, but we certainly did struggle with money, often. As a result we got a lot of hand-me-downs from family friends a few houses up. Among these hand-me-downs was, I remember quite clearly, a coat. I wore that coat to school all during the winter, and I loved it. After a while, however, I noticed that the stitching under one of the arms was coming loose, and it occurred to me that I should try to sew it up again. Tentatively holding needle and thread (scrounged up from god-knows-where in our impossibly messy house), I performed the familiar motions carefully, knowing that this would effect something that I was intending to wear. When I was done, the result was messy, clumsy, and certainly not a selling point if I had wanted to put the coat up for auction, but there was no denying that the coat was fixed. I was incredibly pleased with myself.

In year 7 I was taught how to use a sewing machine in high school. The thought of using a sewing machine was beyond exciting for me. This was the machine that my grandma tinkered on a lot of the time, after all. And my grandma is awesome! With my newly-acquired sewing skills I made a pair of shorts, which upon reflection were ugly as sin. But it was the process that mattered. I could now use a sewing machine. Also during year 7, I made a large library bag, with my grandma, on her sewing machine, which is so much more amazing than the sewing machines at my high school.

My love for sewing continued all through high school and unto university, but the sewing I did in those years was mostly of the fixing-things variety. I shortened the hem of my skirt for year 12, I fixed one of the poorer-quality of my soft toys, several times, I fixed a lot of my clothes, etc.

Then, during the second term of 2nd year uni (about a year ago), I was looking for a picture of a French horn with which to create a default icon for livejournal. The picture on the left there was the icon I eventually created, but during my search I came across the picture on the right, which, as a Guitar Hero fangirl, AND as a horn player, I thought amazing.
Upon further scrutiny I discovered that the picture came on a shirt, and I felt myself practically come with happiness. The question at that juncture was not so much "would I get the shirt?" as it was "how fast can I get it sent over?" To my amusement, I discovered that the only size left was a 2X in men's. Whatever, I thought. At least it wouldn't be too small.








It was like a tent:



Clearly something had to be done. After taking some time to ask my loyal band of brothers at fatshionista what they would recommend me do, I ended up taking something like four inches off the hem, shortening the sleeves and widening the hemline. My final result?



While far from perfect (in fact I was to do some more altering with it when I have it in my possession again), the process awoke something in me. My love for clothes-altering had truly begun.

In Japan, my love intensified when I got this baby:



Cost me about 6,000 yen, and it is everything I want in a sewing machine and nothing more. It's perfect.

So far I have completely changed the design of three t-shirts, taken in two more shirts, and (my proudest, though still kind of unfinished, moment yet) altered a pair of jeans. And so, people, I present to you: The Hustler Sewing Gallery (so far)!

Befores:










Afters:


This was the first of the three shirts I altered. Overall I was really pleased with the result. I liked the wide neckline - again, that subtle sexiness appealed to me. I think I liked showing my shoulders. The photo doesn't do the shirt justice, unfortunately.


This one was supposed to be a similar shape to the red number, and I think I succeeded in that, but there are little differences. The main one is that this shirt's neckline isn't as good. It's a bit wider (and in my opinion, too wide), and it's a bit wonky as well. I like the shirt and I wear it (the picture on it is hilarious, for one thing), but it's not my best effort.


This one was a major accomplishment for me, because it involved me doing more with the original sleeves than just getting them off. With this shirt, I cut off the sleeves, took in the rest of the shirt, took in the sleeves (after doing every single appropriate arm-hole measurement about three times apiece), shortened the sleeves, and finally sewed them back onto the shirt again. My sewing machine played up a bit for this shirt, so the sewing isn't as good as it is on the other clothes I've done, but the style is great. I'm very proud of this one.


I was so excited about how these turned out! When I first put these jeans on (jeans that were advertised as "skinny jeans", I'll have you know), I had to resist the urge to laugh. As I've said time and time again to anyone who'll listen, the jeans were skinny like I am. So after spending a lot of time pulling them on, pulling them off again, measuring, measuring, and doing some more measuring, I took in from the top of my thigh down, doing my best to sew according to the shape of my leg. I think I did pretty well. However, the jeans sit so high up my waist that it would not be inaccurate to say that the waistband is more like a below-breasts-band. So I've still got a bit of work to do on these babies.


So, that's about it. For my next trick, I'll be altering another pair of jeans (purple ones!), but that won't happen for a while yet. I've still got an exam or two to think about.

Peace out, y'all.