Friday Links

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1. This was another challenging week but hey, look, it’s Friday!

2. Part of the week’s challenges included being on set with a LOT of crew to film a commercial I wrote, as Utah sees new coronavirus cases climb every day. Everyone wore a mask but distance was…minimal…and it just added another layer to a day that’s already stressful.

This Kottke post sums up how tiring any return to “normal” is  (“many of us are constantly running risk calculations in our heads for every little thing we do and don’t do”) AND included this XKCD comic:

Acceptable Risk

 

3. For no particular related reason at all, here’s some great work from Paperback Paradise (which can be a little NSFW):

Therapy Via Instagram

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My therapist has been on maternity leave since the first week of April and WOW can I tell. I saw this on Instagram last week and realized I’d slipped right back into being the “let me fix it so you don’t have an uncomfortable feeling” friend/daughter/parter, instead of being the truly empathetic one.

From Keeley Shaw Art on Instagram

This shit takes work! It’s like going to the gym, you gotta just do it regularly.)

Wednesday Project Roundup: Sew For The Life You Have

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After I finally realized I’ll be working from home for the rest of the summer, sewing got a lot more fun again. I’m using fabrics from my stash and kind of just going for it without a plan of what will match my work wardrobe or what would be office-appropriate.

That’s how I ended up with this cotton gauze muumuu-meets-jumpsuit:

This one’s a little blurry but it shows the motion well (also blurry photos hide the wrinkles in your face!)

This is the CCP Amy Jumpsuit, which I’d already bought in December and had printed out. The fabric is a cotton gauze I picked up at JoAnn last year and the whole thing is really light and cool to wear.

Fit-wise, I added an inch to the torso, which I always do. I probably could have gotten away without it, but the extra length allowed me to shorten the straps quite a bit so the neckline wasn’t so open and the darts hit me in a better place. The bodice is lined and I was really impressed with the instructions for finishing that around the zipper.

I haven’t sewn a CCP pattern since I was so underwhelmed by the Kalle Shirt, but I was impressed with this pattern: The instructions are good, the straps are wide enough to cover bra straps, there are pockets, and I think the cut is really elegant.  (Or as elegant as a crazy big leg jumpsuit you wear at home with bare feet can be.)

 

A Day At The Lake

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As is tradition now (at least since 2017), we went up to the Uinta mountains for the Fourth of July. This time, we didn’t do the full Lofty Lakes Loop trail; we haven’t been on real hikes at all this year because of the rona so we didn’t want to attempt a thousand feet of elevation gain per mile, at altitude.

Instead, we hiked to the lowest lake and played around in it. This is Scout Lake, but it should really be called Bob Ross Lake:


Likewise, Bald Mountain should just really be called Mount Bob.

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information

1. Well, um, it’s the Fourth of July weekend so we can celebrate America? I guess? Maybe in the abstract? I have Friday and Monday off so I’ll be back here Tuesday.

2. There’s a long and damning piece in The Atlantic about the utter failure of the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic. The 3 Weeks That Changed Everything: Imagine if the National Transportation Safety Board investigated America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

What if the NTSB were brought in to look at the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic? What would its investigation conclude? I’ll jump to the answer before laying out the background: This was a journey straight into a mountainside, with countless missed opportunities to turn away. A system was in place to save lives and contain disaster. The people in charge of the system could not be bothered to avoid the doomed course.

3. Ben and Jerry’s–the ice cream company–has a great post about what it means to “defund the police.” 2020 is a trip.

4. Stay safe. Hang in there.

Tuesday Project Roundup: A Tale of Three Bras

By in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup

(Heads up, I’m gonna talk about fitting the Cloth Habit Watson Bra pattern, which necessitates talking about BOOBS. You’ve been warned.)

After I blogged about realistic projects for working from home, I got antsy to try the Watson Bra and ordered an elastic/notions starter kit from Porcelynne (seems to be out of stock at the moment). It gave me enough elastics and sliders and closures for three bras, which gave me enough tries to get the fit really dialed in.

Here are all three testers, and I am so tickled with all of them. I MADE BRAS! This pile would be AT LEAST $80 to buy.

I made useful clothing from GARBAGE, essentially:

 

OK, on to the fitting:

The Watson Bra is sized by subtracting your upper bust from your full bust. Now that I have muscles, there’s not a ton of difference between those measurements–it’s all between my full bust and underbust (where the bra band sits). I’m a 32C in ready-to-wear, but the Watson size chart  put me in a 34A for this pattern. I was dubious, but I also usually wear an underwire and this is wireless, so I just went with the recommended size to start.

Bra #1: 34A

As I thought, the band was too loose. I can wear it on the last hook but I can tell as it stretches over the day. Surprisingly, the cups fit pretty well. I put it on and said WOW, because the unlined cups just stretch over everything and give you such a nice “perfected” silhouette (especially compared with the “tank style” wireless bras I’d been wearing, which just mushed everything into place).

Verdict: Hallelujah, no more uni-boob! Definitely wearable, but the band’s a little big.

Bra #2: 32B

The cup pattern piece for the 34A and the 32B was the same (the sorcery of sister sizing) so this one really just got the band dialed in. As I thought, a 32 was good. (However, turns out I hate the longline version.)

I was curious as to where the cup seams should hit on this for the best fit–I didn’t see any info about that in any pattern review. With an underwire, I know they should go flat against the chest, but the seams here and on Bra #1 were slightly up ON the boob versus hitting down at the base of it.

Verdict: NO THANK YOU to the longline. Band was spot on. But what about cup seams?

 

Bra #3: 32C

The cup seams on this one hit lower down, flush against the rib cage, but as I wore it all day the cups didn’t feel quite as secure, like things were just starting to think about falling out. I also noticed a difference in the amount of lift, and I can only conclude that the cup seam is supposed to hit the boob itself in this pattern? (I don’t really know, honestly.)

Verdict: I can wear this (with a slightly tighter strap than usual) but the 32B is the winner for security and support.

 

Final Thoughts:

I love the Watson Bra! All three tester versions are wearable and comfortable, but now that the fit’s dialed in it’s like wearing nothing. But it’s also really glamorous and gives a great shape (which is, after all, the point of a bra in the first place).

The instructions are excellent and even dictate what type of stitch and length and width to use. If you’re an adventurous beginner, you could make this. And I regret waiting so long to try it–because now I’m a little obsessed with making bras.

 

BOOBS!

 

It’s Monday

By in Toby

And it’s raining, and all I want to do is follow Toby’s example here:

But it’s a short week, at least. We can do this.

(Photos by Doc, best Toby photographer ever.)

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information

1. The brown bear cam from Katmai National Park in Alaska is live. At time of writing this morning, there was a bear just chillin in the waterfall, waiting for a salmon to swim into his mouth.

2. Bob Dylan has a new album out? And an interview with another old guy in the NY Times about many things. I had to laugh at this:

There is a lot of apocalyptic sentiment in “Murder Most Foul.” Are you worried that in 2020 we’re past the point of no return? That technology and hyper-industrialization are going to work against human life on Earth?

Sure, there’s a lot of reasons to be apprehensive about that. There’s definitely a lot more anxiety and nervousness around now than there used to be. But that only applies to people of a certain age like me and you, Doug. We have a tendency to live in the past, but that’s only us.

 

3. This just makes me laugh:

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