Sewing <3 . . . | . . .
—
Content Warning: Not having enough money to buy clothing
—
Hello hellooo~
Been a while, hasn't it? Oh? What's up with the different colours? Well, when I first conceived of the blog portion of my website, one of the things I wanted was blog pages that could look entirely different to one another, since I didn't think a singular design forever could satisfy me. Pages could look different depending on mood, or just to look cool. So, changing colours (or even design) was always in the cards.
However, I actually found myself very satisfied with the current colours of the blog/art sections, so I haven't find myself changing it yet. However! I realised it was essentially a light mode which was probably why my eyes hurt looking at it for too long.
Dark mode, and now themes in general, are something I was always planning on inplementing, but not for a while. Especially since in my mind, my site wasn't in Light Mode, so it probably wasn't hurting anyone's eyes or anything. But I realised that's not actually true, so it's moved up on my priority list.
(Don't expect themes anytime soon, though. There are some things I want to do first, and themes seem fairly complicated.)
So, I thought I'd check what a potential dark mode could look like. I took the colours from AO3. That also made me realise that since I have a front light on (eye comfort shield), I'm seeing this site differently than how it's truly displayed. Hmm. I'll think about whether that's a problem later.
Of course, I see now, with a real dark mode I'll have to change the background as well. Much too bright. Probably the buttons, too. However...
Editing my blog template meant I was staring at an opened template... right there... prime for writing.... Which led me to writing out a blog post like I've been meaning to do, since I had already overcome the biggest hurdle to me (opening the document).
And now that I've already referenced the colours, I don't want to change them, since it means deleting what I've written already. Heheh.
Well, I know now that the background needs to change, too. Maybe a darker red? Or a reddish grey?
Edit: (I've actually changed the background and gold border to #333333 and #eeeeee respectively while writing (to see how it'd look like, but it was easier on the eyes, so I kept it like that), and I've gotta say I like how it looks a lot better, even if it is a tad boring.
But the red background has one thing over it, in that it makes it look like I inserted a little AO3 widget or something, which I find funny. (Do those exist? I'll have to check later...))
Anyway!!! Time to talk about what I wanted to!!!
So, in my previous blog entry, I mentioned a project that had been keeping me busy, and now I'll tell you what it was! I was sewing myself a piece of clothing from scratch! It's a bra(?) thing.
Well, I don't actually know if it counts as a bra... I think a bra always has cups and often has wires and hooks, which this definitely does not have. I could look it up but I don't really care that much.
To give you an idea of where I'm at regarding naming of bras and bra–like objects, when I was little (~4/5th grade), our mum and us would call what we wore tank tops, which they were definitely not. I'm not sure they'd count as bras, though. Maybe all things like that are called bras.
I mean sports bras often don't have cups, and I haven't seen any with wire or hooks (that would just be bad design, especially the wire...).
I mean I wouldn't really have to know. I think I only purposefully shopped for them a handful of times. Hmm. I've been meaning to buy more since I desperately need more (I had two and one of them didn't fit me), but I don't have money. Thus, me making my own.
Eh, I just looked it up, I'm pretty sure all the things I'm thinking of count as a bra. That's how I'll refer to what I made from here on out.
So!! Yeah!! I made a bra!!! Very simply, it was pretty haph-hazard, so I'm sure the construction leaves something to be desired. I just cut out a long rectangle to wrap around my chest, smaller rectangles to give a bit of padding at the front, and long, thin rectangles for straps. All rectangles, all the way down.
I used an old tshirt. I also don't know how to sew, so I just went in-and-out with the needle. I only used a back-stitch when attaching the straps.
Here's what it looks like!:
Since taking these pictures, I have also added elastic by threading it through the bottom (the bottom of the bra is the bottom hem of the shirt, so it's hollow. I intentionally didn't sew that part together so that I could do this). I got it from an old fitted sheet I flattened out to use as sheetwear.
Also, as an aside, looking for those pictures in my gallery made me find a picture of myself right after I shaved my hair, and it's definitely grown! I thought as much, since it didn't feel fuzzy when I ran my hands through(! not over!) it anymore, but it's crazy to see how much it's grown already!
Anyway, I have worn it! Very cool to wear something you've made yourself! It was alright, fit-wise. Definitely needs some adjustments, though. Namely, the straps are too long.
Should be a simple fix, but now I'm imagining getting a clasp(? might not be the right word) for the straps so that I could resize them. But I don't think I should halt fixing them until I get clasps, since I don't think I'll get the money to buy some anytime soon.
If I need to lengthen the straps again for any reason, I can just add a bit more fabric, even if that would be more of a hassle than simply resizing them using clasps, which would also be easy to install.
Hmm, maybe I could use buttons instead— *remembers buttonholes are the enemy* uh, uhmm. I mean. I think I saw these looping, crocheted(?) buttonhole things that I could use in place of slitted buttonholes. They seemed pretty easy to make. So I could look into that. Resize the straps like a belt.
Eh, but that runs into a similar problem with the clasps. I did buy buttons once, but I have no idea where they are now. And I don't have money to buy new ones.
Hmph. I guess there's nothing for it, then. I'll definitely shorten the straps later, I can't wait around for money or the buttons to appear since that's very unlikely to happen. Well that's alright! I doubt I'll need to resize the straps again so soon after I fix them, anyway.
In other news, as I expected, the part of the bra that actually wraps around the chest has loosened since I wore it. I might retighten it. The bra can be a bit uncomfortable to wear, but I have to see if that's solely the straps fault for making the bra so low, or if it's also because it's too loose.
If I do retighten it, I'll use a backstitch this time, since I heard it's the strongest hand stitch.
(Also, at this point, I feel I should clarify that most of the terminology I use is made up. E.g. I don't think they're called "slitted" buttonholes. I just don't want to look up what the correct terms are.)
In related, sewing news, I'm also going to lengthen that one bra that doesn't fit me. I dunno if I'll lengthen the straps or the bottom of it(? I do not know the names of all the parts). I'll decide later. I really don't think it'd take much to make it wearable!! So I wanna get on that soon!
'Cus like, it is wearable, technically, but it's too short. So I have to keep tugging it down instead of being able to just wear it. But the fact is it's too short!!! So it'll never 'fix itself' or something and stop needing to be messed with!
And it'd be such an easy fix too, 'cus the length's the only thing wrong with it (it's long since stretched out to comfortably fit around me, so the width isn't an issue).
Eh, I guess another thing that could be wrong with it is the elastic? Since it seems worn out. But I don't think it's necessary to fix it. Pretty sure the bra would work just fine even if it wasn't replaced. Really, the length is the only thing.
Apart from that bra, another sewing-related thing is that my sister (the one I bought that sd card for that I mentioned last time (I think)) needs one of her pants hemmed. Once I'm finished with the bras, I'll get to that.
Y'know, I didn't think she'd be wearing those pants for long anyways, since the weather is getting hot in the US. (Well, I guess since the time I thought that, my siblings are still wearing pants (longer than I expected), but that's got to end soon, right?) But. I recently learned something that would make pants make sense*. Something that it seems like they knew about for a lot longer than I have.
*Hah. Silly sentence. Sounds like a marketing slogan in Clothes World (world where everything is clothes).
I don't think it was intentionally kept from me. But like, damn. How did I not know? I guess 21 days from it isn't too bad. Eh, I'm being vague, that's because I want to talk about it in its own post. When I make that post I'll link to it. (Probably won't be the next one, by the way).
Edit: Referenced Post. Also, it was the next one, hah!
Anyway, I wonder if my sister was accounting for That when she agreed to let me hem her pants. 'Cus otherwise, you might grow out of it by the time you wear it again. Eh, well, not always. Don't know why I'm thinking of it like a likely thing. Clothes usually last a good couple of years. But even so! It's summer! Wouldn't you stop using them soon?
Anyway! I was thinking of talking about whatever new thing has happened since I've last written here, but y'know what? I think I want each topic I talk about to have its own dedicated post (with smaller topics sprinkled throughout the Main ones, like how I talked about dark mode at the beginning of this blog post). Feels better to me. Plus, I don't think I want to make this super long. Writing like this can tire me out!
So, I suppose that'll be all for today! I hope you've had a great day and I wish you luck! Goodbye! <2 <3 <3 :) :) :).