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I've been busy, but not very productive. And I'm okay with that. Honest. Totally okay.
Woah. Don't you hate it when time gets away from you, for weeks on end? After last you heard from me I was at Electric Picnic (running electro-craft workshops with the amazing Cat and tog), after which I found myself in Rome (for what I thought was a holiday but featured more walking than I'd anticipated). I attended my first Freshmeat training session (and then my second just yesterday *ouch*), and have come down with a head-cold/sinus-infection which I am attacking with a vast quantity of medicines. I had been holding off on posting here until I got some photos to add, but I kept forgetting to copy the Rome photos from J and the tog websites are in the process of moving hosts, so alas I have no pictures. (Maybe that's a good thing, I was indoctrinated at a young age in the ways of my parents holiday slides... carousel after carousel of slides...)
But, I figured I've been silent too long, so you get some waffle instead. At the moment I'm reading two books that I'm enjoying immensely.
The first, 'Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo' is about the early USA space program, and how seamstresses of the Playtex underwear company came to make the spacesuits worn by the Apollo astronauts. It's a very interesting read, and talks about the subject in circles covering different aspects of different events that would all have a bearing on how an inexperienced (underdog) firm got the job, using their more traditional skillsets and hacking around the many problems they encountered to provide the only viable option; a soft suit. I'm not finished, but it's a beautiful big book with wonderfully detailed images and photos. (You can read an interview with the author here.)
The second, 'The Revolution Will Be Digitised' is about the current digital information revolution from an almost current affairs/political perspective, and despite that I'm finding it a fairly gripping read. First-hand interviews with Assange, details of events I'd only heard snippets about (like Iceland), and even a chapter about the role hackerspaces play in it all. Again, not finished, but I'm finding it an easy and exciting read.
In other news, my Colette patterns; Jasmine and Clover have arrived, and so enthused me that I think I've gotten the sewing bug back! But first things first; have to finish that Crepe! I've decided (inspired by the aforementioned two books) that I'm going to go with the last set of darts I'd tried (removing them didn't work out as well as I'd hoped) even though everything in all the sewing books say that darts shouldn't extend above the apex. It simply comes down to the fact that that's the shaping my body needs, so that's what I'm going to do. No more mock-ups, next stop, cutting the real fabric!
[Next steps: (1) Underlining & cutting out fabric, (2) Stabilising neck and arms, (3) Final pre-sew checklist. Check have enough underlining fabric is prewashed, and have fusible interfacing.]
But, I figured I've been silent too long, so you get some waffle instead. At the moment I'm reading two books that I'm enjoying immensely.
The first, 'Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo' is about the early USA space program, and how seamstresses of the Playtex underwear company came to make the spacesuits worn by the Apollo astronauts. It's a very interesting read, and talks about the subject in circles covering different aspects of different events that would all have a bearing on how an inexperienced (underdog) firm got the job, using their more traditional skillsets and hacking around the many problems they encountered to provide the only viable option; a soft suit. I'm not finished, but it's a beautiful big book with wonderfully detailed images and photos. (You can read an interview with the author here.)
The second, 'The Revolution Will Be Digitised' is about the current digital information revolution from an almost current affairs/political perspective, and despite that I'm finding it a fairly gripping read. First-hand interviews with Assange, details of events I'd only heard snippets about (like Iceland), and even a chapter about the role hackerspaces play in it all. Again, not finished, but I'm finding it an easy and exciting read.
In other news, my Colette patterns; Jasmine and Clover have arrived, and so enthused me that I think I've gotten the sewing bug back! But first things first; have to finish that Crepe! I've decided (inspired by the aforementioned two books) that I'm going to go with the last set of darts I'd tried (removing them didn't work out as well as I'd hoped) even though everything in all the sewing books say that darts shouldn't extend above the apex. It simply comes down to the fact that that's the shaping my body needs, so that's what I'm going to do. No more mock-ups, next stop, cutting the real fabric!
[Next steps: (1) Underlining & cutting out fabric, (2) Stabilising neck and arms, (3) Final pre-sew checklist. Check have enough underlining fabric is prewashed, and have fusible interfacing.]
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hope you feel better soon!
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