#but now that the swimsuit isn't hanging over my head I might be able to focus on that again | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sheliesshattered · 4 years

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So, we’ve finally admitted that the long-planned family trip scheduled for three weeks from now is really officially Not Happening. On the one hand, I am definitely bummed out about it, and it’s really only hitting me as I’m going through and cancelling flights and hotel reservations and all of that. We held out hope for a long time, but it’s time to face reality, and that’s never a fun thing in 2020.

But on the other hand, finally making the decision has been a weird rush of relief? It’s not hanging over our heads anymore, there’s no more uncertainty about if we can do it, if things will be safe, if places will be open. It’s a definite no, which is sad, but it’s also a definite. Finally.

It’s also allowed me to take a big step back from the sewing project I’ve been wrestling with for the last two months -- a swimsuit I was making specifically for this trip. I started planning in last summer and bought all the materials in February, just when things were starting to look a tiny bit dicey but not too bad yet. For the first few weeks of quarantine, working on it was a hopeful activity -- this was only going to last a couple of weeks, then things would start getting back to normal, and our trip would roll around in May just like we’d planned. But as that started looking less and less likely, I slowed way, way down on the sewing front too.

Part of it was the low-grade quarantine depression we’re all dealing with, and part of it was Jack working from home and thus vastly reducing the number of hours in a week when I could run a sewing machine. Some of it was definitely also down to good old fashioned frustration at sewing with a swim knit and non-woven elastic, and drafting a pattern from scratch and having to fit it on my person, in relatively cold weather (I’ve mentioned before how much I hate changing out of warm clothing to try on something not-warm that I’m sewing, right?). But a big part of it was just not knowing if this trip was actually going to happen, and feeling sad about the dwindling likelihood of it but not actually wanting to face that reality.

Now that I know for sure that I’m not going to have anywhere to wear that swimsuit in the foreseeable future, I’ve been able to let myself just stop. Today I packed up all the fabric and the cut pieces and the pattern pieces, all neatly put away for whenever I decide to get back to it. It’s been monopolizing my sewing table for literally months, and it is such a relief to not have to look at it anymore.

It’s also opened up space -- physical and mental -- to think about sewing something else. There’s a lot of uncertainty about when events might start happening again, but someday there’ll be places to wear cosplay to again. I have the time and the materials to mock up at least two of the cosplay projects I’ve been wanting to tackle, and if I can get the mock-ups fitted correctly, I could potentially even order fabric online and make the real deal. The question now is just -- which to work on first?

The two projects at the top of my list are Clara’s suit from Time Heist, and Clara/Oswin’s red dress from Asylum of the Daleks. There are pros and cons of working on each of them, and I’m trying to decide which I’m more in the mood for. For the Time Heist suit, I’ve never made a suit before, but I’ve been reading up on tailoring techniques, and I have two good patterns to work with to draft something that fits me the way I want it to. I have plenty of muslin on hand to mock it up, and working with a woven would be a nice change of pace after swearing at the swimsuit knit for the past two months. There’d be some challenging bits to making it and fitting it, but it’s not completely outside of my abilities. It’s also probably the costume I’m more excited about wearing. But I also haven’t been able to source fabric for it yet, after a ton of looking around online, so even once I have the mock-up fitting the way I want it to, I might have to wait to get the real fabric until I can go out in person.

For the red Asylum of the Daleks dress, I don’t have a pattern to work from, so first step would be to adapt one of the knit patterns I do have to be a raglan sleeve and an intricately draped neckline -- and I’d almost certainly have to do the draping on myself, which was one of the annoying things about the swimsuit. And it’d be working with a knit again, which I might really need a break from. I have a bunch of (TARDIS blue) rayon jersey knit that I could make a mock-up out of, and at the end actually have a wearable version of the dress in a non-screen-accurate color, which would be fun. Once I have the pattern figured out and the fit perfected with the mock-up, it’d be really easy to order red jersey knit online and just resew it in the right Oswin/Clara color, and then start focusing on the accessories, and/or start working on the suit at that point.

Hmm hmm. Well, I’m not I’m any closer to answering the question of which to work on first, but at least I’ve got the pros and cons of each laid out in my head a bit better. And it feels good to be excited about sewing again, rather than dragging through making something I know I’m not going to get to wear. I keep coming back to the quote from Twelve: everything ends, and that’s always sad, but everything begins again too, and that’s always happy.

Be happy. ❤️

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existentialstatesofmind · 7 years

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Weekend Fun

Clare: nodded. "Thanks. I know. The problem is there is no way of choosing better next time. K.C knew what I was like and he didn't want me to change. He wouldn't let me write myself off as just being smart. There was no way for me to know that he wasn't the right guy." Clare looked at Dakota and watched the way he smiled over at Emi after he got through talking about the little girl. "It's great Emi makes you want to change. Honestly, you might have to put some effort in convincing a girl that you're going to be faithful. I can't speak for everyone but I know that I can't have a boyfriend who I have to be worried about making out with other girls. When all you do is kissing it's not easy to keep a guy's interest and it definitely wouldn't feel special if that were going on." Clare knew Dakota was aware of the bigger obstacle he faced. Finding a girlfriend who understood about Emi. One he'd actually want around Emi. "I don't know, Dakota, that girl sounds sweet. Just really lonely and she probably needed a friend more than a boyfriend. I'm sure you helped her out more than you even realize." Clare blushed when Dakota looked at her after saying if he had a girlfriend. He wasn't implying anything and she didn't want him to be...at least she didn't think so. "That's really sad." She murmured. "Are you sure you don't want to date her? Okay maybe they're not random girls. I'm sorry for assuming things. But you definitely need to stop making out with them right now if you want a girlfriend. No girl is going to put up with that. Dakota, what you're doing is noble but if you're worried about jealousy issues and your reputation...when you actually get a girlfriend she isn't going to like people thinking you aren't serious about her. So you wouldn't be able to pretend you're dating other girls anymore." Clare smiled. She hoped that meant they'd stay friends no matter who Dakota ended up dating. "I like getting to know you." She looked over at Dallas when he held up his phone and saw the picture. Clare ducked her head shyly. She went back to watching TV and a different episode of Boy Meets World was on by the time Dakota stood up. She nodded when he said he was going to go cook and settled back against the couch. "I'll eat whatever Emi does." Clare told Dakota. Her stomach started to rumble a little while he was in and out of the kitchen. "Pizza sounds great." She smiled up at him. She needed to distract herself from thinking about food, she would probably die if her stomach growled while she was sitting on Dakota's lap. "Oh I just remembered, I found out more about the school trip. It coincides with spring break and we're going to stay in a bed and breakfast that some friend of Simpson's owns. Right by the beach! Of course I'm sure there is some kind of educational catch."

Kota: "I'm sorry, Clare." he said apologetic after hearing about her first boyfriend. "I know and to be honest, Emi also made me stop. She eats up all my free time, literally, I have to get her after school since her daycare lets out about 20 minutes after we get done. If I leave Degrassi right away I can make it on time to pick her up, then home for homework, dinner, some TV and bed. Weekends, like now, are a little different once in a while I'll take her out. So she's changing my reputation on her own. I haven't been able to hang out with a girl since today. I've already declined other girls all week so I don't think that's going to be a problem." he shrugged. "She was. I mean she called me all hours of the night when she got lonely and half the time I had to stay over at her house." he said honestly and chuckled a bit when Clare blushed and smiled at her. "Why not just date Clare." Ash suggested and Kota looked at him. "While she'd make an awesome girlfriend, she'll probably reject me off the bat. Plus I can't have a girlfriend right now. I wouldn't know how to put her first with Emi and I'd need to learn how to do that." he explained ad turned his attention back to Clare. "The girl I text? I'm sure I don't. She requires my undivided attention, if she were here right now she'd be terrified because I'm not there to protect her. I won't be there to stay nights when she's scared, I won't be at her every whim, and she needs that. She texted last weekend saying she went out with her friends and froze up. I also told her about Emi and told her I won't be getting her calls at night since it'll wake Emi and she got mad." he explained. "I like getting to know you too." he smiled at her and kissed her cheek. When he moved back with Clare in his lap, he smiled listening to her. "I'd like it. The educational part doesn't matter to me there's always ways to get around it depending on what it is." he pointed out. "Besides if it's by a beach and Kota has his shirt off every girl will probably be too focused on his abs." Dallas stated. "Speaking of Kota's abs, Dallas you need to get his abs." Stacy said looking at Dallas. "Sorry I don't work out as much as him." Dallas stated. "Yea, I put Emi on my back when I do push ups now. Dallas can't do one. Him having abs, not gonna happen." he chuckled a bit. "But I plan to have my shirt off at the beach and no girl is touching my abs." he pointed out honestly. "Do you have your swimsuit picked out?" he asked Clare.

#wf

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