Adventures in Corsetry - Where I got the "Pattern"

I'm finally doing it. I'm finally drafting my own pattern from my measurements and using spiral steel boning and making a victorian-esq corset.

What I hope to get from my corset:
- An amazing outerwear costume piece
- Something I can coordinate with for years to come
- A workable pattern to make many more corsets
- KNOWLEDGE! Knowledge of the proper way to fit a corset and draft a pattern.

Now, a confession: I've already started. I have the pattern drafted, traced, allowanced, and cut (all together took 4 hours), the mockup shell pieced (1 hour), and the boning cut and tipped (1.5 hours). Time: 6.5 hours so far

And I have pictures of the whole process! Yippee! But the terrible part of that is that I have no way to get the pictures from my camera to my computer. My cables and card readers are all in storage and I don't have a clue how to get to them. So today you get the fruits of my research.

I wanted something that would give me some reduction, cover my hips a little, and go over my bust. This ruled out the conical Renaissance stays that seemed to be popping up in all of my searches*. After 2 full days of searching, I stumbled across exactly what I wanted.

Your Wardrobe Unlock'd.

On this wonderful website I found a .PDF file of 54 pages that goes in depth on how to draft your own Victorian corset pattern based on your measurements. Click here to download it yourself.

I took my measurements, wrote them down where I wouldn't lose them, and them went to have the document printed. Like I said, it's 54 pages long, and I wasn't about to subject my parents' printer to that. For less than $10 I had it printed, covered, and spiral bound. Go check with your local printer (mine is at the college) to see what kind of sweet deals you can get!

So, that should save you 2 days if you're trying to find the same thing I was. It's worth the time and the money to have a pattern this good. I'm so very pleased with my mockup at this point.

*This seems to be the go-to for drafting "corset" patterns. It isn't what I wanted, but I drafted one anyway and it looks like it would be a great one. This resource truly is a gem, if not quite the one I was looking for.

Where is Phwoosh?

Where have I been for a year? Good question.

I worked like a fiend, got laid off, went to Colorado again, and then moved.

Moved?! Why? Where? When?!

Shortly after our annual trip to Colorado for Christmas (and by "shortly" I mean 4 days), my husband got a call from a guy in Tulsa about a job. This came after the hubby tried to get a job there in October and was shoved out by an internal applicant. We jumped on it and he started in mid-January. For now we're living with my parents. We'll be moving to Tulsa soon-ish.

I'm going to try to get back on a schedule here and post some stuff. Things I've made, recipes I've tried, adventures in Guild Wars/other games, adventures in real life... And of course things from Pinterest. I'll only post the things I've tried, I promise.

For now that's all.

-Phwoosh

Colorado

 The drive in was great. The drive back was great. The weather while we were there was great. Nothing was not great about our stay. It was perfect. So, I bet you're ready for some pictures...

The drive in. This was our first view of the mountains.

Million Dollar Highway coming in to Ouray.

A Colorado sunrise.

The hubby and Thor.

Father-Son bonding over sledding.

This mountain goes up a lot farther... Where is it?

My In-Laws' hardware store on Main Street.

Colorado Bound

Josh and I are off to Colorado for our last Christmas excursion. Yeah, yeah. It's the middle of January. I get it. Hush. Colorado.

This means that my first post when we get back will be a load of pictures. My second post will probably be another load of pictures as well. It depends on what I decide to do. There will be beautiful pictures of Colorado and some less beautiful shots of all the Christmas gifts I made this year.

For now, I must get ready to go. We're leaving for his grandmother's house tonight and will leave from there in the morning to go see Josh's parents.

See you when I get back!

-Anny

My Chai

You need to know this: I love hot tea. I especially like Chai tea. It all started at a restaurant called P.F. Chang's when my dad ordered a small pot of tea to go with our meal. At that point, I didn't really care for tea, but after that I was hooked. I found a box of India Spice Chai by Celestial Seasonings and ran out in a matter of weeks. When I went to get more, it was gone. None of the stores in my town had any. So I got regular Chai, which was great too. Until about 20 minutes ago, I used Stash to sate my Chai addiction. Now I have my own blend.

Wait... What is Chai? Literally, Chai is Tea. Chai Tea is redundant, meaning "tea tea." Most of us Westerners associate Chai with Masala Chai. Masala Chai is very popular in India. It uses a tea base, a sweetener, milk, and a mixture of "warm" spices called karha. Karha itself has a couple of different components: ground ginger and green cardamom pods, with some other spices mixed in.

So... My Chai! I'll break it down by the 4 parts of Chai.
-Typically, a strong black tea is used as the tea base. I am using Lipton loose-leaf tea since it's what I have on hand. It is a black tea, so it works. I'm not a tea-snob, so I don't really care. It's good to me!
-As a sweetener, I use honey. In addition to being better for you than plain sugar, honey has some health benefits and a wonderfully sweet, earthy taste. To me, Chai should taste earthy and warm. If you don't want to use honey, don't. Use plain white sugar, or brown sugar, or some sort of sweet nectar. Whatever makes you happy.
-Milk. If I could talk my husband into buying whole milk, that's what I'd use. As it is, he wants 2%, so I'm using 2%. Whole milk makes it more rich. You could use condensed milk and it would double as the sweetener. Eew.
-Karha. Say the word. Karha. The sound of it is wonderful. Now imagine the sweet earthynes of ginger and allspice and cloves mixed together with the sharp smell of pepper and fennel. Be right back. I have to go brew another cup.

I like my tea on the spicy-sweet side, and you can never go wrong with cloves and allspice. Those are my favorite spices. So... What is my Karha? I broke tradition and didn't use cardamom pods (I don't know where to get them...). Here's how I did it:

1 Tablespoon fennel
1 teaspoon whole allspice, lightly crushed
12 whole cloves, lightly crushed
1 cinnamon stick, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 bay leaves, crumbled
2 Tablespoons loose leaf black tea

Mix everything together and store it in an airtight container. To brew, pour 1 cup of boiling water over 1 teaspoon of the Chai. Steep for 5-ish minutes. Add the honey and top of the teacup with some milk. Sit back and enjoy!

I'm thinking that some dried orange zest would be great in this...

Anyway, I'm off for the night to read some more Song of Ice and Fire. Things are getting good!

-Phwoosh

Star Wars: The Old Republic

You had to know it was coming. Seriously. But here it is! One week after release, I have totaled 32 levels across 2 characters, one a Bounty Hunter, the other a Jedi Consular. So how is it going?

I might just be more addicted to this game than to any other video game. Yeah.

I loved World of Warcraft, even through a little bit of Cataclysm and all the changes that brought. The changes there are too great now and the game has lost quite a bit of its magic. Numbers started getting too high, daily quests started taking up too much time, and there wasn't a lot to do outside of dailies apart from grinding out materials for yourself and your guild. Granted, some of the new stuff was awesome, like the guild perks and races and all of the changes that Deathwing wrought on the surface, and the new dungeons were fun, too. None of those even start to catch up to the rep/mats/money grindfest that the game had become, though. And what are they doing to fix it? Kung Fu Panda. 'Nuff said.

So how is Star Wars: The Old Republic any different? I don't think it will be once I hit the level cap. The way classes play is a lot like WoW to the point that Josh still uses terms like "Taunt" and other tank-ish words while playing his Jedi Knight. The big differences are these:

• Almost every class can do every roll depending on the talent tree chosen.
• Only a couple of classes on each side can't do Damage, Tank, and Heal.
• Quests are a lot more interactive.
• Talking to your quest givers, you can pick the nice answer or the ass-hole answer, and enough of either will change your appearance and what kind of gear you can use.
• Your class has its own quest line!
• When you start out, you have a mentor who guides you through the game. They aren't always beside you, but you report back to them every so often (unless they fall ill or die).
• Everyone has a "Pet."
• Pets are called Companions (no, not like Inara) and they fight alongside you, do your crafting, and go on missions for you. Your choices during the quests determines how much your companion likes you, and the more they like you the better they are. You are also responsible for gearing your companion
• Everyone has a starship.
• Somewhere around level 17 every character will get their own starship to fly around in outer space. It costs credits to do so, but not a lot. You also get your second companion here. Much like your companion, you are responsible for "gearing" your ship with modifications that can be bought in space stations. In addition to all of these wonderful goodies, there are escort quests you can do in your starship!

 Do I need to tell you how much I love this game or can you guess? On my Consular, Azarshetai, I am very attached to my Master, Yuon Par. As soon as I was declared a full Jedi, she collapsed and has been ill ever since. I'd do almost anything to save her! Maelri, my bounty hunter, is growing increasingly fond of her companion, Maco, who lost the only father figure she ever knew not too long ago. Maco is now on the hunt for her real parents, and Maelri wants to help her there.

Well, I'm off. Need to scrounge something up for dinner.

-Anny

From the Kitchen: Spring Cove Pancake

Original recipe from Alli at One Pearl Button

My grandmother used to live by a cove on Lake Hudson (in Oklahoma) called Spring Cove. I would go up there for a week or two out of each summer and play Chicken Foot with her and fish with my Papa and we'd go shopping and visit other family and I'd grow as a person for just being in that beautiful place. The time there was as smooth as vanilla and my memories are as sweet as sugar. For those reasons, I've named this modified Cape Cod pancake and renamed it the Spring Cove pancake.

What you'll need:
1 Tablespoon butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

What you'll do:
Preheat the oven to 350*F. In a cast iron skillet, melt the butter. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, flour, sugar, and vanilla until they aren't lumpy anymore. Pour the batter over the butter and bake the whole thing for 20 minutes. Serve with your favorite pancake toppings.

I eat mine plain because they're sweet enough for me without syrup or jelly, and peanut butter doesn't really fit. Next time I go see my grandparents, I'm going to make this for them. They no longer live by the lake, but they're in the same town I grew up in now, and I'll see them in a week or so.

This is me, my little sister, and Gumby in the middle.

In other news:
I quit my job at McDonald's and now work at Cheezie's Pizza. I know, it's not much of a change; I'm still in food service. The thing is, though, that I've worked Cheezie's before and I loved that job. Cheezie's is the only food service job I'd take right now, and as I didn't really have a choice but to quit McD's, I had to take it. At least until something else comes along. The hiring process was wonderful. I turned in my application Sunday afternoon, got a call yesterday, and start today at $0.25 more than minimum wage. No interview! I'm actually excited to go to work today, which is more than can be said for how I've felt about work since February.

I think that tomorrow I'll take pictures of all the Christmas stuff and post them all after the holidays. Too many people use the internet now and can find what they're getting. Well, I'm off. Chores to do before work.

-Anny