Brighter Fusion Blog

Today I acquired an old, torn shearling coat from a nice Craig Lister (a man who had already given me other free stuff, as it turns out).

Looking for a moccasin pattern to try out, I ran across this page describing a method for making buckle-on sandals out of tire rubber and nylon webbing:

http://www.hollowtop.com/sandals.htm

Someday I’ll try to make a pair of these for myself.

I also got a small (child’s) bike wheel and tire from the same gentleman, for some mod, industrial design project, yet unthought-up. There’s a mod store on Pearl Street which incorporates bike wheels into large, movable room dividers which look very cool.

I picked up a nice pale mint green Wards Signature sewing machine from a thrift store a few months ago. It took me a long time to fix it (needed to turn it upside down and hit it with a hammer, as it turns out). It seems to be working pretty well now, with a few odd quirks as you would expect from a $10 sewing machine made around 1962.

I started with zig zags. I bought some giraffe jeans from the same thrift store (”Savers”) and cut them to be capris and zig zagged the edges, with enough extra length to roll up my calf, 50’s style. Then I butchered some old towels and made some nice small size rags for house cleaning. I even made some money “hemming” a massage therapist’s halved sheets by folding over the edge and zig zagging. I have yet to use the iron on a sewing project.

Now, I think I’ve turned a corner. I’m nearly finished with a knit wrap dress from a Butterick pattern, designed by Maggy London. I need to sew the waist on a bit more (and I’ll sew a vintage nylon slip to the dress while I’m at it) and put the sleeves on, and then I’m all done! I’ll try to get a picture for the blog when it’s done.

Here’s a question. If a pattern is only appropriate for matte jersey knit, why on earth does it have ironing instructions all over it? What good does attempting to iron jersey knit do??

My favorite outrageous, outlaw satirist is back at the press. He seems a little tamer this time around, although more real. I like it better. Can’t say if we can chalk this change of style up to maturity or being on probation (more likely).

The papers post-VA-Tech-scandal begin with #13.

http://www.yetipaper.com

I don’t much care for his movie shorts. I don’t find guns at all fascinating.

He’s also added a forum to encourage red-faced ranting.

Hi everybody, and welcome to Sierra’s blog. We’ll see shortly if I often have anything to say.