Brighter Fusion Blog

Speaking of vintage sewing patterns, if you like to sew (or just look at funny fashions), stop by the new Brighter Fusion Etsy Store.

I’ve got patterns from the 1940s through the 1980s for sale, and will be putting up more.

Yesterday I made a tote bag from a vintage style bath towel that I bought at Savers.

I got the idea in general from the Indygo Junction pattern, but I did everything differently than the pattern said. I didn’t take a “before” picture of the towel, but you’ve all seen this kind before. It had fringe on the ends.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. In these pictures, the tote is filled with vintage sewing patterns. As a result, it looks more structured than it really is. I assure you it’s quite floppy with non-rectangular stuff in it. It’s very lightweight and super soft. I love it.

More pics after the jump.

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Here are a couple ways to brighten the day of a miserable grunt carrying out or recovering from President Bush’s tragically misguided foreign policy.

Send a letter to a wounded soldier at Walter Reed:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

Or send a care package to “Any Soldier,” to be distributed to those guys and girls who don’t get as much mail from home as some others do.

AnySoldier.com is a pretty sophisticated wish list application where you can send a unit exactly what they want at the time they want it. It also makes for interesting reading. For example, I was surprised to see that tarps and shelf brackets are on the list. With the amount of money we’re pouring into this war, they can’t provide the troops with all the TARPS they might need?

I plan to send a box out to “Any Female Soldier,” just to be a gender partisan about it. I imagine that it’s just that much suckier to be gifted with Playboy magazines and sports memorabilia when what you really want is some moisturizer or scented drier sheets to pack in with your clothes.

It looks like Max Karson’s been raising hell again while I wasn’t looking.

CUPD confronts “The Yeti”

Police follow up on a satirical suicide note to make sure it’s satire, which I guess they’re not allowed to take on faith, despite their extended familiarity with Max. My favorite quote from the article: “I was afraid they were going to haul me off to psychological testing, which would have been boring.”

Scariest part of the article? Stupid freshman girl asks, “Is it his honest opinion or is he just trying to stir up controversy?” Duh, I wonder….

Visit the Yeti and get all riled up.

Not me!

I have always associated my fave blog BoingBoing (and its editor, Mark of the Field of Women) with San Francisco — for whatever reason. Maybe I’m getting them confused with the Mythbusters…

Anyway: Land grab case in Boulder incites anger and protests

I see a certain Heretic friend of mine has been posting comments on that page too. What a weird confluence of universes!

I agree that McLean and Stevens are being complete dicks and I’m glad to see protests about the case.

I don’t think arson is the answer, tho. Jeez, are we living in 1600? Who even thinks like that?

A wise and noble friend of mine suggested that I obtain a Star Trek uniform for myself and go nerd hunting at a convention, to land myself a smart guy. Not a bad idea…

I can’t see choosing any other uniform than TOS’s short wrap skirt one (okay, maybe one of T’Pol’s outfits…), and I can’t proudly wear a cheap Halloween knockoff design, so I did some research online. This forum is devoted to supporting people who are sewing their own Star Trek uniforms. According to them, this ebay seller’s Uhura Skant pattern is the best available. My brother is a big sci fi convention enthusiast, and he’s agreed to buy the pattern for me for Xmas, so I should have a uniform finished in the spring, if I’m lucky.

Although the original red color velour is fabulous, I’m thinking that I might diverge from canon for my color choice. Something like peach or lavender might look come out looking pretty nice.

I’m sure I want something with a heavy hand. Here we have a picture of a skant made up according to the katarra8 pattern, but the fabric is a lightweight spandex and looks all wrong to me. I would rather have a “wrong” color in the “right” fabric, a nice thick stretch velour.

I also like how the original uniform had shorter sleeves, to keep the uniform out of your way while you’re working with your hands. I would do that on mine as well.

Isn’t that part of what makes it “skanty”?

I’ve decided not to go with the insignia patch either. I like the look of this star-shaped pin, as worn by the prosecutor in some episode that I don’t remember the name of where Kirk is being court martialed. It might have been “Court Martial.” A pin like that should be pretty easy to find, especially used.

Here are a lot of really nice screen caps of the female uniform in various renditions.

I’m attracted to this coat pattern very much, but there are some concerns holding me back from it.

1) It’s $18 for the pattern, and this site doesn’t even offer my size.

2) It says “expert level”. Which I’m not.

3) It doesn’t come with any sewing instructions, and I don’t have experience with that kind of pattern.

4) It would take a lot of expensive coating fabric to make up.

But mostly, I don’t know if I really like the design that much because the artist put the coat on an unrealistic body shape. It’s supposed to be an empire waist, but I can’t see that in the drawing. It looks like a normal coat worn by an anorexic giantess. I always feel so much better when they show a photograph of the apparel all made up.

I can’t work up a proper obsession over a coat that would take a satisfying amount of focus and effort to complete when I can’t be sure it’s even the right style for me to begin with.

Second scarf, same as the first. A little bit faster and a little bit worse.

A duplicate of the scarf I knitted for my sister a few days ago, but I actually made more mistakes with this one. I was watching my favorite show Chuck and in the course of three rows I somehow went from ten stitches across to thirteen. After I long time I noticed the change and I tapered back down, so this scarf is a little thicker in the middle and narrower toward the ends.

Check out this gorgeous color! It’s “Baroque” from Lion Brand yarns in the Homespun texture.

And here is the finished scarf. It’s a birthday present for my mom, but she’s sleeping, so I asked Dad to model it instead. Right-click and “view image” to see the pic uncropped.

These projects were super forgiving — knitting two strands together on needles as big as my index finger, with super nubbly yarn. Even with the mistakes, I’m very happy with how they came out.

The knit dress is almost done. I’ll put pictures of it up just as soon as I lose 10 pounds.

J/K.