Valhalla's Things: Emergency Camisole
Tags: madeof:atoms, craft:sewing, FreeSoftWear
And this is the time when one realizes that she only has one white
camisole left. And it s summer, so I m wearing a lot of white shirts,
and I always wear a white camisole under a white shirt (unless I m
wearing a full chemise).
Not a problem, I have a good pattern for a well fitting camisole
that I ve done multiple times, I don t even need to take my measurements
and draft things, I can get some white jersey from the stash and quickly
make a few.
From the stash. Where I have a roll of white jersey and one of off-white
jersey. It s in the inventory. With the position field set to a place
that no longer exists. uooops.
But I have some leftover lightweight (woven) linen fabric. Surely if I
cut the pattern as is with 2 cm of allowance and then sew it with just 1
cm of allowance it will work even in a woven fabric, right?
Wrong.
I mean, it would have probably fit, but it was too tight to squeeze
into, and would require adding maybe a button closure to the front.
feasible, but not something I wanted.
But that s nothing that can t be solved with the Power of Insertion
Lace, right?
One dig through the Lace Stash1 and some frantic zig-zag sewing
later, I had a tube wide enough for me to squiggle in, with lace on the
sides not because it was the easiest place for me to put it, but because
it was the right place for it to preserve my modesty, of course.
Encouraged by this, I added a bit of lace to the front, for the look of
it, and used some more insertion lace for the straps, instead of making
them out of fabric.
And, it looks like it can work. I plan to wear it tonight, so that I can
find out whether there is something that chafes or anything, but from a
quick test it feels reasonable.
At bust level it s now a bit too wide, and it gapes a bit under the
arms, but I don t think that it s going to cause significant problems,
and (other than everybody on the internet) nobody is going to see it, so
it s not a big deal.
I still have some linen, but I don t think I m going to make another one
with the same pattern: maybe I ll try to do something with a front
opening, but I ll see later on, also after I ve been looking for the
missing jersey in a few more potential places.
As for now, the number of white camisoles I have has doubled, and this
is progress enough for today.
Back in 2020 I posted about 
(Edit: Twitter could improve this significantly with very few changes - I wrote about that 
After cartridge pleating, the next fabric manipulation technique I
wanted to try was smocking, of the honeycombing variety, on a shirt.
My current go-to pattern for shirts is the 
In my stash I had a cut of purple-blue hopefully cotton [#cotton] I had
bought for a cheap price and used for my first attempt at an
Of course I wanted some honeycombing on the front, but I was afraid that
the slit in the middle of it would interfere with the honeycombing and
gape, so I decided to have the shirt open in an horizontal line at the
yoke.
I added instructions 
I also used a row of honeycombing on the back and two on the upper part
of the sleeves, instead of the gathering, and of course some rows to
gather the cuffs.
The honeycombing on the back was a bit too far away from the edge, so
it s a bit of an odd combination of honeycombing and pleating that I
don t hate, but don t love either. It s on the back, so I don t mind. On
the sleeves I ve done the honeycombing closer to the edge and I ve
decided to sew the sleeve as if it was a cartridge pleated sleeve, and
that worked better.
Because circumstances are still making access to my sewing machine
more of a hassle than I d want it to be, this was completely sewn by
hand, and at a bit more than a month I have to admit that near the end
it felt like it had been taken forever. I m not sure whether it was the
actual sewing being slow, some interruptions that happened when I had
little time to work on it, or the fact that I ve just gone through a
time when my brain kept throwing new projects at me, and I kept thinking
of how to make those. Thanks brain.
Even when on a hurry to finish it, however, it was still enjoyable
sewing, and I think I ll want to do more honeycombing in the future.
Anyway, it s done! And it s going straight into my daily garment
rotation, because the weather is getting hot, and that means it s
definitely shirt time.
Don t knock the fence down before you know why it s up. I repeat this phrase over and over again, yet the (metaphorical) Homeowner s Association still decides my fence is the wrong color.Well, now you get to know why the fence is up. If anyone s actually willing to challenge me on this level, I d welcome it.The four ideas I d like to discuss are this: quantum physics, Lutheranism, mental resilience, and psychology. I ve been studying these topics intensely for the past decade as a passion project. I m just going to let my thoughts flow, but I d like to hear other opinions on this.Can the mysteries of the mind, the subatomic world, and faith converge to reveal deeper truths?When it comes to self-taught knowledge on analysis, I m mostly learned on Freud, with some hints of Jung and Peterson. I ve read much of the original source material, and watched countless presentations on it. This all being said, I m both learned on Rothbard and Marx, so if there is a major flaw in the way of Freud is frowned upon, I d genuinely like to know so I can update my research and juxtapose the two schools of thought.Alongside this, although probably not directly relevant, I m learned on John Locke and transcendentalism. What I d like to focus on here is this the Id.The Id is the pleasure-seeking, instinctual part of the psyche. Jung further extends this into the idea of the shadow self, and Peterson maps the meanings of these texts into a combined work (at least in my rudimentary understanding).In my research, the Id represents the part of your psyche that deals with religious values. As an example, if you re an impulsive person, turning to a spiritual or religious outlet can be highly beneficial. I ve been using references from the foundational text of the Judaeo-Christian value system this entire time, feel free to re-read my other blog posts (instead of claiming they don t exist).Let s tie this into quantum physics. This is the part where I ll struggle most. I ve watched several movies about this, read several books, and even learned about it academically, but quantum physics is likely to be my weak spot here.I did some research, and here are the elements I m looking for: uncertainty principle, wave-particle duality, quantum entanglement, and the observer effect.I already know about the cat in the box. And the Cat in the Hat, for that matter. I know about wave-particle duality from an incredibly intelligent high school physics teacher of mine. I know about the uncertainty principle purely in a colloquial sense. The remaining element I need to wrap my head around is quantum entanglement, but it feels like I m almost there.These concepts do actually challenge the idea of pure free will. It s almost like we re coming full circle. Some theologians (including myself, if you can call me a self-taught one) do believe the idea of quantum indeterminacy can be a space where divine action may take place. You could also liken the unpredictable nature of the Id to quantum indeterminacy as well. These are ones to think about, because in all reality, they re subjective opinions. I do believe they re interconnected.In terms of Lutheranism, I ll be short on this one. Please do go read the full history behind Martin Luther and his turbulent relationship with Catholicism. I m not a Bible thumper, and I actually think this is the first time I ve mentioned religion publicly at all. This being said, now I m actually ready to defend the points on an academic level.The Id represents hidden psychological forces, quantum physics reveals subatomic mysteries, and Lutheranism emphasizes faith in the unseen God. Okay, so we have the baseline. Now, time for some mental resilience. When I think of mental resilience, the first people I think of are David Goggins and Jocko Willink. I ve also enjoyed Dr. Andrew Huberman s podcast.The idea there is simple if you understand exactly how to learn, you know your fundamentals well enough to draw them and explain them vividly on a whiteboard, and you can make it a habit, at that point you re ready to work on your mental resilience. Little by little, gradually, how far can you push the bar towards the ceiling?There s obviously limits. People sometimes get scared when I mention mental resilience, but obviously that s a bit of a catch 22. There are plenty of satirical videos out there, and of course, I don t believe in Goggins or Jocko wholeheartedly. They re just tools in the toolbox when times get tough.I wish you all well, and I hope this gets you thinking about those people who just insist there is no God or higher being, and think you re stupid for believing there is one. Those people obviously haven t read analysis, in my own opinion.Have a great night!
Years ago I made myself a quick dressing gown from a white fleece IKEA
throw and often wore it in the morning between waking up and changing
into day clothes.
One day I want to make myself a fancy victorian wrapper, to use in its
place, but that s still in the early planning stage, and will require
quite some work.
Then last autumn I discovered that the taxes I owed to the local lord (who
provides protection from mice and other small animals) included not just
a certain amount of kibbles, but also some warm textiles, and the
dressing gown (which at this time was definitely no longer pristine) had
to go.
For a while I had to do without a dressing gown, but then in the second
half of this winter I had some time for a quick machine sewing
project. I could not tackle the big victorian thing, but I still had a
second POLARVIDE throw from IKEA (this time in a more sensible dark
grey) I had bought with sewing intents.
The fabric in a throw isn t that much, so I needed something pretty
efficient, and rather than winging it as I had done the first time I
decided I wanted to try the Modular Jacket from 
Since I didn t have enough fabric for the belt I also skipped the belt
loops, but I have been wearing this with random belts and I don t feel
the need for them anyway. I ve also been thinking about adding a button
just above the bust and use that to keep it closed, but I m still not
100% sure about it.
Another thing I still need to do is to go through the few scraps of
fleece that are left and see if I can piece together a serviceable
pocket or two.
Because of the size of the fabric, I ended up having quite long sleeves:
I m happy with them because they mean that I can cover my hands when
it s cold, or fold them back to make a nice cuff.
If I ll make a real jacket with this patter I ll have to take this in
consideration, and either make the sleeves shorter or finish the seam in
a way that looks nice when folded back.
Will I make a real jacket? I m not sure, it s not really my style of
outer garment, but as a dressing gown it has already been used quite a
bit (as in, almost every morning since I ve made it :) ) and will
continue to be used until too worn to be useful, and that s a good
thing.
Back when I setup my home automation I ended up with one piece that used an external service: 
Eight months ago I came up my rocky driveway in an electric car, with the
back full of solar panel mounting rails. I didn't know how I'd manage to
keep it charged. I got the car earlier than planned, with my
How long has it been since you last saw a conversation over different blogs
syndicated at the same planet? Well, it s one of the good memories of the
early 2010s. And there is an opportunity to re-engage!
I came across 
The Open Source Initiative has two classes of board seats: Affiliate seats, and Individual Member seats. In the upcoming election, each affiliate can nominate a candidate, and each affiliate can cast a vote for the Affiliate candidates, but there's only 1 Affiliate seat available. I initially expressed interest in being nominated as an Affiliate candidate via Debian. But since 
A new (mostly maintenance) release 0.2.3 of 
A couple of years ago, I 
However, the sole is still going strong, and the general concept has
proved valid, so when I needed a second pair of slippers I used 
Then, my partner also needed new slippers, and I wanted to make his too.
His preference, however, is for open heeled slippers, so I adjusted the
pattern into 
He also finds completely flat soles a bit uncomfortable, so I made an
heel with the same braided twine technique: this also seems to be
working fine, and I ve also added