When real things happen to imaginary people

You know what happens when you're sick? You get fidgety. So over the course of a week, I finished an accessory I'd been thinking of.

( A Cupcake Goth Deathrock spiked cuff )

Two layers of black velvet ribbon, gathered pink Venise lace, spiderweb-patterned tulle, and cone spikes. (I know I'm still sickly, because setting the grommets for the ribbon ties to go through and putting the spikes on made me really tired.)

The Stroppy One thinks it might be a Bit Too Much. I, however, am delighted with it. And now, of course, I'm idly considering making a b&w striped version of it.

Sooooo, I've been looking at a lot of deathrock photos and pictures from this year's WGT over on Tumblr. Which is making me crave adding deathrock-y elements into my Victorian Cupcake Goth attire. I'm already going the route of layers of shredded tights and fishnets, but now I'm contemplating going one step further.

No, not shaving the sides of my head. Can you imagine what the Stroppy One would do? Sheesh.

I have an unlined, princess-seamed black blazer, made from stretch twill, that closes in the front with buckles instead of buttons. Notched lapels, and faux corset-lacing in the back to adjust the fit. I am thinking of taking my trusty seam ripper to the back seams, the seams where the sleeves connect to the blazer, and maybe the front seams. I'd open all of those seams up, and then "sew" them back together with safety pins. Many, many safety pins. And then wear the blazer over a high-collared, ruffly striped blouse and fluffy striped skirt. With petticoats, of course.

I can picture it clearly in my head, and *I* think it would look great. But I realize that sometimes I get these ideas, and I am ... easily blinded by the "Ooooh, shiny and new!" aspect of them. This is where you people come in!

[Poll #1576905]

This weekend was the Fluevog warehouse/sample sale up in Vancouver B.C. There were all sorts of plots bandied back and forth to road trip up to it, but none of my potential traveling companions had the right sort of ID to leave or re-enter the country. Woe! No searching for Babycake boots in limited edition colors, woe!

HOWEVER. Yesterday was the big annual yard sale day in my neighborhood. Rummage sale at the community center, and 100+ yard sales. maiaarts and I have a long-standing partnership for hitting yard sales, so we were compelled, COMPELLED I tell you, to Go Forth and bargain-hunt.

We got kind of a late start, as I crawled out of bed around 10:30, and there were other things to be done. But still! I found a couple of ridiculous gothic romances and some teen vampire books, an antique crystal and brass perfume bottle, a hand-tatted lace collar, a chair for Lucretia Evangeline, a display shelf for teacups and other knick-knacks, and ... perfect Victorian-style granny boots. For a dollar.

::throws the horns in victory::

Then we went to the U-district to stop at Gargoyles. I ran into icprncs, much to my delight. And because it was there, I went into Buffalo Exchange, where I found a lovely pair of knee-high, lace-up Victorian-style boots by some brand named Seychelles. I think the reason they were at BE was that two of the decorative silver buttons at the tops of the boots were missing. But the pronged attachments for the buttons were still there. 10 minutes with a pair of pliers and my button box, and now the boots have new decorative silver buttons. And pink & black striped ribbon laces.

So all in all, I don't regret missing the Fluevog sale.

Today, on the other hand, is about putting indigo on my head, doing some writing, and doing some organizing of the storage room. Oh, and calling the parents, so they can make shocked noises about "We have a daughter? Who knows how to use the phone?" Yeah yeah yeah, you people raised me, you KNOW I'm bad about phone calls. ::grin::

Wow, the fabric dying post brought you people out with opinions. (Which is fantastic, by the way!) The test swatches I tea-dyed last night turned a lovely antique white/pale ivory. I am going to try a test swatch with hibiscus tea, because I'm betting THAT will give me a super pale pinkish-white, which might be even BETTER than ivory.

Also in the comments, you lovely peoples gave me all sorts of crafty project ideas, including untouched_sugar talking about paper roses made from the pages of old books (which means I have even MORE reasons to scour the thrift stores for used and battered copies of Alice In Wonderland, Dracula, and Something Wicked This Way Comes, oh dear), and sillycecelia suggesting that I write lines of poetry in the white stripes of the fabric once the skirt is made. (I would probably copy text from Something Wicked This Way Comes or "Homecoming", just because.)

Of course, talking about making skirts from sheets sent me straight to eBay, where I went browsing for pink striped sheets. I really like these Nicole Miller pink striped ones (with ruffles!). (clicky-link!) I'd use the fabric from them for the tiered ruffles for the back panel of the skirt, the front panel, and the ruffled hem. (The other parts of the skirt body would be black.)

Oh deary deary me, projects. Wheeee!

Soooo, anyone know if it is possible to remove a fastener that has been, for all intents and purposes, riveted onto a garment without damaging that garment?

I have a Lip Service jacket that I love the lines of, except that the single oversized hook & eye fastener is about half an inch too high on the front of the jacket. That half an inch is a small, but crucial, difference in terms of how flattering the jacket could look.

Unfortunately, that oversized hook & eye is pretty much riveted on. On the inside of the jacket, each part of the fastener is secured by two flat metal disks that go through the fabric and into other flat metal disks on the front. Is there any way I can remove these without ripping holes in the jacket? Or should I accept that this particular fastener cannot be moved, and I just need to sew two sets of my own oversized hook & eye fasteners in a row below the original one?

I want to come up with two words, four letters each, that describe me. You see, I want to embroider them on a pair of fingerless gloves. Yes, like the very cute gloves that two different vendors were selling at the Mourning Market. Neither vendor had phrases that really appealed to me ("Punk Rock"? No. "Hard Luck"? Not even.), hence my deciding to try my hand at making my own set. Besides, I have a LOT of vintage-ish gloves I could use for this sort of thing.

So yes. Two words, four letters each, that are appropriate for me. Please give me suggestions!

("Whimsy", alas, is obviously right out. I suppose I could embroider a word on the back of each hand, instead of a letter on each finger ...)

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Ooooh, in other news, the postman delivered my big Emilie Autumn deluxe bundle with the Asylum book (and t-shirt, recipe booklet, deluxe double CD, and totebag). Must not look at book until my workday is done!

Mom says "Thank you!" for all the birthday wishes. Dad is vastly amused that all of you think we're adorable. (*I* think we're adorable, too, but I also think we're crazy.) (The Stroppy One agrees with the latter part of that statement.)

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I'm working from home today, thanks to insomnia. Ugh.

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Someone remind me that I don't wear long charm-style necklaces, so I should stop looking at this Alice In Wonderland -themed one. (clicky-link!) But goodness, it's cute. I know how it's made, so I just need to find out what glossy medium is used over photo paper to make the lacquered insets for the pendants. (It's not ModgePodge, I know that much.) Oooh, then I could make my own GCS swirly-bat jewelry ...

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Right. More tea, and back to editing.