In a Bind

While we're still in the very early stages, and before I continue with my weird little sojourn of sorts, I thought it might be a good idea to inform all readers of the following:

Just in case it wasn't already apparent, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Not owning a sewing machine (in my apartment, at least.  There's an old Singer at my parent's place) was probably the first tip off.  Generally speaking, I don't buy/download patterns.  I try to follow recipes/craft directions to the best of my abilities, but I can guarantee that I will deviate a bit for one reason or another.

The point of this isn't to deter you from reading my musings, otherwise, there would be no point in blogging in the first place.  Instead, I mean only to 1.) give you a heads up when I do something completely "what in the world are you doing?!" worthy 2.) preempt the times that I completely ruin a project and 3.) sort of give you incentive to try branching out into your own kind of creative zones.

I like to think I have some basis for eventual talent, since my grandmother was a seamstress.  Realistically, though, that's a stretch.  If we want to dig a bit, I've been sewing for a lark since I was 6. Messed around with that for a few years, and then proceeded to get a C in Home Ec. my first semester of junior high school.  ...And to that end, I still burn myself when I iron clothes, but only sometimes. 

But, you know what?  It's great fun, it makes me feel a little more earth-friendly, and over the years, I've been able to gauge a steady growth in my abilities.  Also, I quite like it, so let's continue on with one of my biggest flops this year.

Being Asian, I've had a love/hate relationship with my bust.  I sat at an A-cup for about 8 years, making bra-shopping extremely difficult, since stores rarely carried my size.  Under-wire/padded always felt cutting and uncomfortable, but the alternative barely hid anything cold weather.  On top of that, I always have the bad luck of having straps that dig into my shoulders, or just plain fall off my shoulders. 

In more recent years, I've test a few alternatives - sports bras and camisoles.  They fared a little better, but still shared some issues (mostly the cold-weather ones).  After Google-ing for solutions, I came across two other options - binding and bandeaus.  Having played a male in several roles, I was sort of familiar with binding, but wasn't too keen on the idea because 1.) Hi, I'd rather not make myself any flatter than usual and 2.) If you don't do it right, breathing becomes a bit more taxing that it should be.

So... bandeaus it is?  I was still worried about the cold-weather thing, so I thought I'd try a stiffer fabric, like denim.  Luckily, I had an old leg left over from a patch job I did on a friend's pants.  Okay, now going to back to the whole "I haven't a clue" dealio, I sort of turned this into a hack job, randomly making measurements right at my armpits, across my bust, and right below my bust.

The outcome was this:

Not too horrible-looking, right?  Well... the problem was, it hugged in the wrong spots, and worst of all, it was still really obvious when I was perky.  It would be a punishment for everyone involved if I took a picture myself wearing it. 

Project status:  Scrapped.  I ended up using the denim for a second gift for Dillon.

I might give it a second go with a better pattern and maybe a "buffer" region, of sorts.  It's back to bras for the time being.  Luckily, I've come across bras with petals, which is quite nice, but it doesn't cover the discomfort issues.  Not sure what I'll try next. 

I hear tape is quite the new thing. . .

Uh...

 Cripes, that must hurt to take off.