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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately

I got a tattoo last year just underneath my collarbone
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately". (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/205)

 I got it because when I was 15 I asked everyone I knew how to survive "in the wild". I would make lists of things you'd need, of what you had to know. We faced a massive power crisis two years later and I felt completely useless without my computer and graphics tablet to paint with. That year we studied the Dead Poet's Society film and I found a friend in H D Thoreau. All this needing to be self-sufficient, especially in terms of energy, resulted in my learning how to sew with a machine (I'd been hand-sewing for years. I still suck). Ironically I would've fared better in my aims in learning how to build, cultivate crops etc, but my creative energies went to sewing. In terms of modern slavery, home sewing and knitting for myself, my home and others pleases me immensely. I aim to have a wardrobe that's mostly home-made. So pattern-cutting blogs, books, diagrams etc etc are my love.

I am bipolar and impatient, so my work is sloppy, going for quick results so I can feel productive sooner and not lose hope or interest before a project is finished, as I rarely find myself able to be productive. This applies to my pattern-cutting (often I just mark out with chalk on fabric freehand) and sewing. I save my patience for armholes and pleating.

I doubt I'll post my work here often as camera quality is bad and I really see no point in bothering then. I will be featuring lots of images from old pattern-making books. I focus in on the Victorian era and more specifically 1870ish-1899.

I'll link to the books and post what I find interesting, which is women's wear.
See my Pintrest boards for more.

I mess up A LOT. I already messed up with my posts, mixing my patterns up with what book they came from and what year. Please have compassion.

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