Corset

A side of me that I keep well hidden is my love of period costume. There's about 4 skirts in my closet that are all by-products, or modernized hybrids from historical costume patterns. Why? They are full and long, perfect to feel girly in, and great for TLM. But they are intended to have chemises and stays to go along!

What have I yet to actually sew? a complete set of stays, and my chemise ... *facepalm*

I'm on a budget of "when there's no money, there's NO money," and I'm the type of broke to pay for gasoline in coinage. Therefore I'm not buying the fancy-dancy coutil or duck, boning, or lacing or busk for that matter. All three layers are cotton, the boning is balsa wood which offers just enough give, and the grommets will require me to sneak Dad's hammer at some point.

As for the guys who read this post, no need to be squeamish. Corsets are not a modern torture device! They actually improve posture, and I'm not into tight-lacing (aka wasp waist). I wore my Halloween corset, unbound, for extra warmth and posture when I worked with the Salvation Army this past December. I have worn them at that time of the month and found it comfortable; (I also get really ache-y knees, and will kneel on the floor at Mass and other Catholic events because it actually feels really good to my knees; ladies might know - my knee caps feel like the joints/cartilage are suction cups).

In previous posts, you've seen how difficult I find it to post pictures from Picasa here, so it'll be a corsetier collage.

The box patterned red & black is my fashion fabric for the outside. I'll be binding it either with cream or red bias tape, silver grommets. As you can see below there are two thicknesses of balsa wood, I may be using the thicker one in lieu of a busk.

In the photo with the measuring tape, you can see my hand stitches in contrasting thread, which are a little longer than my quilting stitches. And in one of the pictures you can see the textbook I should be studying and my wool lap blanket (it's June gloom and I tend to get cold easily), and my lavender colored bed sheets. =)

I'll post more as I go along.

Writing Exercise #1

All prompts come from www.about.com

Prompt #1:  Describe a landscape as seen by an old woman whose horrible old husband has just died.  Do not mention the husband or death.

Only for the slightest moment did the sunshine on my bare forearms feel cold or the wind rustling in the trees seem to whisper cruel words from the life I had just escaped after 49 years.  I left the stark room and garish beeps and clicks, ignoring the pleas of my daughter to stay.  What had she ever known but the cotton-candy perfection that he created to hide the rot?  No, I wouldn’t stay a captive one moment longer; Freedom, such a foreign concept, it stole across my mind like summer fog that cools the hateful heat.  Breath passed my lips in a wondering sigh, the blood quickened in my veins.  I am alive and excited.  I have a new lease on life at 73 years.  The glittering sun winked at me from a periwinkle sky, and I continued on down the road, leaving behind a past that I loathed, spitting it out of my life like chewed gum that lost its flavor.

Let a man consider that God is always looking at him from heaven, that his actions are everywhere visible to the divine eyes and are constantly being reported to God by the Angels.
-- St Benedict's Rule of Order, on Humility

Letting Go

In teaching Confirmation this past year, I have been on more retreats, and attended Mass than I originally thought I would be doing. On days that I was teaching my kids, as I've come to call them, I went in the morning at my own parish so that I could pray and focus on the Sacrifice, as the evening Mass with my kids after we finished teaching would be spent shushing them and reminding them to spit out their gum.

Through out the year I have found time to pray for my kids, and fretted over them like a spiritual mother hen.

Then I was so nervous for them on Friday evening when they were received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Here, they are, standing before God and Church, Angels and Demons, declaring that they are Catholic. Were they ready? Would any of them return for Mass on Sunday of their own volition and Love of God? I spent the Mass and remainder of the evening praying that they would. I did all I could for them, invoking the protection, guidance, and love of the Angels, Saints, their Guardian Angels, and the Patrons they had chosen for themselves.

But if I constantly and consistently worry over these teens, their ability to understand and defend the Faith and against Satan, what was I letting God do? So, in the wee hours of Saturday morning, I let go, grabbed my St Benedict cross, and went to sleep.

Quote from OSB Rule

"Therefore we must prepare our hearts and our bodies to do battle under the holy obedience of His commands; and let us ask God that He be pleased to give us the help of His grace for anything which our nature finds hardly possible."

-- St Benedict of Nursia