Surgery in 9 days



SWTOR update









limited time




Which I did today.






Ugh. I wish I was kidding.

Anne of Cleves research





So at least I’m past the halfway mark.

that pattern book









variations on a theme- pain

I have not had a great day so have been avoiding creating a blog post but I’ve gone past into the “this is ridiculous” zone and so should be able to inject a bit of humour. If it doesn’t come across feel free to convert every full stop into a smilie.

My Rheumatoid Disease means I need to be very mindful of pain. Not just location, not just severity, but the type of pain. Pain as a result of trauma or inflammation is likely to result in damage and the sooner I can intervene the better.

So far so easy to understand.

However RA is not limited to the joints. It is systemic which means I can often attribute a pain symptom to something else and miss an opportunity to intervene.

Right now I am covered in small patches of welts caused by activity in my skin. I have nodules which are very well documented in literature, but I have been ignoring itchiness as a warning sign of activity. These welts last for months and only respond to steroid cream.

This is not psoriasis, though PSA is a related autoimmune disease.

It could be vasculitis which is bad so I’ll need to have them looked at. Do not google it. Really, don’t. Mine is not as bad as the images you’ll see immediately. There are some that it does look like- if you have ever grazed your knee on gravel it is much more like that, about the size and shape of forming an o with thumb and index finger. But a lot of them. Mine are very itchy, and I tend to forget that they are not just like regular itchy bites. They trigger it to be fair. But so has resting my elbow on my chair.

So itchy is a neurological and immune interaction that I need to add to my list of Things To Look Out For.

Fibromyalgia has been a very exciting layer of complexity. All the recommendations are pretty much the opposite of recommendations for RA. Which has meant learning the very specific causes of my different pain signals.

Muscular back pain usually triggers a bruised sensation in my skin. Other times and places it is burning, other times I get stinging like prickles.

These are not purely different flavours of pain they indicate what kind of intervention I need to employ. The bruised feeling starts to wrap around to the most common trigger points in the collarbone and hips and from there usually I have a very small window before I wind up with breathing issues and cramping. I think that these mixed up signals are related to fatigue; if they usually get particularly bad they lead to full limb cramping and a panic attack from that. It is very scary as the cramping pulls fingers and toes backwards far enough to hear cracking. This the panic and thus the escalation.

So while I do agree I have fibro I cannot just think the pain away but instead work out what the signal really means.

I can usually ignore the ghost pain in the toe I broke. That is very definitely a sensory illusion and one I can use CBT on very easily. The prickles and raw feeling is one I haven’t fully understood but it is easy to avoid when it starts as it is a touch response and only on specific patches.

The bruised sensation is triggered by touch and if it lasts only a few seconds after I can usually hydrate, stretch, move. If it lasts for minutes I have to apply heat immediately and rest. Or it will last for hours or possibly days.

It is very weird. And figuring out these patterns took a long time. And a lot of experimenting because none of this is in any treatment plan that I have seen. Not traditional, not contemporary, not alternative, nothing.

So this is a case of trusting the body but also learning how to interpret various signals.

css wrangling

Woohoo! I have been working on a new site to transfer all my research to- just to make it easier to find information, I’ll still be here with my own work- and finally have had some luck with being able to not only provide “raw” data (ie non-commentary images/text) but also my commentary and, and this has been the difficult part, a meaningful way to search through both for specifics.

So far I have got a timeline of NRW images up and have been able to use categories and tags on pages (including attachments!) and have been able to display archives as a grid. This at least lets me test the tags and categories until I figure out masonry to help with mobile viewers.

oh.. it already seems to be a bit responsive so that’s a bonus. I quite enjoy css so this is now a fun aspect of the process :0

Anyway. It’s not quite as nifty as pinterest (masonry) but is flexible enough right now to be able to add clothing terms to each image and if I decide that the term is perhaps not perfect I can update and it will update across all images. So much easier than adding a description to the content of each attachment page.

I was going to add new taxonomies but I’d like to keep it as simple as possible and not add too many functions.

But, all I need to do is add another level to categories for images.


While reorganising my NRW files a very interesting pattern popped up. I still need to find some way of getting that information sorted but I am sure this pattern is directly related to sumptuary laws.

Sumptuary laws obviously affect everyone but it is possible to have a change in circumstance that allows for a change in clothing allowances. What I think I can see is this change. I’m trying to work out if this is also then some indication of preference or fashion.

Part of the reorganising involved dropping all images into a single folder then separating by technique, then from there by subject, and from there into setting.

In this was I was able to find the same image in different files. But I then had to still sort and the next easiest way to sort was by specific clothing options.

So far I have managed to mostly get a solid timeline of portraits which than then be used to look at allegorical imagery as well as at illustrations.

So before sharing all that I need to cite each image and some some way to put all the information needed (year/artist/sitter/clothing items) and that gets a bit complicated.

Back to Mon Mothma

Crinkly fabric of a width to make the Rogue One tunic? I don’t think it is one width. The depth of the folds was striking when I went looking for my own fabric and it’s at least two widths if not more (crinkled cotton is about 105-110cm wide). On the upside these are not straight rectangles- which is pretty logical when one looks at the drape. So I should have more than enough. I do need to sort out lining.

Following the crinkles and how they interact with the hems of both garments show just how deep the curve is and can help work out the width in total. The skirt being shaped is great, it means there is less bulk at the waist and hips so that the tunic can flow nicely from shoulder to hem.

Compare this tunic hem to the original and it’s a very similar shape but the Rogue one version is fuller and the fabric has deeper crinkles.

And the full tunic image shows the folds of the tucks pleats is very deep indeed.

Also interesting is the chain is actual chain.

It’s a fantastic break for costumers as this is a fairly standard kind of chain, and is a nice easy ~10mm wide and there are 12mm chains out there for taller people and 9mm for shorter. It’s called a “rope twist” and is often sold on ebay as a hip hop style chain. 2 30″ chains should be enough to include the wrap around the shoulder.

Of interest are her shoes. There is a definitely platform but it even looks like there is a heel. By which I mean we can’t see the shoe extend under the arch which means it has a separate heel.

garsault to the rescue

As expected both the text and the illustrations are much easier to understand in Garsault than Diderot.

The Lingerie Stitches from Garsault, I think I need to use c. I was wondering if there were more variations on this- such as running the needle through the fold to hide stitches almost entirely but it looks like a slanted stitch as per the text.

A, Le Surjet.
B, Le Point noué ou de boutonniere.
C, Le Point de côté.
D, Le Point devant.
E, Le Point de chaînette.
F, L’arriere-Point.
GMH, Trois Figures pour la Couture rabattue.

A, The Overlock.
B, Knotted or buttonhole stitch.
C, The Side Point.
D, The Point in front.
E, The chain stitch.
F, The backstop.
GMH, Three Figures for Folded Stitching.

The Lingerie Stitches of Diderot

The Tailors stitches for hemming:


Of note is the upper of Fig 6; the thread is clearly seen passing through the underside to the top, then the thread not returning through the upper but between upper and lower then through the lower and back up.

Also of note is that k, or the same figure also shows this clearly as the under layer is set slightly under.

And this helps with the text:

Le point à rabattre sous la main.
Il se fait comme le précédent, excepté qu’ayant percé l’étoffe supérieure,vous allez par dehors piquer l’étoffe inférieure au travers; puis vous les percez toutes deux en remontant: on se sert de ce point pour coudre la doublure au-dessus quand il la dépasse : k dessus, n dessous.

The point to fold at hand.
It is like the preceding, except that having pierced the upper stuff, you go outside to stitch the bottom stuff through; then you pierce them both up: we use this point to sew the lining above when it exceeds: k, above, n below.

This is not as clear in the Diderot plate of the same stitches, the stitches do not seem to weave in Fig 16, and in Fig 17 there is no indication of the underlayer.


So that has made it much easier for me to not use this set of stitches for my mantua hemming as it is not formed this way.

I think a simple slanted stitch like I normally use will be fine for the seam allowances along the joins of the mantua petticoat and seen in the Lingerie sections will be enough.