Kalì Nifta

Long time no update. The second half of 2023 really ran me over until I was completely flat and all of my blood was gone. But I’m back babey! This is everything I finished in January 2024. Three embroidered hoops, three embroidered pins, and two collages. This doesn’t include the sketching and tie dyeing for future projects. Don’t know what kinda manic wave I’m riding but we’re gonna ride it till it crashes!

Mending my favourite vintage night gown

I got this nightgown at a vintage shop a few months ago, for not an insignificant amount of money let’s be honest, and it was love at first sight. Unfortunately, I wore it for a single weeks before a nasty tear appeared in the sleeve. I already had to strengthen the neckline trim and patch the inside yoke so it wasn’t a complete surprise, but still, I was kind of pissed off since I paid kind of a lot of money for it. Anyways, here’s my repairing process in pictures:

1) The torn fabric (zoom on the picture to see just how bad it was)

2) Basting the patch. The fabric was so worn I used two patches, one inside and one outside, to securely sandwich the delicate zone and prevent future tearing.

3) I was loosely inspired by sashiko for the mending so, last night I went into a mending rampage and drew a grid before starting on the stitching proper, making up a pattern as I went on. No picture of the grid pre-stitching because it was 11pm and I had lost any sense of time and space.

4) The patched up nightgown, with the topmost buttonhole strengthened before it started spontaneously disintegrating too.

I am super happy with my pseudo-sashiko mending pattern and will really research this technique of embroidery and mending for future use!

If you've never seen how pandas look when they're first born and you've never seen a mother panda carrying them there's no way to prepare you for it

My next sewing project is to try and make something similar to this, using the template I found on google images 😂 wish me luck 😭

Starting it next Monday with some embroidery! ❤️

I have made the outline and done a plan but it could all go wrong so join me on this adventure ✨

I still can't believe this is one of mondo's actual beta designs

I think the best way to describe my fashion style is ‘confused time-traveller who learned 21st century fashion by watching fantasy movies’.

I feel absolutely fabulous wearing a swooshing cape and poofy skirts to walk around town by the way.

you gotta be able to say "die"

you gotta be able to say "suicide"

you gotta be able to talk about "sex"

they're uncomfortable topics, YEAH for SURE

because LIFE is uncomfortable. Death and suicide and sex and pain are straight up going to happen. not having words for the way it discomforts you doesn't make it more comfortable, it just makes you less able to reach out about it.

even more vital, you gotta be able to say words like "rape", "abuse", "queer" or "racist". cause we fought fucking hard to name those experiences. to identify "rape" as distinct from "sex" and "racism" as distinct from "acceptable behaviour" and "queer" as distinct from "invert"

like the function of communication is not to minimise immediate discomfort. we gotta be able to talk about stuff that's hard or sucks or causes difficult conversations.

*Married life playing in the background

This idea was probably funnier in my head