Beter wordt het niet By Caroline de Gruyter

 This is a book that as far as I can find only exists written in Dutch, a Swedish translation and maybe German. Though I'm uncertain about the last. 

About

The author is a journalist who after living in Brussels for awhile she moved to Austria and Wienna. There she realized how strong the Habsbourg influence still is and how different the narrative her is compared to what she was taught about it. 

A theme of the book is this changing narrative. The modern day nostalgia over things they then complained about. Similar to how people today complains about the EU. Though that nostalgia might partially be because the time after was so much worse with the rise and fall of soviet. Stability is underrated until you loose it.

The book contains many interviews with different people, descendants of the former royal family, other nobles and politicians. It is the journalist influence.

More about the Habsburgs and today's Austria than it does about EU. But whole sections are about the Hungary whose position in opposition to the Habsburg definitely mirrors their complicated position in EU today.

It's mostly about the last parts of the empire and the time after. The slow decline that was in the end obvious and parallels to today where every crisis is talked about as if it will be the one to break the union. The most obvious parallel is the problems of keeping diverse people united and the need to continuously adapt to new pressures.

The Habsburgs led was a multicultural empire held together by bureaucracy and compromises. It's collapse was a messy time. People who had previously been able to move freely about the empire now found themselves living on the wrong side of a border. 

My thoughts

That it's written by a journalist and not scientist is obvious from the very start. This isn't really a problem it just means it has more of a narrative, less statistics and a lot of personal anecdotes. And it is a more pleasant read.

It's interesting but lacks something in structure. Not really clear what differentiate the theme if one chapter from the next. Mostly it's the same anecdotes, interviews with descendants of various people, histories about the family interviewed or about life in the empire. And how that relates to EU. I cant help but think Maybe simply naming the chapters would have helped.

A lot of the people interviewed were descendants of nobles. People whose family lost land and influence when the empire collapses and the area was conquered. While it is interesting to hear about the modern day Habsburgs and their thoughts. They might have a bias to the empire in a way that ordinary people might not have. 

It is positive about the EU points out that it probably wont collapse despite what headlines might say. Because at the end of the day being a part of it is better than not.

All in all its an interesting read about a place and time I know little about. 

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Habsburg for the Dutch version and here Habsburg for the Swedish version.

Making some regency stays.

So, long story short I need a new bra, and my preferred size is hard to find. At the same time my YouTube feed started showing two separate videos about people making regency short stays based on this redthreaded pattern. So I decided to take my own shot at it.

This is a PDF pattern meaning you get the pattern as a file that you then print out.  I payed a bit more to get one for both short and long stays. But lets face it I'm going to make a full size corset someday so I might as well by a pattern now when I can get a bit of a discount.

Once printed you just tape the papers together and cut out the pieces. For this one most pieces were quite small, so only one had to be taped together. 

This also makes this an excellent project to use up some of my scrap fabric. So if I like the end result I'll probably make more. 

Clearly I'm incapable to just follow a pattern or instructions. Because as usual i made some adjustments, rather than just the two layers of fabric needed I'm doing a third padding layer of a thick wool I have. I'm also going to have as little boning as possible. 

So, a layer of cotton,  on of wool and once the flannel I ordered for my pajama pants project arrives a layer of that.

Sewing

For the wool I only did the front piece that was all I felt was needed. I also did it without seam allowance on the edges since it's meant to be inside the rest. This fabric doesn't fray and be cause of its thickness it's possible to sew it together just edge to edge, which is what I did for the gussets. Doing the seams the normal way would have made it way to bulky.

For the rest I did as one normally do, Cutting out the pieces and stitching it together by hand. I do have a sewing machine but I like doing my sewing sitting on my couch and watching videos. But also this is lots of small fiddly bits which is in many ways easier to do by hand.  

While doing one of the gussets I realizing it looked wrong. After actually looking at the instructions I tried a different way on the next one. The third one I did was the one I liked the look of (I'm working on the outside layer so I want it to look good) so I ripped up and redid the others.

At this point I did have to watch a video to figure out how some things should be done. Like the fold in the back and how the shoulder straps are meant to attach. There weren't any picture in the instruction and I don't understand what the text mean. I also decided that I want some boning in the front so I added the boning channel.

Then the project was put on pause.  I needed some ribbon to bind the edges but the fabric store isn't open on the weekends during the summer. There are probably others stores but not in walking distance. So I have to wait two weeks until my vacation to get the ribbon. Vacation starts and first Monday I'm there. Only to realize they have closed for lunch 14 to 15 which is odd time and right when I there. So I do some other errands first. Maybe I'll take it on the way home. This is starting to feel cursed.

I planned on buying black ribbon for the binding, but picked a dark blue instead, But now it's time to put it all together.

The back edge folds back and is sewn into channels for the boning, this is mostly to give stability for the lacing. I had decided to use leather for boning partially because it's easier to find. So four thin strips for the back boning and one thick as a center front busk. I'm putting the boning as much on the outside as I can. 

Something interesting happened. I have been unhappy with the fit for a while and I have been adjusting the shoulder straps to try an fix it. Some parts were too wide and some to short. Today I put in the eyelets and could for the first time wear it properly laced. All of a sudden the fit is so much better. I even moved the straps back to the original position. 

In the end I attached the straps the easiest way. Edge to edge and then covering the seam with the binding. Not the most elegant way but all the mess is on the inside so it doesn't matter.

Eyelets are put on to the straps and front the and then its done. I did consider not having eyelets on the front and just sew on the ribbon. But I decided I wanted to be able to change ribbon color in the future.

Results 

In hindsight I should probably have watched the videos to see how they did the binding before I started. On the other hand it worked out fine despite doing it completely differently. If I do this again I'll probably just make the straps and back piece into one part and avoid all this.

But it is comfy. More so than several bras I have since underwires sometimes dig in. It is meant to be worn with a shift or tank top underneath and something on top. Trying this it doesn't look too bad. 

Unfortunately the eyelets aren't as smooth as I would have wanted and I can feel them catch on the ribbons when I lace it.

Between the pattern, the eyelets and the ribbon for the binding (I already had the ribbons for the lacing) It was roughly double the price of just buying a bra. But the pattern was a one time purchase. And there is roughly forty eyelets left. So if I ever want to do another the price would be significant lower. I would basically just need the ribbon to bind the edges and that's mostly decorative.  

A review of Ember knight By Hwandaeng

In my late teens I used to watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga. Then I stopped. There wasn't really any reason for it it but the manga got replaced with fanfiction and anime with other videos.

But one was recommended on Drawfee a youtube channel I follow. The person recommending it was the same that recommended Gideon the Ninth so I'm inclined to trust it. Also you can read it for free on webtoons so why not.

Plot

Nagyunn is weak. Well he's a normal person surrounded by people with anime powers. The kind where someone gets thrown into a stone wall the wall will take most of the damage. His identical twin brother Najin is a prodigy and training to be a knight. Until one day Najin is killed by a group of masked people.

Nagyunn seeking revenge decides to take his brothers place in knight training hoping that once the masked people hears that Najin is still alive they will show themselves. Except he's still weaker than everyone else and can't actually win against them. He solves this by outsmarting them. Predict their movement and creating strategies to win. All while keeping his secrets, and finding out more about this group their tragic backstory and why they targeted Najin (so far all I know is they have a history but it's unclear). 

There's also a war brewing with the eastern continent, mages doing... something and a variety of groups who wants to destroy the knights as an organization. All of various intelligence and with different levels of intricate plans.

My thoughts

This was everything I expected. It has fights, auras of murderous intent, weird weapons (spears, swords, oversize swords, an umbrella and more). There are people wearing bandages for no apparent reason and named fighting moves. It's every manga cliche ever and I can't stop reading. I wan't to to figure out the evermore complex wed of secrets, lies and people trying to outsmart each other. 

As downsides it has a very large cast of characters and several of them are introduced at once. This makes it hard to keep track of who is who and to get any feel for them. Most of the apprentices are a bit of a blur for me. Which is a shame because they clearly aren't meant to be. They all have unique looks, abilities and slowly revealed backstories same as everyone else. I just have a difficult time connecting faces to names.

The bigger problem is that I've now reached the end of the uploaded episodes and will have top wait a whole week for the next.

What I did this summer part 2

Same as the earlier post but this is for the smaller projects I worked on in the last months. I'm taking the time to fix some pieces that didn't end up quire like I had wanted or completing half finished projects. This isn't all I've done just the ones that didn't warrant a post of their own. 

Fixing my trousers 

Some time ago I sewed these breezy summer trousers. I used some nice wooden buttons that I had left over from another project, it looked bohemian. Unfortunately the first time I put them in a washing machine the buttons cracked I assume because of the water. The crack wasn't visible once they dried  but I refuse to have clothes I can't wash and so the buttons need to be changed. I chose some blue plastic ones I had in my jar of buttons (if you are a crafting person you will inevitably end up with various random materials). I then spent an evening sewing them on and expanding the button holes. I like the look slightly less but practicality must take priority. The wooden buttons gets set aside for another project.  

The chair

I've been haunting the local thrift store looking for kitchen chairs for a while now. I got rid of the ones I had before when I moved and have been using folding chairs waiting for one to show up. This has been harder than it sounds like, there is a specific aesthetic I want. Also for some reason most chair-backs end up digging into my spine or shoulder blades after just a few seconds. So during almost half a year I have only found one and that one needed some work. I don't have any before pictures but it was white with slightly peeling paint. The reason it's peeling is that the paint hadn't really stuck to the lacquer beneath. 

I scraped of some of the paint leaving some details white. I plan on getting more chairs and since they will at most look somewhat similar I figure giving them a similar paint job will make them look more cohesive. So the legs and part of the back rest will be with and the seat and the rest of the back will be wooden.

I considered using oil and even bought some but having tried it on a bookshelf I changed my mind. I didn't really like the color want the glossy surface lacquer give. 
Now I've bought a mahogany stain and lacquer I need and it's time to get it done. First sanding of as much of the remaining paint as I could. After an hour and a half and I decide it was done. There is some really diminishing returns to this. 
One question remains will the stain stick to the still lacquered bits? I don't know, but to be one the safe side I'm trying to take as much of it off as I can. The stain does stick to the old lacquer. But I have spent several hours over the last few days to get rid of it. A thing about taking of paint or lacquer is that at almost every point in the process it will look worse than when you started. 

Halfway through staining it I realized that I probably should have done this outside. At least I opened a window. I should also have changed clothes and not worn my only summer dress. 
However I managed not to get any stains on my clothes. I did get some on the white painted bits that I hadn't covered properly. 
I left this to dry and a day later I added a layer of lacquer, this time I did remember to cover the parts that wasn't supposed to get painted before I started, also to open a window before I begun. 
Then sanding some of the uneven spots and a second layer.
Now its just waiting since apparently it takes 10 days to fully harden. Still I was happy with the results.

The stain and lacquer I used were both Herdins, I'm not sure If they can be found outside of Sweden but there are similar stains and lacquers here but I can't vouch for them.

Blue shirt

I originally made this one to test a pattern, then I realized I didn't need two identical shirts so I never made another. The pattern had three-quarter sleeves that I didn't like, wanted bishops sleeves instead. This didn't work they were too short, not by a lot but still, also too tight. The fabric is not elastic at all so the tight cuffs makes it hard to move. Because of this I have barely used it and decided I needed to do Something about it. I'm not sure what yet but seam ripping the cuffs of was a natural first step.
It all made more difficult by the fact that I don't have any more of this fabric. In the end I decided to do it like the pattern had said. Cutting up the cuffs into shorter bands and sewing them back on.

There is a bit of a hack to get pleats even. Put a pin on the seam running down the sleeve, then put another on the opposite side. Divide the part between the pins in two and mark it with another pin. Then keep dividing the distances by two until you have as many pins as the you want pleats. Then take the cuff  and do the same keep dividing in half and marking the centers. It's important that there are the same amount of pins or other marks on both. Then when you attach the pieces simply line up the pins. I used eight so one eight of the sleeve end up on one eighths of the cuff.
Result
The sleeves are good. Though as I said three quarters isn't my preferred length, I get cold easily. That being said I'm still not entirely happy with the shoulders, they are a bit wide. However this is a much bigger fix and setting sleeves is an annoyance and even if I tried I don't know if it would help. So that's for another day. For now hopefully it will see a bit more use I say as if I'm not the one who decides what clothes get used.