Back from the dead

Hello!

So, um...I've been gone for a while...a few months actually...wow. I have a good reason, but I also have something really cool to show you all! A lot has been going on in my little world and I've feel like I haven't even had time to sit and think about blogging. (it's a full time job you know? and when you have a full time job, laundry, dirty house, fiance and parents to talk to, dinner to cook, errands to run and the gym to go to...blogging and sewing kind of takes a back burner to life).

Amazingly...shockingly...I've won a couple of awards in my absence for my comatose blog. Most specifically from the blog Sew 18th Century and she awarded me with the Leibster Blog award! YAY! Thank you Elizabeth! (and thank you for the lovely fb message...sorry I haven't written back...I can be quite terrible about those things)

Wee!

It's been a really interesting few months for me. It's been approx. 1 year since I moved away from Sweden, gave my talk about blogging and how important it is, got a full time job with the foundation and now live in an old farm house with a roommate while waiting for my fiance to get his visa and move here (US Immigration...hello? Hello? Is this thing on?). My life has completely changed.

With all these changes have brought about a new sense of responsibility. Most importantly with my job. I have a full time job with my museum, which means I am wearing 18th century clothes 5 days a week. I wear stays 5 days a week. Shoes with buckles, gowns, jackets, bedgowns, and a cap. I don't wear makeup anymore unless it's my day off, and I do have to admit, bathing habits get a bit...um...interesting when you wear shifts, stays, jackets and gowns everyday and your hair is covered...let's just say it doesn't always become your first priority. (kinda gross...i know...)

Since I wear these clothes every single day,  the pretty pretty dress up has lost it's appeal. This is not just a costume....these are my clothes...they don't sparkle and go "dah dah!!!" when I put them on. In fact, I spend part of my morning interrupting my roomie to lace me up in my stays because they're back lace only and lacing myself in would take up almost an hour. I can tell when she's annoyed with me when my stays are tighter than normal.

Speaking of, I wear my stays so much looser now than you would expect. I still have some support, but there are more days than not where my body has sunken into my stays to some degree instead of coming out of my stays (if you get my drift).

But you want to know the coolest coolest thing, like, ever?

My stays have completely molded to my body. As in, I can take off my stays and wrap them around and you can see the shape of my body in my stays. When they are on, it's like a second skin. It is the coolest thing.

And also insanely comfortable.

This is me after work one day...and before I got a ribbon for my cap

This shows better how they have molded to the curves of my back, bum, and hips

And a side shot to also show the shape of the front

These stays are those stays. Yes. The ones I boned with baleen. And I am so thankful I did. The baleen has lived up the expectations I had and my body is incredibly thankful for the daily comfort. Stays boned with oak or ash splint will also take on the same characteristics too. Metal boning does not do this. It does not mold. (I have an old pair of stays that show this very clearly.) They'll go right back to their original shape, unless they're bent. They're too flimsy..I can't even imagine making stays out of metal boning anymore...my waist and hips hurt just thinking about it.

You can also see how loose my stays are. This is how I wear them everyday. I'll take them into 1" space only if I'm wearing my silk gown...but for my day to day, they're nice and functional and loose. I'm also going to try and remember to get a photo of my stays standing up on their own, just to show you what exactly I mean when I say they've molded, but that'll probably take me 6 months. :P

Another reason I've backed off the blogging, is because of my job...I still haven't figured out the balance of my work and my blog and where things are acceptable and not. I'm still trying to figure that out, and hopefully I'll find a balance soon... I would like to start writing more...though I feel as though this blog might undergo a sort of transformation in the process....we'll see I guess?

Anyways, I've missed you all, I've been blog stalking you all and now I'm signing off...it's time for yoga!

<3 <3 <3