It’s less than a month till the start of a brand new year in the Hebrew calendar. The year will be 5777, and
1. Fibulae: Romans basically invented the safety pin. Doing an Etsy search for “fibula” will land you with several different objects that work on the same principles: one or more metal wires, twisted into a shape that creates spring/tension and that thus can be used to fasten one bit of fabric to another. I’ve bought wire, and I’ve cut it to size for making a couple different types of fibulae. I also bought some bits for my Dremel tool, because arthritis is a thing and I don’t think I should have to make it worse out of slavish devotion to period techniques on objects that I’m going to make, unless making the object in a perfectly period fashion is the goal. Since my persona isn’t Roman, I don’t feel the strongest need to make all of a Roman outfit and its accoutrements/accessories in period fashion. But I also don’t feel the need to pay $20 for one of these suckers. Why pay $20 for a finished object, when you can instead spend $100 in craft supplies and then make nigh-unlimited amounts of the same object? Right. I didn’t think so!
Grind rough-cut tips. This is done, but should be done more/better.
Straighten bent bits. This, too, is done but should be done more/better.
Flatten one end to use as the ‘catch’.
Bend into shape.
This is a holdover from last year’s to-do list. I still haven’t finished these, but on the other hand, I’m not sure that’s going to happen. I really want to figure out how to do this, but I can’t seem to hold those skinny little wires in a way that doesn’t really, really hurt my fingers. So it’s very hard to grind down the pokey, painful tips where the wires were cut, into a nice smooth point that can go through the fabric of a garment to hold the garment on the wearer. I’m starting to reluctantly admit that these might be a Buy instead of a Make. Not giving up completely, but this is on hold until the day when I think I’m ready to face the frustration once more.
2. New Wardrobe: See separate post, coming soon.
3. Mending pile: Oh, this pile. It is huge. It fills up an entire laundry hamper, and that’s with everything folded nicely, not even jumbled up at all. The majority of what’s in this pile are hand-me-down garb that I’m extremely grateful to have because it’s really lovely stuff, but because it doesn’t fit properly, I have to do stuff to make it wearable. I don’t want to do stuff. I just want it to magically fit. So I’m staring at this pile for nearly 6 months now, and it’s staring right back at me and refusing to magic itself. Just looking at it makes me tired.
Take it in; let it out; hem it; fix a hole here; shorten there; finish that seam.
“Make do and mend.”
“Use it up; wear it out; make it do, or do without.”
Stop using WW2 era slogans. (Will never actually happen.)
This one will never actually get done. There will always be something else that needs taking in, letting out, darning, patching, fixing, improving. But it’s on the To-Do list anyway, because it’s things that I need to do. They’ll take time, effort, and learning. As it happens, I only mended one item over the last year. I took one of the hand-me-down linen gowns, a gorgeous light green made in 12th century style, and took it in to fit myself. Turns out I took it in just a wee bit too far. It still fits, but a little too well: I can wear it alone, but not with a smock (chemise, shift, under-dress). Therefore, the best way for me to keep wearing it would be to make a surcote, a gown to wear over this one.
I’m not sure what your difficulty is with holding wire, but a needle nose or other plier with flat faces is what I use.