All posts filed under: Miscellenia

Why loving your body doesn’t have to equal revealing your body

This is a follow-up post to my post on the phrase ‘real bodies.’ I’ve noticed a big trend lately for loving your body = revealing your body. You see it in shows like “How to Look Good Naked”, where women who hide their body under baggie clothes learn to celebrate it by doing a ‘boudoir’ photoshoot that is displayed on large screens in public places. It’s a big part of the burlesque community, where you celebrate yourself by taking your clothes off. And these are fine, and there is something great to be said for anything that helps women to feel comfortable with who they are, but I’m not entirely comfortable with their message, both for personal reasons, and in a wider societal context. Personally, I’m quite a private person. I don’t really tell people what’s going on with my life. I hold new people at a distance until I really assess my character. I hide my privacy in real life, and on the blog, with ‘public’ stories. It’s amazing how people think they know …

Timeless Beauties at Dr Sketchy

Published by The Dreamstress

I’ve just realised that I was very remiss, and while I shared links to Dr Sketchy photos on my facebook page, I never properly blogged about it. This is mostly because I was sick with a cold on the day of Dr Sketchy, and can barely remember what happened, much less what I said! I almost ended up not having photos from Dr Sketchy due to my foggy brain, but it’s also to thank for getting them in the first place. I was so sick in the run-up to Dr Sketchy I forgot to ask the divine Sarah if she would come and take photos. In an odd quirk of fate though, as the models and I, all dressed in stays and petticoats, and laden with their costume changes, rushed to the venue we bumped into Sarah taking photographs of the street. In my virus fugue I completely forgot that I hadn’t asked her to take pictures, and assumed that she was on the way to Dr Sketchy to do just that, which I proceeded …

Australia Part II – Steph!

Published by The Dreamstress

I had a lovely time on the super holiday, relaxing part of our Australia holiday, but the real highlight of the trip for me was getting to meet fellow blogger Steph, the genius behind 3 Hours Past the Edge of the World. I’ve been following Steph’s blog for at least two years now: ever since she started commenting on mine in fact (side note – I try to check every blog that gets linked to mine in a comment, and most of them I end up following). Steph’s blog fascinates me because we have so much in common, and some very distinct differences, both as people, and as seamstresses. We are both expat Americans with antipodean husbands. We’re about the same age, and have been married and in the Southern Hemisphere for about the same time. We both teach and sew, and share a love of vintage styles, and for making vintage styles work in a modern context. We also share a belief in sharing: in making our knowledge as accessible as possible. At the …