"Ship's Log, Stardate 94570.86:
Welcome back! I have two, recently finished DIY projects to share with you, and while both are solid black in color, they utilize some interesting (and cheap!) materials. Let's get this report started.
The Convertible
I recently attended the PDX community's ILD event. It had an adorable Harry Potter Yule Ball theme, and I wanted to wear something elegant and witchy for the theme. I purchased a long bustle JSK by Atelier Pierrot, my first tea length dress, and I absolutely love the length. I am seriously considering making a switch to a tea-length dominated wardrobe...
Unfortunately, the blouses I had were too overwhelming for the Hermione's-pink-gown-but-in-black look I was going for, and instead made the top half appear chunky and fussy. I wanted something with dainty, delicate, sleeves that left the neckline completely open.
I found what I needed in a $15 chiffon LBD from Amazon (hey, when I gamble, I gamble cheap). I wore it as a comfy slip dress underneath the JSK. The billowy, off-the-shoulder sleeves were perfect!
...well, almost perfect. There were two issues I ran into. The bottom of the sleeves hung straight down like t-shirt sleeves, and the spaghetti straps that hold it up would constantly slip out from underneath the JSK straps (also my bra straps, hello!). All in all, a rather sloppy off-the-shoulder look.
I wanted the sleeves to "bubble up" at the bottom, instead of hanging straight down. Elastic threaded through casing at the bottom would do the trick, and luckily the sleeves already had a convenient tunnel along the bottom (due to the existing hem) through which to thread the elastic.
Using the blunted end of a seam ripper, I wiggled a small opening through the seam into each of these tunnels, and using a needle with a large eye (the proper tool would be a bodkin), I threaded through about 1 foot of elastic per sleeve. After trying it on to adjust for comfort, I tied off the elastic just a bit tighter than the width of my biceps, trimmed the excess, and worked the knots inside the tunnel so they are hidden.
The second issue was something I didn't anticipate, as I usually wear full coverage blouses. I briefly considered just using hidden safety pins to keep both the dress straps and my bra straps hidden, but as the straps were unable to slide past each other, it felt more restrictive and like I might tear one of them. So instead, I created little strap-stays!
Cutting the velvet ribbon into four even pieces (about three times the width of the JSK straps), I used the lighter to fray check the edges. I slid each one behind all the straps I wanted to keep together and folded the two ends on top of each other in front, marking the spot where they connect. Those spots are where I sewed the metal snaps. No more strap slips!
 |
| You can see the strap slipping already on the unpinned side... |
To fix both of these issues, I grabbed some trimmings from my craft wall:
2' of Black Elastic Jewelry Cord
1' of 1/2" Wide Black Velvet Ribbon
4 Sets of Metal Snaps
Heavy Duty Black Thread
Small Hand Sewing Needle
Large Hand Sewing Needle or Bodkin
Seam Ripper
Scissors
Lighter
I wanted the sleeves to "bubble up" at the bottom, instead of hanging straight down. Elastic threaded through casing at the bottom would do the trick, and luckily the sleeves already had a convenient tunnel along the bottom (due to the existing hem) through which to thread the elastic.
And this was the completed look! Top down, windows up!
(I also made a couple of wrist cuffs and a simple choker from the velvet ribbon.
The velvet bow on the hat is from another dress with some faux barbed wire I made.)
And on to the next project...
The Two Seater
I finally finished frilling up my old Totes umbrella. Sometimes, I don't want the outer edge of my skirt (or my friend, or my backpack, or my legs, etc) getting wet. And sometimes, rain doesn't fall straight down. So I have been wanting to DIY this double canopy bad boy for a while so I could have a serious parasol for serious weather!
Some of this I had on hand, but I did need to special order a few items:
Totes Double Canopy Umbrella (Golf/Sport Umbrella)
1 Black Vinyl Shower Curtain Liner (10 gauge)
7mm Scalloped Pinking Shears
Black Upholstery Thread or Black Heavy Duty Thread
Assorted Hand Sewing Needles
Chalk Pen
Inspired by this DIY project, I ordered a black shower curtain liner on Amazon to make my ruffles. It had a textured side that I wanted to be visible when complete, and an untextured side, which I used to mark my cutting and sewing lines.
I marked and cut 11 strips down the length of the shower curtain. The first five strips were 4" wide and the last six strips were 5" wide. These are to trim the top and bottom canopies, respectively.
Using the pinking shears, I carefully trimmed the two long edges of every single piece, leaving as much width behind as possible. Vinyl won't fray, but doing this creates a cute scalloped edge on both sides of the ruffle.
I placed the five 4" wide strips end to end and stitched them all together into a big loop, and then did the same with the six 5" strips. So I had two gigantic leis of black ruffled vinyl with long pieces of thread hanging out from various points in the seams. From there, I could measure, compare, and adjust each section.
After some adjustments, some quick math, and LOTS of pins to hold everything just so, I tied off and snipped all of the threads of each lei. Now to sew it in place!
And here is the finished product (with my other two for a size comparison)!
Boom! Alright, so it looks like something Ghost Princess Perona might carry around, but it's definitely rain proof, full coverage, and it definitely seats two. Double date, anyone?
That concludes this week's report, I hope you enjoyed it! Up next, ... I don't actually know, but something D.I.Y! Stay tuned!
Stay dry, folks! Bear signing off!"
This frequency will remain open for response.
. . . . . . . . . . 👾
*Bonus Content*
As to the bonus content, and those of you who have read the first two parts - sorry for the long break. I did get word back from Rebecca. We finally know what happened to Byron. Or at least we think we do. I woke up to a few emails from her back to back, and well... here, you can read it, but only if you're up for it:
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FROM: coastalgirl@********
TO: lordbear@******
Oct 21, 2016
Police are here. I saw them add Byron's name and photo to a wall with others. There is a photograph of two young kids, a boy and a girl, on the same wall... They walked me into a room so I didn't see more, We're being held in the closest station. I'm not sure I'm supposed to have this laptop. They took my phone, but the case on this makes it look like it's just monitoring equipment. I hid Beetle's mifi and I don't think there's a camera in here.
They are suspicious of us because none of this makes sense, but all they have to do is go out and look.
We got up, got our gear, and hiked straight, I mean a direct line, towards where we saw the lights, as a group. Not a half mile in, Aleks and I are going one way, the rest going the other. We were going diagonally in completely different directions, and no one noticed until Aleks saw how spread out we were on the horizon and said something. So we all came back together and held hands in a line. I said if anyone notices they are starting to feel off, say something, and we'll all move away from wherever they were when they started to feel affected.
Byron was on the end next to Red. We were walking fast, I guess we thought we could just charge through whatever delusion was taking hold of us if we marched through it fast enough. I heard Red make a weird, soft sound, and Byron asked him if he was alright and then said, "I'm not alright, guys something's off" and stumbled. Red tried to catch him before he hit the ground, but then the ground just wasn't there.
Then Byron wasn't there, and Red's head was where our feet were, and he was scrambling up through the dirt. We had to grab him by the pants because his shirt came up over his head and he almost slipped out.
We got him up and started backing away from the hole, trying to stay on stable ground but close enough to try and see or hear Byron. But there was a big boom, a sucking sound like a tide going out of a marsh, and a low rumble that you could feel more than hear. I started screaming Byron!, because I knew we needed to get him and get out of there, but he never answered.
There was a second boom with more of a cracking sound, and when we looked around, Red took off running into the woods. He wouldn't listen or come back. The ground around us, all around, everywhere, was breathing, up and down, like a big... I don't know, but like it was waking up.
Nasheed and Royce made us leave, made us run. We had to. We thought we could still feel it moving underneath us for maybe half a mile. We left Red, we left our gear, we even left the car out there, and just ran as far as we could back down our trail. There was no way we were going to make it all the way back, and we started collapsing about halfway between the camp and the stations, but we were in cell range then and called Beetle. He and Mitch drove out to meet us and bring us back.
Red was missing for over an hour. We tried to look as a group at first, but we needed to get back so Mitch could call in for a helicopter search and rescue for Byron.
Someone's coming.
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FROM: coastalgirl@********
TO: lordbear@******
Oct 21, 2016
Sorry, I'm back.
We told them the truth, but now they have police here, including that trooper and he called off the search and rescue. Something about how we can't bring bystanders into a potentially dangerous situation or what might be foul play, so only police and rangers are out looking right now, and they won't be clear with me on how many are out there, but it can't be enough, it can't be as many as if we had volunteers.
But I don't want anything to happen to anyone else either... I don't know.
Red retracted his story to the police. I got to talk to him for a little bit before they separated everyone again, he told them Byron just fell and we couldn't reach him and that we made up the scary stuff to hide the fact that we had just been drinking and felt guilty for leaving our friend. I think he just wanted them to start up the search again, thinking that if it was a straight forward situation, if it was just a fall and careless young people... But I told him we need to tell the exact and whole truth. If something is really under the ground out there, it might get anyone who's trying to help.
Red is taking this all pretty hard because he got searched for.
I don't blame him, none of us do. He tried to say something to the rest of us, before the ground opened up. Whatever got Byron, I think it got poison into them both. Red was barely holding it together when we dragged him up away from the hole, more wild than scared. By the time we heard the second roar, he was babbling and terrified, and he was too fast and strong for us to try and catch up to him or stop him when he took off into the woods. We had no choice but to leave them both behind at that point.
Beetle and Mitch met us on the trail, we were just panting, sitting down right in the middle of it, cramped up, sweating, almost laughing and crying to see them. Beetle took the rest of us back to the stations. Mitch stayed behind to keep searching for Red. He was already calming down, found his bearings, and was making his way back to the trail anyway, so he wasn't hard to find, but it still took effort and time that could have been spent on Byron.
He and Mitch actually drove back out to the ridge where the camp was before coming back here, so Red could point out where it happened, and apparently when they went to look, the hills were different, smaller. Like the valley floor was a throw blanket that had been shaken out and placed back more neatly on a bed. Mitch wouldn't let him go over the lip to search at that point, said it would be best to do a fly over instead, in case they were looking at the wrong area, or the wrong viewing angle.
Mitch is the one who told us this. We thought he had only been searching for Red the entire time, he didn't mention that he had begged Mitch to drive out with him to try and search for Byron. I guess he figured if he didn't find him, what was the point in saying anything to redeem himself. I'm still glad he at least tried.
Hold on, I gotta go, there's some kind of argument going on, if they walk in here they will take this laptop awa
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FROM: coastalgirl@********
TO: lordbear@******
Oct 21, 2016
I'm just going to keep hitting Send when I can get enough written out, okay?
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FROM: coastalgirl@********
TO: lordbear@******
Oct 21, 2016
I am so done with their "investigation".
I specifically asked if volunteers who were told the entire story, and had expertise in search and rescue, were willing to look, could they go search, and got shot down. Royce knows people who would come search just because we said something paranormal happened out there, people who can protect themselves, people with medical training, people with infrared equipment, but they won't even let us contact anyone!
I let Royce on here to get the word out on one of his forums. We weren't going to go around them until we found out they weren't even letting other authorities or people know what is going on. I completely understand not wanting local parents and kids out searching for a missing person when they might also be in danger. I do not understand keeping this an absolute secret from other authorities or potential volunteers. I don't understand why we can't even have people on standby until we have a better idea of what the dangers are.
We aren't supposed to leave the area yet because they still want to question us. We don't want to leave the area yet, because Byron is still out there somewhere, and we need to bring him back, for his family. But we don't want to camp and we don't want to be in that cabin, and there is nowhere to stay really in the stations for all of us. We're going to stay with some locals and come up with our own plan. Besides, this will make it easier for us to meet up and head out tomorrow.
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FROM: lordbear@******
TO: coastalgirl@********
Oct 21, 2016
OMG thank you, I was getting worried. What do you mean though, you guys are going to sneak out and search while the police and rangers are also out there? If you go around them, and they are out looking for perps... what if they're armed!? If you guys are crashing around, even if nothing gets you first, they might mistake you for whatever it is. What if you guys do it like this - leave to search, and then after it's too late for them to stop you, contact someone back in town, or just let Beetle (do you still trust him) know? So at least they know it's you guys, and to expect you back. Who are you staying with?
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FROM: coastalgirl@********
TO: lordbear@******
Oct 21, 2016
Too late, it's on. I do, and I don't... I don't know. We have radios, and we'll be in touch with Corey back here. We need to get him back, I'm not letting something take his body like the wolves. Tomorrow morning, volunteers (Royce's cousin Corey and his pilot friend, and a couple of Royce's friends, and the rest are just kind or curious people with search and rescue experience who want to help us) are coming in through the town, and we're going to meet them and discretely take off from here to go and search, and at least mark and photograph the area, and also search with infrared cameras. Tonight, we're staying with Ms. Marle and Ms. Gemma, two nice local ladies with spare room for all of us.
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FROM: coastalgirl@********
TO: lordbear@******
Oct 22, 2016
Just checking in with you. We're leaving now.
Corey (Royce's cousin) is staying behind to coordinate with another pilot for an air search. Victoria, Andre, Gary, PJ, Natalie, and Tony (three friends, three kind strangers) are coming with me, Royce, Aleks, Red, and Nasheed to go search. We're leaving Meagan at Marle and Gemma's to get some rest, since she's feeling pretty sick. I'll let you know how it goes, I'll try to text you if anything big happens.
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They took off and were in and out of cell range for a little bit, nothing unexpected, but her first text wasn't the calm update I was hoping for:
Rebecca: "SEPARATED AGAIN OMG, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING"
I sent several texts back to her without a response for about an hour.
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Finally a response:
R: "Whatev the things are they are here"
B: "What things? The thing, what things?"
R: "P590cc3 9999999999999999999999999999999999"
B: "Texting group like we planned, if you don't answer in 30 minutes, I'm contacting the rangers."
About 20 minutes went by. I didn't want to get the group in trouble or have the search called off too soon, and expected cell service to be in and out, and finally Nasheed answered me:
Nash: "Call *** *** **** now"
The landline number where Corey is. I dialed it on a second phone immediately.
N: "We're surrounded on all sides."
B: "By what?!"
N: "The lights are around us. I see 8 or 9 of them right now, but there are more, around us in a circle."
They had taken off with a few personal locators, so I didn't even need to relay their location, only that they needed him. Corey was already fueled and ready to take off. I spoke briefly with Meagan to fill her in and then focused on relaying the texts.
B: "Can you get away? Is everyone still alright? Corey's on the way, they've got you on PLB"
N: "I feel really light."
B: "Corey's on the way, tell me what's happening."
N: "Its very xold"
B: "Is anyone injured?"
N: "Im so tirrd im going togoto sleep"
B: "NO, STAY AWAKE."
B: "NASH"
B: "HELLO!"
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I didn't get any texts back from anyone at that point, so I reached out to Corey again, but he was already in the plane with Wyatt, the pilot who volunteered to fly with him. I relayed everything I knew about what they said they had seen and where they were trying to go to Meagan. We expected that we wouldn't be in communication with Corey and Wyatt for a little while, as they would both be focused on the search and flying. What I didn't expect was the text message I got from Corey in the air:
COREY: "12 clear heat signatures in the valley. None moving. Second pass, then contacting Coast Guard."
Corey confirmed the same with a second pass, and relayed what they had picked up to the Coast Guard.
Twelve. Rebecca, Nasheed, Red, Royce, and Aleks. Tony, PJ and Natalie. Andre, Victoria, and Gary. ...and Byron? And why weren't they moving?
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More news in the morning came via text from Meagan:
Meagan: "Hey, I'm doing the rounds, contacting everyone - we're okay! Give me a couple of hours, I'll fill you in, I need to call a lot more people first, my phone is blowing up. "
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FROM: meagan*******@*****
TO: lordbear@******
Oct 23, 2016
Alrighty. First, we are okay. Breathe.
Corey and Wyatt were already getting ready to take off because of a break in contact, so when you called, that was basically "go". They weren't seeing anything but Corey thought to start looking with infrared right away, trusting Royce's coordinates, and boom, some of them laying flat enough that he could clearly tell some of the shapes were people, man there, woman there.
But no one was moving or responding, and the last thing anyone heard was you, actually, Nash's texts had the latest timestamp.
When the helicopters showed up, they were looking with infrared, too, but it wasn't even necessary, a few of them had come to, started waking the others up. But they were able to spot Byron, still not moving, with infrared only.
They could only bring people up one at a time with two helicopters, so it took a while, and they were focused on the women and Royce, who was having a hard time breathing. Red and Gary stayed on the ground to help with retrieving Byron, but neither of them was able to get close to the area he was in. They started sinking, ankle, then knee deep, into the ground, but it wasn't just muddy. One of the rescuers on the ground shouted "Gas! Back up, back up!" and they actually called off the rescue for a while. They were only able to get Gary, Red refused to be picked up without Byron.
Another helicopter arrived a long while later and stayed much higher this time. Red was able to communicate with them, and they sent down some gas detectors before one of the guys came down with a basket.
As soon as his feet hit the ground, he just sank right in and the rope got tight. Red and the guy working the hoist helped pull him back up and out, and when they did, they were able to see Byron's feet. And he started moving them!
He was pinned and injured, but alive, with his face pressed near an entrance into some animal's burrow, it must have been how he had been able to get enough air to breath. They had to work for a while to get dirt and rocks and roots off of him without causing another collapse, but they eventually got him in the basket, and they came back for Red last. They all went directly to hospital, but we heard from Byron, he's got a handful of broken this and cracked that, and they are really concerned about his nights spent inhaling whatever the ground has been pumping out, but will be okay.
It turns out that the rangers were absolutely right not to send in teams of people to search. We would have lost someone. The entire area has been declared off limits, and they are even talking about evacuating the locals. The ground is basically swiss cheese, and all the rain recently has made it softer and easier for the gas to escape, and also easier for anyone to fall through. Apparently you can see the different gasses coming out of the ground in different places, at different intervals, but mostly in line with the rumbles and infrasound they are picking up now. They think the lights we saw were just swamp lights, and we were just gassed up when we saw them. We're still not exactly sure what --oh wow holy crap that was... that was really loud... I think we need to go.
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FROM: lordbear@******
TO: meagan*******@*****
Oct 23, 2016
WHAT!? I'm so glad! So Byron and Red are out, what about the rest of you? Gas?! What are you hearing?
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FROM: lordbear@******
TO: meagan*******@*****
Oct 23, 2016
Hellooooo? Sorry, I know you're probably dealing with family calling off the hook, just let me know.
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I waited for a little bit before deciding to reach out to someone else. As soon as I picked up my phone, I had a missed call. Corey. I called back instead of checking the voicemail. He wanted to know if I knew where the group was and if they made it out yet. I told him that I had recently traded emails with Meagan in the town, and he hung up to contact Royce. He sounded extremely alarmed even though I let him know Meagan had said everyone was alright.
Then I started putting two and two together and realized no one was actually alright at all so long as they were still up there. I texted the group and reached out to Corey again to share my theory and warn them, but he already knew and was already on it.
I started feeling a bit helpless, waiting for an answer back, but then I finally got this:
Rebecca: "WELP, THERE GOES MY DSLR! XD"
B: "OMG, where are you?"
R: "Evac convoy, whole mountain is being cleared. Royce and Corey figured it out about when the rangers did, so they finally called it."
R: "Methane and other gasses, lots of seismic activity increasing over the last two weeks. They didn't want to cause a panic, but it's confirmed now, the ground sunk in about 20 feet in that whole area. No time to go back for the car."
B: "As long as you're alright, you can get another one."
B: "Wait, Royce's car too?!"
R: "I'm pretty sure that entire valley is a caldera. Royce says the story is worth the loss. XD"
B: "I tell you what, you call me when the entire group is out of range of that thing and let me know you're okay, and I'll go halvsies with you on a new camera."
R: "Deal!!"
The next call I got from her was from Byron's hospital room, and from the laughing and talking in the background about maybe paying a visit to Mt. Nyiragongo, I'd say the whole group is doing just fine.
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