Against a Dark Background

The unlikely Tumblr feed of a Culture GSV in Earth orbit...

[cuunos]

hey can everyone do me a favor and put in the tags why they chose their name? even if you don't go by a chosen name irl, you can put why you chose your online name.

[qrtem]

If i were an animator for wha, i too would fall in love with brushbuddy and give it more screentime

[magickedteacup]

Animator hands in rough animation for ok from the director

Director, pointing: what’s this in the background

Animator: nothing

Animator: … of your concern

[maculategiraffe]

it is very instructive to play both silent hill and resident evil videogames because they are very similar except for how silent hill is good and resident evil is stupid. it helps you figure out what is stupid in a video game and what is good

for example, in silent hill games, you are confronted with many weird baroque puzzles you have to solve to proceed, because that is the dark and creepy and confrontational nature of the world you are in. in resident evil games, you are confronted with weird baroque puzzles you have to solve because apparently, separate from and unrelated to the ongoing zombie apocalypse, the raccoon city designers designed the subway station map so that if you insert a red jewel into the correct diamond shaped recess, a drawer opens that contains a live hand grenade

[kitamars]

remember our promise

[campsis]

Eden Kalif, Good Cats

[manuciruja]

awww the like button turns into a rainbow when you press it! that's so cute...hey staff what's with all the trans women you keep nuking?

[manuciruja]

i think we should be ridiculing them more for this. you don't get to try and go all "queer website" when your staff likes to go on nuking sprees targeting the trans fem users

[smadsel]

would be remiss not to mention that the rainbow notably straight up just removed the trans flag colors from it. like they’re gone. it’s the progress flag minus the trans flag colors.

[smadsel]

that’s not the whole flag, now is it

[manuciruja]

hey staff what the fuck

[villainessbian]

hey staff don't you think you're being too on-the-nose

[shrodingers-catgirl]

HEY STAFF DONT YOU THINK YOU'RE BEING TOO ON-THE-NOSE

[sootchild]

[d-floe]

[amiyayuri]

Juri x Mai

@delarocha82

[sksktktk]

[memewhore]

[spleenyz]

[fallout-lou-begas]

[kermittingacrime]

ask and you shall receive.

[gayvampyr]

[electronicmail]

this shit was always real as hell

[gachafans]

「artist」 thefatum 「characters」 manhattan cafe 「from」 umamusume

[roseillest]

AFRIQUE, JE TE PLUMERAI // AFRICA, I WILL FLEECE YOU (1992) dir. JEAN-MARIE TENO

[marzipanandminutiae]

people in the notes of that "I don't have a serger" post are going off on tailor's chalk for some reason? as if that's also something that's hugely expensive and insane to assume everyone has?

like. okay. you don't HAVE to use tailor's chalk, but you should at least use something you know won't bleed or otherwise mess up the material. in this case, it does make more sense to do the extra research and maybe buy something new if what you have to hand isn't ideal. ruining your fabric will cost you more time and money in the long run

much as we all hate Am*zon, you can get a 10-piece box of tailor's chalk on there for like $6 USD if you're really cash-strapped and want to sew. that's not the only safe marking material, of course, but it is a tried-and-true option you don't have to research the fabric safety of.

trust me- it's worth it in this case

[marzipanandminutiae]

if this is helpful to anybody-

Marzi's Sewing Must-Haves:

needle

thread

fabric

ruler, or ability to eyeball 1/2" reliably

scissors

pins

way to mark fabric that you know won't cause problems down the line

Marzi's Sewing Extremely Helpful To Haves:

sewing machine

specifically a clear ruler intended for sewing

ironing board and iron

Spray bottle for dampening fabric to be ironed, if you're like me and keep losing the little iron-filling cup

scrap fabric/cheap fabric to use for mockups

Things Marzi Swears By Because Her Main Money-Consuming Hobby Is Sewing:

French curve (for drawing curves if you plan to modify patterns)

Needle board for ironing velvet (okay can someone explain why these cost an arm and a leg?)

Beading needles

Embroidery Needles

Awl

Pinking shears

Sleeve board (for ironing sleeves and smaller pieces of fabric)

Gridded paper to transfer patterns from books (I use wrapping paper, tbh)

Tracing paper to transfer soutache and embroidery designs

Ribbon-threader/bodkin/drawstring-pull/whatever you want to call Big Needle For Threading Ribbons And Drawstrings Into Casings

Needle case

Piping foot (called by normal 21st-century people "zipper foot")

Things Marzi Sees No Need For Because She Is A Misplaced Victorian-Era-But-More-Progressive Alternate Universe Dweller:

Serger

Buttonhole foot (I just like having more control over things like buttonholes, personally, than a machine can comfortably afford me)

Super-advanced computerized sewing machine

Things Marzi's Friend Got For Christmas And Promised Her Use Of And She's Incredibly Excited About:

EMBROIDERY MACHINE

[vinceaddams]

Also very important:

Thimble

Seam ripper

Measuring tape

Other things I find useful:

Pin cushion. Easy to make yourself, just double up the fabric layers and stuff it with sawdust.

Needle book. Also easy to make yourself.

Beeswax. Important for a lot (but not all) hand sewing. I've used the stump of a beeswax candle and it worked just as well as beeswax cakes made for sewing.

Another thimble or two in slightly different sizes, for when your hands are a bit swollen.

Terrycloth hand towel, or a piece of cotton velvet, to use instead of a needle board. I've pressed soft slinky velvet just fine on terrycloth by pressing lightly and carefully, using mainly the tip of the iron right on the seam.

A small chisel for cutting open buttonholes. (PLEASE don't use seam rippers for that, I beg.) There are ones made specifically for buttonholes, but a cheap little wood chisel works perfectly fine, just as long as it's sharp. I have two I got from a junk shop.

A few glossy magazines, to use as a cutting surface for said buttonhole chisel. For situations when you're pressing straight down with the blade it's WAY better than a cutting mat.

Tweezers & a lighter for burn testing the fibre content of thrifted fabrics. Mine live in their own little jar.

Magnetic bowl, which can be found at any hardware store. Keep it next to the sewing machine and you can just chuck the pins at it as you pull them out.

Several thrifted metal trays & serving dishes. Good for keeping all this clutter contained and easily moveable between surfaces. And it's fun to keep pins and buttons and thread clippings in fancy little dishes.

Pressing ham. Also super easy to make yourself, though I have a fairly old one someone gave me. A lot of people stuff them with fabric scraps, but we also had a big one at school that was stuffed with straw.

Organza press cloth. Great for pressing intricate things because it's see-through! I have a couple metres of secondhand silk organza and it's lasting me forever, I just cut a new chunk off it, about the size of a sheet of printer paper, every time the old one gets full of holes. A cotton organdy would work too.

Assorted thrifted glass paperweights, to use as pattern weights. I also have two pattern weights that are just broken chunks of iron sewer grate I found in the gutter. They're nice and heavy and I just washed and painted them.

[amiyayuri]

I love You and Myself

@uyafaf

[this-is-trans-joy]

I don’t know if this is an obvious take or a hot take, but I think people need to start re-framing feminism as the fight for body autonomy as opposed to whatever this second wave revival gender essentialist bullshit we have going on right now. Once you reframe it in this way, it’s easier to understand intersectionality and why cis women are not the only people who need feminism. The lack of body autonomy effects cis women, trans people, intersex people, disabled people, poc, homeless people, sex workers, etc. and your feminism needs to include and prioritise all of these groups of people (which will include men btw) because feminism is about autonomy, not about establishing a matriarchy. Body autonomy is the biggest threat to the patriarchy, both with reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and even the right to not be drafted into military services. Once body autonomy is established for everyone, the patriarchy no longer has a leg to stand on.

And body autonomy does include things that you don’t personally like either. I was prompted to write this post after a series of bad takes from progressives, but one of them was re-hashing the Sabrina Carpenter album cover drama with “I don’t think it’s conservative of me to think that the album cover is a bad look when we’ve seen images of women being abused in this way” because I do actually think you’ve failed to understand feminism by projecting your morals onto a woman who was consensually expressing her own autonomy just because she expressed it in a way that you didn’t like or that made you uncomfortable.

Body autonomy also means unhealthy choices. Body autonomy also means regret rates. Body autonomy also means freedom of sexuality. Body autonomy also means mutilation. If you believe body autonomy has limitations and exceptions, then your feminism is most likely surface level.

TERFs are some of the biggest opponents to body autonomy, and if you find yourself thinking “oh people can do whatever they want with their bodies as long as it doesn’t harm them or make others uncomfortable” then you are far more susceptible to TERF propaganda than you think.

[this-is-trans-joy]

ooooh the radfems are BIG mad about this one