#mamian

The tips of my fingers are bruised. I was using a sashiko needle and thimble, but getting any needle through 12 layers of brocade is always going to end in bruised fingers. I didn't care to try to put it through the sewing machine given the struggle with the waist band I had yesterday and the fact that I cut the waist band with no extra to turn in the ends. I did manage to turn in the ends, but the seam allowance was miniscule. I just whipped over the edge and when I got to the ties I continued the same motion, just going through the tie by itself in order to come back around to the correct side.

I did the same thing for the ends of the ties. I decided that it would not be possible to put a buttonhole in the waist band for the tie to go through like I had been planning, but just having the tie come up over the waist band worked just fine.

The swoosh is magnificent. I'll be able to storm in and out of rooms with so much drama.

I got about half way through ironing the organza. I had heard that organza is a b**** to deal with, but I hadn't realized that extended to ironing. It takes the heat on the first pass, but it tries to escape and/or fold in such a way that the iron creases it further. I may have to get some of those heat protecting thimble things they make for hot glue guns because trying to iron this definitely did not help my finger tip situation.

Probably won't work on this again this weekend, I need to give my fingers time to rest and I have plans, but hopefully I'll have an update for you next week.

First up, the Chinese grim reaper, or rather reapers as there are two of them. Collectively called the Heibai Wuchang and individually Hei Wuchang and Wei Wuchang, these guys are responsible for what's essentially clean up duty. They go and find wandering souls that haven't passed on and bring them to the Diyu. I guess that means if you see a ghost they've been slacking off, huh? Hei, literally meaning black, wears all black robes and carries handcuffs with a nasty scowl on his face. Bai, which means white, naturally wears white clothes and had an umbrella and a smile. Seeing them is bad luck, as they have exactly one job to do: take you to the underworld.

Next are the pair that you'll see guarding the gates, Niutou (ox head) and Mamian (horse face). Well don't they sound handsome? Originally independent deities in their own right, they got reincarnated into human form (reluctantly, in Niutou's case). They end up as friends that take the official exam in the capital, but while Niutou is a hard worker Mamian is a hard schmoozer and passes by sucking up. Niutou is so pissed he full on beats Mamian to death.... and then drops dead himself from exhaustion from all the way too much studying he'd done. When they get to the Diyu and face King Yama, Niutou furiously argues what a lazy kiss ass Mamian is for a whole day. Yama is convinced.... until Mamian speaks up in his own defense and charms the king of the underworld into not punishing him. 110% DONE with this, Niutou breaks out of hell and goes straight to the Jade Emperor. The song and dance repeats, and the Jade Emperor commands them to become guardians of the gates of the underworld. Yama is reasonably worried they might duke it out again, though, so he has them drink this special forget-things soup. They made nice, and are still standing guard to this day.

Lastly we're gonna talk about this magic soup, or rather the nice old lady who makes it. Her name is Mengpo and she has a very important role to play in the cycle of reincarnation. Before crossing the river out of the underworld every soul has to drink a bowl of her special soup that makes you forget everything before you get reborn. However, as I said she's a nice old lady who will sometimes cut people (specifically lovers) a break and give them watered down soup so they can find each other in the next life. She can also sometimes make a bad batch of soup that doesn't work as well (she's old, give her a break).

Someone on tiktok was like: why did they do that style of eyeliner and haircut too?

西遊記-

Gonna show Mammon some love!

I suck at remembering the rules to casino games.

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"Now five of a kind is the best hand you can get if you're playin' with a deck that has a wild card, alright. Say you got four tens and a wild or two queens and three wilds. If you're usin' a standard pack with no wilds then the best you can get is a straight flush, which- hey, are you still paying attention?"

Gillian stared at the cards in her hands, brow furrowed. "So a three of a kind is..." She mumbled to herself, trailing off. All the different types of hands swirling around in her mind and becoming jumbled up.

"You're still on three of a kind? We're way past that!" When she stayed wrapped up in her thoughts Mammon leaned over and snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, startling her back to the present. "Geez, when you said you were hopeless at cards, I thought you were exaggerating."

She sighed, slumping back against the couch and letting her hands plop into her lap. "Nope. Sorry, Mammon, but I'm a lost cause; none of these rules seem to be able to stick."

He leaned his head against his hand, elbow propped up on the back of the sofa, watching her fiddle with the cards dejectedly. A frustrated huff left her mouth.

"I wouldn't have expected this to bug you so much; why the sudden interest in card games, anyway?"

"Because you really like them, and I thought it'd make you happy if I could play with you. I know we've both been a little busy lately and haven't hung out in a bit, so spending time doing something you love seemed like a good idea. You looked so excited when I asked, too..."

Mammon could feel a flush creep up his cheeks, she'd really wanted to learn this for his sake?

"Dumbass," He took the cards from her hands and tossed them on the table. She looked up right as he leaned forward into her space, settling a hand on top of her hair. "There's a million things besides poker that we can do to spend time together, you think it really matters to me which we choose?" He swallowed, trying to keep his face serious despite the ever growing blush warming it. "All that really matters to me is getting to be with you, got it? So stop frowning like that," he grinned "you're in the presence of the great Mammon, and there's no way I'm gonna let my human go around with such a sad expression."

He was relieved when his little speech worked, and she smiled back at him. She moved forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and tugging him to her. "Thanks, Mammoney; I really like spending time with you too."

The weather was cool again today so I decided to be brave and I broke out the iron. I was probably a bit over cautious with the heat so I'm not sure how well the pleats set, but we shall see.

So it turns out that I put the pocket slit in the wrong side of the pleats on the left panel and the one on the right is a bit far forward, but they should be useable.

I did zigzag over the edges of the pocket slits to prevent fraying. Then I started on the waist band. I just folded it like bias tape and sewed it on in the same way, but I ran into two problems. One, I measured too precisely and the waist band is exactly the width of the two panels, not leaving room to turn in the edges.

Two, I overestimated the power of my sewing machine.

I am very lucky I did not beak a needle (this was a brand-new needle too). I eventually got through the seam closing the waistband with a combination of a sturdier needle, far too much hand turning of the crank wheel, and some gentle pulling to help the feed dogs.

I am very pleased so far. Given my struggles with getting my sewing machine to go through all those layers, I am not going to be able to do a button hole in the waistband as I had intended to, for putting the ties through. That being said, all I have left is to attach the ties and figure out what I'm doing to finish the ends of the waistband (I'm using pins to hold it closed in the picture. Also, I'm using a flashlight to light it because the bathroom light made it look black).

It is wonderfully swishy, all those deep pleats really paid off, I shall have no difficulty being wonderfully dramatic in this.

I had planned to fully finish the mamian today and to iron the silk, but I spent over an hour unpicking one of the ties because I realized that I had sewed it wrong sides together. So that will have to wait. I hope to do that tomorrow, but I have stuff going on this weekend so we shall see.

Today I basted in the pleats to my mamian panel. I did not feel like getting out the ironing board so I haven't set them yet, but they're ready for it.

I also decided that it was time to make pockets.

Behold! My pocketses!

I found a pretty trim to use as a waistband.

I may or may not get anything done tomorrow. Might go to a friend's place.

I actually managed a little bit of work today. One of the things I have to do before ironing the mamian is to hem the leading edges of the panels, so I did that today.

The hems are very different sizes because I chose not to cut off any of the excess after they were pleated and just put the excess into the hem. I'm hoping to get the last of the mamian cut this weekend, but no promises.