v i t r i o l

@vitriol.bsky.social

704 Followers 752 Following

Tattooer, Garden Goblin, Big Fan of Big Wooden Boats. Amateur Sewist, Professional Ne’er-do-well. RVA & beyond.

A close-up photo of a sewing project in progress. In this photo you can see a piece of really lovely changeable greenish gold silk taffeta, stitched to a piece of medium-weight off-white linen with a long neat row of backstitches done by hand in a sage green 30-weight silk thread. The thread isn’t a perfect color match to the silk, but it’s about as close as you can get to matching a color that changes so much in different light.
A close-up photo of a sewing project in progress. Two handmade green buttons - one a light olive changeable silk fabric-covered button and the other a more ornate thread-wrapped button in a dark olive silk buttonhole twist - are sitting on a piece of medium-weight off-white linen. A row of eyelets worked by hand is on the edge of the linen.
A close-up photo of 18th century passementerie. This photo shows a woven band with looped gimp braid, and two prominent fluffs of “fly fringe” made of knotted silk fibers. The fluffy fringe looks a LOT like its namesake, cockchafer beetle eyebrows. The photo is watermarked “Lady’s Repository Museum”
A photo of a small black dog in a fluffy pink bed perched upon a leather sofa. It is the middle of the day, but the TV in the background is showing the iconic opening card for Peter Weir’s 2003 masterpiece film “Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World.” Title card reads: “APRIL - 1805 NAPOLEON IS MASTER OF EUROPE ONLY THE BRITISH FLEET STANDS BEFORE HIM OCEANS ARE NOW BATTLEFIELDS”
A photo of a sweaty, frazzled-looking woman with frizzy red hair wearing a mosquito net jacket. She’s fully surrounded by (luckily) thornless blackberry canes, and holding a big bowl full of ripe berries she’s picked. She looks somewhat less than enthused with her haul and more than a little bit overwhelmed by the berry bounty.
A photo of a smallish, short-legged black dog with a big barrel chest laying on her back on a blanket, an extremely goofy grin on her face
A photo by photographer Brian Smith of the barquentine ‘Gazela Primeiro’ out of Philadelphia. She’s an old wooden tall ship that was built as a commercial fishing vessel in 1901, and now operates as a museum ship. In this photo she’s conspicuously flying a big rainbow pride flag off her mainmast while sailing past Old Point Comfort at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia as part of the Sail250 event’s ‘Parade of Sail.’
A photo of the in-progress sleeves of an 18th century gown. The sleeves are a dark brown cotton with mustard yellow stripes and a white linen lining. At bottom left you can see a sleeve that has had 3 out of 4 layers (2 lining, 2 outer fabric) hand-stitched together with neat backstitches. And at top right, a complete sleeve with the final outer fabric layer folded over and topstitched down to the rest with tiny spaced backstitches. On the finished sleeve you can see that the stripes line up in a VERY satisfying way.
A photo of sloop Luna, a reproduction 18th-century coastal trading sloop. She’s moored in Yorktown, VA currently and the Godspeed is visible at another slip behind her.
A photo of two boats moored at a concrete pier. On the right is a replica of the Godspeed, a square-rigged 17th century merchant vessel that transported some of the first European colonialist settlers to Jamestown in 1607. On the left is a squat, grey amphibious US Navy vessel, LCAC-83, with gigantic fans on the stern like some kind of overgrown swamp airboat.
A close-up photo of a hand-stitched 18th century gown in progress. The gown is a dark chocolate brown cotton with mustard yellow stripes and checkered stripes. This photo shows the skirts in the process of being pleated into the bodice, with an eye-watering number of teeny tiny little pleats.
A close-up photo of the interior of an in-progress 18th-century gown. This photo shows an interior lacing placket with hand-stitched boning channels and eyelets. It is made of an off-white medium weight linen and stitched with heavy linen thread into the matching lining of the gown. You can also see just a bit of the exterior fabric, which is a lovely deep chocolate brown with mustard yellow stripes, hem-stitched to the lining with brown silk thread.
a split image. The left side is a photo of a VERY disheveled looking artist with long, messily braided red hair, wearing her schlubbiest pajamas and a shirt with a train on it, striking a kinda weird pose in her living room perched up on the coffee table. The right side is an in-progress sketch of a knight in plate armor, in a suspiciously similar pose. The knight looks much less disheveled.
An 18th-century style pocket in a printed “chintz” patterned cotton in shades of burgundy, blue, green, and off-white. It has a long black piece of cotton twill tape for the tie, but that tape is past its prime and is all stretched out, knotted, and looks like it’s seen better days.
A long and narrow hand-woven band with a repeating pattern in burgundy, olive green, and off-white. It’s photographed in a casual pile, laying on top of an 18th century-style pocket made of a printed “chintz” style block printed cotton in the same colors as the band.
An overhead shot of a workspace, clearly the floor since a patterned rug is visible in the background. Rulers, gridded pattern paper, a tiny paper model, and Janet Arnold’s “Patterns of Fashion 6” are all scattered around.
A selfie of a heavily tattooed redhaired woman with disheveled-looking curly hair. She’s sitting in a chair in what used to be her dining room but is now clearly just the sewing room. In one hand she’s holding a muslin mockup for an 18th-century bodice, and she’s wearing a linen shift, purple linen stays, a bum roll, and a red silk petticoat along with her very modern noise-cancelling headphones.
A heavily tattooed redhaired woman stands on a large ornate carpeted staircase in a fancy old hotel. She’s wearing a black and pink floral printed silk dress over large hip panniers, with purple silk stays and a vaguely 18th-century hairdo, holding a black hand fan like some kind of goth Rococo fever dream
The same heavily tattooed redhaired woman dressed as David Bowie sitting in the back of an open hatchback car while her friend helps her tease up her hair even bigger. It’s so much hair it takes up half the frame on its own.
a heavily tattooed woman with absolutely ridiculous amounts of curly red hair teased to high heaven. She’s dressed up like David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King from Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth,” in a puffy white shirt, handmade silk velvet underbust corset, and extremely tight tan breeches with a screen-accurate Bowie Bulge. You can just see the tops of her thigh-high black boots. She’s holding up a clear crystal ball, and she’s done a fairly good recreation of Bowie’s iconic makeup from the film.
A heavily tattooed redheaded woman in a handmade imp outfit poses in the bright, sunny ren faire parking lot. Little does she know that she’ll only look this cute for about the next 56 seconds before the heat starts to punish her for her hubris.
A heavily tattooed woman with super long braided red hair poses next to her dusty-ass pickup truck. She’s dressed up for the renaissance faire in a handmade red imp outfit, with big heart-shaped sunglasses on.
A close-up of a nearly-finished pair of late 18th-century style stays made out of dark purple linen. This photo is FINALLY a photo of the stays being worn, although they still don’t have a binding. You can see how well they fit the wearer, with a perfect 1.5” even lacing gap down the back where they’re spiral-laced with linen cord.
A 1784 etching by Joseph Haynes, after the original 1745 painting by William Hogarth, depicting a staymaker fitting a woman for stays in her home. The etching is currently held by the Met Museum.
A photo of the interior of the front panel of an in-progress set of 18th century stays, showing a big ugly piece of super heavy canvas whipstitched into place for stability before the lining was added.
A close-up of the interior of a mostly-finished pair of 18th century stays lined with a green striped cotton. You can see the sturdy-looking seams, and the somewhat messy inside of the eyelets, but what the inside of my stays looks like is none of MY business
The interior of a pair of mostly-finished 18th century stays lined with a green striped cotton, showcasing the many, many construction seams
A photo of a stays seam in the process of being stitched up. You can see how thick the material is that each stitch is traveling through.
A hand holds up 2 boned panels for a pair of 18th century stays, in the process of being basted together. A large stack of more panels is visible on the messy worktable in the background
A hand holding a huge 50 meter roll of 4mm German synthetic whalebone over a messy worktable. In the background you can see a stack of panels for a pair of 18th century stays, ready for boning
All 10 individual pieces of a purple linen pair of 18th century stays laid out flat. The boning channels and eyelets are all stitched but none of the pieces are assembled yet.
A close-up photo of the back lacing panel for a pair of 18th century stays, made out of a warm purple linen. This photo shows the machined boning channels and some of the many, many hand-stitched eyelets
a somewhat rumpled-looking set of paper pattern pieces for Scroop Patterns’ “Cassandra Stays,” a fully-boned pair of late 18th-century style stays. These pieces are creased and have been heavily marked up for alterations with a hot pink pen. They’re laying atop an ugly yellow mockup pair, on a messy work table surrounded by sewing tools, the pattern instructions, linen stays cord, and a bag of zipties.
A 1951 Singer 503A “Rocketeer” sewing machine, with her front opened up and the needle throat plate removed to show the inner workings. A hand is holding a small bottle of sewing machine oil next to it, and the nervousness is almost palpable
A pile of handmade bias tape in a gorgeous changeable silk, that shifts from emerald to copper where the light hits it
6 pieces of a black silk velvet bodice, not assembled yet, but hand-basted to a separate interlining layer below, are laid out on a teal and white rug.
A heavily tattooed redhaired woman standing in her living room, which is a little messy on account of the gigantic cutting mat on the floor and the half dozen dog toys scattered all around. She’s wearing green leggings, a white Puffy Shirt (you know the type), and a handmade black silk velvet underbust bodice with brownish silk binding.
A heavily tattooed redhaired woman standing at a table laying out sewing pattern pieces on a piece of grey wool broadcloth. Several pieces have been traced in chalk already
A heavily tattooed red haired woman stands proudly next to a miniature wool coat made out of heather grey broadcloth
A heavily tattooed woman wearing a handmade 18th century style ladies’ jacket, made out of an iridescent pink and orange silk
A half-open, bright yellow daffodil amongst its closed peers in very early spring
The meme of two clasped hands with extremely muscular biceps. One arm says “jet fuel spill in the James,” the other says “raw sewage spill in the Potomac,” and the clasped hands say “Chessie Haters”
A photo from the back of a large conference hall showing a full audience watching a redhaired woman on stage deliver a presentation titled “Harmony From Nature.”
A photo of a very ill looking woman with messy red hair snuggled in bed with a small black dog. The little dog is fully asleep with her ears flopped around and her tongue sticking out.
A small black dog curled up in the middle of a bed with her face laid on the photographer’s legs, staring up at into the camera
A photo of a heavily tattooed woman with red hair in a tall pompadour, standing in her living room wearing 18th century undergarments: a cream linen shift, brown and beige strapless fully boned stays with a bird print, and a set of light yellow and purple side hoops or panniers
A close-up photo of the reverse side of the blades of a pair of tailor’s shears, with engraving that reads “Faith”
An artsy photo of a black rectangular box staged atop lush green and red silks and silk velvet. The box is embossed with gold lettering on the lid that reads “Whitely - Sheffield, England”
A photo of a small black dog wearing a red and black checked sweatshirt, sitting in a fluffy pink bed on a couch with an illuminated Christmas tree in the background. She is sitting bolt upright and staring directly at the person photographing her with a VERY intense expression of concern on her face.
A top-down photo of a truly gigantic gridded cutting mat on the floor. Strewn about it are pens, scissors, big huge metal washers being used as pattern weights, a ruler, multiple iterations of a sewing pattern, and a mockup for a pair of 18th century stays
A thumbnail sketch for a full sleeve tattoo design. It is VERY rough but you can kinda tell, if you really squint at it, that it’s supposed to be an angry person wearing a helmet and stabbing a sword into some kind of spiky guy holding a flail
A photo of a woman’s forearm and hand with symbols tattooed on her fingers and two silver rings. She’s wearing an olive green silk velvet 18th century style mitt that is tightly fitted to her arm, and the folded-over peak at her knuckles has a deep burgundy silk lining visible. They look very hand-stitched and very cozy.
A photo of a heavily tattooed woman with long curly red hair, standing in a warmly-lit living room with a leather chair and a fireplace behind her. She’s wearing a red and black floral silk scarf around her neck, a green drapey top under a pair of self-made 18th-century style fully boned stays, green velvet mitts with a red silk lining, a self-made red silk pleated petticoat, white socks, and oxblood leather shoes. She’s also got a black leather belt on with a brass sleigh bell charm hanging at her hip. Her whole getup is kinda vaguely historical but not actually accurate to the 18th century at all. But like… the vibes are there.
A screenshot of an advertisement for what appears to be an absolutely gigantic ziptie, like seriously monstrous. However big of a ziptie you’d imagine when someone says “giant ziptie,” it’s bigger. There’s a guy holding this thing and it looks like it’s gotta be at least 4 feet long and 3 1/2 inches wide, really ridiculously, absurdly large. Like what are you even zipping with that tie, undersea fiber optics cables? Seems like overkill even for that, honestly.
A mirror selfie of a heavily tattooed woman with very long unruly red hair. She is wearing a dark burgundy silk chemise, a hand-dyed green linen skirt, and a black-and-gold brocade bodice laced with dark red velvet ribbon. Peeking out just over the center front of the bodice is the very top of a pair of 18th-century stays. The woman looks tired and maybe more than a little bit in pain.
A photo of the band Foxy Shazam performing at the Canal Club in Richmond, Virginia sometime in 2010. The lead singer is doing a headstand on stage with both legs splayed out in a wide “V” shape. You can absolutely tell it’s 2010 because the photographer’s watermark reads “(c) 2010 Faith Broache Photography” in that most wretched of fonts, Bleeding Cowboys.
A moody photo of a medium-sized black dog laying in a sunbeam on a kinda ratty blue-and-white striped woven patio rug, surrounded by crunchy dry late autumn leaves. Her face is raised to the sun and her eyes are closed as she’s sniffing the air indulgently, and the angle of the photo makes it very clear that her silly little legs are not even as long as her big head.
A top-down photo of three loaves of freshly-baked sandwich bread cooling on a wire rack above a floursack tea towel. The bread looks delicious, like it probably made the entire house smell incredible while baking.
A close-up photo of a pile of off-white linen fabric, washed and worn to a state of buttery softness. It’s in the process of being sewn into something, and running through the center of the photo is a row of mostly-neat backstitches done by hand.
A screenshot of the weather forecast in coastal Virginia from Sunday, November 9, 2025 to Tuesday, November 11. It shows a wild swing from a high of 75° on Sunday directly into a forecast of snow for early Tuesday morning.