u/MillwardShoults

Yesterday I painted my nails with Azrael (A-england) before realising I'm just not a lavender shimmer sort of person. It looks beautiful in the bottle but I was meh about it on my nails. Today I looked for something sheer and darker to give it more of my 'vibe' - no luck on that but tried my fave black flakie topper and like magic all is improved! (Then of course had to clean out the vacuum roller and ruined it immediately)

Products:

Basecoat - Nail holic reinforced base

Undercoat - varies nail to nail, most have Barry M Grape Soda, one thumb has Barry M Chain, and one forefinger has A-england Black Knight

Colour: A-england Azrael

Top coat: Maybelline Dr Rescue gel effect

Topper: Prism Polish Pyroclastic

Has anyone else found issues with nails peeling whilst using the Prism Polish Baseline basecoat? I switched to using it almost exclusively about 6 months ago but have noticed in the last couple of months my nails have been peeling and flaking far worse than usual. Initially I though the issue was because of a polish-picking incident (oops) but it's not grown out as I thought it would. Wondering if it's my basecoat since that's the common denominator.

Picture is with basecoat on (a different one) so you can't see the extent of the issue so well but I forgot to take a photo first. (They are slightly yellow because I was wearing orange polish yesterday and apparently the base I used for that wasn't great either...)

How much is too much polish to buy on holiday... Every time I see polish in a shop I end up buying some! It's super cheap and the colours are really different from home (UK). My first hauls were 100 yen each - the khaki green, and Gene Tokyo along with a qdtc and peely base, all from Watt 100y store and Daiso. The peely base wasn't much good but the qdtc is pretty decent (tiny bottle though). The polish seems much denser than the more expensive ones I got later, which go on very sheer and patchy. The Nail Holic and Chifure were somewhere between 300-600y each and so far I haven't mastered applying them so they don't look patchy. I get that sheer is more the way they are meant to be. I really like the holo purple topper and gold flakie topper though.

Part-way through sewing a Very Orange Bag (nousha pattern, much hacked) I realised the zips I owned were all too short. So I bought a bunch of bright zips (and a safety black one) on amazon - and somehow they are all wrong. The tone of the bag fabric is too dark for the fun pastel-y zips. The black makes it all look dark and heavy. My original choice was bright yellow (couldn't find a 14" bag zip on amazon in that colour) which I still think looks right, but the yellow in the multipack is too pale. Royal blue and pink probs next best 'ok' choice but I don't love them. Interior of the bag is denim blue. Help?

edit to add - I panic bought on amazon because I'm going on holiday Friday morning and wanted to have the bag done for the trip! Usually I would be researching for weeks to find the right one from a haberdashery or craft shop. Anyway, I went with the blue! Realising the green zip was throwing things off, but it's on the back so won't be seen much, I then judged based on only the front view.

I've been making test buttonholes all evening with no luck! Tried changing every possible setting, cleaned the bobbin case, changed thread, changed needle - on every buttonhole, the first leg is bulky and lumpy, and the second leg is thin and gappy. It looks like the bottom thread is being pulled up, but no amount of tension adjustment seemed to change it. The underside looks normal. Fabric is a lightweight indian cotton, test buttonholes being done on two layers with interfacing between them.

It's not my first buttonhole rodeo and my last project (much heavier weight, trousers from wool gaberdine) had no such problems. I dug out my test buttonholes from that to inspect, they are nice neat satin stitch.

Any ideas? Is there a machine issue, or something I'm missing? It's a Husqvarna Emerald 118.

I gave in to temptation and pinged off my polish (no peely base...) in sheets when a couple started to pop off by themselves. It was satisfying, but friends, that was March. It's June and I am still paying for it! Fingers crossed in another month all these flaky sections will have grown out.

This is a pair of Chanterelle trousers, made from linen. I wore them about 5 months before they wore a hole inside the thigh. I stitched it up and strengthened with a patch of the same fabric inside, but two more wears and more, bigger holes developed 😢

The fabric probably isn't heavy/quality enough for trousers in retrospect, but is it possible - or worthwhile - to try patching these again? They are so nice to wear in warm weather! Really they need a stronger fabric panel in the crotch area, but would it look weird? Would love to know if anyone else has done similar.