gemini://bbs.geminispace.org/s/Humor/2964

I can't think of something to title this that doesn't sound like I'm talking about DIY HRT lmao but anyway

I went to visit a good friend from church last week who's an older trans woman, and I had one of the best times of my life, as she handmade like 20 or so guitars herself, and had me play all of them to give her feedback on how they felt (especially as she's much better at lead but struggles with chords, where I'm the opposite, so she wanted to see how the ergonomics were for chord stuff)

but the reason she gave for this to me was that because of the size of her hands made standard sized guitar necks difficult to play, and nobody could give her any information on what properties of a guitar neck make it better or worse for different playing styles, so she learned to make guitars and gave them all these different necks to see what felt right

i also just finished last night modifying a blouse that was too large for me into a dress, using the extra fabric to help make the skirt. I'm really happy with how it turned out, I don't know much about sewing but it's really cool to be able to make it fit exactly how I want it to

and what this has all got me thinking about is that i love when trans folks do our own stuff, making stuff fit our bodies and lives when nothing else does. it's upsetting sometimes that we have to do this, but much of the time it's lovely to see. we shouldn't have to fit ourselves into clothes, clothes should have to fit onto us!

and i love seeing the power of trans folks becoming immovable objects in this regard, making our own shit for ourselves instead of changing ourselves to fit into things engineered to exclude us. making our own instruments and clothes, but also our own music, art, writing, spaces, ways of thinking, and cultures, by and for us ❤️

2023-07-10 · 10 months ago · 👍 senders, Addison, deathbyindierock, november, Ruby_Witch

I've got a dress I've been meaning to let out the waist on. I don't know how to even do that yet, but I'm intent to learn!

I think that all women sometimes have the experience that the world is just not made for them. Being a trans woman adds another even more stifling layer on top.

It's great when people are able to find a way to fight back through their own talents!

@sugar i don't really know what I'm doing either lol but the way i did it was basically just to fold it in on itself to where it fit my waist and hold it there with safety pins. then I marked it with crayon where i needed to sew it together

because this blouse had a bunch of panels of fabric, it was not super destructive as I mostly tore out seams without having to cut fabric up except to make the skirt, mostly. for a dress with fewer seams there might be more fabric cutting, which is not very reversible if you mess it up, so measure twice, cut once :p

(also, don't forget to check that you can get yourself in and out of the fit if it's especially tight, lol)

trans & DIY (not HRT)

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