And another thing

[mrissa]

My psychedelic bra bit the dust this morning (it was...quite a sight, oh, believe me, in color and pattern both), and so I am looking for another bra. A washable bra. In my size. Which doesn't look like it ought to be unusual, except that I have a rather small ribcage compared to what people apparently think I ought to have. (I think of myself as having a large ribcage, because I have a really small waist compared to what people apparently think I ought to have considering what damn clothes they make. But never mind that now.)

And I just want to know: boning. What the hell is up with boning? Who on earth says, "You know, underwires, while supportive and all, really don't poke into my tender flesh enough. What I would really like is two or three more stripes of hard stabby thing per tit. Yes indeedy. That's what I need." Tell me: who? WHY?

And why can I apparently have pretty bras or washable bras but not both? News flash: pretty things do not stay pretty if they are filthy, or chewed to bits in the washer, or languishing under the rest of Melvin The Laundry Monster because do I have time to hand wash five or six bras right now? I do not. (I've wasted time looking unsuccessfully. But buying, no.)

And another thing: who thought it was such a good idea to set a book in Finland where aall of my tyypos would look reaasonaable compaared to the naames I was uusing? Can I blame you for this one?

And another thing: I think there ought to be a magic power whereby one's loved ones don't hurt if one just loves hard enough.

But: I get to work on my book, and my book is letting me, and that's something, at least. I would gladly give it up for concentrating hard on loving some people if it would make them stop hurting. But in the meantime, writing and fussing are the order of the day. And grumping. Grump! Grump grump! And putting calomine lotion on markgritter's mosquito bites.

Comments

Biting Bras

[(Anonymous)]

Have you tried washing the "hand wash only" bras in the wash on gentle with Woolite? Being as I'm lazy, that's what I usually do and it seems to work out okay.

Heathah

Re: Biting Bras

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't use Woolite, because there's bleach in it that'll be hard on the elastic.

I routinely wash hand-washables in a lingerie bag in the washer. It's a zippered mesh bag that keeps small delicate clothes from getting worked too hard by the machine.

Alternatively, get a dish pan or similar object. Add small amount of laundry detergent. Fill with hot water. Add several bras. Leave soak over night. Dump out water, refill with rinse water. Repeat rinse step. Hang dry someplace not too in the way, as long as you put a towel under to catch the drips if hanging over a non-waterproof surface.

It doesn't take more than 60 seconds to start this handwash process, and maybe 3 minutes to finish it.

K. [Macy's has the best bra department in town, IMO]

Re: Biting Bras

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Really, Macy's? I'll have to give that a try. When I last went to Macy's (in California), I told the sales clerk my size, and she looked at me like I'd asked for something distasteful. "We don't carry that here," she sniffed, so I didn't give them my money there, either, and it all worked out. But that may just have been California.

We do have a lingerie bag, but I'd so far only used it on stockings and bras that don't claim they can't be washed. Might be worth a try, that or the delicate cycle or both. We probably should own a dish pan but don't yet.

Re: Biting Bras

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Department store chains vary in what they carry in different regions. I know that I have been shopping there with a 38 DD and she found things to try on. I don't know if they have bigger sizes than that.

I buy mine at Nordstrom because the staff there is so intensely perfect. Every little thing is just not a problem, including such outlandish requests as "call around until you find this object in another store in another state, and fedex it to my husband in this distant third city. He needs it tomorrow. Use my fedex number."

There just aren't any other stores with that level of service.

K.

Re: Biting Bras

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm littler than that in the ribcage, is the problem. Bigger than that and you can go places like Lane Bryant, catering specifically to you, problem solved as far as I know. I have only once heard of a store that catered to the small and curvy, and that was a hideously expensive boutique.

That is indeed an impressive level of service from Nordstrom.

oh, yeah, and....

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Do you actually have bras that can't be washed? What are they made of? Feathers?

I have a dress that can't be washed or dry-cleaned... it's "spot clean only." That's because it has glitter glued all over it.

I always use the delicate cycle on things that are in the lingerie bag.

K.

Re: oh, yeah, and....

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have one lace and one microfiber bra that claim hand-wash-only. I have been listening to them.

[palinade.livejournal.com]

As told to me by a Victoria's Secret employee: "You can machine wash most "hand wash" bras if you use a lingerie bag, fold the bras so the cups "cup" each other and they aren't just dangling all hither-thither. Use delicate cycle and whatever regular detergent you use. After being laundered, lay them flat on a drying rack, the top of the dryer, a towel-covered table, etc. Reshape the cups. They should be fine. Never put the bras in the dryer or into the washer without the use of a lingerie bag."

I suppose being safe is better than being sorry, but the microfiber bra could definitely be machine washed on delicate in a lingerie bag. All my hiking pants are microfibers and they wash up just fine--just don't put it in the dryer. The lace bra, depending on the kind of lace, probably should still be handwashed.

(As for a place to purchase bras, I'm at a loss, too. If one isn't a 34-38 B or C, one can't seem to find a decently priced bra ANYWHERE. *grump*)

Oh, have you ever tried putting lemon juice on bug bites? This is supposedly a quick relief for the itching. I have not tried it. There are very few biting bugs here in Seattle. And if there were any, they are immediately snapped up by the plethora of spiders living everywhere. :-)

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

You can't find clothes for small and curvy people. I couldn't find them when I was small and straight and now that I'm small and muscular I still can't (arms, shoulders, and thighs too tight, for example). And yet tall people tell me everything's too short for them and large people say they can't find anything but old-lady clothes. So who *are* they making clothing for?

PS. Maybe Land's End or LL Bean would work for you. Both have petites but their waists are way too small and rises way too long for me.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Who they are making clothes for: her name is Kristina, and we were friends in junior high and early high school. She was a dressmaker's size 7 in almost every junior department. And she was our friend, so we couldn't even hate her.

I am not petite. I am 5'6". The waists at LL Bean and Land's End don't go small enough for me unless I get the Land's End Custom Jeans (which I love). It is an ongoing dilemma.