Got to Dance!!

Hey, I’ve been spending alot of time dancing recently…I started a new tribal class which is great fun and I still go to my regular bellydance class!

Of course this inevitably means that a lot of my crafting time has involved costume-making, some of it easy, some of it quite challenging!

I thought I’d share some of last years projects with you.

So this was my most challenging project – a 25 yard skirt for twirling about at tribal class. This inevitably turned into a 24 metre skirt since we are metric here in the UK. Now, maths is not my strongest point. Not at all, no siree! I found loads of great tutorials and formulas on t’internet which made absolutely no sense at all to me. In the end I sat and drew pictures. Eventually my doodling provided me with something I could actually work with (although I had to go to the fabric shop twice because I didn’t buy enough fabric the first time hee hee!)

So I had to learn to gather and sew humongous amounts of fabric. Seriously, I literally drowned in fabric at times. The fabric is a lovely cherry red colour and is light enough to swirl when I spin. I think I almost lost the will to live at one point when I was serging the seams, and I have to confess that I couldn’t face the thought of rethreading my serging, so I used the black thread that was already in it. Which was okay because most of the serging was on the inside. But then I had to serge the hem and by this time I was *keen* to see the back of this project finish!

So I just carried on with the black thread and bugger me, it looks fab! That little edge of black along the bottom looks fantastic cascading down the side of the skirt when I tuck a hem into my waistband.

Now I know why you pay so much for 25 yrd skirts; they are a huuuuuge commitment of time, stress and angst! This might be the last skirt I ever make *lol* I’m not completely happy with it; my perfectionist’s eyes are drawn to the many imperfections in the skirt, but I figure that it’s good enough for class practice. I don’t think I would ever wear it for a performance!

Okay, so I really wanted a pair of melodias but they cost, so when I came upon a pair of black velvet stretchy pants tucked away in my wardrobe, I thought they would make a fine pair of tribal trousers, only they just weren’t wide enough!! So I took the side seams apart and slotted in some black satin fabric

Then, to make them look pretty, I added an appliqued design and some beads and sequins.

 

Of course, any practice needs a twirly shimmy skirt two and I made a couple of those…

This an asymmetrical hem, elasticated waist handkerchief skirt made from a lovely black lace. It helps create a lovely layered look when you add another scarf or belt on top.

And then this one which I adore, is made from glitter dot fabric – silver on black – it’s gorgeous and really sparkles in the light!

I needed a tribal coin bra for my first ever tribal performance, so I found a black bikini bra (fantastic by the way, since the clasps and straps on a bikini top are designed to be worn.

 

And because I had some time over Christmas, I raided my scrap back and created this long shimmy belt with side ties and a lovely beaded back swag!

I also made this for fun – and mainly because my fringe was doing my head in and getting in my eyes at dance practice!!

Soo, these are some of the pretty things I’ve been crafting over the last six months *lol*

Hippy New Year!

Well, I for one am very glad that 2011 is over; it was a truly rubbish year for lots of reasons. Sadly the Uberhound passed away and left a very big gap in our lives….we adopted another puppy to help to fill the void, but sadly the puppy died of parvo virus four days after we brought him home.

Our holiday to the Forest of Dean was a very subdued affair, particularly as we’d chosen it because there were lots of places for doggy adventures.  

But life goes on and we went to lots of places (although we didn’t see any wild hogs like we wanted to).

We even went on an old steam train

We also visited Puzzlewood where they film Merlin – what a great place!!

The Barefoot festival that I volunteer at with a friend was as good as usual…in a new bigger location and the usual fab cabaret and fire show.

Halloween was a fun night – we dressed up and scared all the local children

The Autumn term was really manic as usual, we had an OFSTED visit, plus observations, so that pretty much took up the whole term.

The Hafla was  great although very exhausting as I’d managed to put myself in a position where I was doing 5 dances, including my very first Tribal performance! This involved four costume changes!! *lol*

Alot of my pre-Christmas time was taken up with crafting a pair of fairy wings for my friend – I was quite pleased with the results!

Christmas was great, as was New Year. I fully intend to spend alot more time crafting this year and have kicked the New Year off to the right start by organising the first Winter Hippy Swap on Craftster, so hopefully there’ll be some more creations to show you soon!