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*

Happy Hafla and Bellydance Superstars!

So I finished my costume just in time! The Hafla was on Thursday night and I finished my outfit at lunchtime on Thursday. My bra was covered and embellished with ribbon, lace, sequins, part of an old earring and some coins. I took the straps off the bra and replaced them with ribbon, covered the back straps with ribbon and replaced the hooks with D rings and voila!

I made a coin belt using the same fabric I used to cover the bra with. I sewed ribbon, bells, sequins and coins on it. I also made an overskirt from embroidered organza, I cut two panels and sewed them onto two pieces of ribbon, which I tied, one back and one front, over a plain black skirt.

Here’s the finished outfit!

The shoulder straps crossed over and the back and fastened through the D rings!

And another shot just for fun!

The Hafla was so much fun! This was Demi’s first ever solo performance…

The Cairo Cats performed this beautiful dance that kept everyone entranced…

Cairo Cats

Louisa did a cheeky little Egyptian dance…

 

Fulya was fabulous as always!

There were so many fabulous dancers

Truely inspirational

and all shapes and sizes..

A couple of nights later, we went to see Bellydance Superstars at the Raqs Britannia in Sheffield. Sadly we weren’t allowed to take pictures (boo!) but again, it was a great night, although a bit too polished and choreographed. I did feel like it had been choreographed to a format, even the tribal sections. It was all very slick, and dancing to die for, with immaculate performances, but I felt it was just that, a performance. There was no soul in it, no heart…maybe I’m being over critical, but the dancers were all very young, very slim, and very similar. Their personalities didn’t shine through. And to me, that’s what dance is all about!

Funky Clothes and Festival!

Unless you’re a hermit, or you happen to live in the USA, you can’t have failed to notice that the World Cup has started. The Football (soccer) World Cup. If you’re a footie fan, it’s kinda a big deal. Me, I don’t give a damn. I used to be indifferent about it, but since I live with a footie fan, I have grown to hate the ‘beautiful game’. I hate the way it turns sound, sensible men into drunken argumentative idiots. M is a football fan. He loves it. L-O-V-E..LOVES it. *Sigh* He even invested in a 42” tv just so that he could see each special moment. So, I have planned an alternative itinerary for the four long weeks that the Cup is taking place. Friday afternoon there was a Crafternoon workshop in embellishing t-shirts. We had to take a tee to work on; mine was a deep purple skinny-fit job from Primark. Cheap and cheerful and a terrible fit. I hated the way the sleeves bit into my arms.  

I drew out a dragonfly design onto paper, traced it onto Bondaweb, then onto fabric, cut it, ironed it onto my tee, then embroidered and embellished it. I used a different fabric for the wing and a sparkly thread to sew it onto the shirt with a blanket stitch.

 

 

I cut and frilled the sleeves using a lettuce stitch. Much more comfy.

 

I love the fabric I chose for the body of the dragonfly, especially the placement of this skull on the head, giving it a deaths head moth appearance. Then I sewed little bead antennae and sequins onto the wings to give it a little sparkle. 

It’s already a much loved garment! Now, sometimes I maybe trawling the internet and I’ll spy something which I just have to have, like these yarn and needles charms. How cool are they? Immediately I thought ‘stitch markers’ and lo and behold, they became stitch markers. I also bought some 8mm jump rings because I know from past experience that I don’t have any stitch markers in that size, so now I’ll be prepared :)

 

I teamed them up with these scrummy pink sparkly beads which have been sitting in my stash for ages!

 

And remember I told you about my stitching workshop (customising charity shop finds), well I went online and ordered myself one of those freehand embroidery feet for my Brother sewing machine and as you can see, it’s already been put to good use! This is just playing, stitching turquoise organza onto dark blue felt with a swirly freehand stitch in yellow.

Then I had a small piece of calico tie-dyed with yellow, blue and pink which I embroidered onto yellow felt, embellished using embroidery thread in a dark blue spial running stitch, then freehand stitches a sunburst design on using gold thread. More when it’s finished! 

I also spent one happy evening during a football game embroidering embellishments onto this plain purple dress and watching Terry Pratchett’s ‘Going Postal. 

I’d bought this pink shisha and embroidered ribbon at the Birmingham Rag Market and decided to use it on my dress.

Then pinking out the green and yellow from the ribbon, decided to make them my accent colours. I embroidered a yellow flower onto the centre bodice using a shisha mirror and chain stitch, and used a running stitch to create accents round the edges of the bodice and neckline..

and round the pockets…

and along the double hem…

It’s such a pretty dress, I’m going to be wearing it alot this summer I think!

I also went to the Leamington Peace Festival with friends.

The weather was scorching hot, so we all burnt to a crisp!

And just to prove the nice weather we’ve been having, just look at Midsummer Day’s Sunset! Happy Solstice to you :)

Ash, Rings and Wings

Well, it’s been an unusual couple of weeks. Unless you live in Europe, you probably won’t have taken much notice of an Icelandic volcano eruption, but over here, particularly in the UK, it’s caused chaos! Why is that you may ask? Well, it seems that volcanic ash is not very good for aeroplane engines. And as that cloud of volcanic ash was headed our way, planes were grounded and airports closed. Even the RAF weren’t taking chances, and in my mind, that’s be good enough for me! For almost two weeks, our skies were quiet and unmarred by the sight of plane trails. It also coincided with the most beautiful warm weather…coincidence?? I wonder!

Of course this has meant that thousands of Britons have been stranded overseas, unable to get home. As it was the Easter holidays/Spring break, many of our students had gone home and were unable to get back. We also had teachers who had gone abroad for a holiday and not been able to get back. Some of our students have only just been able to get flights now, and some are still waiting. I’ve had classes of perhaps only one or two students. Our GCSE students were supposed to take the first part of their exams on the 24th, and we had to get special dispensation to postpone it. I’m sure it will all be okay in the end though.

The warm weather has meant that everything has leapt into blossom, my cherry tree is starting to look glorious! We planted grass seed and bulbs out over the holiday, but I’ve had to water regularly, and the ground is dry and cracked, so yesterdays rain shower was welcomed by the garden.

I drove home from yoga the other night to see the most stunning full moon; huge with a glowing ring of light around it. I grabbed my camera when I got home and experimenting with different settings got these shots.

This one was taken with a different setting about half an hour later, partially obscured by a tree.

And then this one was taken much later, high in the sky…

 

I’ve spent spare moments over the last week reconning an old fleece top that I had acquired, I loved the colour, but it was a plain boring v-necked fleece top, so I had some ideas in the back of my mind and attacked it with a pair of scissors to create a shrug style fairy top.

It was really easy to do, I cut down the V at the front and then scooped under the bust, and round the sides to a point in the back. I was watching Ugly Betty at the time, so maybe I got a little Mode style inspiration…

I also cut the sleeves to a point.

I serged around the raw edges, then added the finishing touches, beads, and then appliquéd wings on the back! I totally love it now!

I’ve also been knitting away creating my Mosey legwarmers..

On The May Day Bank Holiday, M and I decided to take a day trip. It would have been nice to get away for the weekend, but we haven’t got around to getting a tow bar fitted on the car yet. Anyway, we decided to go to St. Albans for the day, which was one of the oldest Roman settlements in Briton (after Londinium). The weather was nice and we spent a lovely day strolling around the market, where I bought a lovely flower pendant, and the Cathedral…

 

and then we went to the Verulamium Museum, which showed how the Romans lived along with some of the stunning mosaics that their homes were decorated in…

I could totally live with one of these on my floor!

There were lots of displays with artefacts discovered by archaeologists (my friend was on a dig here when she was an archaeologist). I was fascinated by these  key rings..keys that were worn on the fingers and is probably were the expression ‘key ring’ comes from!!  

And a mosaic floor, still in situ with the hypocaust (under floor heating)  exposed at the corner.

 

It was a lovely day out…