Let the Steampunk Influences Creep In!

The brown velvet Eman style costume is really starting to take on a life of its own! My students have decided that they want to try to put together little top hats for the Cirque du TribalTique show and I wanted to add something around the neck that filled the space better than a choker...

Eman Inspired Brown Velvet Belly Dance Costume

As you know, my dance company has been invited to participate in a circus themed belly dance show. We aren't fusion dancers so my challenge was to come up with something theme appropriate that we could use again at other venues. Each of us chose a different color/combination of velvet and sheer sparkly knit. We'll all have the same basic shape but each will be ornamented differently. Here is my brown and red/gold costume.

Status Report- Aka, I'm still alive!

Well, October is over and I'm still breathing :) I think I may have had a different costume for every weekend of the month! Let's see... First we had the Rock Star Party:

Then there was the Corn Maze Craziness:

The following weekend there was the Wild Goose Masquerade Ball where we dressed as Beauty and the Beast:

And for the last weekend of the month, there was our 1940's theme party where I wore my grandmother's evening gown and my boyfriend wore his grandfather's WWII uniform:

After all of that crazy wonderful costume goodness you'd think I'd be done for a little while but FAT CHANCE! Now my students and I must prepare for Cirque du TribalTique which happens in a month and a half. My costume is more than half-way done and the choreography is off to a good start. Barring disaster we should be on track for something fantismo! :D

Register on ArtFire.com

Cirque du Tribal Tique

My student dance troupe has been selected to participate in Tribal Tique's annual Holiday Hafla which has a circus theme this year. Last night I finally pinned them down on a costume choice and we all went fabric shopping. Since then I've been working on my digital pattern (printable on letter sized paper, then pieced together). It's not quite where I want it yet. It needs a how to for construction, the tiled pages need to have numbers so you know how to tape them together, and I couldn't seem to get the crop marks to show on every page so you'd know where the overlap was. I'm thinking I'll print it out tonight and give it a test run. Stay tuned for construction stories!

Bead Embroidery Book Reviews

This is by no means comprehensive but I have recently acquired 3 books on the subject of bead embroidery. It is my intent to put on a small bead embroidery workshop for some of my students and these books are research for that event. In no particular order they are:

















Art of Bead Embroidery


















Bead Embroidery


















Designer Bead Embroidery

All three have excellent photos and illustrations. "The Art of Bead Embroidery" is geared towards beading jewelry for collars, pendants and bracelets. "Bead Embroidery" is like a sampler book with patterns to use while learning the effects of different stitch and bead types. It's great as a library of stitches and should prove very useful for technique instruction. "Designer Bead Embroidery" is written with clothing embellishment in mind. Because of that it takes into account laundering needs and durability for wear. Its designs have less 'wow' factor than those in "Art" but the functionality information makes it a more than worthwhile investment. So basically, I have three books with very different but equally great technique ideas, one that is huge for inspiration, one that is perfect for practice work and instruction and one that addresses the unique challenges one encounters with beaded dance costumes.

And the Green Monster Sparkles On...

This is how the leaves start- micro suede, rhinestone strands and beaded whip stitches.


















Then they get filled in with sead beads, bugles and sequins.


















Here you see them against the Green Monster skirt fabric. There is a distressing lack of contrast between one super sparkly surface and the next. I will be debating options on bead choice for the stitches that will be used to attach the leaves to the finished skirt. I'll thread some beads up and lay them next to the two fabrics to decide. I'm thinking that clear iridescent beads might be bright enough as they'll look kind of white like the rhinestones in the center of the leaf. Once the leaves are mounted to the skirt, I plan to sew a dime sized AB crystal or slightly smaller blue button like the ones used in the center medallion to the point of the leaf. Then I will hang a few strands of fringe from it :)

Bead Hypnosis

I've been beading up a storm lately. Something about the light reflecting off the varying surfaces entrances me. Leads me to just keep beading... It's a good thing too because man have I set myself up with a project. Above you see what I hope to make into the center medallion of a dance costume bra. I've since replaced the center copper piece with a very shiny rhinestone covered button since it goes better with the rest of what I'm doing. The bead diagram you see on the left is some plotting I was doing for bead looming. I want to loom some beads for the waist band, extra waist straps, halter strap and extra (asymmetrical) top straps. I'll scan my drawings and new bead progress for another post. Anyway, this costume is currently planned to have cutouts which intimidate the heck out of me, beaded palm leaf thingies and a beaded waist band and hip straps. I can only hope my interest lasts and so does my collection of beads... I'm having a ball but I'm notoriously short on attention span ;)