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 ;)

Vintage Vixen

Ooh lala! Burdastyle.com has offered up a free pattern for a vintage style swimsuit that is EXACTLY what I've been looking for!

Luckily one of their members who is quite handy with sewing has taken the slim to none instructions and created her own step-by-step that is quite helpful. Per her advice I lengthened the torso by at least an inch and a half. Measured the hips and despite having followed the sizing guide, I had to add quite a lot to the hips. Partly to drop the leg down a bit so my rump wouldn't hang out and partly to accommodate the circumference of my hips. Let this be a lesson to any of you tempted to create your own suit (or anything I suppose). Measure the pattern and compare it to yourself!! This is especially important for armscyes, torso length and bust/waist/hip dimensions.

So far I have the pattern altered and cut from paper and all the fabric pieces cut out. The side seams are joined and the crotch assembled. Next up either leg binding or bodice insert. This one is made in dark royal or bright Navy (depending on perspective) spandex with a white bodice insert. I think I'll do something different with the little band that gathers the center front of the suit. Not sure what. Either rhinestones over the fabric or maybe some knotted cord to play up the nautical colors... Might just sew a charm to the fabric for that effect too... decisions, decisions...

Here are some examples of suits using this pattern or one very similar:

Yes. I'm pretty sure we did have "Too Much Fun". My glitter scales did not get washed off before bed time and were cause for a big laundry day for all the sheets. Glitter head to foot on my boyfriend. Glitter on my dog. Glitter in the left over salmon that we grilled. After our party had wound down a small group of us headed over to a drumming and dancing party. Yeah, mermaids and pirates belly dancing together... freaking awesome!

Mermaids!

My latest project :) This weekend my boyfriend and I are hosting a pirate party. I have enough costume bits to put together at least 6 pirate costumes but I just couldn't do it. Instead I will be a mermaid! I have a scaled mermaid skirt from Halloween a few years ago and I've been working on my shelled, trimmed and beaded top. At the moment, I have all the fringe and shells sewn on and I have one cup left to line. Victory will be mine!