Fabric sale

Last year I found out about this wonderful fabric sale, and this year we found it again. It’s held at a church, and if it wasn’t for reading my grandmother’s church newsletter we never would have found it again.  The sale was on April 9, but it’s taken a while to write the post.

April 9 fabric finds (close up)

Basically it’s a de-stash fabric sale.  You bring in your unwanted fabrics along with craft items, yarn, quilting supplies, etc and donate them – or just go and shop.  We did both this year.  All of the proceeds go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers campaign.  This is the campaign that supports grandmothers who are raising their orphaned grandchildren – after loosing their own children to AIDS/HIV.  Talk about a feel-good shopping experience!  Oh… and the prices are awesome!

Most of the fabrics are just pieces – whatever someone bought for their project, and then couldn’t use.  However some people have donated entire bolts or rolls of fabric, so you can also buy those ones by the meter (though the cost is a bit higher doing it that way, but still very reasonable).  They hold the sale in a church basement, and there are rooms devoted to:

• Yarn (and crochet cotton, etc)
• Notions & trim (buttons, zippers, lace, cord, etc)
• Craft supplies (various)
• Books
• Home Decorating/bolts & rolls
• Quilting/Quilt fabrics
• Books & magazines
• Specialty fabrics (fancies, fun-fur, etc)
• and then there are areas in the main area divided up into knits, wools, suiting, flannelette, and then just regular dress fabrics.

They also had a few sewing machines there this time too – probably last time as well but I don’t remember.

April 9 fabric finds

So, what did I get?

• Plush solid grey fun fur
• Variegated, somewhat striped grey and white fun fur (longer pile)
• Pink micro pleat
• Gold micro pleat (I had some of this before, and made a top out of it.  I also had some in silver (another top) and some in black (a dress)
• Rust stretch velvet
• Silk / silk-like red and gold striped fabric (I need to test it to see the content)
• 2 pieces of copper taffeta, very much like the bronze taffeta I took to decorate the last two theme / costume parties
• Black on black floral brocade
• Grey wool coating
• Navy blue wool coating
• Copper/golden shantung silk
• Copper/Red/Gold micro stripe
• Large card of very narrow black lace
• Small card of very narrow gold braid
• Lots of open wide black braid
• Pale pink/champagne coloured stretch lace
• Ivory cotton lace
• Purple and gold “Indian” braid/trim

I ended up getting a number of “warm” coloured fabrics, and even mum commented that it’s not my normal colour scheme.  Most of it I was thinking of for costumes though, which would explain why my mind was more on the steampunk-influenced colours rather than my normal more goth colour scheme.  I was also thinking of the Sultan’s Tent costume party – and I’m sure that influenced the way I was drawn to certain colours more so than others.

Now just to find the time to sew!

Dancing in the Sultan’s Tent – completed costume

Well, I seriously ran out of time to do much of anything for the Sultan’s Tent party.  I really had thought about doing a lot more than I did, but in the end time just ran out, and I ended up re-purposing something I’d made for a similar (and named the same) previous event.

The top - an older photo from when I first made the outfit.

So.. the costume included:

• Black harem pants (sheer with a glittery stripe) trimmed in black sequins and silver baubles (not really buttons, not really beads.. somewhere in between).  These are gathered with elastic at the ankles and apart from being sheer, are really quite comfortable for short periods of time.  I wouldn’t want to walk much in them though, because I have the feeling the fabric would wear quite quickly.
• Black and red PVC bra with a back tie, silver o-rings, red piping, and sheer ribbon lacing.  This was a feat of draping and sewing skill!  Getting the “laced” parts right, based off an existing bra took quite a lot of time, and a lot of agony to my fingertips.  The two cups also lace closed, though I must have lost some weight since I first made it, because when I put it on, I had to tighten up the lacing considerably – and regretted the fact that the lacing has some elastic to it – though it was very nice, comfort-wise.
• 

  Original concept sketch for this costume with notes on materials, colours, etc.

  Fringed scarf (over my belly – it’s actually attached to the bra, but was made as a separate piece) The fringe is layers of black fringe, and it’s topped off with a blue, red, and green tassel-fringe trim. Mostly I like this for the illusion of having a ‘bare’ belly – without actually really showing anything.

• Black fishnet shirt, mostly for coverage.  In the original outfit I hung some jewelry from the shirt, but for some odd reason I couldn’t find it this time around.  The first time around I wore a purchased fishnet shirt – but this time around I wore one I made instead.
• Tassel-belt in red butterfly brocade that laced together, with skull beads hanging from the tassels.
• and the only new thing… the new headpiece. Originally I wore a coin belt over my head, but at least I had something new for this time around…

It was really nice to have something existing already – so that I didn’t have to freak out about not having anything.  I’ve included photos that I took a while ago, when I first made the outfit.  The bra doesn’t fit the dressform at ALL, but it gives you an idea of what I was wearing.

The pants and belt, minus the bra-top

Forgive all of the things in the background of these photos!

So, once I wasn’t worried about having an outfit, I could concentrate on doing some cool make up.  There had been someone at the party taking photographs, but I hesitate when someone wants to take my photo (for so many reasons) so I declined.  Had I known him better I might have asked for a photo or two of my make up in the early stages of the party, because instead I took a photo when I got home – and a lot of the glamour of the make up had worn off.

Edited photo of the Sultan's Tent make up

The photo is edited (of course!) but I lined my eyes in black liquid liner, then highlighted it with liquid metallic blue and copper.  There are decorations on my forehead with the blue and copper liner, and a spirit-gum applied stone.  I also have a wealth of gold and copper eyeshadow on, and darkened my eyebrows for a stronger ‘frame’ for all that was going on.  I contoured around the eye area with copper shadow, and used bronzer elsewhere for contour.  I did do sort of an “eye of Horus” curl under the eyes with black liner, but throughout the party they disappeared.  The overall look I was going for was something like the lid on an Egyptian sarcophagus.  Self-photos are hard to do well at 4am!

On another note – the copper eyeliner came off fairly well, but the black and blue both took 4 different kinds of makeup remover and a lot of time – good liner!

Sultan’s Tent Headpiece

Written April 8 – edited and published later.

So, from the Sultan’s Tent post, I figured that one of the things I’d like to make for this event is a headpiece, likely because I was inspired by the headpieces I made for the Winter Wonderland event.

This started out with three different ‘silk’ hydrangea flowers from Michael’s (50% off) in brown, red, and off-white.  I also ended up picking up a black one, but didn’t end up using it.  Before I started picking them apart, I REALLY like the combination of these colours!

I picked off a few of the flowers, using more brown than red or off-white, because I wanted this to be primarily brown, for that steampunk vibe.  I wanted red in it as well though to coordinate better with the costume I will be pulling together.  Hmm yeah, the party is tomorrow.  I am quickly running out of time to pull things together!

I cut out a base from black felt, and with a hot glue gun, added flower petals.  Then I cut out some fantastic glittery ribbon (in black, red, and copper/brown), and used them as ‘streamers’ to dangle down, then some brown satin ribbon as well.  I added another felt piece for the back along with two hair clips (one to hold the weight of the piece, and the other to hold it in place).

I glued additional pieces of the glitter ribbon into the piece to cover up blank spots and add some shimmer, and then hand-stitched on some cool twisty chain to dangle from it along with the ribbon streamers.

I had really wanted to add some copper chain like the chain I used in another project – but I didn’t have the time to get to the store where I had bought it, and didn’t see anything I liked at Michael’s – except for this cool twisty beaded chain-type-item, so I bought two pieces, linked them together, and hand-stitched that in.  (I thought I might re-use it later, since it was somewhat heavy, and this will very possibly by a one-time-only headpiece).

Forgive the messy hair, this was taken at the end of the night.

I really liked the way that this turned out – with a few caveats.

1. I glued one hair clip in, and the other one didn’t get glued in, but rather slid in.  This was a happy accident, because it made securing the second clip much, much easier.
2. Overall, I worried once I wore it that the brown flowers matched my hair a little too much, and they didn’t stand out.  This likely wont be an issue at another time, since it’s unlikely I’ll keep the same hair colour for long!
3. The glittery ribbons seemed to catch on everything, including my hair.  Although I love the look of them, it’s unlikely I’d use them again for a wearable project.

Full length of the piece and the streamers

Above is a shot of the full headpiece (ignore the red sheer ribbon that it’s hanging from) including the twisty copper “chain”.

Flowers in the piece

Above is a close up of the flowers.

Procrastinating in the Sultan’s Tent

April 6, 2011

Well, another one of the “write now, publish later” posts because of the surprise part of the upcoming party… the Sultan’s Tent.

Seeing as the party is in only a few days, and I haven’t even had the chance to finish off the research, let alone the actual crafting or sewing (and yes, my basement is still a mess, I haven’t found the time to work down there much at all) I have the strong suspicion that I will NOT be making much that is new for this costume/event.  So, instead I need to figure out what I have, and what I can put together for this event.  It’s kind of a bummer, but honestly I’m feeling way too busy and too stressed out to put too much effort into things right now.
Of course, with that in mind, I’m thinking of another theme party to be thrown this spring/summer…. thinking of ideas for what I’d love to do for that – should I actually find the time to even approach it.

On another note – the church fabric sale is this weekend… despite going through the basement and trying to get RID of things… guess where I’ll be?

Sultan’s Tent inspiration summary

Links of goodness for the belly dance costume elements

• Artemis imports patterns page
• Shira shares information on different patterns for making costumes
• Madame X costume patterns page
• The Great Pattern Review also goes over some different bellydance/historical costume patterns, with some photos.

Hair and makeup

If I end up basically just re-using what I already have, and dont make anything new really, I thought it would be cool to do some interesting hair or makeup.

Hands of Kali

From the Hands of Kali site, I liked this portrait, the gold eyeshadow, the jewels on the brow and forehead, and the flower with the sequins and feather.  The messy buns certainly contribute to the overall look, but I’m not sure if that’s something I’d want to recreate…

Hands of Kali

The headband on this portrait (also from the Hands of Kali site) is also really great – there’s a lot of detail – a lot happening on this one, and yet pretty simple too.  There’s the headband, the flower, the dangling adornment, and then the beaded braids.  The make up is a lot more simple, with just the forehead jewel.

The nice thing about both of these- they both keep the hair off the face – something that always bugs me when I’m dressed up.  (Having my hair in my face..)

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Summary

One thing that I’ve noticed is that a lot of these ideas sort of blur together in ways. The ‘tribal’ bellydance style blends very well with the more historic styles, the goth, and the steampunk styles.  Steampunk and goth blend pretty well too, and steampunk and historical too at that.  Something tells me that instead of helping me narrow down my idea, all of this ‘research’ has actually made the focusing even harder – but, has also made me much more interested in using what I already have, simply due to the lack of time!

I really have TOO many ideas, and this hasn’t helped much focus on what I really want to do….

Sultan’s Tent – historical inspiration

More historical/covered up

from Tribe - Kathleen Crowley

This image I found in a number of places, but this appears to be the original source on Tribe.net.  It’s attributed to Kathleen Crowley, and is described as “Silk shantung ghawazee coat layered over cotton voile”, the silk shantung is the blue/green coat/dress, and the voile is presumably either an underdress, or describes the paisley-printed sleeve falls or the black underskirt (or both).  I do have one (or two?) ghawazee coats (sleeveless though) but I don’t know if they fit right now.  However this could also be accomplished by wearing a normal black dress- since it’s not really as though anyone there will know the difference… LOL

Part of what makes this successful though, is the limited colour palate, and with the brass beads/bells, it’s also vaguely steampunk too dontchathink?

Velvet Peacock Designs

I don’t think that I want to do anything like this – but it is rather inspirational isn’t it?  The colours are amazing, and I think it’s the fact that they DON’T really work together that gives this costume it’s energy.  I don’t think that I like the laced-up front (it would really only be flattering on the nicest of figures in my opinion) but I do like the elements of laced-up things.  I like the split sleeves a lot as well, and the use of trim/contrasting fabric.

Another from Velvet Peacock Designs

Another image from Velvet Peacock Designs – I really enjoy this one – the more subdued colour scheme certainly work better for me, although I’m certainly not about to do anything in PURPLE…  I could totally see this in shades of steel blue, steel and grey perhaps, or my old stand-by of black and red.  I think that this closes in the front with decorative hooks and eyes, which isn’t my preference, but it would work just find with a zip as well, or even a zip with a false placket with hooks instead over top.  Hmmm though the only thing I ‘have’ of this outfit/design would be the skirt – I’d need to make the coin bra and the coat entirely, and it’s really unlikely that I’ll have the time for that.

Maralagnerians photo

Another beauty showing the same style. This one is from a different designer though (again, click the image to go to her page).  This one uses decorative cloak clasps as fastenings on both the front and the lower part of the sleeve.  I like the stripes and the contrast lining, (though again, the colours are probably a bit too varied for my personal taste).

Links, make up, and summary

Sultan’s Tent – Gothic inspiration

Then, the more goth/fetish side of things

Hands of Kali

From the Hands of Kali website, I love the PVC front skirt, the bracers, and I adore the Victorian-style bustle at the back.. awesome.  The studs, the Thai fingers, wacky headpieces, lots of adornment, tassels, grommets, lacing, etc -it’s a buffet of different ideas and styles all wrapped up together.

This video has a lot of amazing ideas (not to mention fantastic dancers) full of goth, industrial, “tribal” and vampiric belly dance costumes. As an aside, I also adore the white linen “classical Egyptian” style costumes too.  My only problem with the video – too much to look at! Another kudo though – that the group dances really look good together – rehearsed and working TOGETHER – versus the all-too-common competition-style group dances.

From Infogirls blog

With the above image, I’m not sure what the image has to do with the blog it’s hosted in – I have the sneaking feeling that the writer loves photography, and includes a photo with every post for interest… but the post doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the photo.  Never-you-mind though – what a gorgeous photo!  If you click the photo you’ll be taken to the blog, where there’s another photo from the same dance.  Blog review aside, and back to the costume….  I love the face paint, the fishnet, the colour scheme, the tassel belts..  none of which should be surprising, because my existing costume has all of these elements!

Synaris belly dance costume

I can’t say that this is what I want to do – but how AWESOME is this belly dancing costume?  Ok, the accessories really make it, but just the idea of using plaid is just awesome.  This is done by an Etsy artist called Synari, and she has a bunch of other pictures of custom costumes she can make.

Next up – historically-inspired belly dance inspiration that is more covered-up.

Sultan’s Tent – steampunk inspiration

So, first up – inspiration on the steampunk belly dance front…

Hands of Kali

From the Hands of Kali website – I don’t know what the intention of this costume was, but to me it has a lot of steampunk elements, mixed liberally with a bit of goth as well.  Steamy- the red and brown striped fabric, the short bustle with the great black ruffle.  Goth – the fishnet, the grommets and lacing, the dreads… It would be interesting to see this one from the front as well.

Deshret Dance Co

The Deshret Dance Company performed at the Carnivale Mechanique, (as per the original link I found on MakerFaire) as part of a performance of steampunk art and culture.  While the costumes themselves are beautiful, I’m not seeing a lot of elements that really scream steampunk though – other than perhaps the colour palate – though I suspect a lot of that has to do with photo editing.  Perhaps if the shot was on an individual costume I could appreciate more of the detail though?

Belly Dance Blog

Now THIS is beautiful – ok, part of it is just that the model is fantastically lovely, but I love the fresh, light, and feminine feel that this displays along with the steampunk elements.  This I found at the Belly Dance Blog – this thread was all about steampunk.   The collar is awesome (though I couldn’t wear it – I hate having things that close to my throat most of the time) the gauntlets/gloves are great too, the bra is all frilly and girly like the hip belt, which has a cameo-like buckle, drapes of pearls, and ribbons. I really like the soft colour palate…  The mini top hat, parasol, and hair sticks are great in this outfit too.

The Blight - Serpentine

From the Blight - check out these beautiful dancers – the group is called Serpentine and they’re from Oregon.  First off, check out the feathered gauntlets – I think that they really make the outfit.  The monochromatic scheme is interesting as well, and it has a vaguely gothic/tribal steampunk feel.  The headpieces look like bird skulls too, but I don’t think that they are…

Next up – gothic and fetish-y inspired belly dance inspiration!

The Sultan’s Tent

March 22, 2011

So, here’s another post that I’m writing long before it will be published – due to another surprise party!

So the next dress up party will be a Moroccan Theme, extrapolated to ‘The Sultan’s Tent‘.  There are a few different things happening for the birthday, some of which I might attend, others not so much… but, all in all, it will likely include a costume for the theme party.

So it’s about 3 weeks away, which means I certainly wont be making much that is new, but perhaps re-use some of my existing costumes and mix them up a little bit – perhaps adding a new piece or two to refresh things.  I’ll use this post over the next few days to hold some of the ideas and inspiration, just like I did with the Winter Wonderland planning posts.

Kato

Timing is everything, and I was wandering around, and found this photo from the model Kato’s website.  There is a whole set of photos that are vaguely harem-like, sort of belly-dancer-meets-steampunk in feel, which I found lovely.  (Just as an aside – Kato is the designer for Steampunk Couture, and she’s been mentioning a new collection.  Some of the photo are similar to photos she’s posted of her new digs in Oregon, which makes me wonder if some of the harem-esque pieces are from the upcoming (and as-of-yet unreleased) collection.) (n.b. April 18- Kato has been releasing photos of the new collection, and no – these are actually from a modeling job)

So, from this inspiration piece (as always, click the images to see them in their original format) I selected it mostly because of the flowers/feathers in the headpiece.   I like the tribal belly dance feeling that comes with this.  Of course, coming right off making the two recent tiaras, (one in the style of the Shape of Clouds and the other in the style of Twiggy Wire) this might not be surprising.

So, my thoughts wander in three directions for this one.  My existing gear includes SCA costumes suitable for “Turkish” inspired personas – some historically accurate (or there abouts!) and others more Ren. Faire styled.   Most of them are really covered up, and I have a lot of accessories (belts and things) that go with the outfits in an SCA context, but don’t actually match   Secondly, I have my goth belly dance costume from a Sultan’s Tent adult party I helped throw a number of years ago.  All of it is coordinated, but it’s a lot of exposure, and with the way I’ve been feeling lately, it might be more exposure than I can really handle right now.  Then, t here’s also the more steampunk aspect that I’d also be interested in pursuing.  Several of the costume ideas I have would work well to translate to this, so it wouldn’t be a waste or a one-of, thought it might involve having to make more than with the other two ideas…