Accent Skirts and More Yarn

Well, yet again, it's been a week without a post, but that's the end of the Spring Semester.  I'm going to try to keep myself posting--even if it's less on-topic--so that I keep on schedule.

Today, I finally got around to going to the fabric store.  Unfortunately, because it was after my nephew's birthday, I only managed to get in a little time before the store closed.  Hopefully I'll be able to go back tomorrow or Wednesday and pick up some of the other things I want/need, but I did come away with a few useful things.

First of all, I picked up some braided trim to finish the top of the black and white yarn belt.

Second, a month or so ago I almost bought a ton of yarn on clearance but passed.  This time I caved.  It was all $.97 per skein.  How could I not?  So, these will be the basis for a yarn belt in the near future.

There's orange (terracotta) and multi-shade (mostly purple and orange) eyelash....

Glitter eyelash....

And this stuff.  I think it would be great in hair falls, and depending on how it looks laid out with the others, I may save it for that.

I probably also need some heavier, more normal yarn to balance the eyelash, but this was what was on sale, so there.  It's a start, at least.

I also found some cool fabric, but I doubt I'll be using it this go round.  I just took a picture because it was cool.

Orange and Red and swirly...

By the way, I didn't buy these, but random tribal find of the day at World Market: these pretty cowrie shell bracelets.

$14.99. Probably worth it considering how long DIY would take.
Nonetheless, probably a future project in this...

Accent Skirt

The other project I started this week is an accent skirt.  They go by different names, and they're often just lumped in with hip scarves.  Here's an example:

Moondance Bellydance has a couple for sale like this one.

Well, I wanted to try to make a simpler version based on one Mr. CouchCrafting bought me at the Texas Renaissance Festival two years ago.  Basically, it's a shaped rectangle of fabric with a hole in the middle and a waistband around the hole (like your basic circle skirt in a lot of ways).

I had some really interesting red fabric (AKA not suitable for practical use) left over from a pirate costume, so I decided to experiment with it.  I made a rectangle out of what was left, and it's not very wide, but pretty long.  I cut a circle in the middle based on my hip circumference.  Turns out, I made it a bit too big, but, hey, as the popular quote says, "I'm an English major.  You do the math."  

Yes, the "holes" are meant to be there.  The fabric has a back, sheer layer that you can see through the holes.
By the way, this fabric really doesn't photograph well.  It's a nice, rich, dark red.

Because of the sheer layer, I didn't want to put elastic in the waistband and have it show through, so I decided to try shirring, using Make It & Love It's tutorial.  And OMG I LOVE SHIRRING.  It took me a few tries to get the tension right, and I'll actually have to do the whole waistband (not just a back section) because the shirring can't make up for my over-sizing; nonetheless, it's actually very easy and it really does look great.

Here are some really terrible pictures of it in progress:

Now you can actually see the shirring effect.

I ran out of elastic thread, so I'll have to go get more before it's finished.  Still.  OMG guys.  Shirring.  Try it. It's the bomb.