A Busy Crafting Week

So, I've done quite a few things this week (although there's still plenty more to do)!

Black and White Yarn Belt Trim
First things first, I finally added the trim to the black and white yarn belt.  I need to add the trim to the reverse side as well--virtually everyone has said they prefer the matte sides of the belts, so I'd like to have the trim available on both for that one at least.

Blue and White Yarn Belt
I also started the blue and white yarn belt.  It's actually farther along than the purple and orange one simply because I started sewing up the blue one first.

Here you can see the general process in a little more detail:

How I lay out the yarn after cutting it to the proper length.
There's two skeins of the blue, even if it doesn't look that way.

Start in the middle with the main color, then do the pattern on each side.

I don't know why this is upside down, but here it is, completed.

Cut the belt fabric, then pin along the suede cord.

This time, I'm hand stitching the top. It takes longer, but it's cleaner
and less prone to screw-up from the machine disagreeing with the pleather.

I'm almost done with the top stitching, at which point this will be done.  Woohoo!

Gala Costume
I've also been working on my Gala costume. I've put trim and the side straps on the bra, and I'm very grateful to the design help of my shimmy sister Jennifer for the former!

Blogger seems to want to upload all of my pictures wonky today....

I'll be putting in some jewelly bits in the middle, because something needs to go there. I've started on the top straps, but they need to be roll-hemmed against fraying.  Here you can see the strap fabric loosely laid out on the bra though.

And here are some of the rejected trim ideas...

I did get the side straps done today, though.  They need to be pressed, but I went ahead and sewed them on anyway.

As for the belt, it's still in progress, but here's how the planning has gone.  At first, I tried to mimic the bra design, but it just seemed kind of "blah."

Trying to mimic the bra...

 Then my shimmy sisters Jenny and Haley stepped in!  It's hard to see, but the smaller red, gold, and blue trims create smaller swirls.  I'm not sure yet if the thicker red trim will go along the top or stay where it is in the pictures, but I'll have to figure that out soon.

I think this design is much cooler, and I can still incorporate the swirls into the top, so that's probably what I'll do.

And that's it for this week!  Expect more updates soon!

Gala Top Progress

So, not a lot got done this week crafting-wise, but I still made some progress.

First of all, I started prepping the blue/grey/white yarn for the next yarn belt.  It's basically just unwinding the yarn and rewinding it around my fingers at the desired length.  I still have to cut one end of the loops, but it's a messy business with eyelash yarn.

As for the Gala top, I put the first part of the side straps on and got a little more design feedback.

I forgot to take progress shots of putting the side straps together.  Now they're sewed on and interfaced.

Putting the rings onto the straps. Machine stitched with zipper foot.

Edges roughly hand-stitched inside.  Didn't worry about making it pretty.

The lumpiness of the side straps is because I left the side boning of the original straps for extra structure.  This part will be covered by the regular straps, which will start at the bottom of the cups.  Speaking of, here's the updated design:

My shimmy sisters have suggested red or orange chiffon for the straps, which I think I'll do.  The pendant may not happen, simply because I can't find a good one for my design (especially one that would ship here in time).  But I'll figure something out.

And lastly, my skirt came in!  The color is way off, but you can see how well the belt matches.  Thank goodness I did the orange and blue fringe to differentiate them a bit more!

Purchases Galore!

So, most of the past week has been ordering things for my Gala costume. I finished covering bra, and I also sewed up the belt:

The belt needs to be pressed, but I'll do that this week.

As for my purchases, I jumped on the bandwagon with some of my shimmy girls and ordered this skirt off of ebay.

Awesome 3-tier skirt

I also ordered some lovely glass bead fringe from a seller in Egypt.  I'm taking a risk color-wise with orange and turquoise.

So cool.

Lastly, I made another stop at Jo-Ann Fabrics and splurged just a little bit.

First, I found a blue-green version of my red-orange fabric in the craft section and had to grab it.

Second, their selection of yarns on clearance expanded, and so I picked up another bunch for yet another yarn belt in blue, gray, and white.

Hopefully I'll get some of the things I ordered soon, but in the meantime, expect some more finished yarn belts next week!

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Bellydance Sewing Party!

Happy Cinco de Mayo, all!

So, rather than riotous partying over Tex-Mex, today was a day of Iron Man 3 and bellydance sewing!  I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by Iron Man, but I'll leave it at that.  It was a good way to wrap up the trilogy (assuming it stays that way).

Saturday morning, my friend Katie and I went shopping for fabric for my gala costume, and we ended up picking up that fabric I took a picture of last week.  There just weren't any good coppery fabric, but I really do like the blend of red, orange, and pink in this fabric.  I also picked up a base bra from Target, with Katie's advice serving me well once more.

After Iron Man, then, I went to a fellow bellydancer's house (and she is an amazing costumer!), to work with her, Katie, and another friend.  I focused on covering the bra, and by the end of the evening, I am almost done.

I started out like the black and red top, only this time I wanted to machine sew the darts.  I put the fabric on the opposite cup, right sides together, tacked it down and worked out the darts.  Sadly, I didn't think to take pictures during the process.  After that (with a little trial and error in between), I sewed the darts, and put the fabric piece right-side up on the correct cup.  With one side darted, I laid the other piece wrong-side up on top of it, using the first piece to guide the placement of the darts on the second.  Sew it up, and ready to move on!  (Oh, and our lovely hostess reminded me to press the seams afterwards.  THANK YOU!)

I also cut out the belt fabric and interfacing, just because.

After THAT, I went home, where I hung out with the mister and our friends visiting from out of town.  While we watched Thor, I pressed my seams and started sewing the fabric onto the bra.  Excuse the photo lighting--since we were watching a movie, I wasn't using a good light source, and I just used the camera flash for convenience.

In progress..

One side done, on to side two...

I ended the night with about 3/4 done.  Not bad!

Without flash...

With flash...

Now I have to go order some fringe, my skirt, and start looking for other decorative elements....

Orange and Purple Yarn Belt

My gala stuff wasn't the only thing going on.  Earlier in the week, I started working on the purple and orange yarn belt, and I have to say, the yarns look absolutely gorgeous together.  I can't wait to finish this.

I have a ton of extra, although not enough for a full belt, so I started putting together hair falls.  I used the mambo here, because, like I expected, it just didn't look right on the belt.  A belt solely of mambo might be pretty sweet though.  Anyway, the falls need a little more body, and I need to add more of the Jeweltone (purple multi-colored) yarn, and I need to attach them to hair bands or something...  I'll have to look that up for optimal techniques.

Just to give it some clarity and scale.