Gala!

Well, Gala has come and gone! I would have posted about it Sunday, but my new job at Toys R Us had me working all day, and I let it slide. Oops!

Anyway, the Oasis Bellydance Gala 2013 went really well. We had some absolutely fantastic dancers, some amazing choreography (everything from stunning fusion, traditional Egyptian, to comedic pieces), and it was a lot of fun. I definitely want to be in more than one number next year!

Anyway, I kind of slacked and didn't take progress pictures of my final updates, but I continued the ribbon tactic on my fringe, and that actually worked really well. I wouldn't advise it for really long wear, as the fringe still starting to itch by the end of the night, but it was much, MUCH better. I also added in a bit more trim on the top to make it go better with the belt. I didn't end up adding any of the beading I was considering, but that gives me something new to try at a later date!

I added a gold swirl in the middle, blue in the bottom left and red (hard to see) in the upper right.
I also added in a new blue sequin swirl on the right, and a tiny strip at the upper left.

Here's the finished costume, hung up and ready to go!

And here I am in the finished product backstage!

Woohoo!  Sorry I don't have onstage shots--don't want to use any of those without permission.

The only other news of note is that 1) I have a ferret now!

Her name is Tali (of Mass Effect, no Soul Calibur fame).

and 2) I'm starting to clean my office.  It's been needing it, but after we rearranged our living room, and now I've got even more junk in there.  We may still move some stuff around, but it needs cleaning no matter what:

Look at that hot mess.

I didn't get much done so far, but at least I can walk into the closet again.

There used to be no floor here.

Also, I've been keeping everything from the blog on my piano.  It now looks like a piano, not like this:

So, now, it's on to the wedding dress and finishing cleaning!  Hopefully I'll be able to get some work done on that this Sunday.  If not, this will be a weird reverse week:  I'm going to start doing non-crafty updates, probably on Wednesdays.  Let's see how it goes!

Gala Progress

So, I made quite a lot of progress this week, which is good, seeing as Gala is in 2 weeks.  I only have one "must do" task left, and everything else is lagniappe.

Firstly, I finally found the pendant.  At first, I was debating these, although I wasn't won over by either:

Then, I went to Hancock fabrics for ribbon (sales, whee!).  Of course, the store with the smallest jewelry selection had something perfect:

Sorry for the poor picture quality.  A lot of these turned out blurry.

So I got two.  One for the belt (above) and the other for the top (although I didn't use the two extra pieces on the top).

I also had to do the straps.  Again, the pictures insist on staying sideways, and the color variation doesn't show well, but I layered the top's fabric over a sparkly red chiffon. I also added the fringe, but I forgot to take a picture.  

But I do have one when I laid everything out for comparison early on.

This is before I sewed them in properly. I didn't take a current picture.  Whoops!

All that's left on the top is getting the back straps the correct length.  I'll have proper pictures of the top next week.

I did almost the whole belt yesterday, after Jenny helped with the design last week.  I sewed on the pendant stuff and used Fabri-Tac glue to attach the trim.  I like sewing them on, but the glue was SOOOO much faster.

In progress

 It's mostly done, but I want to add a little more trim or something in the center--it's a little plain.

laced back

This is how I did the lacing loops.

Well, hopefully next week, I'll have some pictures with the costume finished and actually ON. Whoohoo!

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!