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!

Knitting Week

So this week was a week of yarn.  I've been sitting for months on two skeins of Starbella yarn that I got at Christmas, and I decided it was time to experiment.  The yarn itself is very soft, and the colors are vibrant and beautiful.  I was working with Canyon Sunrise, which is a gorgeous blend of blues and a sort of olive-y forest green.

I actually had to look up a few videos to figure out how to knit the stuff, and I found the Ben Franklin Crafts video very helpful.  They recently updated their tutorial on the basic Starbella scarf.  By the way, she's not kidding about the wooden needles.  All of mine are aluminum, inherited from my grandmother, and I was mildly regretting not having wooden needles.  The loops are big, and the yarn does slip around, so you have to be very careful that your stitches don't slide off.  But Starbella knits VERY quickly, so it's not that big a deal.

Starbella Scarf

So I started with a basic scarf but--for curiosity's sake--reversed how I placed the loop while knitting.  I didn't take any pictures, but I went through the front of the loop instead of the back, like you're supposed to.  It made for much tighter stitches, and the final result was a much smaller scarf diameter.  Given the fluffiness of the yarn, though, I actually like this better than the usual pattern's results.

Starbella Mini Hip Scarf (or Shawl)

Back in the day, I used a very simple shawl pattern (you can find it anywhere on the internet, either as yo before or in the first stitch), and I really liked how easy it was and how quickly it went.  Plus, it could technically be used as a hip scarf and easily embellished on the edges. Obviously, with plain yarn, it's nothing super special on its own, but I wanted to see how it would work with Starbella.  

I really like the shape and texture of the final project, but one skein doesn't make for a very wide scarf, so it would probably look better on a girl with slimmer hips. But from the side, it's quite flattering, I think! 

Perhaps the one downside to Starbella is that it you cannot stitch in beads, bells, or other embellishments like you could on regular yarn.  Still, such things could be sewed in by hand later.

Yarn Belt (in progress)

The Starbella pieces went so quickly (while watching season 4 of Supernatural), I decided to start working on a tribal bellydance yarn belt as well.  

Michael's had a sale on Bernat Knit or Knot when I went to pick up materials to finish the red/black bellydance top, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a perfect, pre-mixed selection of yarns.  I made myself stick to a black and white set ("Jessie") and a purple one, since those are my current and projected color schemes.  

I've never done one of these before, and there are no general tutorials that I've seen, so I'm making it up as I go.  The basic idea is to sew a line of hanging yarn along the bottom edge of a belt.  Trying to pin and sew would be a monumental pain.  Attaching the yarn with a line of caulk or hot glue before sewing might work, but I don't want caulk and hot glue potentially messing up my beloved sewing machine.  It might be fine sewing carefully with a zipper foot, but this time we're sticking to fabric-esque materials.  

So, to play it safe, I grabbed some spare leather lace (suede), and decided to tie the yarn to it with a simple cow's hitch or lark's head knot.  Doing it this way means that I can easily fix mistakes and make sure I don't end up with any unintended "bald spots."  I'll still have to be careful when I sew up the belt, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Here you can see the knots on the lace.  The lace won't show once everything's sewn up.

The other consideration was how long to make the yarn strands.  The "Knit or Knot" individual yarn strands are pretty long, even folded in half for this particular type of knot, but I wanted a fairly solid line of yarn for my 45" hips.  I also have relatively short legs, so I decided to cut the yarn in half.  At that length, the knotted yarn on the lace hits about knee length instead of ankle.  

Now, I need to make the belt itself, sew everything up, decide on any embellishments, and decide on how the belt will tie on.