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.
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| 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.
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| $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:
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| 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."
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| 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:
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| 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.
