Bellydance costume revamp

Last year I bought a bellydance costume from a friend. It had been her sister's, and had belonged to who knows how many people before that. It's fun and funky, but it was showing its age. I decided to give this bra and belt set a makeover on a budget.

The problem was these paillettes. While the sequins still look great and the rhinestones are in good shape, the paint on the paillettes was badly chipped, making the whole costume look beat up. My solution: nail polish.

3.5 bottles of polish and countless hours later...

Ta-da! The paillettes are back to shiny and colorful. Much better. An inexpensive (though tedious and a bit stinky) way to revitalize a tired-looking bra and belt set.

Now it's all set for my next performance!

C.A.D.D. and the bellydance top

I have a confession to make. I'm afraid I'm a bit A.D.D. when it comes to crafts and baking. I start one project and have to work on four others before I can finish the one I started. It's pretty annoying.

Case in point: remember all these projects I have lined up? Plenty to work on, right? Guess not. Instead of working on ANY of those, I decided to design and sew Doodle a new bellydance top today. True, she only had one top up until now and it was constantly going missing. This frequently lead to games of "find the bellydancer's top buried in the toy bin" or talks of "no really, bellydancers ALWAYS wear tops. You need to wear something. Anything. Please." So a little sewing project in the name of sanity preservation, even if it wasn't something on The List, is overall a good thing. Right?

Here are photos in the now-standard crappy, flashless quality. The top is made of some purple velvet scrap I picked up at the thrift store, and tied with ribbon in the back. Doodle's gone a bit tribal too.

jumper!

Remember this fabric? Vintage 70's fabulous rust-and-floral corduroy, scored at the thrift store. I had a vision of a cute little cord jumper for Doodle, and fought with different design ideas for a while. Then I found this pattern for free. It was exactly what I had in mind, and wound up being really easy to make. Victory! Here's the finished cuteness:

Doodle helped me design the pockets, and officially approved of the ribbon/lace edging and the yellow flower buttons on the shoulders. She's already been bouncing around the house in it, sticking chapstick, a necklace, and other goodies in her pockets. Perfect for a rambunctious little girl on the go. Yay!

Added bonus - it was cheap to make. Here's the grand total for supplies.
Pattern: free online
Fabric: $1 @ thrift store (and enough left over for a skirt for me!)
Lace: 35 cents @ thrift store
Facing (fabric inside): $1 @ thrift store
Buttons: $1.50 (half off) @ fabric store
Ribbon: from my stash
Thread: from my stash

A thrifting, sewing success!

Crafting...still...

I seem to have gone off the crafty deep end being home with the kiddos. Projects I've started or am thinking about include:

• making 8 necklace/earring sets for my bellydance troupe. - I have all of the earrings done, and one necklace done.

• making my first real quilt. Think at least twin-bed-sized. - I completed my first panel today, and got the fabric cut out for 6 more panels tonight. It'll be 25 panels total.

• double-layered circle skirt for Doodle. - DONE. Finished this today. Not sure why I thought the glittery fabric wouldn't be so bad once it became a skirt. Holy fairy orgy, Batman! The GLITTER! It is EVERYWHERE. We're going to be finding glitter in things for YEARS thanks to this skirt. But Doodle loves it, so I grin as I pick another 10 pieces of glitter off of Little. For the fifth time today.

• fluffy flirty skirt for me, out of that ridiculously bright polyester I mentioned before. - Still in the designing process, trying to decide whether to make a gored skirt for myself now, or wait until I lose a few more pounds of baby weight. Besides, it's still effing cold outside (high of 35ish yesterday felt sooo nice), so I have nowhere to wear the skirt right now if I do get it done soon. Okay, this one can wait.

• corduroy skirt for me, from thrifted 70s rust-colored corduroy. - Still designing, waiting for a skirt book from the library.

• corduroy jumper for Doodle from same corduroy. - Still in the designing process, need to borrow a friends' pattern.

• another quilt as a gift - this one will be simple and pretty quick. Nothin' fancy. - I'm repurposing a thrifted duvet cover, keeping one side intact while hacking apart the other side to make blocks for a big, blocky quilt. I have a vision, but not all the material. So it's technically still in the designing process too.

On top of this I have a bellydance improv solo performance at the end of the month to prepare for (Indian Oven Feb. 27th, 8pm! More info soon), and more choreographing of our troupe music before late March (Club Cairo on March 27th). Plus keeping the house from becoming a total disaster, not neglecting the kiddos, feeding the kiddos, spending time with J... yeah, I may be trying to do too much. Again. Always.

I'll post periodic updates on my list if for no other reason than to help me feel accomplished. And because, as J will confirm, I love lists.

Calling all sewing friends

Alright, crafty friends of mine. I need your help. I have three yards of this awesomely 70s rust-brown corduroy ($1 at DI) that's begging to be used. I'm thinking skirt for me and a 70s fantabulous jumper for Doodle, but don't have any patterns or ideas for where to start. Suggestions?

technically...

... this is my first quilt. The other one was my first patchwork blanket and second quilt. But this one feels less quilt-y to me, with just two pieces of fabric and minimal "quilting" involved. So I unfairly dismissed it. But to be fair, I should share it too.

This is a scalloped baby blanket, also from Amy Karol's Bend-The-Rules Sewing book. Yes, it'll be sad in a couple days when I have to return that book to the library.

Anyhow, this blanket used a random piece of light green fleece I had laying around for the back, plus one vintage thrifted pillowcase for the top. Yes, I know the flowers are kinda big and the colors are kinda ugly. But that's the joy of vintage: it's often a strange mix of "Hmm, that's kinda ugly" and "Ooh, that's kinda cute!" I don't think J likes this one yet... give him time.

Here is my giraffe assistant, demonstrating the size of the blanket. Good for a Doodle giraffe or her many toys.

She loves it. See?

Sewing projects

I've been sewing. For Xmas we always sew a bunch of gift bags, using festive fabric purchased post-holidays at super discounts. But the sewing has continued. Here are a few things I've made, some with J's help:

This was a birthday present for Doodle. She picked out the fabric, and I love it. J was vital in transferring the idea to fabric.

This purse, based on a purse my sister made for me years ago, is a present for a small friend whose birthday is coming up. I just need to get a snowflake button (found a lead on Freecycle, just need to call the person), and teach myself how to use the sewing machine's button holer. Anyone have tips on sewing button holes?

This is our infamous 60s couch. It's NINE feet long, and takes up most of one wall of the living room. The curtains were bugging me - their floral print next to the couch was just not working anymore.

One visit to the fabric store later, plus J suggesting we make it a "thermal curtain" = new, bright colored curtain with some fleece sewn to the other side to minimize draftiness from the window. It's bright. I really like it. Plus it goes with my tiger box (see the tiger pillow on the couch? That's the material. I'll post about the box soon).

I think that's it for my major projects right now. I need to get that darn button hole figured out, then the sewing machine will probably go back to the closet for a while. But it's nice to see the things I can do and make when I take the time.

Update on the dress saga

The dress issue has been resolved. Turns out I had a dress all along!

I was whining about finding a dress, hating shopping, etc. when J asked me to show him the dresses that I have. I started pulling things out of the closet, and found a pretty red dress that I bought at a consignment shop a couple of years ago (anticipating the red dress party, which I've never attended) and have never worn. I had dismissed this dress as an option as it is BRIGHT RED, a color I rarely wear. J asked me to try it on. I obliged. It's cute. It is actually cuter on me now than when I bought it. AND the top is breastfeeding-friendly. Did I mention it's cute?

That settled it. I'm wearing the red dress. But shoes? Accessories?

Found a pair of shiny black ballet flats at the store for more than 50% off, meeting my cheapskatey needs. I made a necklace and pair of earrings from beads I already had in my bead stash, probably totaling $6 with all the materials. Woohoo!

J is currently out shopping for a red tie that will look good with my dress without making him look like an MP (Member of Parliament - a Brit or Canadian politician). Besides, he could probably use a new tie anyhow.

Wardrobe issues solved. Now we just need to bake, clean and pack for the wedding followed by camping and climbing followed by Thanksgiving festivities. Hooray!