Saturday 16 April 2011

Busy Bee

I've had no time for blogging recently as I've been far too busy sewing. I've been working away on cabaret belts for my troupe, in an attempt to tempt them over to the sparkly side, and i've also restarted my long-abandoned peacock bedlah by abandoning all the laboriously sewn appliques i made and doing new ones. They look so much better that it's worth the extra effort!

I picked up a copy of Bead & Sequin Embroidery, and have been learning and applying loads of new techniques. I'm also having a torrid love affair with sew on crystals!

This morning I went out for my usual trawl around the local charity shops while my husband was doing something tedious involving banking. My usual approach is to just home in on whatever looks pretty. If it fits, it joins the wardrobe. If it doesn't, it gets examined for costuming potential. You may imagine my delight when I found this dress, which ticked both boxes!

 It's ankle-length gold glitterdot, and fits to a T, and has a drape at the neck (not seen in the pic) that has 'headband' written all over it. Best of all, it was only £5! I'm not sure quite what to do with it yet- finding baladi dresses in my size is a struggle, so I'll definitely keep it as a dress, but I want to add slits up the side, and either lower the neckline or turn it into an underbust.

Thoughts?

3 comments:

  1. NEAT! LOVE that dress! What books would you recommend for a brand new beginner to costuming?

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  2. Honestly RetroKali, I've never bought a book on costuming! I've heard good things about the Costume Goddess whose books are on Amazon, and the sequin emboridery book mentioned above is teaching me loads, but I mainly picked up my knowledge on the internet.

    We're lucky in BD that there are so many DIYers, many of whom are willing to share their skills with interested parties. There are countless free tutorials on basic bra, belt, skirt and harem making, I just started with those and kept going, with a lot of trial and error!

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  3. Pretty, looks fab on you!

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