Alternated Bun

Little alternation of classic bun. I made a braid from ponytail and twisted it around the center.

Before attaching the end of the braid under the rest I made a small loop that was pinned as well as the rest.

This is not very noticeable, rather just for me:-P
In addition to this rather boring post I can give you a link to my shared items in Google Reader - I put there posts that seem interesting to me. However, you won't find there any post from Racaire and Elsi - I read their blogs directly:-)

French Braid Shamrock and Figure Eight

I came back to my hair experiments.
After a try of this hairdo I started to make the French braid a bit on the left from the center of my sister's head. When I finished the French I continued braiding right and up - I didn't hold the braid as usually but it was really braided in the position you can see at the photo.

This is one of the following options. You can arrange the braid in figure 8 with the tail hanging from under the braid. Secured with hair pins.

Now to the shamrock. I unbraided a small part and attached two of the strands to head with hair grips. I braided all three parts separately.

And pinned them as you can see. There's one pin hidden in the place the end comes under the braid, in the direction of the thicker part of each braid. It should do for the end and for the loop as well..

Here you can see a hairdo this all came from:-) I think this is usable to be worn every day and it can be easily done on oneself. I just love it!

Green Reflective Poi

This was an experiment. I'd been thinking about reflective stripes but I didn't dare making these poi for someone unknown because I didn't know what it would turn out..
So when my boyfriend asked me to make sock poi for him I suggested and he agreed:)

I bought two meters of streak reflex. I cut it in five parts. This time I drew the pattern on the right side, so that I could exactly mark position of the stripes and easily sew them on.

I made poi from this semiproduct, and of course sacks for weights and pocket and so on..
I usually embroider a sign in connection with the color, this time I just had to make something else:-)

In fact the streak reflex isn't very effective. It reflects light only in the exact direction from what the light came out. But it's nice silver:-D

Dance Sack

I'll take belly dance lessons again! I'm nuts about it!
I decided to make a sack for my training clothes.
In fact the basic process was the same as when I was making sacks for fireshow costumes. I just didn't deal with the upper hem and I made a small flat pocket with one side higher.
You can also notice that the bottom was quilted from several layers of black canvas to be thicker (I didn't like that the black fabric was a bit thinner than the brown one).

I cut a strip, I folded it in half, then the halves were folded again, inwards. I put this onto the upper side of the sack and inserted the pocked under it with its higher part. Sewn along the lower edge.

I added grommets and a cord and declared it finished for now. Maybe once I'll add a band to be worn by, because I can't hold it for the cord (grommets (put in by someone who's not particularly good at) on thin fabric + heavy intestines = grommets sliding out of their position), but I think I'll be too lazy for it:-D

By the way, the small pocket's for ballet shoes, not to have to take a special plastic bag for them.. (I hate plastic bags)

Gothic Toque

I have a new gothic dress (brocade) and I wanted something on my head. Luckily I found a nice article on toques at Virtue Ventures. You can also see nice examples at Kats Hats, they just aren't open. These two ladies also call them torque or coffee hat.

According to virtue's instructions I used a quarter of circle as a pattern. I slightly edited the joining sides to fit my head and cut out of.. a carpet! The one without rubber below.
This piece I could use as a following template for drawing on brocade.

I cut two pieces and sewed them together. I watched to threads in the fibre to be in the same direction on the two parts. I turned this over and slipped it over the carpet. The threads go horizontally on the picture. That's probably why it wrinkled at the center (the sides were bias so they were a bit more flexible). I had to cut a few milimeters in the middle and it was better.

The white something under the pattern in the picture above is a future band that's worn around head. I took a rectangle, folded in the middle (I got a narrower one) and sewed two sides of it. This is before ironing and closing one side by hand sewing.
I sewed the ends of the carpet together, then the brocade in hand and pinned the parts of the hat together (the band to the rest + the band to a circle at the top).
And here you can see the lacing my dressmaker made on my new brocade robe. It seemed too sparse to mee.

She gave me some loops for me to finish it. I sewed them on according to her example. Two little stitches down and two up. This is a little trick, as they look like circles from the right side of the dress:-)

One side's done. For now. In fact, I wanted to have eyelets there as lacing (there's no space between when worn), but holes in this kind of fabric - it would fray out after a few days..

Of course I'll wear petticoat under when among people.
I won't torture you anymore with boring things and I'll show you the hat:-)

Clawn Hat Stuffing

I have a new task - I am to make a hat for clawn. Fortunately I got an example to sew it according to, because in this case I would be totally helpless.
I sewed three pieces like this - one side yellow, one side red - together along the curves.

Then I took them still outside in and sewed the vertical sides together.

I cut the edges, turned it over and sewed on a wide red band. This is the base for the outer look of the hat.

Then I had to make the inner part (as it would be stuffed). I pinned four triangles on my skull until they fitted. You can see what pattern I gained.

I sewed them together (this was a good practice to sew a neat cross when it's not important:-) ) and added a red band as well.

I took a sack of milled foam and stuffed the outer piece. My dog was sniffing around and for the photo he made an innocent-thing look. I helped myself with a pencil. In case you'd like to try this for stuffing I must warn you. It's the worst mess I've ever seen. It's full of static electricity and it sticks to all of your clothes or carpets.

I pinned the two pieces together and sewed along the upper line of the band. That's all for today:-)

New Fireshow Costumes

This is and old version of our poi costumes. Vest (by dressmaker), belt, kerchief (no hair should be visible) and stretch trousers from market (I took me a bit of time looking at old fireshow photos to recognize what could be improved:-) ).

And new version - black loose pants and black bracers. I had to make five trousers (one male) and five pairs of bracers. One pair I had to sew the night before the performance:-D
I like that shoes aren't visible so much now. However I couldn't make the trousers long to the ground as shoes would deform their natural straight look (they're made of twill as well).
No hair should be visible again.

And a picture you might long to see:-) Bracers and skirt together sounds strange but look great. Twill plated skirt as well.
I wear trousers under, tucked in my socks, like harem pants.

These costumes were ment for one certain performance in Moravská Třebová. We had cameramen with us and they made a very nice clip for us. They are really skillful. (And we too:-) )
Enjoy!
(I recommend to watch in high quality)

Fake Bracers

These are black bracers for fireshow. I wanted this accessory as I like how it looks with fire costume.
I made patterns in accordance with measurements of wrist perimeter and perimeter 8cm above wrist.
The first step: eight centimeters height, two perimeters laid as widths, all joined in trapezium.

Step two: room for velcro. Four lines perpendicular to the basic ones. I prolonged them on the left for 2 cm.

A bunch of lines for those who don't own a curve:-D You can spot two horizontal lines at the point a vertical supporting line meets lines from step two. Short lines at the break to smooth the pattern.

Tiny lines finish the curve. You can see well now the symmetrical pattern with two cm added for the velcro.

I cut four pieces (all different - two wrong and two right sides) and marked position of velcro.

Ironing these wasn't very comfortable as the pattern was drawn inside. Steam helped a lot to deform the curved edges.

I sewed on 8 x 2 cm velcros by zigg zagg stitch. I think it's a lot tighter than just straight stitch.

I took two matching pieces (cut the edges to minimum) and sewed them together two milimeters along the edge. That's all:-)

Fire Skirt

Here's how I continued in the process of making a skirt for fireshow.
I made paper patterns according to the prototype, cut these shapes out of black twill and ironed all sides according to the method I already described. Then I sewed three sides of appropriate couples together.

Then I cut four rectangles at the same ratio as the lenghts of the blak pieces and made three sides of them more civilised by serging and folding them in. The upper side has been plated and pinned as you can see in the picture.

I sewed it through which wasn't the easiest thing to do and you can watch how I spoiled it. I couldn't see how the fabric looks at the wrong side and I didn't manage to catch the black fabric everywhere. I didn't fancy ripping and correcting it so I just sewed it again a bit further from the divide.

Then I invented something better. Handling all the stuff pinned was uncomfortable. I pinned the plates in other place than where I would sew and marked spots where the two pieces would match with chalk. The result looked far nicer (you could see at the previous one that the plates weren't of the most regular).

This was just a "cosmetic" but very useful treatment. I wanted the cords of lacing not to fray. I took a double thread, made a knot at the end and pulled the needle between the two threads at the knot.

This gave me a tight hold. I twisted the thread around neatly, hiding the end under. When finished I tied it, pulled the needle through the cord and cut out.

I measured the right distances and set in five grommets at each side. I love lacing:-)

Patch

I've had a lot of work to sew, but as my father was so kind as to help me create fire staves I paid back by sewing his denims. He had a big hole on the back.
I fast sewed the hole in hand, then placed a piece of fabric on it and drew a picture I'd found on the Net.

I sewed it with a black zigg zagg stitch as an application. Then I followed the lines, with simple red straight stitch, to match the rest of denims.

It was a good exercise for me not to forget what I learned at gryffins:-)
You can take a look at how big the hole was. I didn't find any other way but application..

Dad put them on the following day. I mentioned the hole and he said that he knew about it, but didn't have time to sew it yet. He didn't notice! :-D :-D :-D