Dance Comp Day!

Okay, so can I tell you about my week? Here it is. Work about 50 hours, no big deal, who doesn't, right? But interspersed within that 50 hours I had to get kids to rehearsals for "Thoroughly Modern Millie", Band Camp (don't even THINK about making comments about that, mmmkay?) and prepping for the Eastern Dancesport Championships with DS the younger. Good God, I felt like I wanted to, well, nevermind but it wasn't good. And DH is the tech lead on readying the launch of the site for a HUGE company (hint - if you watch PR, you've heard of them), so he can't help. Gah!!!!

Anyway, things went well. "Millie" was a great success. Band camp is progressing well. And DS the younger and his partner placed first in every heat! Here's a picture of them doing the Paso Doble.

Tomorrow, I sleep late.

Happy - um, dancing?

Dontcha Just Hate When that Happens?

So here I am, chugging happily away at my Razor Sharp Pants. The fly is in and looking perfect; I'm pleased with my matching of the plaid. I trimmed off the top of the zipper in preparation for applying the waistband.

Then it happened.

Yep. I did it. I pulled the zipper just a wee bit too far and....

BAMNNNFFF!

I spent a good long time ripping out the zipper to reapply it, cursing myself the entire time. That's it. Next time I'm going to say to hell with it and shorten the zipper before applying it.

Parting Shot: Dance Exhibition!
DS the younger was in a show at the studio last night. They did a couple of group dances with a bunch of the kids. The first was just the kids
The second was kids partnered with pros from the studio. DS the younger was paired with Sarah, who's wearing the red dress. Cool note about her - besides being a great dancer and an absolute sweetheart, she and her partner Evgeni (to her right in the back row) took 36th at the Worlds in Tokyo this year.
The kids did GREAT (the pros did okay, too) and they all had a blast.

Now back to the damned fly.
Happy sewing!

Tune in Tonight at Ten

Dancing Tweens on TLC!

Getting Closer...

The lining is constructed, the correct size steel bones are in the bodice. Now I have to insert the zipper, put the scallops on the top and fell stitch the lining. Getting there! I'll hopefully have something to show before the weekend. I'll take pictures later. I don't have my camera.

But hey, we now have the official date for DS the Younger's TV Debut! Set your Tivo to TLC next Tuesday September 15 at 10 PM(Eastern). He'll be on "Dancing Tweens"!

Here's the story in the local newspaper.

Happy sewing!

Finally Back in the Land of the Living

Oy, I say, oy! I have never been that sick for that long, and I hope I never am again. Thank God for Zithromax.

So what have I been doing? Nothing. Nada. Zip. I do have most of another (one last) summer dress cut out. It's the same Simplicity pattern that I made my maxi-dress from:

This time I don't have enough fabric to make it long, so I'll make the knee-length version.

Oh! We finally got the air date for DS' episode of "Dancing Tweens". September 15th at 10PM. It'll be interesting.

I'm also starting to prep for a class I'm taking next week. I think I'm going to make a bustier, but I'm still not entirely decided. I need to decide today because I have to have the muslin ready to go next Wednesday.

I ordered a new book for my library. I just got it yesterday and tonight I'll start poring over it, Building Patterns - The Architecture of Women's Clothing by Suzy Furrer


So far it looks really interesting, and unlike some other pattern drafting books I own, it looks quite useful and usable. Review to come later!

I chopped my hair all off this past weekend. I love doing that. I feel like, in addition to losing 6 lbs from the pneumonia, I lost another 10 when I got rid of my hair. It's always a surprise to my family when I do that. One time, when I first went from blonde to red, I never told my DH that I was planning to, so he walked right by me without recognizing me at a restaurant! I'm contemplating changing the color again. We'll see.

I am overdue on posting a review of a biography of Laura Ashley. That will come soon too. Stay tuned, much more later. God, it's good to feel human again!

Happy sewing!

Cameras Cameras Everywhere

Yesterday was the Yankee Classic ballroom dance competition. DS the younger was competing for the first time with his partner. In the past, both kids have competed Pro-Am with Tatiana. To add fun to fun, we've had a camera crew tailing him (and to a lesser extent, all of us). I'll have more on that as the airing date gets closer. No pressure, right?

We woke up to a typically beautiful June day in Boston:
You know, we New Englanders are a pretty crusty bunch by nature. But if we seem more crabby than usual? This is what we have woken up to Every. Single. Day in June. WTF? I feel like I'm living in the northwest. But I digress...

We got there at about 9:15, and met up with his partner and her family. We got them ready to go and they were stoked. They took their places on the dance floor for the International Standard division. They were really nervous about this one

Note the big honkin' camera behind them. No pressure, right? The I.S. Foxtrot was pretty new to them. They had never competed with the International Standard. But they did great! Here they are doing the Foxtrot

and the Waltz
Note the big honkin' camera in the background. No pressure, right? The last dance was the Tango. Here you see them with the judging panel
The judge in the center is their idol, and Dancing with the Stars pro, Maksim Chmerkovskiy. No pressure, right?

They did great! They took 4 firsts, 1 second and 1 third. Here they are with Max

We had a 4 hour wait until the Latin division. They danced 5 dances this time: Cha Cha, Samba, Paso Doble, Rumba and Jive. Here are a couple of pictures. Cha cha first
Jive was the last dance.
Then there was a long wait between the dances and the awards ceremony

They scored #1 in Paso Doble, with mostly 3rd to 5th place in the rest. But they weren't disappointed and neither were we. They were up against incredibly stiff competition, and they were in a new, higher division than they had been in before. The good news is that they didn't come in last in any of the dances. So now they have things to work on, but we're going to take some time off this summer to let them take a breather.

Poor DS the Elder was such a trooper. He came with us and spent all day cheering on his little brother, and I think I need to do something nice for him. But he was actually pretty proud of his bro, even though he won't admit it to many people. Here are the kids with Tatiana after all was said and done

Sorry to go on and on like a proud mother, but hey, I am! And what do you think of his pants? Those are the Burdas. I asked him how he liked them once he was done dancing and he said, "They were great!" Now we can kick back and relax a bit.

The next project on my cutting table is Jalie 2794, the Sweetheart Top. I'm making it from this Citrus Paisley Mesh from Gorgeous Fabrics.
I have some tips for working with mesh that I'll post once I finish the top.

Happy sewing!

What a day!

I'll do a recap tomorrow. We arrived at the competition at 9:15 this morning, and just got home an hour ago (10 at night). Yawn! I'm wiped, but here are a few pictures to give you a feel for our day.

Waiting for Standard to start

Scoring Points with the Judges
Yes, that is Maxim from DWTS

One of seven cameras that were trained on them or us during the dance.
We got two, they got four.

It was great. But it's been a long day, I'm going to sleep. G'night!

They're Here!!!

TLC is in the music room filming an interview with DS the Younger right now. My house isn't very big, and my music room is pretty small, but it never felt quite that small until they started putting all the equipment in it!


Poor things, it's about 105% humidity and they can't have a fan running because of sound. They closed the door to the room so I'm sure it's a thousand degrees in there. We're trying to be vewy vewy quiet!

Next on the Table - a Pair of Pants

But not for me. I'm making a pair of black pants for DS the Younger using this Burda pattern:
Next week he's taking part in the Yankee Classic ballroom dance competition. That is a whole 'nother story that you'll get to hear all about later. He's been growing like a little weed of late, and his pants are all getting short on him, so I thought I would make him a pair from All You Need Is...RPL in black from Gorgeous Fabrics (of course). I have to say I am quite disappointed, but not surprised, at the dearth of decent boys' patterns. I didn't have the time or patience to go through my old BWOFs. This pattern will work fine for the competition next week, and I should have it ready in the next day or two.

Poor DS the Elder. I feel like he gets short shrift on my blog at times. Let me just be a proud mom for a moment. He's about to graduate from the middle school with a straight A average throughout his three years there. Last night was the school vaudeville, an exercise in excruciating boredom, punctuated by some really good bits. DS the Elder was one of the good bits. He played and sang "Imagine" by John Lennon. He was good! I've heard him practicing the piano, but he wouldn't let me hear him sing. I'll tell you, he did better than I ever could have. And he didn't sound the least bit nervous. I didn't get any pictures because he had his back to the audience while he was playing. Don't ask me why they set the piano up that way. But he did a great job and I'm so proud of him!

The hambone gene runs deep in our family. Stay tuned and happy sewing!

10 First Place Ribbons!

Can I be a proud mom for just a minute? He did great!!! 10 firsts! Okay, well... he was the only one in his division.

But still! He really did great, and he looked so, well, grown-up. Sigh...

The dress looked fantastic on Tatiana, and it held together (of course, I knew it would) through the open competition where she danced with one of the top students in the studio (and they took first, too)! Here are some pictures

First up, Paso Doble
And the jive:

And Cha Cha

or is that Samba? I don't know, I can't tell in still pictures...

And collecting ribbons:
Okay, now I'm exhausted. I think I'm going to take a nap, retire the sequins, and start working on the Burda this weekend.

Happy sewing!

Dresses in Action

I drove in from New York at 5:30 last night, and at 7 we were in Boston for the dance exhibition. Oy. But I got to see my dresses in action. Check them out!

Foxtrot

Turning

Take a Bow!

She likes it. Hey Mikey!

Back view

Jive!

This afternoon, DS the youngest and Tatiana will dance in the pro-am competition, so I'll get lots of pictures then. Now I need more coffee.

Happy sewing!

Third Time is the Charm!

She LOVES it! Tatiana called me (I'm in the car on the way to NY). She tried on the dress last night and it's perfect! She's going to wear it on Saturday, so I'll get lots of pictures.

Hooray! Now back to sewing for moi.

Oh, don't worry. BFF is driving. I made her drag herself out of her sickbed to come with me.

Hello, Lemons. Meet Lemonade...

Here is how I work. I do something. There's a problem. I get pissed. I sulk. I put my brain (I had a CAT scan - I have proof it's there. I took home photos) to work on it. I fix it.

So today, my seam ripper and I had a grand old time. I pulled the drape off the dress, and I cut a new drape. Tatiana wanted a cowl drape that wrapped around the back to become a halter. The problem with the Lycra is that it doesn't drape properly. It's too heavy; it drapes into semi-stiff folds rather than soft curves. So I replaced it with a drape made from a rectangular-sort-of-thingie of the turquoise mesh. I sewed that into the collar (and thank you Emilie for sending the suggestion!). I gathered the front so it drapes beautifully and I left the back relatively plain. I brought it to Tatiana tonight, and she saw me walk in with it, stopped her dance lesson and ran over to ooh and ahh over it and give me a big hug! I hope she loves it as much on her as on the hanger. I also made two arm bands for her from the sequined fabric that she can wear on her biceps to kind of pull it together a little bit. I promise I'll get pictures this weekend.

In a perfect world, I would sprinkle some sequins on the drape. But this isn't a perfect world. Because tomorrow, rather than gluing sequins on the drape, I'm going to New York to go to...


Wait for it...


Fashion Week!!!!!!



Oh. My. Gawd! How excited am I? I'm meeting up with my darling Emmett and my darlings TLo and we are going to the Tents! Be still my beating heart! That's why I got the new camera lens. I promise to post pictures!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines! There's something big coming. First thing tomorrow. I can't give too much away (2 years!), but fill your shopping bags, watch your email and this site and....


Happy sewing!

$&*@!

She hates the drape.
Loves the neckline,
Loves the skirt,
Loves the bra top,
Hates the drape

S#!&
Back to the f*cking drawing board.

Pattern Review - Self Drafted: Tatiana's Latin Competiton Dress

If you are just joining us, let me give you a little background. This is a competition Latin dance dress for DS the Younger's ballroom dance teacher. She found out that I sew, and asked me to make her a couple of outfits. Ballroom and Latin dance dresses, if you buy them, can cost anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars for a relatively simple design, to many thousands of dollars for an Open level competition costume. After making them, I can understand why. There is a lot of engineering involved in these dresses.

Pattern Description: This is a Latin dance competition outfit. It's a two-piece dress, consisting of a skirt with a scooped hem and attached halter blouson, worn over a bra. The skirt is built on a panty that I based on Jalie 2801. The rest of it is self drafted.

Sizing: One size. Teeny!

Fabric Used: Lycra Serious-as-Hell Powernet for the panty and bra back. Bright turquoise lycra jersey for the dress. Turquoise holographic sequined stretch net for the bra, collier, belt and skirt flounce. Stretch net for lining the sequins, also in a matching turquoise.

Needle/Notions Used: 1/4 inch elastic, clear bra straps, clear bathing suit bra hook, two silver waistband hooks, falsies.

The lycra, especially the S-a-H Powernet, was brutal on needles. I bent or broke five, count 'em, five needles on this project. Big shout out of thanks to Nancy K., who has worked with this type of lycra before and pointed me towards Microtex needles. I wish I had known about them earlier in the project. Next time I work with this kind of fabric (next time?), I'll make sure to use Microtex.

Did it look like the photo or drawing when you got through? Um, well, no, but that's because I had no clue when I started out what this was going to turn into.

How were the instructions? Hah!

Construction Notes: Phyllis asked me during construction how much of the dress was done on the serger vs the sewing machine. All the seams were sewn on my industrial serger. I don't have an industrial zigzag machine. I think that's the next industrial on my list. So I did all the rest of the stitching on my home Pfaff. I did some basting on my Juki straightstitch, but it didn't see much action. Because of the way this dress is built, I didn't use my coverstitch at all. The only places I would have used it were on the necline and halter hems. I didn't want a double line of stitching there, so I decided to forego using the Beast. Oh, now that I think about it, I suppose I could have used the Beast on the elastic in the legs. Oh well. Next time. (next time?)

When making a dance competition dress, you really need to take as much ease as possible out of the pattern. As with the Smooth ballroom dress, I took the panty pattern down by about 1.5 inches at the waist. I had done a test run back in November, which was (IMO) disastrous. That was based on a McCalls pattern, and the pattern actually had positive ease (you need negative ease for a dance costume). Tatiana tried it on and was clearly not pleased with it. I think the way I described it then was a "How can I tell her it's heinous without hurting her feelings?" kind of look. So I dropped back to punt. I took time away from the Latin dress to focus on the Smooth.

The Bra
In the first iteration, I attached a flesh toned leotard to the bra. This time I decided to go for the two piece. Latin dance dresses are all about showing off the wearer's body.The bra is a commercially produced one that I took apart and covered with the sequine fabric. When Tatiana tried on the first dress, I noticed that the bra tended to pull away at the top when she bent over. That's not a good thing when dancing. So to help alleviate the problem, I sewed a length of 1/4 inch elastic into the top of the bra, stretching it to fit (it was 1 inch shorter than the length of the bra top). That helps the bra cup the top of the bust.

I also bought a set of silicone bust enhancers, and sewed pockets into the bra cups to keep them in place.
These give the, um, necessary components to fill out the bra properly. The sides of the bra are made from the nude S-a-H Powernet. This particular tone matches her skin almost perfectly. The shoulder straps are commercially purchased clear elastic bra straps.
(she's smaller than Shelley, so while the bra is tight, it isn't this tight on her)

The Skirt
The skirt is a formfitting straight skirt with a circular ruffle flounce at the bottom. It's built on a leotard panty made from the S-a-H Powernet
The ruffle is made from the sequined fabric and is lined with the turquoise mesh
I attached a decorative belt of the sequined fabric, also lined with the mesh, at the waist.

The skirt has an attached halter with a blouson drape. The neck of the halter is made from the sequined fabric and hooks in back.

Embellishment or, How I Learned to Embrace My Inner Tacky Girl
I found the lack of transition from the sequins on the flounce to the turquoise fabric to be too stark for my taste. So I decided to add some embellishment to it. I decided to stick with sequins, so I pulled individual sequins off scraps of the fabric. I've been consulting back and forth with Sewing Diva Phyllis, who has been kind enough to draw up some schematics for sequin placement on the skirt. I think I'm going to do placement of the sequins so they start at the top spaced several inches apart and gradually get more encrusted the closer you get to the flounce. I've started (and you will see here) with a simpler pattern, to give myself a frame to work within. Plus, if I run out of time (the kids are out of school this week, so it's highly possible), I have something for the dance competition and can add on to it later. Applying the sequins is tedious. I glue each one individually at markings on the skirt. I apply the glue with a toothpick to the back of the sequin, then I position the sequin with the other end of the toothpick and press onto the skirt
I'm using Aleen's non-toxic bridal glue. I started out using Fabri-Tac but after about 5 minutes I was feeling like Michael Phelps at a frat party. Wooooo! The non-toxic fabric glue has no odor and you can get it on your hands without worry. It was time consuming, but not difficult.

Likes/Dislikes: I often say that I hate sewing for other people. It's a true statement. But I have actually enjoyed this and the Smooth dance. These are so far out of my comfort zone it's funny. And my sewing studio looks like a bomb full of sequins exploded in it. But I really like the problem solving and the engineering involved in making these dresses.

Would you do it again? Would you recommend it? I might do it again. I haven't decided. Apparently there are people lining up for my services at the dance studio. I encourage anyone who has thought about making outfits like these to go for it!

Conclusion: An interesting, and ultimately, very rewarding project. I have conquered one of my last unknowns (sewing wicked activewear) and I have found that I actually enjoy it! Here's a picture of the dress as it stands right now:


I am going to try to put more sequins on the skirt and I may put some on the halter. But for now I'm going to sleep on it and make up my mind in the morning.

Happy sewing!

What is it About Deviled Eggs?

We had our annual "We're Sick of Winter Party" last night. It was a blast. Everyone showed up dressed and ready to party like it's St. Croix. We had enough food to feed an army and I'll be going through leftovers for the next week.

DH wanted to make deviled eggs. So we did, and they were really delicious - we made them with Indonesian spices. And you know what's the funny thing? They were the first thing we ran out of! Seriously, people descended on them like locusts. This happens every single time we make deviled eggs. What is it about deviled eggs, does anyone know?

On to sewing. Today I spent much of the afternoon at the sewing studio, and I managed to finish all the major construction on Tatiana's dress. Hooray! I'm going to make a belt from the sequined fabric and apply the sequins over the next couple of days, but here is the basic dress.

Here are a couple of pointers for working with this kind of fabric. If you have a home machine, be ready to go through a lot of needles with this. I used some heavy lycra in dark nude for the bra sides and back. It is a pretty tough fabric to sew through several layers. My industrials had no problems, but my home Pfaff zigzag machine did. I think I bent or broke 5 needles during the course of making this dress so far. The sequined fabric is even harder on the machine. I also ended up turning off the IDT (differential feed) on my Pfaff. The feeder would catch on the stitching for the sequins.

I'm done working on it for today. I feel like I might be fighting something off, so I don't want to work on it when I'm tired. I don't want to get this far only to screw something up irrevocably, KWIM?

Happy sewing!

Foxy Brown!

Eureka!!!!

Tatiana came over today for a fit check. The bra and skirt fit her beautifully - hooray! I talked with her about the drape, and we came up with what I think is going to be perfect. A halter with a slight blouson effect to it. That's so much easier than what I was thinking about. I'm also going to make a belt from the sequin fabric and sew that to the skirt, then sprinkle the sequins on the skirt in between. Very Disco-Pam-Grier. I may end up going back and doing some on the halter. We'll see. Let me get the rest of the dress done first.

Woo hoo! Now we're cooking with kerosene!

Happy sewing!

Uncertainty and Doubt Have No Place in my Universe

Sequins it will be, then. After talking it over with Phyllis, and sleeping on it, I think I'm going to stick with sequins from the ruffle/bra fabric to make the transition. I've had a couple of suggestions for hotfix crystals. I know they are standard bling on dance costumes, but I don't have the time right now to track down the right color (clear is not an option) and the sequins are here and available. So I'll finish the main construction of the dress and start working on the placement of the sequins. More later!

So Far...

The main construction of the skirt is done. I need to take it up to the studio and finish the waistband with the Beast (my coverstitch). The lack of transition between the sequins and the lycra is jarring to me, and I've asked Sewing Diva Phyllis for her suggestions on embellishments to ease that transition. I'm thinking that maybe I'll take some of the sequins off scraps of the fabric and glue them on in a sort of cascading effect. We'll see. Tonight, I'm working on re-covering the bra. I'm going to change the back strap of the bra, too, to make it all flesh toned, I think.

My biggest worry is that I don't want the dress to look stupid. I'm operating way out of my comfort zone with this kind of design and embellishment. At a competition I watched last spring, I was horrified at some of the dresses on the dance floor. I really want this to look good, and it's so easy to step over the (very thin) line from looking good to looking tacky. I also want to see if I can convince Tatiana to go with the mesh for the drape, instead of the original solid blue lycra. I think that will soften up the whole look.

Well, tomorrow will tell. I'm going to try to have the bra and drape finished so she can do a preliminary fitting on Friday. Fingers crossed!

No Such Thing as Subtlety

At least not when it comes to Latin Competition dance dresses. I will say that the second incarnation is going more smoothly than the first, but this is the dress that scares worries the bejeezus out of me. I decided to make it a real two-piece, rather than covering up her midriff. The skirt is going to be considerably less solid lycra and considerably more sequinned than the original version. It's also going to be a lot shorter than the original. Not Edyta short, but short. I've got the skirt/panty combination together. Today I cut out the ruffles. Tatiana wasn't really happy with the original ruffle, which was not quite a half circle.

The original ruffle was graduated in length, from about 4 inches in the front, going down to 8 inches at the center back. When she put it on, I thought it looked a little too "Mermaids on Parade" - like one of Bette Midler's backup singers. Not what I was going for. So this time I made two circular ruffles, each about 7 inches wide. To make the ruffles for this dress, the circle was 14 inches in diameter, with a 5 1/2 inch circle cut out of the center. Two of those are the perfect size to fit around the hem of the skirt, which measures 37 1/2 inches. Yes, I calculated it out beforehand. Finally I put my college math major to use!

Now, I have to ask you, how tacky is this material? My tack-o-meter is flying off the scale.



But, being the trouper that I am, I bucked up and got in the mood by watching Episode 2 of "RuPaul's Drag Race" (thanks, TLo!). There's nothing like a bunch of drag queens competing in girl-group lip synch contests to amp up my tack quotient. Well, that or maybe a couple of Mojitos. Anyway, the back of the sequinned fabric really needs some backing to cover the exposed stitching, so I cut another pair of circles out of some perfectly matching lycra mesh that LindsayT picked up for me.

Right now, the mesh and the sequins are sewn together and I'll apply them to the skirt tomorrow. Then I'll get working on the bra and the drape. I'd like to have this finished by the weekend, so Tatiana can try it on and we can make adjustments. The competition is the weekend of the 21st. So that's where it's at. Hopefully I'll have more to show tomorrow. You know, for all that I tell everyone that I hate sewing for other people (and I do), I'm actually enjoying these two dresses. They are different from anything I've ever done before, especially this dress, and it's nice to have a challenge.

Happy sewing!