back in the swing of it!

The couture clutches have re-clutched my attention (ha ha ha), mostly because I spent a lot of yesterday FIXING things ... like missing buttons and hems on my clothing that had needed attention for at least a year. While I did this, I spent some time fixing little boo-boos on some clutches I made in the last batch, and then got all fired-up to make some new ones.

I also got my act together and finished the raspberry flounce choli. I had decided NOT to permanantly affix a flounce to it because I'm not very into the flounce and would love to have a choli in this fantastic fabric that I can wear with other costumes anyway. So with a little advice from our troupe's costume mistress, I came up with these snaps as a solution. But I needed to keep the choli fabric from stretching where the snaps would go, to prevent puckering, so that meant I needed to add this hem tape. I did it on the flounce as well, since that fabric originally cut in a circle, then pushed outward to be a straight line (to make the flounce-y-ness) could use the extra strength, I thought. In any case, I am really pleased with the result and can't wait to wear it.

The other excitement around here? Well, the greenhouse is really coming together. In fact, while I've been doing all this sewing my husband has been hammering away affixing the siding to the structure. Next step I believe is to level the floor then pour in some gravel (which I believe will be my chore this week), and then we'll start worrying about finding a door (because I don't want JUST any door) and the heating/cooling/watering elements that will make it a true greenhouse.

backlog

I've been busy costuming, and I believe I've mentioned various projects over the fall that never got photographed. My fantastic husband bought me a digital camera for my birthday, and so I'm able to take pictures of everything I've been working on!
The first is a sari silk costume that consists of fantastic harem pants (shown here), a vest out of the same fabric, and 10 long thin panels (to be created out of these fabrics shown here) that will hang from my beaded belt. These many elements are really time-consuming, especially the panels, which will also be beaded to add plenty of sparkle. I'm hoping to get a jump on all this creative stuff before I am overwhelmed with a deadline by which time it needs to be wearable.


The other completed project is what the dance troupe has been calling the indian bedspread skirt, because I bought 2 very CHEAP bedspreads from the IndiaArts catalogue and put them together to make one fantastic skirt (and one pair of fantastic harem pants that go underneath). They're just gorgeous to dance in and so much fun to make, too! All the different colors and patterns of all the girls' skirts are so fantastic!


I'm currently obsessed with red and pink as a color combination, and my current projects reflect that ... I am actively working on two things right now (and trying very hard not to start a third!)... one is a raspberry colored choli with a removeable flounce. That way, it will match my flounce skirt that I made months and months ago, but I can also wear it with other costumes. The flounce skirt is a deeper raspberry color, with the same sheer fabric as the flounce on this choli. The combination of colors should make for a great costume.

Also, I'm making this darling little swirl hat. After making 10 or so crocheted hats for selling at the shop (and a bunch have sold! Yay!), I decided it was time to knit again, and to make something to keep. I'm just in love with this color combination of pink orange and red, and the cotton yarn feels really soft and cozy. I'm excited about the swirl pattern, as well and am contemplating making this hat very long and pointy, just for fun and to accentuate that swirlyness. We'll see about that... It may be a really lame idea.