The Seemly Seamstress

needle and thREAD

This is what I'm working on now. My girls wanted animals. I purchased the patterns. They drew numbers and my middle daughter got number one. She's already named her Flora.

needle and thREAD ~ In Which the Nut is Over

The Nutcracker is done and over.  It's always so exciting and fun.  The performances were beautiful and my dancers shone on stage.  

Here are the costumes I made for the Nutcracker.  I took these pictures during dress rehearsal.

Clara (my darling girl) and Francesca.

The skirt in action.  

Dew Drop

Sugar Plum (a dear friend's daughter, she worked her feet off to get this role)

Gratuitous shot of my 9 year old dancing as a party girl.

My cute Little Mouse.

The Nut is over.  It's always a bit of a letdown.  We are busily preparing for Christmas.  Lots of Christmas sewing going on over here.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

needle and thREAD ~ Sugar Plum Part 2

The meat of Nutcracker season is upon me.  I'm working furiously to finish the 4 costumes I've made from scratch (does that term work in sewing as in baking?).  Today, it's all about Sugar Plum.  

I still need to tack the layers and attach the plate to the tutu.  Then tack the plate so it doesn't fly up while she dances.  I'm proud to say that I consider the dancer to be like a daughter to me.  She's been working very hard and is very dedicated to the art of ballet.  We found out two weeks ago that Daphne was going to be the Sugar Plum Fairy and we couldn't be happier.

I am not reading a single thing right now.  I need to get back to it but I have one more week of work before our first dress rehearsal.  Gramma is coming to visit and will get to watch the girls dance for the first time ever.  And, how lucky for her that my oldest is Clara this year.  

needle and thREAD ~ Sugar Plum

This is the fabric for Sugar Plum's bodice.  It's a dusty rose color.

I place the top fabric on top of the lining fabric and serge them together.  Bodices are lined piece by piece.

Then, I sewed together each piece. 

See how different the color is based on the lighting?  I took the first two pictures at night with artificial light and the third one during the day with natural light.

I need to press open the seams and add casing for the boning.

Each layer of net is scalloped.  The top layer of net is going to be hand pleated.  It looked really complicated on the video, but once I slowed it down and worked along with it, it became pretty straightforward.

I can't seem to upload the next picture.  It really was just a closeup of the pleats.  But, still...

I'm re-reading the instructions again and again.  Each time I make a bodice and tutu, I learn something new.  

 

 

needle and thREAD ~ Beginning of Nut Season Edition

 

These are the four laces I'll be cutting up and using to decorate the Sugar Plum bodice and tutu.  

Nutcracker season is in full swing.  We have started rehearsals and I have a list of costumes to make.  My oldest daughter has been cast as Clara.  She is thrilled as are we.  Gramma from Massachusetts had already planned to attend the show this year.  What great timing.  My middle daughter is one of the party girls.  I told her this is the only time I would be proud to call her a party girl.  The youngest one will be a Russian Peppermint.  It's the perfect dance for her as she is always full of energy.

I've been wanting to re-do the Clara and Francesca (we only have one boy in our school so we don't have a Fritz) dresses.  I'd been waiting for the pattern to come out from tutu.com.  It's out and coincidentally the same time as my daughter's casting.  I'm doubly inspired.  

I had a bit of a sew-er's block but I've cut through it.  Ha, ha.  I know.  That's a deliberate pun.

Reading?  The Catechism through Flocknote.  They send you a daily reading.  It's very manageable.  

Aren't these colors lovely?  The possibilities are endless.  

I hope to post the progress of this project.  I'm working on putting the lining fabric onto the bodice fabric.  

needle and theREAD

 

I've been sewing like a mad woman the past couple of weeks.  My friend helps out with the community theater's costumes.  The current production is "West Side Story".  We are working on the Shark girls dresses and skirts.  The Broadway production had them dancing in very twirly, ripply skirts.  So, we decided on circle skirts with godets.  Then my friend also found this dress pattern.  Isn't it lovely?  Can I say though?  Godets are not fun.  

I also converted the pattern into one with peasant sleeves.  It's in a lovely pink with gold accents.  The actresses were thrilled with the costumes.  On deck?  Petticoats.  Oh, and two tutu flower girl dresses.  Those dress patterns have been percolating in my brain for weeks now.  It shouldn't take too long to put together.  

As for reading.  I finished Mockingbird this past week.  Fantastic book, but extremely sad.  Keep tissues handy while reading that book.

needle and thREAD ~ Ballet Edition Part 2

I have finished the five bodices and tutus.  I had a lot of help from the M.O.B. (Mothers of Ballerinas) in sewing the decorations on.

The Princesses

The Queen Who Lives aka Queen Gemma

I've learned a lot about making them this time around.  I had made three before this.  Two were for 10 year olds so it was made differently.  

I have to figure out how to make it easier to put on.  I must've missed something somewhere in the construction.  

One of these days I'm going to attend a tutu seminar either from tutu.com or from the ones in Las Vegas.  They're all cost prohibitive and logistically not feasible.  I know that tutu.com would love to have one in Austin which is only an hour away.  I'm going to research hotels and get them the information to make it easier to have one there.

Not much reading going on here now that the show is over.  I have the books on tape to listen to.  I'll start up again once I clean out the studio.  It's a mess.  A big gigantic mess.  Oh, wait, that's the whole house.  

needle and thREAD ~ Ballet Edition

I missed last weeks post because I've been busily sewing tutus together for publicity photos.  The tutus turned out great.  I'll post pictures of all of them next week after the performance.  For now, here are some shots of the Pink Princess tutu.

I'm listening to the second in the trilogy of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I'm feeling too rushed and lazy to find the link for the story.  

needle and thREAD

This week, I'm almost done with the bodices.  

I need to blind stitch the bias binding on the bottom and the piping on top.  I'm still working on handstitching the tops of the bone casings.  I do have one more to cut and construct.  This particular one has been quite an ordeal as I was having difficulty dyeing it the correct color.  The others were already available in its correct colors.  

After I finish the handstitching, I can start to make the decorations.  This is the lace I'll be using to make appliques to decorate the bodices and the tutus.  I pinned the bodice on the dressmaker's dummy crooked.  It will be straight on the ballerina.  This is for one of the princesses.

Here's a closeup of the lace:

And, I am ruffling.  Or rather, I'm attempting to ruffle.  My ruffler attachment is acting up.  I have yards and yards of net and tulle to ruffle.  I have been giving my ruffler attachment dirty looks all morning.  At midnight last night, I was ready to chuck it out the window except well, the alarm was on and I didn't want to set it off.

Reading?  We can do that?  I'm actually listening.  I heard Emerald Atlas and am now listening to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  These have been entertaining me as I work.

 

needle and thREAD

Well, it seems I've only had time for this particular post.  I'm busy working on costumes.  It's moving slower than I'd like.  

This is a tutu panty.  I basted the lines where each line of net/tulle will be attached.  These tutus will have 9 layers with the top layer at 15 inches.  Then, I'll add a top decorative plate to it.  I have a plan and a schedule in my head.  

I'm looking for a book to read on my Kindle tomorrow while I wait for my youngest to have her chalazion (stye) excised.  They will be putting her under due to her young age.  Luckily, a dear family friend will be her anesthesiologist.  His youngest son is "betrothed" to her.  He always jokes that he has to take care of the future mother of his grandchildren.

We check in at 6:30.  Pray for us?