Tempus Fugit!

This last week or so has just flown! I'm in the middle of a tornado of activity, and still not sure which way is up.
Here's just a little snapshot of last week:
Dental and medical appointments on 4 days. 'nuff said about those.
Making dance costumes. Still going. Worrying about whether or not I will meet my deadline of 8th March.
Here's a partially completed dance skirt. Still more ruffles and sparkles to be added. The line of sewing you can see is where I'm also attaching a few ruffles to the inside of the skirt. That will be covered as I add more ruffle rows. The green is more lime-y green in real life.

Last Friday I sang a couple of songs at the Glasshouse in Port Macquarie. You can hear them here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJT74ouZRSo
I did radio last Sunday. Was pretty happy with my music. I always spend quite a lot of time preparing my shows so I'm always glad when it comes together well.
In the midst of all this I decided to just STOP and do something "just for me". I made myself a bangle of Malaysian Jade beads:

I think it's really pretty.
I'm not going to have anything completed for the HSF challenge this time. I will save that up and finish my lingerie set on one of the fortnights where the challenge is UFOs.
Well, that's about it for me for now. Back to the sewing machine for me.
Bye till next time
Robyn x
Btw I have discovered an excellent guitarist! His name is Estas Tonne. Check him out. He's a treat for both ears and eyes ;)

The Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #3 - Pink

It seems like ages since I posted - I guess it has been about 10 days though. During my time in Sydney I didn't do Facebook or email at all! I felt I needed some time away from cyberspace, but now comes all the catching up.
Anyways, what I am posting about here is Challenge #3 (Pink) of The Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge. I decided to make something small as time was proving to be troublesome, getting ready for my trip etc. I almost dipped out of this one but I figured something small was better than nothing at all, so here it is:
My Shockingly Elsa Hair Flower:

According to Wikipedia and their entry on shades of pink:
"Shocking Pink is bold and intense..... It takes its name from the tone of pink used in the lettering on the box of the perfume called Shocking, designed by Leonor Fini for the Surrealist fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli in 1937. This in turn was inspired by the Tete de Belier (Ram's Head), a 17.27ct pink diamond from Cartier owned by the heiress Daisy Fellowes, who was one of Schiaparelli's best clients."
My pattern was based on examples and other patterns that I saw on the internet, particularly a design by Lorine Mason.

Working out the pattern and deciding how I wanted the pieces to go together was probably the most time consuming part of the project.

The centre of the flower could've been done more authentically. I used a bit of polyester wadding to fill out the centre bit, but there's heaps of other things I could've used that would've been more in keeping with the 1930s.
I handsewed the whole project once again - I find handsewing strangely hypnotic and relaxing and usually choose to handsew where I can.
For the backing I used a couple of small pieces of felt, cut in roughly an oval shape and pinked. The first layer was sewn on to the back of the flower to hold the whole thing together. I sewed the second layer onto the first layer and sewed a bobby pin on this one. Next time I would use an alligator clip as it would make it much easier to wrangle when attaching it to my head than the bobby pin proved to be.

Et voila (again):

Wrapping Up: 
The Challenge: PINK
Name: Shockingly Elsa Hair Flower
Fabric: Cotton and felt
Pattern: Drafted myself after looking at examples
Year: 1937
Notions: Thread, polyester wadding
Historical accuracy: Shocking Pink first made its appearance in 1937. Cotton was a fabric used. Polyester wadding - a big no.
Hours to complete: This only took a few hours - the most time consuming part being drawing up the pattern and deciding how to put the bits together.
First worn: Tranny Bingo at the Coopers Hotel, Newtown (NSW) 10th Feb 2014 - (a post coming up about that. We had lots of fun)
Cost - $0. I already had everything I used in my stash.

Well that's about it folks. I'll be posting through the week about my time in Sydney.
Till then, take care, have fun,
Robyn x

Hols!!!

I'm travelling down  to Sydney tomorrow, about 6 hours on the train. I'm not sure how often I will get to look at the interwebs, so I might not post until I come back on the 14th Feb (only away for a week).
On Saturday and Sunday (8th & 9th) Rhiannon and I have a stall here:Sydney Rock 'n' Roll & Alternative Market

It's going to be lots of fun. We'll be there with our makeup brand Sukielektro. 

Here's a gratuitous photo of our newest product:

Whisper Translucent Finishing Powder in Not-So-Shrinking-Violet. If you're around on either day come and say hi. We're on the same floor as the bands, Yay!.

I've been pretty busy this week hand sewing. It's not what I was intending, but I was doing some pattern testing for Parnuuna at www.bemygoth.com. The pattern and instructions as usual were great. It's just the fabric that I had (thrifted and bought in a rush) proved such a pain to handle that hand sewing was the only way I had any control over it. It's taken me the whole week. Here's the appliques I made for it:

With the Historical Sew Fortnightly I've made a very small item for Challenge #3- Pink. It's my Shockingly Elsa Hair Flower. I'll post about it when I get back, but this is what it looks like. The colour doesn't come through very well here. It looks kind of fluro, but in real life it's a shocking pink of course:

The only sewing I'm taking away with me is some fingerless gloves which I've cut out. It's really only for the train that I need stuff to do. I'm also taking a murder mystery book from an author I haven't read yet - Carola Dunn. It is one of the Daisy Dalrymple Mysteries. Set in the 1920s, it sounds like she may be a Phryne Fisher type character. We shall see. I adore Phryne so Daisy has some big boots (or should I say some kind of very fashionable footwear) to fill.

Anyway, that's it for me for now, at least until I get back. What are you up to next week?

Till next time,

Robyn :)