Ballerina - Holiday Gift Tag

I got my final project done for my draping class - and my goodness what a lot of time that took! I'mm looking forward to taking some time to reflect on the project and show pictures in a few days.

In the meantime, I altered the ballerina I created as a little fantasy sewing project while I was working so hard on my project. I love to make my own holiday present tags. Feel free to print this tag and use it yourself. I print mine on postcard stock.

Christmas Tutu 1 (Blue Sky Sewing)

A Christmas Tutu
Sewn in the Imagination of  LR Shimer

What I'm actually working on sewing 'wise, is my final Draping Class assignment. I'm at that hard point where I'm still creating a pattern and it looks nothing like what I originally planned to make. Funny how that is.

I'm under the pressure of a deadline to finish up that pattern and sew the garment it represents. It's just as well to have those deadlines from a class, of course, because it makes me quit changing my mind and focus on completion. Creating can be like that - Drape or cut bait* I guess.

A little fantasy sewing is definitely in order when I'm getting a little fussy about completing a project. I love daydreaming about all the other things I could be creating, but had better not be distracted by. The more impractical those projects are, the better they are for soothing any concerns over finishing up a challenging task.

Big on my fantasy sewing list this year, is a Christmas tutu. I actually do hope to learn to how to sew a tutu in the future, though probably not in 2014. One thing that inspires me to participate in this lush world of costuming is this youtube video from the costume shop at New York City Ballet.

My love of tutus is also inspired by daydreaming about the art of the ballet. When I was writing My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times, I was entranced by the scene where Larissa explores the beauties of the Lilac Fairy's classic romantic tutu, and helping the little ballerina prepare for that role in a performance of the Sleeping Beauty Ballet. It was one of those times when I didn't need to think about what to write, I just let the people in the story take it away, and the words came out.

One day I will sew a tutu. 
It will be worthy of dancing in the Sleeping Beauty. 
It's knowing that sewing fantasies can become real, that keep me...

Enchanted by Sewing

Resources

I love to pin tutus and other ballet related pages. Check out my virtual bulletin board at ... http://www.pinterest.com/lrshimer/tutus/

* If English isn't your first language, I'm referring to the idiomatic phrase "Fish or cut bait." It means stop daydreaming and finish the task you're working on.

Quick Tutu Keeps a Girl Happy (Doll Sewing)

Kaity Rose (above) likes to imagine  herself
on stage at the San Francisco Ballet

Kaity Rose had been after me for a tutu of her own, ever since she heard me speak about my fascination with that garment in the final Pensamientos/Reflection part of the Enchanted by Sewing January Podcast. Of course I had made the mistake of mentioning that I had a piece of tulle and a bit of purple satin in my fabric bits inventory, not to mention a sparkly embellishment or two. Any doll would bug you once they knew that.

Did I use a pattern? No.

Is this costume going to hold up to the rigors of long-term play? No.

But I did make one doll happy. And if another little child ever comes along who wants to play with a ballerina doll, then I'll just get busy and sew up a sturdier version.

I may focus on sewing for my own wardrobe, but occasional sewing for dolls is another one one of the things that keeps me Enchanted by Sewing.

You may also enjoy Cracking Nuts at the Opera House

Enchanted by Sewing Podcast: Vests and Tutus (Ench-005)

This is my new
 double flannel Birdie Vest
More about fabric and stitching

Hey, have you heard the big news in the sewing world? The latest and greatest Enchanted By Sewing podcast   has hit the streets with it's fifth episode, the January Show: Vests and Tutus! 

Listen to the podcast online by clicking here, or.... do what the Cool Cats do and Drop By the iTunes store to Download

the January Show :-) (of course it's free)

Show Notes for January and previous Podcast Episodes at EnchantedBySewing.blogspot.com

Below are some web links related to 

this episode.

A Nod to Vests in History

In The Scarlet Pimpernel, one of my favorite classic romance stories, Sir Percy Blakney wore vests (He called them waistcoats and it sounded like weskits). You can download a free text or audio book version of this public domain work from Librivox.

Patterns

McCalls Vest 2260



Connie Crawford for Butterick 5473

Folkwear Tibetan Panel Coat/Vest

Tutus versus Tofu

The Nureyev Exhibit at
the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park
Runs through mid February 2013

I sew to create my own look, so I don't want to recreate the picture on the front of the pattern envelope. As a sewist, I also don't want to be inspired, by overly affected by, other people's designs. So, it's a good thing I didn't see this video, which focuses on the Lilac Fairies costume before Larissa encountered that exact garment in my e-book novella My Heart Beats Faster in Past Times. If I had, I wouldn't have been able to get caught up imagining my own version. But now, I can just get a kick out of seeing what somebody who created the real deal came up with.

The Sleeping Beauty - Behind the Costume

RoyalOperaHous

Recreating a Tutu's Splendor | Theme and Variations

A great youtube video by the costume shop at the NYC Ballet. I first saw this at the Nureyev exhibit at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco

Wikipedia describes several different styles of tutus and explains more about how they are constructed.

Interview: Jewels - Behind the Costumes

RoyalOperaHouse·

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msLjmbPFmT4