Shalwyn Wedding

My cousin got married at Shalwyn over the weekend. Shalwyn in the KZN Midlands is surrounded by fields and hills and makes for a beautiful setting. 

After a hilarious ceremony and some unique cupcakes for tea (Banana and Bacon anyone?), we wiled away the afternoon and watched the sun set over the hills.

The reception food was wonderful, Lamb Shank, enough for two people per serving and enough dessert to send anyone into a sugar coma.

The table settings required months of prep, mainly my cousin eating his way through mayonaise, honey, beetroot and anything else with a big enough bottle to masquerade as a vase. The end result is a quirky rustic sea of greenery.

Bangle Bling

I made this on elastic with silver seed beads between in Montees. The thin bracelet look likes a tennis bracelet but without the cost. I had a chance to wear it to a dance formal a few weeks ago and it was lightweight and didn't catch on anything :)

Fringe

I finally got hold of a fringe dress to practice in! I was very scepticle about me being able to dance in fringe, I've heard some awful stories about the weight of the dress and making a person look fat.

I was pleasantly surprised by this dress that I bought online (One size really does not fit all!). I got to wear it for the Vaudeville Circus show a few weeks ago. In the process I learnt a lot. Fringe on a diagonal are rather flattering, thin fringe is very light, and you need a lot of it to get the full effect.

Thanks AM Photography for the awesome photos :)

Adeventures in Sewing: Batwing Top

For the UCT Vaudeville Circus, one of the dances I did was a Tango to fit into a medley of the Phantom of the Opera music. The colours were red and black, a colour I don't own in a ballgown.

Thankfully I had some red fabric stashed away for a rainy day and red stretch lace, the result, a batwing top with lace insert in the back and lace basque. I paired it with my ballroom practice skirt and a some improvised floats made from the scraps. The best part was it only took an hour and 4 seams!

I now have a batwing top to practice in for Latin while my new dress takes shape :) 

Adventures in Sewing: Bunting

In the near future we are throwing a baby shower for a friend. With Spring approaching, the vibrant colours have inspired a rainbow/colourful theme of sorts.

To capture that Spring-time feel I thought I would make some bunting to add to the decor. Having never made bunting I consulted the internet, which gave a variety of answers, many time-consuming, involving doubling the fabric, hemming it, etc.

The material I used comes from Kolnick's Linen, who produce linen for a number of department stores in South Africa. Their factory shop regularly sells off their off-cuts in bundles for R2. I used half a bundle to make all the flags (all 60 triangles), the other half went to Barbie clothes for my young cousins.

I am taking the lazy approach to this sewing whim. I drew a shape of 20 cm for the based of the triangle and 25 cm for the height. Make a few templates and cut out the shapes roughly. Take Pinking Shears and add that beautiful zigzag edge to the sides of the triangle and presto, a flag is made.

I'm all for cheap and easy. I inherited a lot of my gran's sewing supplies, including rolls (and I do mean rolls) of bias binding in a multitude of bright colours. Instead of getting ribbon and folding in half and then pinning etc., I merely slipped the short edge into one flap on the bias binding and zigzagged over it to hold the flag in place.

Now that all the bunting is made, I might be able to get back to the sewing project lurking beneath of the bunting

Leave a little sparkle wherever you go

When I look around the sewing machine at the moment, all I see are sequins and more sequins and some rhinestones to complete the sparkle. Later when I go somewhere else I seem to be leaving a trail of them behind, which reminded me of this:

This is the material I am attempting to sew with, sequinned mesh, its not nearly as easy as I thought it would be. The mesh is also see through, so a lining is next on the list. Let us hope it works!

Evolving into Dancers

I saw this on the Boogie Back Dance Co.  facebook group today and it made me smile, we have evolved into DANCERS!