Adorn Me

Finally made something this week: a lace applique tank from this great and easy tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff (a fantastic blog, LOVE!)  That's also the necklace by Lauren Haupt that I posted about before.  I always make things when I have the least amount of time, like Christmas and Valentine's and Easter, guess I like the pressure, so I've been zipping all over town gathering trimmings and adornments for a work project (and fitting some exploring in at the same time):

The flower market is just bursting with peonies lately, I've been in awe.

And saw this little, pink pouf, not sure what it is, but it was pretty cute.

Then I headed to Beads of Paradise on 17th Street, which I mentioned in my first resources post.

Their selection is really quite varied: so many colors and sizes and materials and all different price ranges, my thanks to the very patient staffer who helped me!  My search also took me to Beads World, Inc. on Broadway between 37th & 38th where they have a huge array you could pore through for hours:

and close by on 6th Ave to Toho Shoji where there were even more beads, beads and more beads!:

I also found CJS (Crafts, Jewelry Supplies) on the 2nd Floor of 16 West 36th Street -- piles and piles of boxes all being unpacked and organized, who knows the treasures that could be all around.  This was on my way to Gettinger Feather.

I learned from Dan Gettinger that they only supply feathers from farm-raised fowl, not from the wild, and we chatted about the different feathers from different kinds of birds, fascinating!

Over at M&J Trimming there are walls and walls of lace, appliques, ribbons, threads, tassels, fringe, braids, rhinestones, sequins, amazing....and a whole room of buttons! 

The saleswoman who helped me was so sweet even though I had no idea what I was doing, and she happily cut me 1/2 a yard each of two styles of black Venice lace.  

Got a little lost on 37th Street on the way to my next stop, but passed Stretch House, Inc. (now I know where to find spandex!) and Kiki Riki (I'd like to make a pastel pink mini skirt!)

But finally I made it to Mood Fabrics, THE go-to-place on Project Runway.

SO inspiring: all of the colors and textures and materials, solids, prints, stripes, shirting, weaves, silks...I had so many questions!  I eyed the fancy lace:   

but ultimately was there for a more sheer fabric and decided on 1/2 a yard of silk chiffon.

I made sure to pet the shop's adorable dog, who I've loved since I saw him in this tutu pic.  I was also looking for fusible to meld my lace applique onto my tank top and the very nice staff directed me to find double-sided fusible at Steinlauf & Stoller, Inc. just 2 blocks uptown:

And they have a fantastic supply of sewing notions, threads, needles, zippers and more.  So, at last I had enough of a haul to head back to the office:

Yep, that's a real ostrich egg with real feathers: different sizes come from different parts of the bird.  And we needed gold and black beads so I had a bunch:

And at home I looked over my findings:

Might not look like too much now, but I have some nice plans for these things.  The tank was adorned in just minutes and I was so happy that I wore it for yet another day of work today.

Tutus, Ballet Shoes and Another March Plan

[From the Mood Fabrics Sewciety Blog]

I'm in love with this puppy and his pink tutu.  I have to get over to Mood Fabrics on 37th Street where they go on Project Runway to get started on a sewing project as I vowed to do this month.  Doing some research on a famous photographer today I found out that he had been married to a celebrated ballerina of the New York City Ballet. 

[from Wikimedia Commons]

It's been so many years since I stepped onto a stage, but I've been thinking about trying a class again.  When learning ballet you start with soft, flat slippers and eventually build up your strength for the holy grail of girly, pink, wonderment: your first pair of pointe shoes.  The creation and preparation of these harder shoes is a highly skilled, handmade craft.  There is much that a pointe shoe must go through before it's ever put on: the hard sole and toe box must be cut, sewn, shaped, pleated, baked, cured and bound in a very individualized process so it's no wonder that professional dancers become very attached to their specific shoe artisan's work.  

You would think that such a perfect, smooth satin shoe would then be cherished and protected carefully, but once shoes are in hand, the dancer sews on her own elastic and ribbons, positioning them at exactly the right place for her foot, breaks them in by pounding them on the floor, bending them in half, ripping off the satin from the toe to make a more stable platform, then binds her toes with foam, bandaids, paper towel, tape or lambswool and is finally ready to create the floating illusion of weightless, effortless grace.  A pointe shoe may only last a few hours, a few days, maybe, and then the breaking-in process has to be started again with a new pair, so many dancers keep several handy.   

I'm not sure if I'll ever be up on my toes in pointe shoes again, but I'm going to check out a class at Peridance Capezio Center near Union Square, so I was thrillled today to buy a pair of the soft pink slippers from On Stage Dancewear at Madison and 34th Street.  These are just made from canvas, no hardware inside, so now I just have to sew on the straps and definitely do a little more stretching first.  It's been a while...