Bata de Cola

For the past few weeks, I've been working on a BIG project.
I was invited to join a group of Flamenco dancers from Flamencura, at the Austin School of Fashion Design to design my own Bata de Cola skirt. The basics of the skirt are similar to wedding dress design.

How could I say no to that???

With the help of the instructor, I found these lovely fabrics at JoAnn's. The pink daisy fabric also comes in white with yellow or navy, so I think I'll be making another. We used the pattern ordered online at flamencodressmaking.com. to sew up the basic skirt, but changed many aspects of the actual instructions as you'll see if you follow along. This project was time consuming and gave me a real eye opener to the amount of time that goes into an actual wedding gown. (I know hundreds of hours sometimes.) I think I spent about 45 hours or more on this. Of course the second time around will probably go faster. 

Here's the basic skirt sewn up with zipper attached...

 Next come ruffles....

 

 Starting to look more formal...

 You can't tell very well from the above picture, but I did chalk the lines for ruffle placement.

But wait... I don't think that's quite enough ruffles you say???

How about now?
This looks pretty good, but there's still the under ruffles to contend with to give the Bata that lift and heaviness for movement while throwing the skirt around with your feet....so MORE RUFFLES!!!

Using the seam from the underside of the skirt I tacked these stiff ruffles in between the lines. You can also see where I surged the lining to each of the upper parts of the skirt... you don't line the whole skirt, because that makes it too slippery against the body... specifically the legs. You need to be able to move the skirt with your legs and feet.

 Here's what it looks like from the right side All fluffed from underneath. 

 

Next just finish up the waist facing. Add a few left over ruffles to a tank top and
Ta-Da!!! I'm ready to Flamenco!

 

Gardening Adventures

Coming Soon!
I thought it might be fun (and useful I hope) to document some of our successes and failures of gardening. I'm quite the amateur in this hobby, but my goal is to eventually grow enough to supplement some of my family's favorite produce. If nothing else hopefully this can be a forum where we can help each other!

Gerbera Daisies

This month at the Decorative Painters Society after meeting we painted Gerbera Daisies. The Gerbera Daisies are a fun project, and one I'm sure I'll do again in the future.
For this project I decided to use a 8"x10" stretch canvas, and prepped it using Deco Art Americana Paint in Midnight Blue.
Next I traced on my pattern and based the petals in Deco Art Americana Light Buttermilk.

 Next I filled in the petals using Cadmium Orange, and shaded with Napa Red and Deep Burgundy.

The center of the flower was done with Antique Gold, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, and shaded with Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, and Burnt Sienna. 

Going back to the petals, highlighted in Spiced Pumpkin, then finally finished up the stems with Avocado, Evergreen, and highlighted with Anita's Acrylic Craft Paint in Olive Green. (Yes, all the paints were Deco Art Americana except one!)

This project was just so cute! A number of painters in our group used Greenish Black or Black background prep and the petals turned out a beautiful reddish color, but there are lots of little changes you could make with this type of project. Next time I'm considering making my daisies in shades of pink! Perhaps on a Memory or Jewelry Box??? The possibilities are endless. 

Happy Painting!

On Healing Wings

This month our decorative painting group Heart-of-Texas-Tolers, painted a beautiful angel from TheDecorative Painter Magazine 2-2012. This is the kind of  project I want to again and again!

On Healing Wings - designed by Erika Joanne - DPM2 2012

My version (as well as most others in the group) was done with Americana Deco Art paints rather than the designer's original JoSonia paints. Next time I'll experiment with different color variations and maybe add some sparkle. This was so much fun to paint, and I was able to complete it in one day, minus the finishing varnish. Wouldn't this make an excellent gift for someone? I love it!!!

January Sewing Projects and Pattern Making

Several weeks ago I showed you I had bought a bunch of new patterns. This month I decided this is the pattern I'm going to work on as part of my sew 1 garment a month goal.  McCalls M6515.

 My wardrobe really needs some dress pants. I really have none that fit me right now, so I picked this pattern to work on. I'm between sizes on the chart, so I plan to start by making a muslin. Once that's done, I'll have to pick some fabric, as I don't currently have anything in my stash that would be business appropriate. I'm thinking maybe some Black Gabardine. Anybody wish to do a sew a-long?

On another note, this week I'll be starting an advanced pattern making class at the fashion school. Hopefully I'll learn to make my own pants patterns for the future. I haven't yet attempted to make my own sloper, but the instructions in this Textbook: Pattern Making for Fashion Design - 5th Edition- by Helen Joseph-Armstrong are pretty good for creating designs of your own.

Post below and let me know what you're working on sewing this month. I'm starting to look for some ideas for February.