Bells and Butterflies

What you're seeing in the picture above is some of the prop pieces for the stripper's costume. The white lace with red and blue stones is the G-string that one of the Toreadorables picks up in the dressing room and hangs around her neck because she thinks it's a necklace. On the shoulder are the colored jingle bells Cindy's character installs on her costume as a gimmick in the 'Gotta Have A Gimmick' number.

We found some incredible appliques appropriate for an actor and I gussied up a tee-shirt for her as well. These three items are ready to go out the door.

Today, I work on the butterflys that go on the front of the gostume. I used the back side of the brocade I dyed as a contrast and will embellish and back them.

The gorgeous green silk gauze wings are cut out. I will keep them together as I lay out the color design with chalk before airbrushing them. Then they will be cut out, edges rolled, I'll stick a few pounds of beads and sequins on them to help weight them and finish with a collar and the dowels in the front edges.

The white ball of light you're seeing at the bottom of George's scratching post just flew by as I photographed this with the tripod. The other light balls on the green gauze I didn't see until I uploaded the pictures. I hope 'they' were approving my work!

This is the finished piece of 10" beaded fringe to go on the dance pant. The beige you can just barely see is the lycra pant and the brocade above will be pleated into a split skirt to cover the front. I'm also beading an 18" tassle for center front from additional colors of Miyuki's and rocailles. When you bead on a header of twill or horsehair, or even directly onto a garment. Keep your work from coming undone with a dab of fabric glue on all the knots on the wrong side.