Kanzashi

 For craft shows and my etsy I started to make these Kanzashi like flowers a couple years ago.  I just looked up images and found a little tutorial but then I started to expand on it on my own to try some different things. They are usually clustered flowers put on headpieces or hairpins for Geisha or special occasions.  I just found the technique so enthralling because it dealt with fabric folding I wanted to put my hand on it.

I've been trying to do more research about it and I even have a few books from japan on construction but recently I found this nice little chart explaining about how their wear is seasonal depending on the flowers in bloom, which I found charming.  I would also like to eventually do larger scale hair pieces as the ones pictured.

I Scanned these Pages out of a book called "Geisha" that I found at work.

II am definitely going to work on incorporating some of these traditions into the new batch I am planning to make for the fall shows.  I've been scared to try the streamer's and vines but I think this is the year that I'll conquer that.

Ending the Reception

I finished my reception dress last night.  Around 1:00 am I slipped it on and looked in the mirror, quickly put on my Vivienne Westwood rocking horse wing shoes and just stood happily in front of the mirror.  Below I'll you some of my progress from working on it the past couple days.  Unfortunately no photos of me wearing it quite yet.  I want the suspense to continue.

 So here is the dress when I was attaching it to the embroidered bodice.  At this point I wasn't sure what I was doing for the hem and I liked the gold lining the best underneath the jewel tones.

A detail shot after I had gathered and then basted in the lining before I made my final decision on whether to keep it or not.  I think it gave it just the right effect that I wanted.

Originally I had some horse hair braid that I wanted to put in the bottom of the hem to give it some structure but that was a mess.  I attempted to place is 3 times with basting stitches and it just kept looking wrong and not very clean since the organza was so sheer.  When I tried to double roll the organza it just made it look awkward with a heavy strip of color at the bottom.  I thought out of frustration I would pin it up to see how a bubble hem would look.  It was magical.  Good things happen when you least expect it. 

 Here the bubble skirt hem!  It looks so sweet and it worked out perfectly but I didn't stop there.  I still wanted to add some pizzazz and to make sure this puppy wouldn't fall off of me while dancing and singing my heart out at the reception.

I loosely pinned in some ideas for a multi strap that would also serve as a nice embellishment.  Nothing super fancy just a little weaving and creative placement.

 I made very narrow strips and then pressed them flat to work as thin straps and clean the look up.

 These are the final layout of the straps and a little embellishment  before I attached the inner bodice lining and zipper to finish her up.  I'm very happy with my results.

Thing's are getting real around the house.  We having near daily deliveries of gifts, and supplies for the wedding.  Yesterday our tote bags for out of town guest bags were dropped off and made by the Wonderful Alison & Nick Nocera of Alison Rose.  I love them!  I'm happy there will be a few extra so that I can keep one for myself.  

 I've been crazily cutting little squares and folding petals of fabric for my own Bouquet.

 I put the finishing touches on the Grandma's Corsages.  I wanted to them to be the same and different at the same time.  I think that I accomplished this pretty well by choosing some different colors to add in combination with the overall green in the petals.

Yet there is still so much more to do!  I have buttons to sew on my niece's flower girl dress to finish that off.  Bowties for the band members. Adjustments on the singer's dress.  Boutonniere's for the groom's men. Put together the pieces for the Bridesmaids hair bands.  My blusher Veil for the wedding Ceremony.  My ceremony jacket and train. Bouquets for the bridesmaids.  Paper Jellyfish for decorations.  I think that bout covers it in the "DIY" department.
Some things I can wait to do two days before the wedding since they will involve fresh flowers from my garden but that is still quite a bit to do.  It will get done, I will love it.  Remember it's not just DIY for a wedding but DIFY (do it FOR yourself),  if you don't enjoy it don't do it! ( I'll write more about that mater post wedding madness).
Cheers!

Re-Cap Before NYC

I went to NYC this past weekend as my sort of Bachelorette Party Extravaganza.  I have the most bestest Bestie in the World.  She really treated me over the top with flying me out there and getting our hotel in SoHo (cough Chinatown Lafayette street cough) but it was still close enough for us to do everything and convenient.  I just got back last night at 8pm so I am still recovering.  She got me that blinged out Tiara to wear the whole weekend.  I had no room in my luggage for it so I had no choice but to wear it during my flights home.  Suffice to say I got some stares from the blue hair and the Tiara.

My Trusty Camera Bag working as my carry one with my travel bear/pillow and my TokiDoki Captain America Hat for when I need to hide my face and take a nap on the plane.  I took tons of photos so I will hopefully get them posted tonight on flickr or start to load them at the least.

Before NYC I started to work on some more wedding items.  I learned how to make these Ribbon roses so I am working on a mini collection of them to use for my bouquet.  We'll see how far I get.

Mostly my evenings looked like this, trying to figure out what fabric flower combination to do next. I worked on my Bridesmaid headbands and diligently got the main flower done.  Then I just needed to get the headbands and some other things from NYC and then I would be set with those.

I love making these Kanzashi style flowers but it always takes more time then I expect it to.  I start going and then I look up and it's been several hours later.  It's worth it though and they look amazing.