Nancy's Silk Skirt Gets a New Lease on Life

Seven years ago, Nancy brought me a wonderful silk georgette skirt.  She wanted it used to create and ballroom costume and we decided that costume could be both a rhythm gown and a smooth dress, by making the skirt removable.  It was her first ballroom costume collaboration and the results were good!  This is the rhythm dress we created, and the skirt pulled on underneath the dress to convert it to a ballgown.

I wish I had taken a photo of the skirt alone, before I incorporated it into Nancy's new ball gown, but I did not manage to do that.  I did take a quick shot of the embellished leotard with the skirt before it was assembled into the new gown, so you can see the relationship in the graphics.

AND I can show you the skirt in its new configuration!



In both cases, the embellishment details for the gowns were suggested by the graphic design in the skirt.  The first was a simpler, brighter, bronze level result,  and the new one is, for me, a WOW! 

My partner Michele and I debated and sampled several different processes to recreate the graphic on Nancy's new French Vanilla leotard base.  We knew we wanted the lines to be defined in the same way as they were on the skirt and then embellished with jet stones and flatback pearls.  After testing appliqued strips of black fabric, and the meticulous application of black permanent fabric marker, we decided that the latter had the most similar visual effect to that of the skirt.  After careful design and planning, and much pre-washing of the red lycra to avoid any post process color bleeding, we were very plesed with our results!

This is certainly the gown of a more advanced and more experienced dancer, one who knows she will be seen, even in black.  And a more elegant and serious look than the original.  When she picked up her gown, she brought in a Light Siam choker style necklace and bangles I had made for another costume of hers, and they looked perfect!

I am really wishing I could be at the Arthur Murray Showcase this weekend to see Nancy, Christy, and also Linda, who has a new Gently Used Rhythm Gown dance, but I will be at MN Star Ball on the other end of town.  I hope you will make it to one event or the other, and I hope anyone at the Arthur Murray showcase with a digital camera might send me a few images to keep me posted on what I am missing!  Good luck to you, my lovely ladies!

A Cure for the Blues for Cathy

I made this rhythm gown just over a year ago, but never got around to writing about it.  I thought I would wait until I saw Cathy wear it, so I could include photos of her dancing, but somehow, I never made it to an event of hers, and did not get the photos I had imagined.

There is another opportunity coming up, (which I would have missed again, given I will be at the MN Star Ball on that day) but Cathy broke her foot and is not able to dance in the Arthur Murray Showcase on the 19th, and I know she is SAD about that.  So hopefully, this little post will lift her couch-bound spirits!

 

We began with words from her teachers, and each had the word "precise" in their lists.  Also, we considered "legs" "fast" "light" and "sassy."  We also wanted a little tummy disguise, and amplification for that precise, fast movement.  We got "light" from our airy fabric choice of mesh in the kimono style top and the skirt.  We kept the skirt short, to show off those great "legs" and repeated the mesh in the skirt to allow us to see lots of leg without question of good taste.  The movement of the mesh around her leotard and compact skirt provides the amplification we were seeking, offering great light, "fast" action with her movement.  We actually added speed to the skirt with the weight of the row of stones at the base of the mesh. And the "sassy"?  Well I hope that is in all the action and swish this little gown has!  Plus, Cathy has that herself in spades!

 

All the lines and shapes in the gown are clean and angular, (in the interest of her "precise" dancing)from the v-shaped neckline and upper back, to the pointed open oval details we made good use of both as a collection point for the ruched skirt top, and frame for the tail of dance crepe we used.

One of my favorite parts of this costume is the jewelry!  We had originally designed something quite different, and at the final fitting, we re-designed to make better use of the angular design accent lines.  Yum!  I love the peek-a-boo necklace, and wish I had a shot of it on the form.

As she did on her last gown, Cathy did an excellent job of the rhinestone application, both as a means to stay involved with her design, and to ensure the lowest possible cost for a great result.

Cathy, I am so sorry you can't dance this weekend, but I hope this gives you a smile and some great memories.  I hope your will be up and animating this gown SOON!
 

Dazzle for Christy

 The design meeting for this gown for petite and trim Christy was an easy one.  Christy wanted something with substantial sparkle.  She wanted thick white fringe, and she wanted white and nude, or as we talked, white and gold.

 I showed her nude fabrics and she decided on a metallic gold mesh instead, and we embellished that, rhythmically, in Light Topaz AB, in contrast to the random application of the Crystal AB on the opposite side of the gown. 

We discussed color blocking as a trend in Latin gowns, and then created soft body-sensitive blocks to help define her curves and rhythmic action.  The fringe is thick as requested, accomplished through the application of three layers of long white tactel. 

We finished the back with a triple diagonal strap detail, and echoed the combination of the three delicate straps against the chunky, jewel encrusted gown, with a cuff and three bangle bracelets.

Christy was a delight to work with, and we hope she will be back in our studio again soon for a new gown for her smooth dances.  And we wish her the best at her upcoming Arthur Murray showcase.

Farewell to Gingerbread, Greeter and Sergeant-at-Arms

This is not a post about ballroom dance costumes, but about the loss of the official Made for Movement Greeter and Sergeant-at-Arms, Gingerbread.

Some of you might remember when we got Gingerbread as a puppy, from a rescue shelter in Buffalo Minnesota.  It was during our year in Rogers.  She was a sweet and very energetic ball of fuzz, athletic and wicked smart on her first day with us.  She was always ready for a good game, a ride in the car, or walk to anywhere.

We got her in September, and by December, she had begun to look like a grown up dog, but there was still plenty of puppy mischief.  I will share one story with you.  A few days before Christmas, Zak and I left the house early to run some errands.  We were gone for several hours and the lonely little puppy got bored and decided to have her own holiday party all by herself.  When Zak and I came home, he went ahead of me into the living room.  "Uh-oh," I heard him say.  Ginger had opened at least a dozen gifts, and shredded wrapping paper was knee deep.  I wish we had taken this picture BEFORE we cleaned up the mess.  I think she looks ashamed, don't you?

About this time, people began to comment that she looked a great deal like a trendy breed.  We bought a book about Nova Scotia Duck Tollers, and she certainly appeared to be a pretty good example.  These red, fox-like dogs caper energetically on the shores of lakes, chasing sticks thrown by owners from their hunting blinds.  Ducks descend, drawn hypnotically to the glorious waving flag of a tail, and after the hunter fells his prey, the dog happily retrieves it from the water.  "Tolling" as this activity is called, was in her blood, and sticks were her best friends for life.  She never left the house without one, and was known through out the neighborhood as "the dog that carries the stick with her."

She was never fond of loud noises though, and we wondered she might have been a disappointment to a hunter, and that had been how she ended up at the rescue shelter.

She certainly had the tail and the fun-loving temperament for the job!

By middle age, she was truly a beautiful creature, and might have had a lovely modeling career!

 

According to the age chart in her breed book, at 16, this year on May 24th, she would have been the canine equivalent of 100 years old.  She had slowed considerably, in the last year, walking less and less far on her walks, and losing her hearing almost entirely, and some of her sight.  The grey on her lovely face began to belie her age as well.

Early in the morning on Wednesday the 10th of April, Ginger suffered a vestibular stroke.  At the clinic we were told there was a chance she could recover, and we brought her home, to try to nurse her back to health.  She was at first only able to drink water from our cupped hands, and finally ate some mashed potato from my fingers.  We tried every food imaginable, meat broth, rice, her dog food mashed, baby food chicken and beef, unbelievably expensive food for sick dogs, $10 a pound low salt deli turkey, bread, crackers, you name it, we gave it a go.  Carl even cooked hamburger for her in water, and although she ate a few bites of this and that, her appetite never returned, and she finally refused to eat anything further.

Believing that starving to death could not be a comfortable process, we called MN Pets (a service I highly recommend) who came to our home.  Ginger was always afraid of the vets office, and we wanted her last moments to be in a safe and familiar place with the people who loved her.  A sedative was administered, which put her into a deep sleep.  Then a drug was administered to stop her heart.

For all of you who have known her enthusiastic greetings at my studio door, I thank you for your kindness to her.  It is very empty and quiet here now, and no one takes me out for my walk each day. I really miss her.

White Peach Blooming

All of Leslie's three styles of dance require a separate gown.  She and husband/partner Lee compete in American Smooth, Rhythm, and International Standard Ballroom.  Her Standard and Smooth gowns share floral details.  The Smooth gown has hand made passimentary roses, buds and vines.

 

 

Her Standard gown is a tropical fantasy of vibrantly bright, multicolored 2 dimensional flat blooms drenched in Swarovski sparkle. 

 

 

But her rhythm gown was a simple shape with clean lines and no flowers at all.  Until this week!

 

Leslie and Leland are headed to Amateur Nationals next week, to defend their championship titles.  Lee got a new look for his Smooth dancing earlier this spring, and looks very dapper and chic in his new shawl collar sleeveless jacket. 

 

Thank you Scott Anderson for sharing your photograph!

But Leslie was ready for a new look for the olderst of her gowns, and (following a comment at a recent showcase from coach and judge Mariusz Oslewski) wanted to bring pizazz, focus and color to the elegant, clean shape we originally designed.  I believe there can also be an advantage to visual cohesivness across the range of styles a couple dances, so we made White Peach bloom!

 

 

We gave her right shoulder a beautiful coral and peach toned garden, accented with limey green orchids.  We also created a choker and cuff, to balance the silk grouping on the right shoulder.  And we added just a little Swarovski sparkle to the garden, to help is belong to and blend with the gown.

 

 

We were careful to stay out of the way of her upper left back, where Lee's hand connects with her in hold, and the placing the cuff on the left hand both helped with garment balance, and kept the garden away from wrist connections in their choreography.

We send our best wishes for a joyous and successful competition to Leland and Leslie and appreciate the chance to "dance along." 
 

Thank you Eva Maria!

I am a ballroom dancewear designer by day, but after dinner, I play with beads.  Through my beadwork, I have met a most remarkable woman, Eva Maria Keiser.  She is a beader, designer, and artist extraordinaire, with a phenomenal understanding of three dimensional structural beadwork. Those amazing pieces bannered across the top of her blog are part of her Chess Piece Series, but beyond that they are also vessels! (Go ahead, use thise link and check them out,  I'll wait!) 

She creates astonishing jewelry, which she refers to as "Adornment" that is truely alive in all three dimensions, as these recent pieces attest, something I really admire as a dancewear designer. And if this artistic brilliance were not sufficient, she is also a super blogger, posting daily with tutorials, beautiful beadwork, and introductions to the best beaders in the world.  She knows everybody, and features bead artists and their work in many ways.

One of my favorites among her regular features is her Artist Colorway Series.  She examines an artist's work carefully, and assembles a color plot, which she displays alongside the work.  Today, she is featuring one of my ballgowns and I am so very honored.   I believe that my costume design work and my bead design work are linked, and I really appreciate her recognition of that as well.  Please visit her blog, and check it out!  She featured another of my pieces last year, and I am truely honored.

You can see more of Eva Maria's own breathtaking work in the soon-to-be-published book,
Suzanne Golden Presents: Interviews with 36 Artists Who Innovate with Beads
and read about her personal innovations and style, along with seeing some wonderful eye candy!  I cannot wait for my copy to arrive, and highly recommend this book.

So this little post is a big THANK YOU, to a woman who promotes bead art and artists every day.  Here's to you Eva Maria, for all you do for the world wide bead community.  You are in inspiration to me, my friend.

Ginger for Sharon

 

It has been a while since I have blogged.  Too busy making costumes is an easy excuse to voice, but it happens to be true.  And things that do not have deadlines are harder to find time for than things that must be finished on a specific time line.  So enough with the excuses!  Let me introduce you to Sharon's "Ginger!"

 

Sharon is a new dancer and planned to compete for the first time at the Snow Ball, but an injury side-lined her.  She had a simple shape in mind, when she came to her design meeting, and hoped for a copper color.  I had to do a little hunting, as it is not a typical ballroom color, And found several possible options for her, rangind from bronze, through copper to rust.  Sharon chose a great piece of slinky and a wonderful ombred organza to go with it.  The ombre shifted from the ginger to purple, and we used that purple both on the inner most skirt...

A view from beneath the skirt

And in the glittering rhinestone embellishment...

Embellishment Pattern

 That embellishment design was created from a photo Sharon brought to me of burnished light fixtures in her home.  I had told her the stoning pattern could be anything she liked, and she wanted an all-over texture.  Her photo was inspiring and using a combination of  Siam AB, Red Magma, Crystal Astral Pink, Crystal Copper, and Heliotrope stones, we created this result for her.

Back View

We also made a necklace, earrings and two cuffs in the Siam AB, Heliotrope, and Crystal Astral Pink.

Jewelry

We hope to see Sharon and her new gown in the Twin Cities in the near future!