Reconstructed Ballerina Shirt

This is only sorta ballet related, but here is what I made when I couldn't sleep Wednesday night (I had just worked an 11 hour day, so there is absolutely no excuse at all for insomnia):

It used to be one of those great big oversized sleep shirt things. It was a gift from one of my dad-types about eleven years ago. I realized eventually that I just don't like sleeping in nighties or sleep shirts, because I can't stand how they get all bunched up around your waist at night. But I loved it and couldn't get rid of it, anyway. I have been meaning to do something interesting with it for ages now and just never got around to it.
Now I can wear it to work and everyone can experience what a big nerd I am.

DIY knee ice packs

Since I have been instructed to ice my knees five times a day I have to keep masses of ice packs in my freezer. I also needed some to take to work with me, and here is how I made them. They have little velcro straps to hold them on my knees (or ankles or whatever) and polar fleece covers, but you don't have to do all that fancy stuff if you don't want. Pardon my photos, they suck and they know it.

What you need:
-water (duh)
-rubbing alcohol
-gallon-size freezer bags with zippy tops (2) make sure they don't have those slider things on them, and are just plain zippy bags.
-food color (optional)

If you are using food coloring (I like it so that it's easy to tell what is in the bags) put two drops in one of the zippy bags. Then pour in your water and alcohol. The standard ratio is three parts water to 1 part alcohol, but I find that to be too squishy and liquidy for my taste. The more alcohol you use the squishier it will be. For this one I used 3/4 cup alcohol and 3 1/4 cups of water. Adjust to your own preference (you just want four cups total of liquid when you are done)

Squeeze out as much of the air as you can and zip the baggy closed. I like to write on the bag with a sharpie so I know exactly how much of each ingredient I put in the bag, for future reference.

Fold the bag in half. You can put some tape on the edges to hold it together if you want to be fancy about it.

Then stick the whole deal inside the second zippy bag and fold (and tape, if you want) that one as well.

Pop it in the freezer overnight and ba-da-bing-ba-da-boom, you are done. POW! Ice pack. You can use it just like this, if you want, just put a towel between the pack and your skin. 

Now, me, I have to haul these puppies to work with me. And use them during the day. I find it nearly impossible to be given free-reign to lay on the floor with ice packs on my knees for an hour a day. So I like to strap the ice packs on with ace bandages. It helps get them in closer contact with my knees, anyway. But ace bandages take up lots of room in my purse, and lots of time when I would rather be doing my job and/or eating my lunch. So I made these little pouches for them. Also, it means you don't need a towel. 

What you need:

-polarfleece fabric, about half a yard (I used this because the thickness is right, it won't unravel in the wash, and it is stretchy)

-18 inches of sew-on velcro (hook side and loop side)

-thread

Okay. Cut  a piece of polarfleece about 13 1/2" square, and another about 4" X  25")

Cut your velcro in to 6"strips and pin all of the scratchy (hook) side on one end of the long strap piece. Pin all of the soft (loop) pieces on the opposite end of the strap. Before you sew it down wrap it around your leg to make sure it's all in the right spot.

                                    

Then sew the velcro down.

If you want to serge the edges go ahead and do it now. Polarfleece won't unravel too badly, so you can skip this step. I serged mine just for the heck of it. Serge all the way around the strap and down one side of the square.

Then arrange your strap on top of your square, about two inches down from the top edge (parallel to BOTH unserged edges). I put the scratchy side of the velcro facing UP so that it wouldn't be likely to scratch me when I use it later.

Then stitch through both layers in the center of the strap. I went in a sort of zig-zaggy pattern on this one, but you can just sew a square or a few lines, it doesn't matter.

 Okay, you are almost done! Fold the square in half.

Fold up the end of the straps to get them out of the way.

Now stitch together the unserged edges, 1/2 inch from the edge. Leave one end open so you can put the ice pack in later. I just stuck it through my serger so it trimmed off all the extra.

There! It's done! Now you can slip the ice pack in through the open end and pop this baby in the freezer. Did and DONE.

Craving For Creativity

Okay, someone needs to tell me that I don't need a rehearsal tutu. Come on, guys. Tell me that I don't have the room to store it because it is huge and awkward and I live in a one bedroom apartment. Tell me that I should be focusing my creative energy on projects that will earn money. Tell me that I would never wear the silly thing anyway so I shouldn't bother. Or that my funds are limited because I have two sick cats.
Please.
Or else this lady right here (*gesture*) is buying 14 yards of diamond net on Tuesday.

Pink is Not That Hard

So I used to work at a fabric store. And you always knew who the dancers were, because they would come in and ask for pink elastic. And we were like "sorry, lady dudes. We've got black, white, and beige sometimes if you are lucky." but I felt their pain.
And then several months ago I was at a (different) fabric store with my mother and I was grumping about how I didn't like the single pre-attached strip of elastic on my leather slippers and wanted to replace it with criss-crossed elastic like my canvas slippers have. And I happened to be standing next to a Dritz (it's a brand of sewing supplies) display board and I looked it over and.... holy crow! It said they made ballet elastic! It said "pink specialty elastic for ballet shoes and slippers". I was THRILLED! But then I looked at the actual item on the rack. And it was beige. Not pink. Not ballet pink. Just... beige.
I thought maybe it was just this store's shipment, or this particular batch, but NO. Everywhere I looked it was BEIGE.
 You can buy this Freed elastic or some Bloch elastic in bulk online, but what the razzafrackin' heck would I do with that much pink elastic?
*sigh*
I think the elastic manufacturers of the world are missing out on a sure bet.

New Leotard! Oooooh! Aaahhh!

Sunday night I couldn't sleep. A storm had rolled in to town that was loud and windy and made the gate at my neighbor's house clonk every few minutes. And there were raccoons in the attic making a ruckus. Anyway, long story short I gave up and got out of bed. I figured that I would be sleeping all day Monday, so I needed to get something productive done so I wouldn't feel guilty. I made myself a new leotard.
I had seen some really cute shorty unitard type things online, but none of them met my stringent specs. So here is what I ended up with. It's navy blue, because that was the ONLY fabric at the local fabric store that was primarily cotton and had enough stretch. I tried dying some of it black in the washer, but that was an exercise in futility. Anyways.
I will probably make another one that is identical to this, because I already have the materials and finally have a pattern that fits me (you don't want to know how crazy the pattern pieces have to be shaped to fit me), but last night one of the girls in class was wearing this AWESOME red leotard with matching sleeves that were made from power net (stretchy, sheer, you have seen it) and it inspired me to do something similar at some point in the future. I heart it. This one is super cute, maybe I will rip off that idea.

this picture speaks. It says: I am a grown woman

and I can take pictures in the bathroom if I want to!

Also, it says I need a haircut.

The Incredible Shrinking Slipper

Okay, so it is pretty widely accepted wisdom that when you buy dance shoes you should have them fit by a professional at a dance wear store unless you are buying the exact same make, style, and size of a shoe that you already know and love. OKAY. So I am lazy, and also cheap. And I decided that I didn't want to drive all the way out to my city's one and only Capezio's because it's inconvenient and the employees always give you the funny eyeball. Also, shoes are like half price online!

Well. So how many pairs of dance shoes have I ordered online recently? FIVE. And how many fit right out of the box? ZERO. My split sole canvas Grishko's were not too bad, though, just a bit snug. So I got them wet and wore them around the house for a few days and hey presto!

But then my instructor mentioned that beginners should wear full soled shoes to build up strength in their feet. Well, damn. I had gone the split-sole route specifically because when I had owned full soled slippers many moons ago I kind of hated them. The split soles didn't actually solve that problem, though. Your toes are gonna be all pinched and awkward one way or the other. So I decided that I needed some full soled shoes. I am a little obsessive about wanting to get my feet nice and strong (MORE on this later).

Long story short I ended up buying two pairs of leather slippers and neither of them fit worth a fig. One pair is MASSIVE, but one pair was just a biiiiiit too large. So I embarked on an experiment that flew in the face of everything I was ever taught about caring for leather apparel (my deepest apologies to Marie, my college instructor and seamstress extraordinaire). Are you ready for it? I SHRANK THEM!

POW! I got them soaking wet in the sink, then popped them in to a lingerie bag and stuck them in the drier until they were bone dry. And it actually WORKED! It was pretty amazing. I, myself, personally, am amazed. They won't win any beauty contests, but they fit pretty well now and I wore them to class with no problems. They aren't all stiff or weird, either.

The moral of this story is... actually things that are accepted wisdom are usually that way for a reason. Don't be a cheapy cheapskate and buy stuff online, I guess. But if you do... there are magic tricks! Huzzah!

Tin Foil Ballerinas

 Did anyone else make tin foil ballerinas for the Christmas tree when they were kids? They are super cheap and easy and you can make them in any size. Big honkin' ones for little hands and teeny tiny ones for grown up hands. I have been making them to decorate the ugly faux ficus tree in my apartment building's communal foyer for the last few years. Since I can't go to class tonight (hurt too much) I am releasing my frustration by distraction, and making this year's crop a bit early.

You just take a square of aluminum foil and cut or tear it along the lines here ---------->
and then squish the foil up until it is roughly human shaped. Then you can pose them. I suppose they could be imps or fairies, but ours were always ballerinas. Arms in high fifth are perfect for hanging them on the tree. When I was little I always posed them as if they were doing pirouettes with their arms in fifth. Because that was what Ballerinas Looked Like, thank you very much! I also made little tutus for them with fabric or scraps of paper cut in to a circle with a hole in the middle to fit around their waist.

knees up!

My project for today.
I have leg warmers, but they don't really cover the needed territory. And it gets so hot in class, I don't want any extra fabric on my body if I can avoid it. Enter knee warmers! They are silly looking, but I think they will be a boon as the weather gets colder. I know that they look like I just cut the arms off an old sweater and stitched some elastic to the top, but that is because I *did* just cut the arms off an old sweater and stitch some elastic to the top!