Thursday, May 1, 2014

Of thwarting costume malfunctions and crocheted modesty panels...

...because that's just how things roll over at my house. :) Shorter post today (because work has been overwhelming) but I wanted to touch base and frankly, relax for a few minutes.

Our crazy Saturday is coming up (more details in 7 Quick Takes tomorrow) and one of those things is my spring hafla. I've been practicing my little heart out on my solo, and so the big reveal is that I decided to choreograph a drum piece, tacking on a flowy 30 second entrance before the drum begins. So, I ended combining two of those types of music I mentioned when I asked for everyone's advice on what music I should select. :)

It's gone pretty well, but I've been dealing with a sore calf muscle again, which had me worried over the weekend. I've been trying to rest it a bit and not dance on it as much as possible until a few days before the show. The other thing I was fretting over was my costume. I'm going to be using my troupe bra and belt set not only for troupe numbers, but for my solo as well just with a different skirt and matching gauntlet gloves (HELLO NEON ORANGE!!) so I *really* need it to fit me correctly. And as I mentioned the other day, the belt was giving me a difficult time staying up. My mother-in-law altered it for me, so I was anxious to practice in it, with both skirts, and put it through its paces to assure the fit was good.

I got the kids in bed last night and went to town. I tried the orange skirt first and slipped the belt over it. The fit is now *perfect* (God bless my mother-in-law, who has sewed snaps on this thing no less than 4 times). I shimmied around, and did my solo in it, and the belt now sits at a perfect spot and doesn't slip down. Slam dunk.

The top however...She tightened it at the neck as I had requested, and the fit is much better, but...something still felt off, Far too much movement at that level for my comfort. As I danced, I kept looking down to assure that I wasn't flashing my neighbors.

It was official. I CANNOT LIVE LIKE THIS ANYMORE! WHY, dear God, WHY do these costume designers not make costumes that actually FIT a a MOVING BODY!! It's just absurd, there's zero give or contour to these things. I man-handled it a bit, looking for ways that I could get it lie more fitted to my body, but I started to despair. I cannot get into my drum solo (my *very favorite* type of dancing) while worrying that my costume may make it an entirely unintended type of show, kwim?!

So I came up with an idea. I could sew some fabric into the middle of the top, a modesty panel of sorts, to keep things more contained. And I create knitted and crocheted fabric, so did I have any bright pink yarn? Why yes I did!!! Away I went.

Next thing you knew, I had a crocheted rectangle. I sewed a crystal onto the front of it, and tacked the entire shebang into the cleavage area of my top. Can I just say, it looks kind of awesome. :0 I wish I had taken a picture. When Mike got home from play rehearsal, I showed it to him, and he didn't even understand what I had done because he thought the entire top looked like it came that way.

*gold star!*

It's SO MUCH BETTER! It's just a small thing, but it makes the top so much more practical and less scary. I'm thrilled. I'm going to test it out more tonight, but I'm feeling very hopeful. And my drum solo is looking kicky and cute. :)

More news tomorrow, when I'm hopefully not having a nervous breakdown over the weekend that we have scheduled. 

#hopespringseternal

;-)

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