Well hi welcome to my little blog. Just my little corner of craftiness, sewing, and refashioning. I am also a newly gluten free eater so you have a little bit of recipes mixed in here.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Jills Drills, Bellydance DVD Review

Changing it up today while I crop and set up more blog posts. As it always seems like here, I am constantly going through things to donate and dwindle down my stuff. I know that almost 2 years ago, I made a New Years Resolution to watch and review all of my DVDS. I never finished. Last year I didn't really review much but this year I am trying to go through the rest and dwindle down my stock. But then I got wind of several DVDS and cough, cough, I have now have a few more in my library. Oops!!


One of the newest purchases was from Jill Parker, who I have never had taken a class before but always wanted to-she's the head of ultra gypsy and I love watching their performances online, etc. She has never done a DVD before so I was excited. Added to that, it is 2 discs.

Disc 1 is technique and breakdown.
Overall sound quality is a bit hit or miss as the music was playing in the studio where she filmed. Sometimes the music is too loud to hear her talk. She does have a microphone but that also has a few problems as she does wear metal jewlery so it picks it up easy. So note to anyone who wants to make a DVD don't wear metal jewelry- or metal anything. Another peeve of mine, is when dancers wear all black- Jill does have a small belt on but still you loose some of her moves.She is in a black tank top and black pants. I like to see some abs for a point of reference and how they are engaged during moves. I totally miss that. So this DVD could have been better from the beginning. But that is my opinion.

It is in a class setting, we have a mirror and you can see both sides. The video is ok, it has a semi-home video feel so the quality is not as clear as it could be. Hence my comments about all black. But you can still get the gist of what she is teaching.  I will say she has some different moves and I enjoyed how she nicely described how to do them.

DVD 2- Drilling, Performance, and interview
So the drilling is great and tries to put somethings together. I wish it was more part of the 1st DVD rather than switching DVDS.
The performance is really an overlay of her dancing in different areas sometimes with dramatic light. OK boo on this. The music doesn't always goes with what she is doing. I really want when I watch a performance from a dancer to see how they interpret the music and beats. That is what I want to see. NOT spiritual constipation where the dancer is so full of themself that it just comes off as stuffy and I cannot connect to her dancing. I just can't. I felt nothing but just wanted to turn it off, it pushed me away leaving me disappointed. So Jill you can do better, seriously you are highly regarded in the field and have been around for a long time, I expect more. I do, there I said it. Hey it is my blog and my opinion was not paid for- I did this on my own.
Interview... So the interview is Jill, Marta, and Onca with some sort of student who is a radio personality. I have 1 word for the interview... MEH. Yup! So they go into this whole woman power conversation and well frankly I have heard this conversation over 10 years ago. Learning how to dance empowered me. But to have a conversation on this topic now on just seems sort of late. There are countless articles online and in magazines about this, again over 10 years ago- and this coming from a girl who learned how to dance in a small southern town. The conversation itself also just seems odd and semi-scripted b/c it flow of the conversation doesn't seem real and true. I just can't believe it. Again, I got bored and I know these ladies are well respected but the conversation is just odd. My boyfriend watched it as well and just thought they were sort of talking funny, almost like forced- so I know it is not just me. I probably won't watch it ever again.

Now it may seem that I am just slamming the DVD to shreds and I beg of you to look a little closer at what I am saying. Actually, the dance part was really good. I walked away with new ideas and felt as if I learned something. Which I can say with a lot of DVDs. I really want to keep this DVD b/c I do find it really helpful and move inspiring. So that should say a lot, just skip the interview...

Monday, July 20, 2015

Purple Ombre sweatshirt refashion

Yes I am publishing a sweatshirt refashion in the middle of summer. However, I did this a little while ago and we did have a few bouts where I put it on. The weather has been a little odd here. I liked this sweatshirt as it was on the thinner side and also was long.


But it was big. And actually I didn't like the bottom band. Cut that off first.Then took in the arms and the sides.

I decided I didn't like the ombre on the sleeves. So I cut off the wrist band, the cut off 6 inches of the sleeves, and then reattached the bands.
Hem with my double needle. Yay! Done




Simple, easy,
Yeah! Much nicer improvement. Would work nicely with some skinny jeans or leggings. 

Cheers,
Lauren

Monday, July 13, 2015

Fun Summer Tee

More sewing! And other fabulous knit! Again on clearance from G street fabrics. The only issue with this fabric is it is sort of thin. I was worried about it being see through. So I added a layer of white knit underneath.

I follow the blog iCandy HandMade and I just love their one pattern that they offered for free. I used the Fun Summer Tee for this fabric. Super easy pattern and easy sew. Even with the 2 layers. The only issue was things were uneven so my shirt wound up with a shorter back. but still long enough for what I need and like. Especially with all the bending and squatting that I do. I got one sewing pic! Yeah!

Here's my new shirt! yeah!






The fabric is so soft. It is a little big but not too bad. I really want to make more! Love this shirt!

Follow up: The top was a little big on me esp in the mid-section. I decided to give it to my mom when she came to visit. It looks great on her! :)

Cheers,
Lauren

Monday, July 6, 2015

Birds of a feather... dress refashion

I know another Monday post. ;0) I sort of have it together (not really just still catching up slowly). I saw this feather dress and had to have!! Turns out it is home sew- no tag on the dress and I could see the notches from the pattern. But the fabric was a poly knit with those bad neck ties! Blah!


It was just a hair too long but the fit was pretty good overall. And I didn't like the sleeves.


The problem with selecting fabric with such a large patterns such as this feather pattern is you have to pick out the right pattern b/c you will look the feathers and then it just sort of gets lost. Also, the poor hem was blind hemmed. You can't do that on a knit fabric. Or else you get this.

The struggle with this knit is real. I almost felt sorry the hem.

Otherwise the dress doesn't fit bad- it has a back zipper so that is a plus. I disliked the sleeves and the neck tie. Both of those came off.

Then right under the arms holes was a bit too big. I fitted that.Sew a hem on the armhole.

Take of the poor blind hem. Make my own hem. Again, got to love the double needle.
Done! Love my feather dress.









Here's the recap. It feels good to sew!


Cheers,
Lauren

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