Tulle Boas Are Toddler Resistant!

I created my tulle boas because a customer had a problem.  She is a party planner and she was tired of picking up feathers after her little princesses destroyed her boas. Feather boas just don't last. The feathers fall off easily and leave a mess.  Tulle boas are so much easier!  They last a lot longer, don't leave a mess behind, and can be used time and again.  Mine are even more durable because of the way they are constructed. Most tulle boas are made by taking a really long piece of tulle and running a thread through it, scrunching the tulle together. If the thread breaks, buy buy boa. Mine are hand-tied, which means that every single tiny piece of tulle is knotted onto a ribbon core. In order for the tulle to come off, you'd have to untie every single piece of untie the knot at the end of the ribbon and slide them all off, which would be very hard to do because of the way the end is knotted and concealed in the boa.  Since my first order of 6 tulle boas for the wonderful party planner, I've sold boas to other professionals, such as theater directors and photographers. It just makes sense, if you are in a business that needs sturdy props or if you have children like my little princess who want to look pretty but don't want a mess, why not invest a few dollars in a tulle boa?  They are inexpensive and last an extremely long time and you know they are hand-made with love.

This pink boa is one of Lucy's many accessories!

Imma really liked this red one on it's way to Missouri!

If Imma's willing to let me take her picture, you know it's a good piece!

Lu  was getting a little sassy!

This boa completes the look 

Smile for the camera, my little diva!

You can find the length to this product in my Etsy shop here.  Can you believe they are only $8?

Organza Extravaganza!

Today, I finished my first tutu featuring organza!  It's not a complete tutu made of organza, although I am looking forward to trying that soon as well, rather it's a tutu made mostly of tulle with two layers of organza as well.  It's part of the package I will be sending in for the celebrity baby shower I'm participating in so I really wanted it turn out spectacular.  And I think it did!

Pretty in pink--organza!

Perfect for any little ballerina

Organza is thicker than tulle, the weave is much tighter and it's a little more shimmery

This tutu has 6 layers of tulle and 2 layers of organza

It's made of light pink, white, and shimmery white tulle, and shimmery pink organza

What do you think?  I love how soft and shimmery it is!  I think it turned out really well and I'm very excited to have a new material to work with!

New Design Featuring Tulle Circles

You know those nifty little tulle circles people sometimes use for gifts, or to put the rice in at weddings? Well, for months I've been thinking about a way I could incorporate them into a tutu design.  I finally came up with something yesterday. Here it is!

Circle tulle tutu with rhinestone trim

I love this emerald color of rhinestones!

What do you think?  I sewed them on in layers and then hid the stitches--sort of--with rhinestones.  This one is a size newborn and I think it would look so sweet on a little bitty baby with a big flower headband.  The circles come in just about every color and I think I'm going to try making some more tutus with them. I think they could be turned into leaves pretty easily, too, so a flower skirt would be really cute. And just in time for spring! It would look really cute over a more traditional tutu or as an apron.  My new model is a little too wide at the waist for such a little tutu to lay just right, but I thought it would look better on her than on the table.
Speaking of my new wire mannequin friend,  I think she needs a name.  Any suggestions?

You'll Love This Zombie Tutu, Even if You Don't Have a Brain!

Okay--I was thinking maybe, "This Zombie Tutu Will Eat You For Lunch" or, "This Zombie Tutu is Happy to Meat You."  I don't know, it's Monday and all of my cleverness was spent up already giving math tests to lots and lots of first graders!
But, the good news is, the Zombie Tutu is done!  I think it turned out just as I had imagined it!  Here are a few pics, though it will look even more awesome when my sister models it for me (hopefully next weekend!)

Zombie tutu, zombie on the left, human on the right

It has 8 layers of tulle and I used 8 different colors.  The tutu consists of the "human" side and the "zombie" side.  On the human side, we have a nice white, then, light pink, then pink, then shocking pink transition, while on the zombie side, it goes from black to plum, to wine, to red--blood red.  And the sides are not exactly cut in half either.  I wanted them to melt into each other so the two pieces overlap.

This is the bottom of the tutu with the red on the zombie side and the shocking pink on the human side.

A lot of college students are playing Zombies v. Humans, where they literally run around and try to "kill" each other, like tag or something, I don't quite get it.  Wouldn't this be a great costume for that?  I have heard of teenagers having zombie parties, too.  How fun would it be to show up in this?  Even if you just want to wear something interesting to a concert or out on the town, this is definitely going to catch a lot of attention.  I can make it in any size or length.  This one has a variety of lengths from 12 inches down to 6 inches, which creates a poofy-effect, but I can make it however your tween/teenager likes.  Or maybe it's for you! Feeling a little un-dead these days?
What do you think??

New Boa Design

I've been working on a new tulle boa the last few days. Instead of using 6 inch tulle, I'm using 3 inch tulle.  I was thinking it might work well for a scarf for a tween, teen, or adult, but I'm not sure if it's going to work as scarf or not because it still looks very "boa-y."  I think a tween or a teen could probably wear a boa with no problems but I'm not sure if most women would want to wear one, not to work anyway.  What do y'all think?  Could it be worn as a scarf? Would your tween or teen wear a boa? I'd love to hear your opinions!

The new three inch tulle boa

This one is made from light pink and pink tulle

The original boa uses tulle that is 6 inches wide

I Did it Myself!! Rhinestone Transfer Templates!

I'm very proud of myself--can you tell? I was able to figure out how to create my own rhinestone transfer templates, lay down the rhinestones myself, transfer (as usual) and actually make it look like I had envisioned it to!  And I figured out something else that will BLOW YOUR MIND!! Okay, well, it blew my mind--but I'll save that for last!
For Christmas I asked for some loose rhinestones and transfer tape. I wasn't sure at the time what I was going to do about a template but I do my best creative thinking when I am half asleep so last night it came to me--just use the printer and a sharpie! So, that's what I did!  I typed up my message, used a sharpie so that it would bleed through the paper and made dots on it, and then flipped it over and started laying down the stones. The stones I got were 3 mm and I just used regular tweezers to lay them down.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be straight or even legible while I was working but I was pretty happy with it when I was finished.

I used regular tweezers to manipulate the rhinestones.

My bag of rhinestones!

It was easier to dump several out.  Hard to believe I would have a Pooh Bear plate at my house!

Placing the stones on the template.  Can you see what it says?

The rest of my message!

What it looks like before I remove the backing to iron it on.

Finished product!  Sorry it's sideways--could not figure it out. If you have a laptop, just turn it. If you're on a PC, might be a bit harder!

Do you all understand what this means?  I can make anything!  ANYTHING!!  All of you who keep asking me if I could make a (blank) for (blank) and I'm like uhhh--YES!  I can! So, bring them on!  Who needs a "First Birthday" shirt?  Who needs the name of their school or mascot?  Who needs their company name? How about an "I Heart Pooky" shirt for Valentine's Day? You dream it up, I can make it!  (As long as it isn't copyrighted.  I can make "generic blond fairy in green outfit" but not Tinkerbell.)

But as earth-shattering as that is--and it's pretty earth-shattering--look what else I figured out!

Again, not such a good pic.  Can you see what it is?  It's rinestones on tulle!  RHINESTONES ON TULLE!! Do you know what this means?  I can bling up my tutus!  I can put snowflakes on that Periwinkle tutu!  I can put hearts on those Valentine's tutus!  Maybe other people are doing this but I've never seen it. I've seen a rhinestone here and there but never a pattern or an object.   In fact, I had a very experienced tutu-maker tell me not so long ago that it wasn't possible.  Oh, yes, it is!  

So, are you as excited as I am?? The possibilities are ENDLESS!!

Oh, and don't forget about my giveaway!! See previous post to find out how you can enter (or just follow this blog, or like me on Facebook!)

Second Christmas!

My husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas about three weeks ago. My answer? Tulle, of course!
What kind of tulle?  All kinds of tulle!  Regular tulle, glitter tulle, sparkly tulle. All kinds!
What color of tulle?  All colors of tulle!  Red and pink and green and blue and purple--all of them.  All of the colors!Well, it was a little late, but this arrived today.  Hard to complain about it being late when I opened it up and saw what was inside!

The box!!

Yards and yards of tulle in every color imaginable!

Close up of the yards and yards of tulle!

Even shimmer and glitter tulle!

Even more tulle!

It just keeps going!

Another layer of tulle!

It filled up an entire plastic bin!

And was practically over-flowing! (Tulle circles on top, neat!)

Well, at this point, there's only one thing for me to do.  Make tutus--lots and lots of tutus!  Any requests?  I've got every color you could possibly imagine and probably every shade, too!
Thanks, honey!!!  I'll see you in four months, when I am finally done making tutus.
Remember, sneak peek
of Valentine's tutus coming today!

The Design: From Idea to Reality

One of the things that is most satisfying to me about crafting is seeing my ideas become a reality. By the time I actually begin working on a new design, I've been thinking about it for weeks, sometimes months. I think about all of the intricate details, the materials, how to assembly each tiny part. I think about colors, in some cases fabric though right now I am using tulle for the majority of my designs, length, layers, accents, all of those components come together to create a new, hopefully fabulous! design.

This dress is one of my favorites dresses. The inspiration is probably obvious to anyone under the age of 10 or anyone who spends much time with little girls. Of course, it is based on the dress Cinderella wore to the ball, wear she met Prince Charming, fell in love, and had all of her dreams come true! My wish is the same for the little girls who wear it.

This was one of the first dresses I made with the woven bodice. I had seen a lot of pictures posted on etsy and other sites of beautiful, full dresses, and a crotchet-elastic bodice that was practically see-through. No offense to anyone who makes or wears those kind of dresses, but I am a very modest person myself and I wouldn't want to wear that! Why would I ask my daughter to? Other designs try to cover up with fake flowers. That doesn't work for me either. I don't sew on a machine and, quite frankly, can't follow a sewing pattern very well. So I had to come up with a way to create a top without having to sew. After nights of pondering this problem, I invented the woven-bodice top. It's simple, really, though quite tedious. I simple weave the strands of tulle through the holes in the crotchet-elastic top. When finished, the top is no longer see through and we are left with a beautiful dress anyone would be proud to put on her little girl.

I wanted this dress to be very full and elegant. I used light-blue for the majority of the gown but also accented it with silver tulle. I also used light-blue and silver ribbon. There are six layers of tulle and enough ribbon that it almost creates a layer by itself. When I first put it on Lucy, it was very poofy at the top. I thought it looked cute but I also knew it would bother her so half-way through the photo shoot, I decided to tie a ribbon around the waist to keep it down. I absolutely love the way it looks with the ribbon sash.

This particular dress was sold on etsy to a wonderful family in Florida. Coincidentally, we happened to be in Florida, in Cinderella's castle, when I got the notification from etsy that someone wanted to buy it! Since that time, I have gotten to know this amazing woman and her beautiful, incredible daughter and we have become very good friends. It's funny how a dress can bring two families together! Though I don't have this exact dress anymore, I would love to make another one! If your little girl loves Cinderella as much as mine does, let's chat. We can make her the perfect gown as well. Who knows, maybe someday that little boy next door with the skinny legs will turn into her Prince Charming!