Dress Diary
2006.01.04
After x-mas sales are for stocking up.
A couple of nights ago, I was cutting out the curtains for our new bedroom. When I was ready to sit down to sew them together, I discovered that my humongous roll of black thread that I know I own has disappeared. In my studio, it's not really a surprise. Since the sewing machine frequently goes on the road with me, I suppose it could be in a suitcase somewhere. This of course meant that I had to go to JoAnn's. (Picture the dramatic pose.)
Right now, my local JoAnn's superstore is having a sale. :-) Up to 70% off of a great deal of their stock. 40% off beads, suplies, and accessories. I stocked up. Unfortunately, trims were not on sale, but the thread was 30% off, which is three bucks on the size of black and white that I buy. I got a bead storage container that will travel, and I should have gotten two. I also picked up some lace on sale, one that is stretchy for gauntlets.
I have been working on preparing a new set of gauntlets and taking pictures for the clothing page. They look very neat, and with the stretch lace, I can make a second set. I'm also trying to get some scrunchies done before I leave for my next assignment this weekend. I've cut out a new square skirt, but wasn't paying attention when I cut the waistline - I had intended to make it off-center, so it would be longer on one side. Oh well - I guess the next one will be asymmetrical.
I do need to stock up on fabrics. My survey of supplies this week showed that I am dangerously low on black fabrics, and that I'm just plain out of purple. Come on, fabric sales! I feel a trip to Denver Fabrics Annex coming on, but it's not going to happen this week.
2006.01.07
In the cleanup process, we took down the credenza in the dining/living room Thursday night. This is the credenza that's been serving as a buffet during the holidays. Cleverly disguised by about 4 yards of black stretch velour, the sawhorse structure has been relegated to the garage until next Halloween. This means that we now have 17.5 additional square feet of room in the dining/living room, and that I have enough black yardage for that new square skirt; this time with the asymmetrical hemline.
Since I'm in Myrtle Beach for a week, I brought the bead inventory, hoping to make some headway on some projects. The single scrunchie that I managed to assemble is in the box, along with some thread and a needle. I still need that black beading cord though, so I may mount an expedition in Myrtle Beach for a bead store early this week. My favorite seed-bead and tassles necklace somehow managed to come half unbraided, and so I need to re-string that. Although the tiny beads are glass, the large beads are pastic, and I'll be replacing them with better quality. So no great loss without some gain.
2006.01.16 am
I purchased the aforemetioned necklace at an accessories store at the mall. Unlike most of their product this necklace was made mostly of glass beads rather than plastic. Besides I rather liked it. It is made with six strands of tube and seed beads braided at the back and caught up at the sides with large beeds. Each of the strands is finished with 6 mm beads, which create a tassle when the lariat is tied into a knot.
I wore it for a couple of weeks before one of the braids at the back came unbraided. I still don't know if it was an issue with the thread stretching or if untying the knot allowed the braid to twist inside the catch beads, but after unstringing it, I suspect that it is a combination of factors. I was surprised to find that it had been strung on nylon, but also that the braids had not been knotted within the catch beads. Knowing from painful experience the stretchiness of nylon, I went looking for a flexible steel-cored cable.
I found black Beadlon .018" dia. at the fabric store at $8 for 10 feet, which seemed to be a very high price; I bought three spools. I measured out the lengths, and decided the 40" was what was required for the necklace, with 13" of beads for the braided backs.
I unstrung 3/4 of the necklace, leaving one of the tassles intact to use for measurements later. Because I find beading seed beads to be so tedious, I decided that I'd string several strands at once, and then cut the 40" lengths with 13" of beads on each one. After stringing a couple of feet and then trying to do the measure-and-cut thing, I resorted to cutting 6 40" lengths and then putting the beads on them individually.
After stringing six strands, I gathered up two sets of three. Using black crimp beads, I crimped both sets at 13" from the ends of the cables. I secured the crimped end in my bench vice, and began to braid.
I had not secured the ends in my hands, and was struggling to a) keep the beads tight enough to prevent seperating and showing the cable, and b) to keep the bloody things on the cable at all. As it turned out, I dropped one strand - in the cat boxes of all things - and will have to make it up with some extra beads.
In disgust, I went upstairs to take a shower.
2006.01.16 pm
I was thinking about securing the loose ends of the beads. Scotch tape seems to be a handy and effective solution, but there is the problem of remaining adhesive. I needed clamps. I was going to the office supply place anyway, so I picked up some little binder clips. Turned out that they were just what was needed. They grip the cables tightly, and although somewhat cumbersome, once in place they don't budge. I re-strung the string I had dropped (decadent cats to have glass beads to poop in), clipped the loose ends and braided the sets. After the braided sets were crimped to keep them from unbraiding, I laid them over my neck and discovered that 13" was 1/2 of the length of beads that I needed for the backs. Sigh.
Recall that I had already cut the cable for all six lengths. I suppose the lengths will do for some other shorter necklaces. It was lucky that in my quest for flexibility without stretch that I had found a new cable from BeadIt! at $10 for a 30-ft roll - Soft Touch, .010" dia. It's finer, more flexible, and about one-quarter the cost. This time, I cut 53" lengths, strung 26" of black tube and seed beads on each length, crimped them together in sets and braided them. I looped them around my neck, and although they seem longer, I'm not convinced that they're long enough. But we'll see; I only purchased one spool of the Soft Touch.
Instead of the tacky plastic catch beads used in the original necklace, I used some large (10mm x 14mm) faceted glass beads to combine my two braided strands into one necklace. Whereas the Beadlon would not have passed six strands through these glass beads, the Soft Touch went through just fine. I began to string the tassle ends, relpacing the 6 mm plastic faceted rounds with 6 mm glass faceted rounds.