Thread: When costumes projects get lives of their own...

Maybe I misworded the title, and I'm pretty sure alot of you have been in this situation...

I can't stop beading my friggin' costume!!!

What began as some pretty beaded/sequinned appliques on a belt and vest is turning into an almost entirely beaded belt (vest pretty much stayed the same as planned). The base fabric is gorgeous, black satin with little embroidered gold diamonds. Regardless, it just didn't look right that there was so much black peeking around all that yummy gold bling I stitched on it, so away I went. Countless hours later, as in a couple hundred (at least) later it's still not finished. It's been three years in the making so alot of repairs to the appliques and fringe have had to be done.

Of course there is a matching skirt, harem pants, bra, and gauntlets that are still in the works and would you believe I have a performance tomorrow that I was planning on wearing it to? Am I completely nuts?

Obviously there's a heck of alot of determination to keep this out of the 'costumes that never were' box. :)

Heh, I agree! My olive/bearl bra project went from having draped beaded fringe and some scattered crystals to needing half the bra entirely covered with chunky beadwork. I don't know if I'll ever get to the belt and skirt!

I wish we could have a big ol' convention to sit and work on our costumes...like a month long one!

Originally Posted by Doozer

Am I completely nuts?

Absolutely, and that's a good thing ;-)

I'd love to have a month-long retreat to make a dent in the stack of shame (although I'd expect that after spending quality time with a bunch of crazy belly dancers, I'd come home with even more shameful evidence).

Good luck!!!!

I can understand....I go through spurts of sudden inspiration. Unfortunately I never get inspired to ONE thing at at time. Nooo, I have to to 50 directions at the same time. Then I lose that burst of enthusiasm and it all just sits around.

Thank goodness I'm not the only one....

I've had to shelf other projects for long periods of time and I feel guilty about it.

An IRL swap meet/hafla might be in order for our area again...it was so much fun!

Two years ago while I was writing my first year finals, I would take breaks and bead a vintage costume which I had bought and needed to redo the bra. I know I had a clear plan and was only going to do enough to make it blend with the belt. Several hours later, the bra was completely covered with crystals and bugle beads! No idea how that happened!

I am about to start work on blinging up a basic silver set. All of the sudden, I want to do pearl and crystal flowers among chunky pearl, silver and gold beading with strands of rhinestones by the yard flowing through! MUST RESIST. . .

{{{HUGS}}}

I totally feel your pain....

I'm going through this right now! I'm working on my very first made-by-me costume, and I started with a pretty concrete idea of what I wanted. Once I had the bra base and skirt finished and starting making the rhinestone appliques, it totally changed direction!

Really happy with it, though :) I've totally finished the bra and am now sketching out the beading pattern on the skirt. I wanna post pics on the what are you working on thread, but I can't find my camera ....