Ice and Snow in Summer?!?

Recently I have been making all sorts of things with a definite wintry theme. Some of you may be wondering why, those of you with a penchant for Disney films and/or those with children may have already guessed!!

In December 2013 Disney released their latest animated film “Frozen” a story loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen”. I has become popular with catchy songs and a heart-warming tale. At the end of March 2014 the DVD was released.

MY 7 year old niece embraced the film with gusto, watching the film over and over and singing along to the soundtrack. This inspired me to make her some accessories inspired by the theme of ice and snow.

First I made her a cloak from white chiffon on to which I painted snowflakes in silver and blue glitter paint.

As her enjoyment of the film continued I made her a “Mini-Me” of Elsa, the snow queen and one of her favourite characters.

 

She was fun to make, working out how to re-create her distinctive hair style with the off-centre plait as well as making her sleeves and cloak from a combination of yarns held together: White, pale blue and a metallic blue sewing thread to make her sparkle!

I then thought about a way to replicate the magic Elsa uses so not only could you dress up as her but also dance along to the music! I came up with elasticated wrist-bands/bracelets with long streamers in white blue and silver lace and ribbons which can be used to wave around and make magic!!

 

I then adapted some of my other designs to be more ice and snow inspired.

From magic wands with snowflakes and streamers:

 

These are made with a wooden shaft and a hand-cut fabric snowflake with ribbon streamers

 

To snowflake hairbands

 

A soft elasticated headband with hand-cut fabric snowflakes in blue and white painted with glitter.

And snowflake hair clips:

Large and small hand-cut fabric snowflakes with added sparkle. Mounted onto a snap hair-clip with a central pale blue gem.

And even strings of decorative snowflakes:

Hand-cut fabric snowflakes, glittered and strung onto strong blue thread with clear random beads.

Now watching “Frozen” can be done in style fully dressed up, in a decorated room with “Mini-Elsa” watching too!!

                                            (Mini-Me Elsa and the Elsa inspired cloak were made                                                                                          especially for my niece as a gift.     All other snowflake and ice inspired creations are available to purchase. Prices can be found in this Facebook album here.)

Making Ballgowns from what we had.

When preparing for National Wear a Ballgown Day the main thing that we needed to sort out and that was what to wear! Neither of us had a ballgown or the budget to buy anything so we needed to make two dresses from things we already had.

I had already decided that this was a fantastic opportunity to re-invent the blue fabric (you can read about it here)

I began by making an underskirt. This was made from a very stiff fabric and was a semi-circle. To the waist of this I attached one piece of the blue fabric with the added decoration (holographic ice floes, lines of silver sequins and blue lace strands) to the outside.

 

The width of the fabric was far longer than the skirt so I took tucks to create a “poofy” look, added volume and texture.

 

For the bodice of my gown I already owned a top that was suitable both in colour and style. I had bought it many years ago. It had a velvet body with floaty voile sleeves in the same blue as the skirt fabric

         

I used the other piece of the blue fabric to make an apron/bustle/waistband piece. This added more layers and created a train for the dress.

 

The finished ensemble gave the overall impression of being a complete ballgown in blue!

   

 

All the outfit needed was a tiara and accessories. The tiara was made from a piece of a coat-hanger bent into shape with various beads added for decoration. I also made a pair of dangly earrings and a charm-style bracelet.

 

Catherine’s dress was based on a black skirt she already owned. I added an underskirt with plenty of net to help it stick out. I also added a trim in red and netting to lengthen the skirt to floor length.

 

She wanted a train so I added an extra piece of red fabric to the back hem and trimmed it with lace.

 

The bodice of the dress was a top in a very dark green velvet.

 

I then cut up a lace blouse to create a bolero top to cover her shoulders.

 

Put together this created a ballgown in black and red with lace trims.

 

For her tiara Catherine used a plastic toy tiara belonging to her daughter!! She also wore a black velvet crushed velvet cloak on the day.

 

For details of what we got up to on the day check out the blog post here

National Wear A Ballgown Day 2014

Saturday 31st May was National Wear a Ballgown Day. An event that was started by Two by Two in Ulverston. The history of how the day began can be found here.

At Pixie Creations we joined in with the event in style.

I designed and made two ballgowns, one for each of us to wear, and added accessories to match.

The day began in Seascale. We walked to the railway station attracting some attention from the residents. We stopped off at the chemist for a quick photo enroute.

  

We arrived at the railway station to wait for the train to arrive.

   

Our train arrived and we began our journey down the west coast of Cumbria.

We changed trains at Barrow (unfortunately even dressed in ballgowns they wouldn’t let us onto first class!)

   

We arrived in Ulverston

We walked through the town.

We arrived at Two by Two to be met with a red carpet. Serenaded by some lovely clarinet music!

We were welcomed in and offered Pimms and tiny cakes. There were lots of other ladies there dressed in wonderful gowns, including Rachael (the shop owner and organiser of NWABGD) who had made a fantastic gown from ties! There were also a few gentlemen in dashing evening suits.

We visited the local opticians who were also taking part.

   

And of course whilst we were in Ulverston we had to have a picture taken with Laurel and Hardy!!

After spending a lovely day in Ulverston we returned to the station to catch the train home.

National Wear a Ballgown day 2014 was a fantastic event and we hope to take part again in 2015…..

now to think of ideas for new ballgowns!!

To read more about National Wear a Ballgown day take a look at the Facebook page here and/or take a look at the blog post from Two by Two here