Tease-Or-Treat!

“Hair-raising Burlesque, Magic and Live Music to tickle your tastebuds!”

Have you been bitten by the Halloween bug yet? Aching for a Halloween party this weekend?

Are you waiting to show off that costume you just finished making, or arrived in the mail, or barely covers your butt?

Looking for somewhere to shake your heiney this weekend?

Well, you're in luck, because Prix de Beauté presents:
TEASE-OR-TREAT! Burlesque and Magic in a weekend-long Halloween party, with live music at the One-Eyed Gypsy!


~ SATURDAY ~ 10PM

*MORE Ghoulish BURLESQUE by:*

Ms. Red Snapper

Holly Go Darkly

Anastasia Von Teaserhausen

*LIVE MUSIC by:*

AK and Her Kalashnikovs

*Enjoy burlesque sets at 10PM and 11PM, before and after band sets!*

Hosted by Prix de Beauté, along with her Stage Badgering sidekick: Ms. Honey Badger!

All this for FREE??!?!?! You betcha, all down at:

The One-Eyed Gypsy
901 East 1st Street
Downtown Los Angeles, CA.
90012

Both shows start at 10:00 PM!

Full bar full of amazing drinks and bartenders, and a kitchen open til 11pm, preparing unique and delicious appetizers!

A soothsayer will be there, reading fortunes all night, and a sexy candy cigarette girl will be there with tricks and treats!

So come down in your best Halloween costume, have yourself a Bloody Mary and enjoy the show full of beautiful burlesque ladies in scary and silly costumes, haunting magic and music to monster mash to!

See you this weekend!!

My Final Reveal: Bands

I spent about thirty minutes working on a new headband to match my costume.  A few months ago I picked up a handful of "love" headbands (see photo) for $1 each.  I peeled the "love" fabric off one and replaced it with leftover spandex from my underthings.  You can see some bumps from the hot glue through the fabric, so I'm going to slap some rhinestones on it later.

I also received my package of lingerie supplies from Sew Sassy.  I was stocking up on supplies for some other projects, so I'm just going to count the costs of what I'm actually using for this project.  My bra wires were 55 cents for the pair.  (They come in packs of six pair, but I'm okay with that since I'm making my own underthings when I can.  I'll use all the wires.  I used some tubular channeling at $1.20 a yard, and some finishing elastic at 85 cents a yard.  I ran elastic on the lower edge of the bra band, and I attached the underwire channels to the band.  I made the band on the large side, so I'm going to have to take an inch or two out of it before I add the elastic along the top of the band.

The next problem I really have to solve is how best to construct my bootcut disco pants.  I'd prefer not to have to draft that pattern from scratch, but I'll do it if I must.

Total spent so far: 4:15 and $160.60.

My Final Reveal: A New Costume in Progress!

I have three costumes in progress at the moment -- two for my December trip and one for my November trip.  All of these numbers will hit the stage many times to earn their keep.  For now I'm concentrating on "If," the number I'm debuting in Arkansas in November.  (A nice chunk of one of the December costumes is finished, the other should be fairly simple.)  I'm getting private dance lessons to prepare for this number, so I have to make sure the costume makes a statement.

As I did last time, I'll share my time spent and my receipt totals.  This project is a little different from the blue gown since it's not a glamour number.  That doesn't mean it will be without its own set of complications.

I had a dancer once tell me, "I spent $80 on my costume.  That's the most I've ever spent!"  I was already spending hundreds per costume, doing the work myself to save money, so I laughed internally.  $80 isn't much to spend on an event costume, but I've tried to get away with spending as little as possible on costumes for theme shows.  (I'd pair something I already had in my closet with something I could get at Goodwill, trying to make no more than one shopping stop.)  But this new costume I'm going to try to do for under $200 because I already spent close to $100 on boots.

Since it's going to be a dancewear-style costume, I'm making it from spandex.  I spent about $50 on spandex over the weekend.  I got shiny fabrics with a pattern since I'm probably not going to add rhinestones, beading or appliques to the fabrics.  The rhinestones will be spent on the pasties and assels.  I think I can get away with spending under $200 because I'm making it from scratch.  Not one off-the-rack piece (except the boots).

I spent an hour cutting, stitching and fitting the monokini on Sunday night.  I still have to add elastic, cup supports, cup snaps to attach to the underbra, and a closure for the halter.  On Monday I spent thirty minutes cutting the underbra band and the undies (and drafting & cutting pasties and assels),  and another 45 minutes stitching the undies and reinforcing the sides of the underbra band.  I still have to add some elastic to the crack area of the undies to make them KABOOM!  I'm waiting for my bra underwires, elastic, and channeling so I can make more progress on the underthings.

Total spent so far: 2:15 and $157.00.

How to Make Pasties - I Can Do Math

If you can solve for x, this is the pastie making video for you.

Topless Vlog #6

LINKS!
Puppeteer Michael Earl's cancer fund
Buy something before 10/31/12 and I'll send you something free!

Buster joins me again as a co-host.

How to Make Pasties - Math Is Hard

If you listen, you can hear Buster whining about not having the cupcake in his belly and not being on camera.

The Honey Boo Boo Project

Just over three weeks ago, I got an opportunity to make a Honey Boo Boo cosplay/Halloween costume for the daughter of Missy of Miss Missy's Photography.  You can see what I made.

Honey Boo Boo

 This is the main photo I referenced.  I was trying to capture the silhouette and colors, but I had to make sure the costume was cost efficient.  I had to get the silver trim, the triangle on the belly, and the lettuce edge ruffle.

To get the silhouette, I used a bustier pattern and drafted the skirt to attach to the bottom of the bustier.  I spent a lot of time working on the ruffle, but the ruffle is the key feature of the silhouette.  Without that ruffle, her costume might not be easily recognized.

HBB with Lacey in the Honey Boo Boo costume I made

Knowing this was going to be a Halloween costume and working to keep costs down, I used some very thin fabric for the ruffles and shell of the dress.  This gave me some challenges because it would shift while I was cutting and while I was sewing.  I did a lot of basting to keep things in place for machine sewing on this costume.  I also took my time because I knew from the first stitch that my fabric would challenge me.

The fabric was so thin that I had challenges installing the zipper.  I wanted the costume to be durable (even though it was made for Halloween), so I sandwiched the zipper in bias tape and attached the bias tape to the shell and lining.  The final product won't split at the zipper because of the bias tape solution.

I had some leftover appliques so I made a hair clip to match the dress.  I passed the leftover trim, appliques and rhinestones to the client to embellish a bag for Halloween, or to use on any accessories.

Even though the shell fabric was a challenge to use, I'm very pleased with the outcome.  Lacey wears the dress very well and looks pleased with the project.