The return of the teal bra…

Teal Bra, finished

Teal Bra, finished

I thought I was finished with this project, but I was never *quite* happy with the silver/copper/bronze/gold mix. What can I say, I like matchy-matchy. I’d have loved to keep it as silver only, and that was the original plan, but the gold on the trim was overpowering, cascading first into the beading, then into the wires and the centrepiece.

A couple of weeks ago I found someone selling a bunch of antique Indian bells, of the kind used in the anklets for Khatak dancing. I’d originally wanted to use these for decoration but hadn’t been able to find a local source. And when they arrived and I re-strung the bottom beads and removed the silver coins, and replaced them with the bells, which *did* look significantly more “together” with the rest, it became obvious that the silver trinkets would have to be replaced too. I was lucky enough to find replacements in antique gold very inexpensively at Hillary’s Bazaar’s Etsy shop, so also a UK source.

I sewed all of these pieces back on, created a lining in black polycotton, removed one of the pieces from the centre that had been digging into my diaphragm from day 1, added lobster clasps to the bottom beading so they can be removed at will (and also used elsewhere if wanting to), and finally, added some Swarovskis in Peridot AB (green with iridiscent sheen), Jonquil AB (yellow with iridiscence) and Moonlight (a very pale smoke) to the centrepiece to add some interest to it, and will carry the same motif to the belt.

I’m a lot happier with the unity it has now, even if it meant that the glorious plans I had for a kuchi-button-heavy belt had to be replaced with a different approach. I will still use those buttons on a different piece, but this will on all probability end being used mostly for those *almost* Tribal performances that happen with the Egyptian troupe, or for Fusion pieces with a mermaid skirt in similar colour.

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1 Response

  1. Thea says:

    Yup, I’m matchy-matchy too. I’m over 60 now and REALLY self-conscious about my tuckshop arms, and I spied what I thought were the perfect sleeves in a swap-and-sell market – the exact shade of purple, floaty, three-quarter length with cuffs. All I had to do was sew the top edges of the sleeves to my bra.

    Got them home, sewed them on – ecstatic. Then I went to put on my skirt. It is trimmed with silver. The sleeves are heavily trimmed with gold Aaargh! I hadn’t noticed with the bra, because it’s all crystals and beads – no gold OR silver.

    I wore the outfit for the hafla “as is”, no time to fix it (and I reckoned my non-matching sleeves would look less horrific to the audience than my flapping bingo wings). Everyone said they looked great, but I’m still mightily offended by the mismatch. Maybe I’m a bit too much of a perfectionist?

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