Dreaming...

I’ve started thinking about making another bedlah (bra and belt) for my belly dancing. I had started dreaming about a costume in burgundy and gold and had figured I could use some of my off-cuts of silks and brocades to create a patchwork for the base and then add sequins and beads for the trim.

The problem is I have a couple of other projects I really should finish first… a cross-stitch that I am nearing the end of. I’m just about sick of the sight of it but am determined that it will not go into the cupboard unfinished to haunt me later!!

I also have a patchwork quilt that is all hand sewn and pretty time intensive – I am aiming for it to be big enough for a queen sized bed and am probably a quarter of the way there... that will get dragged back out of the cupboard once the cross-stitch is finished.

In the meantime there’s no harm in dreaming about how the bra and belt will be... is there?

Perhaps not as it will keep creating opportunities to find other suitable bits and pieces for the construction... For example, I was in Ikes in Browns Bay, an emporium-style end-of-line-bits-and-pieces shop, where I was looking for some black stretch velvet and I found the most gorgeous sheer burgundy material with gold embroidery. I could barely contain myself as I stroked it and started thinking of my new costume... Loooveelly...

THWACK!!!I gave myself a mental slap to remind myself I was on a mission of other sorts and started searching the aisles for the velvet. Ikes has loads of material but there is really no structure to the way it is arranged, some on lying stacked on shelves, some stacked upright against each other in aisles. You have to be prepared to search quite hard to find what you are after and even then you aren’t guaranteed to find it... sometimes you’ll see something one day and then decide to go back the next to buy it but find it has disappeared altogether. I scoured the place, but each time I walked past the burgundy would pause, reaching out to it….

THWACK! I had to remind myself of the mission... the mission… black velvet. After half an hour of shuffling through the stacks I eventually asked the shop assistants if they had any of what I wanted in stock and alas – no!!

I returned to the burgundy, stroked it, unrolled some to see how it would move through the air, imagined how it would look as a skirt, a veil, a choli... Drooooool...

The entire time I struggled with the knowledge that even if I bought it I could not allow myself to start another project until I had finished my others... also knowing that if I left the shop I may never see the delectable stuff again... I relented and bought some – plenty enough to make a skirt, top and veil… tucked away in the sewing cupboard it waits for me... and I keep dreaming...