Cabochon jewelry

Pretty simple once you've gathered all the ingredients, like frame, glass, glue, and pictures. The glass covers come in flat and convex. If you're using convex covers, only choose landscapes, flowers or anything neutral as your motif. Portraits only go well (i.e. undistorted) with flat glass, and you don't want your fiancé at twice his breadth on your necklace ;)

The trickiest thing is to avoid bubbles of air when you glue the images to the glass. I find it easiest to put a generous dollop of glue on the flat side of the cabochon, press the picture onto the glue and wiggle it very gently until it has spread the glue all over the glass and lies down flat. Dry on a flat surface (some hours will be enough, I just leave mine overnight), cut away the excess paper and glue to the metal frame.

The simplest way of wearing them would be to attach them to a piece of satin ribbon or a slender metal chain, or you can attach them to any pearl or bead necklace, lace ruff (expecially for rococo), or whatever you fancy.
 

 For a rose quartz version I also added a matching pendant, the beads are rose quartz and crystal.

A very nice thing is a two-faced version. Take two pieces of the same foundation style and very diligently glue them back to back with some jewellery glue so they're absolutely apposite. For the front picture, proceed as above, with a rounded cabochon and a nice picture. For the reverse side that is to remain hidden when worn, use a flat cabochon so the pendant won't turn but remain nice and tidy with the flat side down and the convex side up and you can keep your secret lover's picture nicely hidden ;) If you're in a hurry and there are no flat cabochons at hand, it also works well with a piece of clear plastic cut into shape to cover the picture.

Red ball-dress

After so many heavy dresses for historic balls, I wanted one for regular balls in which I can dance the whole night through without restrictions. What else to use but a high-waisted regency shape? I merged my own ideas with a dress I saw in a shop window and used up some fabric I already had.

The dress consists of two layers, the under-layer of red rayon (or cotton-lycra mix for the bust part) and the outer layer of transparent red polyester chiffon. And yes, this dress at last can go straight into the washing machine, despite the bead embroidery along the neckline.

The bust part is self-supporting and optimizes the bust size, so I needn't wear a push-up. The six parts of the skirt follow - as so often - my old princess-seam dress. Cut straight from bust to waist, the dress doesn't get too bulky and I retain my slender shape. From the waist downwards, the parts are cut as wide as possible. At the back is a zipper hidden under a fake sash.

Ball gown of cherry-red silk damask

What a surprise - this time it was going to be a 21st century gown to enhance my wardrobe. The fabric being showy enough, the cut, on the contrary, is very simple.



The floor-length skirt is a three-quarters-circle with hand-sewn hem and was the product of a relaxed evening, partly in front of the tv. It is worn over an underskirt of 20 metres of white tulle worked in four layers and finished off at the hem with red bias tape. The main idea was that the skirt must get enough volume to look pretty without restricting me when dancing, like a hoopskirt probably would.

The bodice had to be fitted, strapless, give a nice shape and let me breathe - kind of a jack-of-all-trades device. The result turned out very nice - I used the pattern of a well-fitting corset to be worn over a strapless bra. The mock-up was made of rather stiff cotton and, as it fitted perfectly, was used as the middle layer of the actual bodice. It's boned at the seams and sandwiched between the outer layer of red silk and an inner layer of pale red taffeta.

Both parts are sewn together invisibly and close at the back with a zip fastener.