Tag Archives: burning man

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ANIMALPARTY HOODS

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Every year the Jack Rabbit Speaks, the Burning Man newsletter, puts out a resource edition, in which they list suppliers of all sorts of playa necessities. As I was filling out the form to get Fabric Planet listed it occurred to me that I could be listed myself, as a costumer. With a little over a week before the application deadline, I’ve gone into high gear cranking out all these designs I’ve had in my head over the past few months, and the first one to come out was the animal hood.

THESE ARE ALL FOR SALE IN MY ETSY SHOP–YOU SHOULD BUY ONE NOW.

silky snow cat lame zebracat pink furrr hood

velvet zebra hood zebracat fleece hood silky snow cat

These hoods are great with any outfit, from spicing up a bikini (or your fabulous naked self, not pictured) or keeping your noggin warm during your late night playa adventures. They are made out of a wide variety of fabrics, from velvet, fleece, faux fur, jersey, and lame, all the way to cotton for some light-weight day time shenanigans.

velvet zebra hood silky snow cat zebracat fleece hood

They can even be turned inside out for a different look that’s only slightly more toned down.

I developed the pattern myself. It’s pretty straightforward and didn’t have to go through too many drafts. There are bits and pieces inspired by various projects I’ve worked over the past few months, and my favorite part is the cascading ruffle down the front. This can be tied in a bow, tossed over the shoulders, or left to just hang down, and any way it looks awesome.

silky snow cat velvet zebra hood pink furrr hood

I’m trying to really mix and match with the fabric pairings with the idea that no combination will be repeated, unless requested by a customer. I have a tendency to use the last 3 yards of a fabric so that I’m always making end of the run garments, and a few of these are made from remnant materials so that they are ultra one-of-a-kind. This winds up taking more time per-piece than if I made 10 of each combo, but I think the fun and spontaneity of these hoods is worth the work.

zebracat fleece hood velvet zebra hood

made by julianne tags! Although I can make just about any style of ear, so far these are all kitties. I feel like the pointed ear is feisty, and it can go with other animals (fox, cat, kitten, tiger…). Plus, who wouldn’t want to draw whiskers on their cheeks and meow for a saucer of almond milk all night?!

I ordered woven labels and they arrived just in time for this big project. If I had known what a rush I’d get from seeing these sewn into the things I make I would have ordered them a long time ago! And I think they really do give these hoods an official look.

Check out what hoods I have available in my Etsy shop. I’ll be making lots more hoods this weekend (my life is covered in fur). Also, I can also do custom orders for specific fabrics!

pink furrr hood

Thanks be to Jason for the fantastic photoshoot, great direction, and silly hijinx in the alley!

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PINK TUX BODYSUIT

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Oh my, how I love this new pink bodysuit! It’s the only complete costume I made for Burning Man 2010 (all other costumes had their debuts elsewhere). You bet your ass I listened to a lot of Bowie while making this.

pink tux pink tux pink tux

These pictures were all taken at a Burner Halloween party in downtown LA, with Jason as an exterminator and Cosmo as a space bunny (I made Cosmo’s suit as well). I’m totally impressed that Jason was able to get pictures this good in a dark alley!

Julianne and Jason Julianne and Cosmo

Unfortunately all the supplies for this suit were purchased new, but on the bright side it was less than $25! The fabric is from Joann’s, while most of the trimmings are courtesy of Fabric Planet. It was an incredible amount of pinning to get everything laid out correctly! The thick gold braid was sewn on with my machine (and strategically placed to offer bust support), while the gold ribbon was sewn and glued.

pink tux cummberbund pink tux bowtie pink tux

There’s an invisible zipper down the front, which is made even more invisible by the gold ribbon with the star buttons on either side. I flip-flopped between a rainbow or a simpler color scheme, which explains the multicolored trim for the shirtfront shirring. The gold sequin bowtie was a very timely arrival at Fabric Planet, and my friend Maria Fomich made the nuclear reflector pin for Burning Man.

I love how the cummerbund turned out! It’s a fuchsia sequin chain applique and matching rhinestones on ruched gold lycra. There was an incredible amount of engineering involved in that. I had to negotiate the shortest possible zipper length, because I didn’t want the belt split completely  but I still needed to take the suit off easily. I tried to make the design dynamic but not distracting from the rest of the costume. Another goal was that I hoped the carefully placed decoration would hide some slight belly bulge, and I’m very satisfied with that.

In addition to looking fabulous, this bodysuit is also very comfortable. Originally I cut out the torso a bit too short, and so I had a definite camel toe that was mentally and physically uncomfortable. A diamond-shaped insert at the crotch took care of the tightness, and now I’m right as rain with full range of motion.

pink epaullettes gold tophat The epaulets weren’t part of my design but they were too perfect to pass up. I painted the brass circles with some magenta acrylic paint and added a dab of glitter nail polish and they fit right in.

The gold top hat was made out of cardboard to go with the costume, because I simply couldn’t go out without a top hat! Now all I need is a cane. That lights up and shoots lazers.

gold tophat

Yep, then I’ll be all set!


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DISCO JUMPSUIT

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And I thought it was hard keeping last year’s birthday gift a secret! It was quite a challenge to make this jumpsuit for my boyfriend Jason. We live together and he works from home, so pretty much the only way I was able to get this done in secrecy was by skipping our Sunday game of ultimate frisbee for a month.

Disco Mechanic Elton John ain't got nothing on my man oh the drama

I’d talked about making Jason a fabulous jumpsuit for about a year, and I felt pretty bad that I hadn’t done it in time for Burning Man 2010. The design for this jumpsuit is a cross between 70s gear and mechanics’ coveralls, since throughout the night on the playa Jason has to do some tweaks and repairs on the Sensatron, our art car.

atomic love name tag

I used two similar silver fabrics for the body of the suit–one based on black, the other on white. I ran out of the white silver and wound up using a lame from Joann’s (Lincoln Fabrics had the exact fabric, but I thought $12/yard was too much). Although Jason’s pretty warm-blooded, I lined the suit with some peacock-blue jersey for comfort. Of course all the fabric (except the lame) is from Fabric Planet.

bling! It was a fabulous accident It was a fabulous accident

Since this was to be a surprise, I did the sizing based off of a jumpsuit he already owned (that is way too big for him) paired with pants and a dress shirt, both of which do fit him well. I have trouble sewing for him sometimes because he is so much bigger than I am, but when he put this on for the first time at his party it was perfect! I didn’t need to make any alterations at all, which is pretty rad!

It’s got snaps up the front, which of course is fun to rip open, and snaps on the cuffs. The two chest pockets are embellished with his name and an atomic symbol. I thought about using a nuclear sign, which he uses more often himself, but in this case atomic just felt right.

Speed of light! I make him look good

Fabulous man that he is, he wore his suit when we saw Tron opening weekend at the El Capitan in Hollywood (VIP tickets and a laser show!). We all had a great time and he got lots of positive feedback from everyone.

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