Tag Archives: mardi gras

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MASKED BURNERS

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I don’t want to drown this blog with pictures of my Burning Man gag masks, but here are some of my favorites.

sequin zipper gag mask, made by Julianne

Burning Man is held in a desert, which is prone to dust storms, so proper face covering can greatly improve your comfort (just because you can’t see further than 30 feet doesn’t mean you don’t want to party).

neon zipper gag mask, made by Julianne

And even when the air is clear, these masks are great for freaking out the other Burners on the dance floor.

I use recycled fabrics for the bases, and pick the elastic, zipper, and threads to suit my mood. The straps are adjustable bra straps, so each mask is pretty comfortable.

zebra zipper gag mask, made by Julianne

They are all up in my Etsy shop now! [the green one sold out already!]

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GOLD BUSTIER

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I spent a wonderful two days in New Orleans at the beginning of June. It was a very spontaneous trip, and I can’t believe how much fun and visiting I crammed in!

gold bustier before

Even though I haven’t lived there since 2009, I still call everyone on Wilson Drive my neighbors. The lady across the street is Sharon, and I kind of consider her to be a fairy godmother (Robin next door is also a fairy godmother–how lucky to have TWO on the same street!). She’s been in her house for over 20 years, and it’s filled with beautiful rainbows and sparkles. Plus the second-story porch can’t be beat for monitoring the street or catching a cool bayou breeze.

I got lots of wonderful goodies from my 90-minute stay at Sharon’s, one of them being this gold bustier. I don’t know if she ever really used it; it was conspicuously free of Mardi Gras beads or crystals. So I decided to remedy.

gold bustier

gold bustier gold bustier

It was a little too big, and I decided the easiest way to adjust the size would be to insert a zipper in the center back, taking the bustier in about 3″ at the same time. Under the pretense of testing out the fabric glue from then-work,* I decorated the shit out of the top. Beaded applique, hot-pink sequins, rainbow metallic trim, and glass rhinestones are all firmly attached using Magnatac, which I can confidently recommend at this point.

gold bustier detail gold bustier detail

I also added a cotton jersey lining, which should make the top much more comfortable to wear. At the same time, I sewed on the navy faux-suede fringe and elastic binding at the top. Those white tabs are my lazy-ass strap loops. They don’t really keep the straps on, and I’m not a strapless kind of gal, so I’ll probably just sew the gold straps on permanently.

gold bustier lining

Now I have a fabulous flashy bustier that is “generic” enough to go with any leggings, and I think Sharon would approve. Perfect for Mardi Gras, Burning Man, or grocery shopping!

Also, I really thought all these photos were in focus! I’m obviously still working out the kinks of my living room/photo studio, and how to take decent pictures of myself since Jason is away at work all day.

*Careful readers will observe that I am correctly using an asterisk to mention that I don’t work at Fabric Planet anymore. I probably won’t go into the details of how that happened, or maybe I will someday. Let’s just say that I think it was wrong but I don’t want to work under those conditions anyway.

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