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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
