Ballerinas on a bag

#a month of moments
14. Pretty

I have a confession to make. I used to be a ballet mum. In fact, I'm really only a recently retired ballet mum with the boy still taking jazz classes till the middle of 2012 when he could no longer fit it in with school, a part-time job and serious martial arts training. Ballet is one of those activities which lend itself to pretty creative accessories. I've blogged before about my ballet related knitting (See: The Ballet Years). But I can sew and embroider too when I put my mind to it. So here is a pretty appliqued ballet bag I made for my eldest daughter.

In the good old days when I didn't work full time, I spent 6 months as a member of of church based craft group which met on Thursday mornings. My Mum's neighbor invited me along. You could just do your own thing and socialize over coffee and craft or they would organize a couple of different group projects. Whilst I was there we made patchwork and applique bags. This is basically a cylindrical duffle bag with a drawstring closure. It has five pockets around the outside, each with an appliqued picture and patchwork trim. It is fully lined with cream homespun and has a padded base. The material for the body of the bag is spotty tie dyed quilting cotton. My friend lent me the basic pattern and I think she made one with golliwogs and rag dolls on it.

I had the patterns for the appliques having bought a kit for them them previously at a craft show. I just had a hunt in my sewing box to see who they are by and the pattern says copyright 1995 by Checks Design Originals PO Box 486 Millicent 5280. I can't find a web address for them though so they may no longer be in business.

Close up of the casing

Here are more detailed shots of the the five appliqued designs on the pockets. A ballerina in full tutu mode.

Here's where my eldest daughter's influence comes in. This is supposed to be her in class mode. She was the only junior ballerina who wouldn't wear a pink leotard except when she had to for exams. I had the only black clad baby ballerina.

A pink spotty tutu and ballet shoes on a coat hanger.

The red shoes. (Both an iconic ballet and a classic movie).

An extremely curly haired ballerina with a fairy wand complete with heart charm. All of these are hand appliqued with really fine buttonhole stitch edging done with two strands of embroidery thread. I did use fusible webbing on these though. I'm really proud of how this turned out.

Here it is hanging on the coat rack or rather, bag tree in the girl's room.

The Ballet Years

One of the many job titles I have been proud to wear over the years is that of Ballet Mum. (No; stop right there. I know what you are thinking – but I said ballet mum, not stage mum. Ballet mums are nice people who support their child’s desire to dance, make their costumes and take them to every rehearsal and eisteddfod. They don’t however let the dream of a famous child consume their life and are known to actually put their foot down when the ballet bill resembles the national budget of a small third world country and say enough – no more classes. They don’t get banned from eisteddfods for disputing the adjudicators’ decisions).  

It has always somewhat bemused me that my eldest daughter has been such a passionate classical ballet dancer from the time she started dancing at four years of age until went she went to university and couldn’t continue. My mother reminds me that she took me for one ballet lesson when I was a child. At the end of the class, the teacher quietly took her aside and told her not to waste her money (and quite possibly the ballet teacher’s time). Clearly my childrens' dance ability does not genetically depend on their mother.

Little budding ballerinas need ballet clothes. Ballet mums who are stay-at-home mums need to do this as cheaply as possible. (Have you seen the price of leotards and ballet shoes?) Hence I’ve knitted a number of ballet wrap jackets and leg warmers over the years. This was always partly driven by the fact that I had the only little tiny tot ballerina who refused to wear pink. (Who has their goth phase at five years old? It was minus the bad makeup though). 

Little ballerinas need their good luck charms and mascots too, to stick in the ballet bag for exam day and to take backstage at eisteddfods and concerts and to sit on the bed at night. So, I’ve also knitted a number of special ballet related toys too. This blog post is about two of these in particular.

The first is a little ballerina dolly. I don’t know if she ever got a name. The doll was based on a design by Jean Occleshaw in the June 2000 edition of Handmade magazine. Whilst the basic doll is made following this pattern, the decoration and finishing touches are quite different. The inspiration came from the second tutu I ever made which for various reasons was affectionately known as ‘the wedding dress tutu’.

The basic doll is knitted in a 5 ply machine wash on 2 ¼ mm knitting needles. Some modifications were made to the basic pattern with the removal of the neck ruff and the addition of lace appliqué on the neck of the tutu. I also modified the ballet ribbons on the ballet shoes. No self-respecting ballerina would ever tie a bow in their ribbons! The ends are tucked in and no knots are allowed to show. I also made a scale model tiara from copper wire and crystal and pearl beads.

The wedding dress tutu

Close up of lace and beading and tiara

The second is ballerina teddy. I have actually made two ballerina teddies, one for my daughter and one for her jazz teacher for Christmas. The pattern is taken from Teddy Bears: Twenty-five irresistible designs for knitted bears by Debbie Bliss.

The teddy is made from 8 ply bouclé wool. It is knitted on 2 ¾ mm knitting needles. The wrap jacket is made from 8 ply variegated yarn. The skirt is made from chiffon. The ballet shoes are knitted from a 8 ply baby nylon.

The ballerina teddy pictured in the book

Who could resist such a cute face? I prefer to use teddy eyes rather than embroidery.

Real ballet ribbons

This is the butterfly tutu. Here are the teddies at an eisteddfod.