I design and make ready to wear stretch classical tutus and tiaras. I also sell patterns and instructions so you can make your own stretch tutus. I am based in Central Victoria, Australia.

Contact me at danilegge@me.com



Saturday, January 22, 2011

First tutus for 2011

I seem to have had a run lately on tutus for 10 year olds...or tutus that fit size 10 girls. I have just finished two and have a couple more on the go. I am also making a tutu for a girl in Canada, my first international tutu!! and am nearly finished a spectacular Firebird.

This tutu is for Ellah, who chose the colour and design herself. She was very easy to work with as she knew what she wanted and made decisions quickly. She hasn't picked it up yet, so I hope she is as pleased with it as I am.


This one is for Nichola, I painted and dyed the lace on the skirt as I couldn't find anything to match this lovely royal blue velvet.

I also made this headdress to match

More photos to follow soon.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Another tutu blog

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
One of my sewing forum friends in England had just set up a blog. She makes beautiful tutus and has put lots of photos 0n the blog, well worth a look for anyone who loves tutus.The link is with all the others under "Alison's tutu and dance costumes", but here is the address as well
www.alisonstutus.blogspot.com

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry Christmas!!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and all best wishes for the New Year.
I already have a couple of orders for next year, so will hopefully have some new photos to post soon. I spent hours yesterday trying to dye white lace royal blue for an order. Dylon dye used to work beautifully on nylon lace, but since they have changed from round tins to packets, it doesn't seem to work as well. In addition to that, the lace I am using around the edge of the top net layer has silver flowers woven into it, which I know from bitter experience go non-silver if the dye gets too hot. I now have 10 metres of royal blue lace with non-silver flowers and 10 metres of paler blue lace WITH silver flowers....obviously didn't learn well enough from my mistakes the last time I dyed lace like this!!

Here is a picture of a new traditional tutu I made recently, I dyed the top layers of net to give the shaded effect, then also added a couple of short scalloped layers of royal blue as well to give more depth to the colour. Gold lace is white lace spray-painted gold.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Pictures of tutus made by my students!


I had just finished writing my previous post about hoping for some photos of finished tutus, when I got an email from Patti in Canada with these photos attached. The blue tutu was made by Patti and the black and purple one by Julie. We didn"t have time in Las Vegas to get onto decorating, so this is what they did after they got home. Patti has added to the interest of hers by painting some of the net to blend it in more with the leotard colour.

I think they both look fantastic! Beautiful photos too.

Patti is getting a website organised for her costume business near Toronto, so I will post the address here as soon as it is up and running.

Las Vegas!

I had an absolutely wonderful time in Las Vegas, met some lovely people and learned heaps. We worked really hard, in the seminar room by 8am and usually there until 8pm.

This is our sewing room at the Suncoast Hotel.

I had eight students for my stretch tutu class, from all over America, two from Canada and one from England. All of them ended up with a tutu at the end of the day and a half, although it was touch and go for some (yes I mean you Patti)! This tutu was made in my class by Tami and is being modelled by one of the lovely local ballet students who let us dress them up. And that is Suzanne! I am hoping to get some photos of the tutus made in my class once they are decorated so I can post them here.

Then onto the serious stuff with Suzanne generously sharing her knowledge of traditional tutu making with us. This beautiful tutu was made by Mary in Suzanne's class.

We managed a trip down to the strip to look at a couple of the bigger casinos,

this is INSIDE the Venetian!! and on the Saturday evening went to see the spectacular Cirque du Soleil show "O" followed by a backstage tour. Travis Halsey from the Joffrey Ballet costume department spent a day with us and let us play with air brushes and pattern making and tried to get us to think outside the box. He brought three of his fabulous tutus to show us, all rolled up and squashed into a tiny box! I think we were all totally horrified but his work is absolutely incredible.

Finally we finished with a day in a theatre seeing how lighting and distance affect colour and design. Suzanne also arranged for two professional dancers to talk with us about what they like and dislike about tutus, from the perspective of the wearer and her partner. All in all a fabulous course