Bessie Has Been Launched!

The Bessie Skirt - "Kathleen Crowley for FatChanceBellyDance®" - is now exclusively available online through the FatChanceBellyDance®  website! Regular and Petite sizes are available with a handy size chart to compare your measurements to! GET IT HERE!

I have been living in this skirt. It is easy to do just that. Its my go-to skirt for many occasions - or to simply go to the grocery store. You can wear it so many ways! I love being able to wear it with my torso covered and be able to wear it rolled down as well. When I was up in Seattle last weekend, for Cues And Tattoos and to visit my family, I just hiked this baby up in quite a few interesting ways to keep if off the wet ground. I didn't design it specifically for dancers, but as you can see, dancers are kind of my life - so you will usually see my work on dancers. But they look awesome on everyone - so go visit the website and get one of your very own! If you don't see your size, contact them and we will see what we can do for you - one size does not fit all and we understand that! And who knows.........maybe you will be inspired to get into belly dance!

 

Carolena Nericcio - Bohlman, founder and director of FatChanceBellyDance® has written a wonderful post on body image and the story of how this Bessie Skirt came to be. Read It Here!! I could not have written it better.

Other colors and variations of this skirt will be available soon - we started with black because black is what we all can wear - but other colors are coming! So stay tuned as we work our magick and bring you more elegant, fun, and wearable styles of clothing that you will surely love and wear for a long time!!!
Models in order of appearance:
Wendy Allen
Anita Lalwani
Kae Montgomery

Awesome Photography:
Sean Vallely (BlueFortySeven)

Pattern Whores Of The World, Unite!

This recent Fluffie Rufflie Pattern Pre-Sale was hugely successful and Ive got reams of these patterns being printed up again! My next step is to actually go and do more homework to package and print them up in a more professional way. I really should say that I would like them to look a certain way, and they do not look that way yet. But they are perfect for what you need them to do at this point in time. And I must put my nose to the grindstone and  learn that whole PDF file pattern thing. I don't want to mess with it for larger garments, but for smaller things like hats, vests, corsets.............that learning curve I can handle for now.

I will admit that I had qualms at first about selling my patterns because I'm kind of a control freak about my work and these Fluffie Rufflies were my babies. But the fact is that unless you have garments made in some kind of quantity and at a price-point that is "affordable", you are going to have to make the same garment over and over again as long as the market wants it - if you are DIY like me. You will burn out. And I want people to be sewing and making things. So this makes me feel good about selling patterns. I WANT to continue to be making things that I like to make, and I WANT you all to do the same thing! Pattern Whores of the world Unite!

This is Laurie Lulu Martin wearing a pair of the Fluffie Rufflie Pantaloons that she made from my pattern. You can make them as long or as short as you prefer. You can make them in any fabrics that work for you. You can wear them to dance in or to travel in, as Laurie here is doing. They are romantic and comfortable and feminine. Adorable and functional. Win!

As soon as Ive got my pre-sale pattern orders all packed up and mailed out, I'll be listing both available styles on Etsy. See you there!!

Join Us at the 5 & Diamond Pre-Playa Loft Sale!!

I'll have a couple racks of Playa Wear at the 5&Diamond loft sale this year!! A bit of this and a bit of that - sequins, glitter, and cute, sexy stuff all geared toward adorning yourselves in comfort and style out there in the desert! Come by and say hi! Come get your Playa on!!

Channeling Rita

Sherri Wheatley channeled Rita Hayworth's Gilda for the Belly Fusion Las Angeles Cinema Classics Show a while back. Vintage cars, Shiny black costume, long black gloves, lights, cameras.........I think she succeeded in capturing Gilda's wild glamor quite well, as you can see.

We needed to convey Rita in her black evening gown and still have a belly dance costume that allowed Sherri to perform without worrying about costuming mishaps. (Because we all know how dangerous a strapless bra can be!)
I draped a little wrap skirt out of black stretch charmeous and then covered a bra that we already knew fit her well and would hold up. I made damned sure that nothing was going to allow for that bra slipping down! The show was a success - and so was "Rita"!

Embellishing

                             Sometimes there isn't anything more fun than watching a good movie and sewing buttons on pretty things.

Check out my Etsy store and see what lovely things I have listed for your perusal!

Stripes Glorious Stripes

 My Ivy pant design was described the other day as a capri pant with flowing petals - a "petal pusher" if you will. And I keep thinking that this is what I should be calling them. This run of Petal Pushers has two bias flounces - one of striped jersey knit. Ive got two left - a Small and a Medium.

So come get em! I more than likely wont have that stripe again!

Etsy Shop Here!

Tribal Fest 2013 - Halfway To Halloween

 "Halfway To Halloween" was this this year's Tribal Fest theme which wasn't difficult to dress for  as I kind of live in that state of mind anyway! So I just wore a lot of black - my new long black skirt design, to be exact. And I didnt have to think about it anymore. We'll discuss that new skirt later on. (What a lifesaver it has been!)

But here are some photos to recap the event and to give you the feel of what its like to be there at my booth - once again shared with Medina Maitreya! It was a great success for us both this year. I felt more love and support than ever and I'm so glad I was able to hang in there while we all suffered through this economic crunch over the last few years! Could it be easing  up? It sure feels that way!

 I'm not being allowed to edit like I want to right now - not sure if its Blogger or my computer - but if you want to be credited for photos, let me know and I'll go back in soon and see whats going wrong!!
Just wanted to share my fun week! Its always crazy and always the chill out spot - as you can see!