This is a recolor of the black and white Houndstooth dress, the one I've been advertising on my front page in that poll. I wanted to do a dress with buttons because through wonderful coincidence I met a lady who makes 3mm buttons called Crystaletts made from real gold and crystal! This is, of course, perfect for what I'm doing, and I'm pleased to show you all how made-for-me these buttons are! They blend seamlessly with the bead dresses and are the correct scale.

Normally I wouldn't share my supplies but Sharon has become a good friend and I would love for you all to support her business. www.etsy.com/shop/YadasiBeads

Since this was a recolor of a pattern I did before there wasn't a whole lot of discovery or learning of new techniques involved here. I was using the leftover white beads from the black-and-white houndstooth as well as the wedding dress, since they used the same type of shiny white beads. I bought three more tubes of that color expecting to run out and have the need to replace them. Well, I ran out of white beads at the very end of my skirt, just a couple rows before the final one. I grabbed the new tubes only to be really disappointed... they're the right color, sure, but they were ever-so-slightly transparent, and it was extremely visible against the other solid beads that these were not from the same dye lot. I finished the trim with the gold beads, which thankfully turned out beautifully.

The heels were the ones I had been working so hard to do for the boots, I can tell you that making just the heels without the boot part of it is a million times easier!! They're made from hand-cut brass and white size 15 glass seed beads. I washed the brass to remove all my cut markings so they're very shiny and reflect the gold color from the dress. I believe the shoes to be 1:12 scale because they are half the size of the Barbie shoes (1:6 scale) but I really can't be 100% sure on this as I've never had an official pair of 1:12 scale shoes.

Her belt is made from a vintage necklace that Mom handed me. She said she's 95% sure it's Monet from the 60's or 70's, using real crystal and plate-gold or gold-colored chain. In response to her gift I cut it apart and used it for this belt.
I'm just kidding. She gave it to me so I could use it instead of it just sitting in a drawer all the time.
I have eight more crystals from it and lots of gold chain. The crystals are held in their little circles so they're see-through. In this case I just needed it to match the Crystaletts which it also does perfectly. There's three crystals on the belt with this, the front and sides, with none on the back. Mom said I should've made the side crystals closer to the front but then everything was unbalanced and lumpy. Also, I never want to do this again just because working with this chain was painful and sooooo irritating. I had to slice those little gold links apart and then shove them back together and then make sure it was tight enough to the dress to not look ridiculous. I had to remove links several times to make it tight enough but still have enough give to act like a real belt. I didn't include the belt time with the final count just because it was so ridiculous and really due to the links being so small and the tools so huge in comparison. Yes, I will do chain belts in the future, but I can't say I'll be incredibly happy about it!

Uses glass seed beads in size 11 and size 15, silver-lined gold and solid pearly white. Sewn together with white Japanese One G nylon. Hand-cut brass soles for the shoes and gold-filled (or colored) chain with crystals for the belt. Real gold and crystal Crystallets for the buttons.