Firework

Tink's AER routine is to Katy Perry's Firework - which is a welcome change at comps from all the Captain Planet and Til We Meet Again routines (Step 4 & 6 routines are preset ones).  With that in mind, when I happened across an extremely glittered blue velvet at Spotlight awhile ago, I had to buy some, especially as we knew Tink was going to Nationals at that point.
So of course, Evil Gym Mom just had to make her a special "I'm representing AKL at Nats" leo:

She really is Tinkerbelle in that leotard: it sprinkles fairy dust everywhere it goes...

Purple Zebras

Well, I call it purple zebra.... it is purple, but it's not really a zebra stripe:

Couldn't resist the fabric so much that this got made ahead of another, more important, leo that's cut out already.  And I'm wishing I'd bought more of this fabric... maybe in the pink colourway, too.

Tiger Tiger take 3

When I first spotted the tiger lycra, I happened to end up buying over a metre of it.  Haven't ever seen it again - the joys of shopping at Spotlight... anyhoo, so I'm making the most of it (pun intended) with tiger leotard #3 finished:

I'm still experimenting, this time with binding the neck and armholes, rather than elastic and topstitching.  This technique will require some more practice - just as well I have plenty of lycra stash!

Brag warning!

This weekend is the Xtreme Rhythmix Champs - the last comp before Nationals, one last chance to get routines on the floor and get the kinks out, so to speak.
Jess went out there today, all determination, to do a good comp for the last time that she was representing TriStar.
You see, her beloved coach - Teegan - is moving on to further her medical studies, so the club is stopping their competitive RG programme above Level 2 (meaning we're off to a new club next term).  At Nationals, the girls are representing Auckland.
She and Teegan have been working on Jess' routines to nail her difficulties and up her artistry as Jess' scores have been sitting on the mid-14s all season, trailing well down the field.
Well, I saw lots of improvement over two weeks ago at Shore (even with two routines finishing late for a big deduction) - and the judges agreed:

Rope - 14.6
Ball - 16.6 (3rd)
Clubs - 15.2
Third overall, with her total 3 whole marks up on all her season's scores.
Apologies for the fuzzy focus - my phone rang just as they were calling up the podium and this was the only photo I got, one handed!  But that is one very happy gymnast.

Go Jess, you rocked!!

Meanwhile, the stash beckons...

How bright can a leotard be, yet not have any crystals, glitter or sequins?
This bright:

It's too big for Jess, and not to her taste... so it's available for sale.  But the point of the exercise was achieved:  I learned some more things about laying out and constructing leos - that's got to be good.

To bling or not to bling...

That is the question.

The blue velvet leo has a lovely sheen in person and in photos.  But on the floor, it looks a bit dead:

So I'm thinking a spray of sequins down the front, plus on the back, and along all the silver trim, and maybe some rhinestones on the flesh sleeve, or maybe blue sequins there...  your thoughts?

Singing the blues

Jess is on her third ball leo for this season.  THIRD?! you say?  Yup, third.
Her original ball for the season was a very pretty glitter hot pink that she loved.  Loved too much it seems, as it developed patches with no glitter.
So we bought another ball - which was waay more used than we (or the person selling it) realised, meaning it had no grippy surface left on it at all.
Then we borrowed a ball (thank you, Clemmie), a sparkly gold one that I made the wet look black leo for.  Unfortunately, the ball was only able to be on loan for the one comp so back to the drawing board we went.  Fortunately, at that one comp we were able to purchase a beautiful swirly blue ball (thank you Bev & Olivia), for which I made this silver with blue leo:

Jess loves this leo, but it only lasted 5 minutes on the practice floor at Sth Is Champs as the direction I'd cut the fabric to have the silver hologrpahic run vertically didn't work on the butt (which needed the stretch to be horizontal).  Still, it was worth making it for the opportunity to play with shaping the hemline - something I'd been wanting to have a go at for ages but was too scared to do.
So, after a long consultation with one of my fellow gym moms who is very fashionable re the best colours for Jess and another rummage in the stash, we got:

Jess loves this one too - and the butt copes with competitions just fine (I learned my lesson and the butt is in plain matching lycra with even stretch on both grains).  I'm thinking of adding more silver sequins - what do you think?
Gotta love velvet for its sheen... and Picasa for the photo effects, lol!