Viva Las Vegas!

Vegas is one of those places you either love or hate and we love it!  My husband even collects used Las Vegas casino dice and playing cards and has built up quite a collection in his man cave.  Each to their own.

Last year, whilst I was lurking in a local fabric store, I found some Las Vegas print fabric featuring the iconic "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign as well as various hotel neon signs.  I had to buy it for him and decided I could make him a pair of curtains for his man cave.

Fast forward a year and the fabric was still sitting in my fabric stash.  I never seemed to have the time to actually make the planned curtains, there was always too much other sewing to be done or just other things in life generally.  It eventually dawned on me that I was avoiding making them as I wasn't actually sure how to make a pair of lined curtains.   I had never made any, in fact I had only ever made one pair of curtains before and they weren't lined.

Having finally realised why I was putting off making the curtains, I decided to look on the internet for instructions on how to make them.  Not sure why I didn't think of that earlier, as when I did a search there was plenty of instructions.

The first site I tried was We're In Stitches which gave really good detailed instructions on how to measure your windows, pattern match your fabric and eventually sew your curtains.  I quickly realised that I couldn't actually be bothered to read all of the instructions, sometimes it is just easier to watch someone show you.

My next stop was You Tube. I found a fantastic video by movingcurtains.com which gave really good, step by step instructions from start to finish.  To be honest, I don't know what I was worrying about really, it made perfect sense when I knew how.   (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrg5vI6m0Ug)

Having decided that I was far to lazy to hand stitch the hems of the curtains, I also found a really good You Tube video showing my how to blind hem with my Brother sewing machine.  It worked perfectly and took minutes to do.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yq73-gRUko)

The curtains took my four hours to cut out and stitch in the end, plus the year of thinking about it!  I am really pleased with the result ...

Behind The Costumes

In recent years the fashion for bling has grown considerably with everything from mobile phones to trainers being customised with diamantés. One of the founding fathers of bling though has to be the late entertainer, Liberace, who was world famous for not only his vocal and piano playing skills but also his flamboyant stage costumes.

The release of the biopic film "Behind the Candelabra", starring Michael Douglas as Liberace, has certainly brought Liberace back into the limelight.  If you are in Las Vegas soon, don't miss the free exhibition of some of Liberace's costumes, his diamanté covered grand piano and car, at The Cosmopolitan Hotel.

Having seen this car (you really can't miss it!) prominently displayed at the entrance to The Cosmpolitan's casino, I wandered into the exhibition of costumes. Once you are over the shock of so much bling in one place, you can't help but be amazed at the amount of work which went into each suit, not to mention the full length capes.

Thousands of beads and crystals were appliqued all over the costumes in intricate designs, making some suits alone weigh about 80lb.  Capes could add a further 40lb in weight.  Looking at the mannequins displaying the costumes, you soon realise that Liberace was not overly tall and also a relatively slight build.  In order to counter balance the weight of the costumes he was wearing, Liberace had extra lead in his shoes.

A museum of Liberace's costumes and personal effects was open to the public in Las Vegas for 31 year but sadly closed a couple of years ago.  There are plans to hopefully reopen the museum in the downtown area in 2014 though.  In the meantime, you can view the Cosmpolitan exhibition from 3pm to 10pm daily.