How to do a ballet bun revisted

For new visitors, here is a revisit of how to do a ballet bun.

I am often asked how to do a ballet bun. So that is what we are going to do today! This is us getting ready for ballet this morning. The twists are totally optional - I just like them and thought I'd throw them in there as they are cool just to wear with a pony too.So you start with the T- part, down the centre and across the head. Then you take the back bit of the hair and put it in a nice tight pony. Then take one of the front parts brush it back nice and smooth and then start twisting in towards the centre of the head - once you get to the pony you secure it in with a second elastic.
You repeat with the other side so that by the end you have a pony with three elastics. This is a great do just on its own.

Then we start with the bun. if you are a little light on in the hair department, it is a good idea to tease the hair a bit to give you some more volume. Start by twisting the hair around loosely - how tight your twist is will depend on how much hair you have and your personal preference. I just do a very light twist to keep everything in place. Wind the pony around the elastic, keeping it nice and loose for as many times as you need to and when you get to the end, pin the bun in place with a hair pin.

Now you will need a hair net - bun nets work best as opposed to full hair nets when you are starting out. Place the bun net over the hair and then start pinning.

These open hair pins as opposed to bobby pins are the only pin worth using in a bun. These above are the kind of hair pins you need but they they are a bit squished together, you can see the one in my hand below it is much wider apart. I'll try and take a better picture. The trick is to lean the pin in towards the bun, so that you sort of have it making a V-shape with the head. The bottom of the V would be where the two prongs of the pin sit at the edge of the bun. Stick it in and then pull it so that it is back parallel to the head and push it into the bun. This is how you really get security for your bun. Use as many pins as you feel you need to make it secure.And then look at that, you are all finished!.

Add some bows, flowers or if you never know whento stop like me..both! and your ballerina is all ready!

This and That

I was chatting to a friend a couple of years ago who was on the verge of moving to Sydney. I had first met her some 7 years earlier when she had moved back to Melbourne from somewhere overseas - can't remember where now. I was expressing dismay that she was moving and she said something to the effect of "mmm you know I find we like to change around every 7 years - move somewhere new or a new job or something - just to mix things up a bit." A bit like the 7 year itch I suppose. It struck a chord with me that statement and I have thought about it often ever since. In part I think I have always been a bit the same but had never verbalized it so succinctly. I don't think I am so rhythmical as to make a change each 7 years but changes of direction have definitely been part of my adult life. There was my Uni/ballet teaching phase, Germany/France phase, a short foray into headhunting and then my Germany /PhD phase which lasted on and off for many years and then came my stay at home bow making/sewing phase. I am proud to say that regardless of the phase, whether I was teaching little girls to do the splits or being a party girl/student or working as an au pair or being a dusty academic or being an ebay boutique custom girl I have always thrown myelf into my lifestyle with alacrity and passion. But every now and again towards the end of each of these phases I get a feeling, a feeling that it is time to move on. Some of these moments I can remember quite clearly. In Paris I remember sitting on the fence of L'ecole militaire on dusk on my way home to my little bedsit thinking that as nice as this way, it was time to go home.


Others creep up on me bit by bit. And so it was with sewing. Last year while sitting at my machine appliquing round some tiny eye of some tiny creature I felt it again. I began thinking of options but couldn't settle on one, plus there was all that fabric, all that ribbon, all those machines! Time ticked by and more tiny eyes were appliqued until early this year when everthing began to fall into place. Homeschooling! A new life and a new direction for all of us. The reasons we decided to homeschool are many and varied and to be honest they don't matter all that much anymore - it was a decision we made and it is the right decision for us. Still, I didn't feel quite ready to let the sewing go and thought we could maybe combine the two but it just wasn't to be. I just couldn't throw myelf into my new life whilst still holding on to the old one. So for now all that fabric will just have to wait a while and my machines can have a little rest (except for Hettie's clothes and the kids costumes!).
I took a bit of time off my online activities whilst we settled in but I would like to get back into it all again now - to catch up with my old friends and make some new ones too. Over the past months we've been busy in our homeschool, reading and writing and experimenting and we've been super busy dancing. Here are some pictures of Hettie from the most recent round of competitions. She took one first, two seconds, two thirds and one HM.

Song and Dance

Jazz

Demi Character

Song and Dance


Classical

Jazz

Tap

Neo Classical

Miss Suzanne's pin curl bun and birthdays.

Pin curls, the essence of 1940's glamour and not suprisingly given the era, a popular choice for Tap dancing hairstyles - bet you can't guess where we've been the past few weeks - dancing comps. I've always admired the pin curl bun when little swarovski laden girls pass by me in the dancing world, and though I have always theoretically understood how it works, it wasn't until I observed Miss Suzanne (who really is much more of a hair guru than I) whipping up a little pin curl bun that I finally plucked up the courage to try it out. And guess what it really is quite easy, just like everyone always told me - now I feel a bit of a pin curl whiz, I might branch out into some more advanced pin curling techniques. The pin curl bun is just the cutest little updo, pop a hairnet over it and you've got a fab dancing style or a marvelous flower girl hairstyle and just a touch of fancy for the everyday. You start with a high pony - this particlar pony could have been even a tad higher - I always struggle to get curly tops' hair up when its been flying free.


Anyway once you've got your pony, take a small section of hair - you can experiment with how much you use depending on the length of hair - Hettie's hair is quite long now and this amount made nice big fat curls. Lots of little ones would also look fab.


Get yourself a bobby pin ready (I used these fab new pink ones I picked up so you could see them, but ordinarily you'd use ones that blend with the hair.

Wrap the hair around your finger until you have a nice curl.


Now here is the slightly tricky part. You need to pin the curl to the head. You can either remove your finger before or after you put the pin in. I find it easier to put the pin in whilst my finger is still in there - when you first slide the pin it it might feel like it won't go but just give it a good push you will have a nicely secured curl. Try not to wrap the hair too tightly around your finger or you will have trouble getting it out again.



Continue sectioning the hair and pinning it down - if you divide your hair effectively you should end up with curls spalyed out right round the pony in a bun.


Now doesn't that look nice!


You can decorate with bows or flower or little sparkly pins.


It looks nice too if you curl only part of the hair and leave the rest hanging down like this.


Plus as an added bonus, if you do it wet and leave the curls in over night or even for the day, you'll end up with big bouncy curls when you take them out - cool hey! Thanks Miss Suzanne!

Which brings me to the second part of the post - birthdays. Yesterday was Hettie's birthday! SIX! A big highlight of our day was opening the very big box of AG Girl dolls clothes which my friend Robin of Tallulahsophie made especially for Hettie - I cannot begin to tell you how beautiful they all are - Hettie, myself AND my mum had SO much fun! I can' t wait to share them all with you but for the time being here is a photo of Hettie wearing her requested Doggie suit cuddling Molly in some of HER new threads!