Grammy's 2012 "Long Live Whitney Houston. Long Live Amy Winehouse"

2012 Grammy Awards Preshow: "Long Live Whitney Houston. Long Live Amy Winehouse"

Sun., Feb. 12, 2012 4:33 PM PST by Joal Ryan

Richard Young/Startraks Photo; Fred Perry

Whitney Houston was remembered. Amy Winehouse was honored. And upsets were possibly brewing.

Five take-aways from the Grammys before the Grammys, the nontelevised preshow:

MORE: 10 things to watch for on tonight's prime-time show

2012 Grammys: LL Cool J Play

2012 Grammys: Foster the People Play

Gladys Knight Remembers Whitney Houston Play

1. Jennifer Hudson Is Going to Have a Tough Act to Follow: And we don't just mean Houston, to whom she'll pay tribute to in song during the prime-time show. We mean it'll be tough to top the late Winehouse's parents.

Mitch and Janis Winehouse, who accepted the Grammy on behalf of their daughter for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, an honor shared with Tony Bennett, were touching and very, very sweet.

"We shouldn't be here," Mitch Winehouse said. "But these are the cards we're dealt."

Offered Janis Winehouse, a true ringer for her daughter: "Amy will go on longer than we will, and that is our blessing."

If that weren't enough, Mitch Winehouse might have had the line of the night, summing up some of the music world's recent losses: "Long live Amy Winehouse. Long live Amy Winehouse. Long live Etta James. There's a beautiful girl group up there in Heaven."

Noted R&B producer Jimmy Jam, a presenter, might've had the best perspective on the night: "Every time someone passes away, you gather your family together…This is our family tonight, and you know we're going to do it the best anybody can do it."

2. The Nicki Minaj Upset Could Be Nigh: Upstart electronica artist Skrillex, up for Best New Artist, won three preshow Grammys. He's so new to the game—last year, he was living in a downtown Los Angeles warehouse space, and not a spiffy one, to hear him talk about it—he attended the nontelevised event, and personally picked up all of his trophies: "This is really crazy, man."

3. Betty White Is Only One Career Grammy Behind the Rolling Stones: This, after the most golden of girls schooled Tina Fey and more to earn her first career Grammy, winning for Best Spoken World Album. Like a true Grammy vet (unlike, you know, Mr. Skrillex), White didn't show at the preshow. Big time!

4. Dave Grohl Is Cool: You probably already knew that, but he outdid himself by going where only Skrillex would go: to the preshow. The Foo Fighters won big, scoring three trophies, including one for Best Rock Song ("Walk"). Grohl said he remembered country star Vince Gill once urging artists to attend the preshow at the Los Angeles Convention Center because "they're just as important as the other show over there" at the adjacent Staples Center—"and I completely agree."

By the by, if you believe in upsets, you could read the Foo Fighters' early success tonight as a sign the band's going to upend Adele for Best Album.

5. Taylor Swift Is Just as Cool as Dave Grohl: The country queen was about the only other A-list act to park herself at the Convention Center. For her trouble, she won two Grammys for "Mean." "This is incredible," she gushed, sounding just as surprised as the year she dominated the show. "Wow!"

Red Carpet Grammys 2012

Jessie J

Alicia Keys & Swizz Beatz

Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton

"We can let music heal us, and we can celebrate Whitney through music. This is the one night of the year that's all about just music, of all genres. And everybody here has been affected by Whitney."
—Miranda Lambert

Rihanna

LL Cool J

Kelly Osbourne

Nicki Minaj with "the pope"

Julianne Hough

Giuliana Rancic

Wiz Khalifa & Amber Rose

Katy Perry

Carrie Underwood

Bruno Mars

Adele

Sophie Grace

Fergie

Paris Hilton

Kelly Rowland

Towel cover up DIY tutorial

It was incredibly easy to make!

Materials (this is for a 3T/4T size, but can be worn a little longer):
1 yard terry fabric
1 spool 1.5″ ribbon
20″ of 1″ elastic
3.5″ velcro
fabric scraps
coordinating thread

First, take the terry cloth and cut it in half width-wise, making it 23″ by 36″.

Square up the sides, but don’t cut the bottom where the fabric is finished. This will be the bottom of your cover-up.

Serge around the 3 unfinished sides. If you don’t have a serger and don’t want to zigzag to finished the edges, skip this step.

Starting on the sides, fold over 1/2″ and pin. Sew using matching thread. (if you skipped the serging step, fold over twice to enclose your raw edge)

Then fold the top edge down 3″ and sew along the edge. (if you skipped the serging step, fold under 1/4″ and sew, then fold down 3″).

Then come up 1 1/8″ from the seam you just made and sew another one, creating a casing for your elastic.

Pin and sew the ribbon down, making sure to sew on either side of the casing you just made.

Make sure to leave at least 1 inch extra on both sides.

Then take your 20″ of elastic and thread it through the casing, leaving a little sticking out on each side.

Sew 1/4″ from the edge of the cover-up to secure the elastic in place.

I used matching thread in my bobbin so the seam didn’t stick out so much.

Then cut the elastic off even with the edge,

fold the ribbon over twice,

and sew in place.

This is what your cover-up will look like so far.

Then make your straps. I cut 2 pieces of fabric 3.5″ wide by 10″ long.

Fold each end up .5″ and iron.

Fold right sides together and sew down the length of the strap.

Use a safety pin to turn the straps right side out and iron flat, with the seam at the side.

To determine where to place your straps, it’s easiest to use the person you’re making the cover-up for. I used Sofie to get them approximate, then evened them out. If you don’t have someone to try it on, you’ll have to make a judgement call. Start by deciding how far you want the front piece to overlap and mark it with a pin. Then come in equal amounts from each side and place the straps. It was about 2″ for me, leaving approximately 4.5″ between the straps.

Open the cover-up up and pin the straps in place about 1/2″ down. Sew them down, using thread the color of your cover up, 1/4″ from the top edge.

Then sew an applique or other decoration to the bottom. For information on how I do applique, please visit my tutorial.

To finish the cover-up, cut a piece of velcro 3.5″ long.

Sew the rough half of the velcro on top of the ribbon on the part of the cover-up that’s inside. I sew around it several times to make sure it’s on good.

Then sew the soft side inside the outer flap of the cover-up. That way when they’re taking it off, if the velcro hits precious skin, it won’t scratch it.