Belly Dance Costumes

Warning! This post is photo heavy!

June began with our 3rd Annual Student Showcase. So much work to get it ready, and I ended up making three costumes. The ladies looked amazing. I looked haggard! LOL Here are the 3 together.


Breaking the costumes down, from left to right: Michelle, CJ, and Terri. Michelle's costume was easier than the other two because she used a purchased pair of pants and top as the base, and I created the oversleeve and overskirt and belt.

This is not a brilliant photo, but it's an action shot from the event taken on the night. I don't have many photos from the event, only video, so I'm very grateful to have this one.


Michelle has a broken elbow, so the sleeve was created to soften the effect of the crooked bend in her arm and hide the scars she will have from surgery. It is created from a crystal-beaded tulle. I used a microsuede to create the midriff line, sewed the tulle into the front fold so that there is only microsuede against her skin, and beaded the edging. I created an overskirt from the same fabric, and then beaded a belt to cover the elastic of the overskirt. The cuff is beaded, sequinned, and crystalled. Of course, I don't have a photo of that! ...rolls eyes...


Here is a photo I took while I was working out the design of the sleeve. The intention was that it fit directly below the strap of the top, whereas in effect, it hung down, as you can see from the photo above. In the future, I plan to correct this somehow. The problem I have is that the sleeve needs to be interchangeable with whichever outfit she's wearing, so adding clips or hooks or some such will not work. Now that the rush of the event is over, I have time to work on it.  


The fabric is blinged out to the max, but doesn't show in photos. This photo is the closest I could get to the uber shiny it has in real life!


Moving on to CJ's costume: she is wearing a bra and panties of her own. Everything else I made. The harem pants took only 4 hours to create - but an entire week to add the crystals. Every single butterfly on that fabric is decorated with crystals.


Unfortunately, they don't show up very well in the photos and the entire finished effect wasn't as blinged as the other ladies, so I had to add an overskirt for a bit of extra oomph!


Once again, the skirt is not showing up very well in the photos. It is glitter tulle and it is sparkly all over. And left a glitter trail I'm still cleaning up! The skirt is attached to a belt onto which I added more crystals and some flowers.


The top was created in a jersey knit from my stash and then adjusted to fit CJ's impressive real estate. I had to add 4" to that top! Then I sewed on satin flowers, sequinned butterflies, and glued on more crystals.


She looked great at the event and was very happy.

Lastly, Terri's outfit. Now hers looks the simplest, was the shiniest, and was the biggest headache of all! I started with a purchased bra, cut off the straps, covered it with fabric and added beaded edges that I carried over the shoulder into crossover straps. No... the beaded strip was not the strap. Hiding underneath that beaded trim is petersham ribbon in two colors, so that it is invisible beneath the beading. I may be crazy, but I ain't stupid! 😉


The right hand side is knit crepe, which was so shiny, it needed no further embellishment. But the blue definitely needed dressing up! The addition of two rows of tassels  made it such fun, and an old earring provided the perfect centerpiece. Terri added chain drapes for the event.


Those pants though! A similar pattern to CJ's, although these have a side slit, should have only taken 4 hours to make. My mistake, however, was using vintage lamé for the fabric. Turns out this "fabric" is genuine metal! And it shreds to nothing when it's punctured, like with a sewing needle. I found out afterwards that you don't sew this stuff - you glue it! It gave me the absolute heebie jeebies and, while it looked fabulous for the event, it ended up shredded so badly, it was a one-time-only affair. Now I have to make her a new pair of harem pants! Grrrr...


To end, here's an action shot of the entire troupe on the night. We had a wonderful time and all my bloodied fingers and frustrated hair pulls were totally worth it! 😃



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