Author: Davina

Davina ~ Dawn Devine is a belly dance costume designer, dance instructor and author of more than a dozen publications on Middle Eastern dance.

Categories
General

5 Things I love from Daiso Japan

I love a good deal, and one place I go for belly dance essentials is Daiso Japan.  These cute little budget stores are filled with all the kinds of household goods you would expect at a dollar store. Almost all of the items on their shelves are from Japan and so it transcends the typical discount store vibe and feels more like a cultural import store.  Items start at $1.50 unless otherwise marked. It can be a little overwhelming at first, so let me tell you what I regularly buy!

Microfiber Towels

One of the ways to improve the efficiency of your makeup cleanup routine is to swap out traditional wash clothes for microfiber towels. There is some magic in the quality of the fiber that really picks up the makeup.  My trick is to use oil, my preference is for grapeseed oil, warm water, and a microfiber towel.  It saves time and money.  It’s also better for the environment than using disposable makeup wipes and cotton, and because it’s so efficient at cleaning your skin, you’ll use less water too!   I take these towels and cut them in half and finish the edges, so this pack of two is transformed into four.

 

Zip-top Laundry Bags

I have a fairly good-sized collection of costume pieces made from modern assiut.  I machine launder my robes and shawls on a gentle cycle, warm water, and protected in a zip-top lingerie or delicates bag.  My all-time favorite products is this mesh bag from Daiso.  At only $1.50 each, I buy one for each of my assiut pieces and I use it for storing the assiut between performances, and it’s easy to find when it’s time to do the laundry.

Packing Cubes

When I’m packing for performance, I like to keep my case organized using packing cubes.  This is the perfect size for me to keep an assiut robe and two shawls.  I purchased this one to replace a broken bag.  Although the brown and white polka dots is not my favorite pattern ever, for a mere $1.50, I don’t mind.

Small Bags for Zills and Jewelry

Although I didn’t buy this one today, Daiso sells some very well made and sturdy drawstring bags for keeping small items like zills and jewelry contained and protected in your gig bag.  Small bags are the kind of thing that I think to myself, “Oh, I could make that.”  But for a mere $1.50, and with lovely heavyweight fabrics and colors, I really couldn’t make it for that price.

False Eyelashes

Daiso Japan has one of the most remarkable, and affordable selections of false eyelashes.  This is a great place to experiment with different sizes and shapes on a budget.  At $1.50 for a package of three, you can get a pair for about .50 a pair!  I have quite a large back-stock of lashes at the moment so while I was tempted on this shopping trip, I decided to take a pass.  This time!

Shopping Discount Stores

Next time you are shopping at your local discount store, keep an eye out for great deals on the kinds of support items that make it cheaper and easier to live the belly dancer life!

Happy Shopping,
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
May 16, 2018

PS: True Confession, I also love to shop their stationery department for cute stickers, flags, pens and more.

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance General

Weekend Dance Roundup – Bean Scene & Bras for the Cause

Hello Gang!  I thought I would take a moment to share a pair of events I participated in over the weekend.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to perform at a local dance show on Friday night and to join a belly dance cheer team on Saturday evening.  Here are some of the highlights of these events.

Friday Night: The Bean Scene

One of my favorite local events is hosted by the group and takes place at The Bean Scene in Sunnyvale, Ca.  They host several shows throughout the year, inviting local dancers to sign-up and perform.  The coffee is delicious, there is no cover charge, and we always have such a great time hanging out and enjoying an evening of dance.

Along with a line up of talented local pros, teachers, and students, I was delighted to find out that we had two touring celebrities joining us!  The beautiful Rosa Noreen of Portland, Me and Sophia Ravenna of Seattle, Wa.  I caught a few video clips of these fantastic performances and shared them on Instagram.

Rosa Noreen

Aryn

Sophia Ravenna

Davina

I choose to wear burgundy assiut and swing a cane.  You can catch my performance over on YouTube.

Saturday Evening: Pleasanton “Bra’s for the Cause”

On Saturday evening, I joined my co-authors Sara Shrapnell and Alisha Westerfeld to cheer on the walkers for “Bras for the Cause.”  This 5k walk supports breast cancer research.  Each year, Sara Shrapnell gathers together a group of dancers to form a cheer team.  We were at the 1-mile marker, dancing and entertaining the walkers. The participants came in some amazing costumes, whimsical embellished bras, and stopped to take photos, dance, and grab a chocolate kiss or two.

Community fundraisers are always so fun to do!  I look forward to participating in this one and many more in the future!  Here we are striking a pose at the end of the event.  Once all the participants have walked past, and the sweeper limo went by, we headed off to have an author “power meeting” over hot chocolate. All-in-all this was a fun event!

There were many folks in great costumes, but most of my photos were quite blurry.  Here’s the “Bra King” posing with Zemira.  Because he was there taking photos, we got a chance to pose with him before the walkers reached our location.  If you are interested in joining Sara for some of these fun community events, visit her website and signup for her mailing list to get notifications about her future events.

Now I’ve got to go and do some belly dance laundry and give these assiut robes a good wash.
I hope you have a great first week of May!

Happy Costuming and Dance
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
April 30, 2018.

 

 

Categories
Assiut/Assuit General

Who’s That Girl in Assiut? Dagny Servaes

I recently spotted German actress Dagny Servaes wearing an assiut robe in her role as Theonis during act six of the movie 1922 film “The Loves of the Pharaoh.”  The full movie “Das Weib des Pharao” is available in the original German on YouTube. Here is a clip from the film at the 1:20 min mark, just before Theonis appears wearing her assiut ensemble.

Dagny’s costume is composed of two assiut pieces, a robe, and a shawl. Although it is difficult to see the base garment, she is wearing an assiut robe cut in the style of a 1920’s wedding dress of Upper Egypt.  Over the top of this robe, Theonis wears a glimmering assiut shawl.  Although this is a very short scene, I was able to grab a few images.

The film was artistical tinted in different shades to intensify the mood.  So these screen grabs look entirely different.  Because of the nature of taking screen grabs from vintage movies, some of these images are quite blurry.  In the image below, you can get a glimpse of the large central diamond motif on the front of her robe.

This film was released in different versions in Russia, Italy, and the US. Each country received a version of the film cut to suit the taste of their viewers.I really enjoy hunting down beautiful vintage assiut costumes in silent films. Want to read more of the “Who’s That Girl?” series?  Check out the links below.

Happy Costuming!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
April 26, 2018

A few other blog posts in this series

Lyda Borelli Vilma Banky Terpsichore Yvonne Gall

 

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance

Make Your Own Belly Dance Bras – Must Read Blogs & Vlogs!

Today I ran across a fabulous bra-making tutorial on the Assiut Group on Facebook.  I really enjoyed her tutorial, and I thought it would be great to make a list of a few other of my favorite bra tutorials from around the web.  If you are looking to create a masterpiece from Assiut, or if you are more sparkle and glam, there are many different styles to choose from in this collection.

Brick House Designs – Assiut Bra Resize

When I saw this blog post shared on the Facebook assiut group, I immediately went over to take a look!  Not only is this tribal bra full of crusty coin and chain goodness, it has some beautiful assiut base cloth.  Her mission was to take a larger cup size down to a smaller size is a fairly common alteration in my studio, and it’s nice to see how another designer tackles the project.

Jo has a great eye, not only for the design of this costume piece but also for the step-by-step photos that she shares in this post.  I particularly love that Jo has chosen to share how she’s pieced the design together from fountain motifs.  She really maximized the number of silver embroidery stitches would show beneath the rows of coins.  Be sure to watch her video on a portable device to get the full effect!

Jo, many thanks for the shout-out for my book too!  That made my day!

Joanna Dyndor – Tribal Belly Dance Bra out of Recycled Materials

Are you making a tribal fusion style of bra using recycled, upcycled, and repurposed materials?  Then this is a vlog for you!  This lovely costume piece is by Joanna Dyndor.  Her video follows her process of using a heavily embroidered ribbon scrap, a handful of beads, ruched fabric, and repurposed chain.  The result is a lovely performance bra in shades of brown, tan, and cream.

Hanaan Tribal – Tribal Bra Tutorial

This blog post steps through the process of taking making a halter style top with tie back. This assiut bra elegantly uses a basic silver-dotted fabric accentuated with coins and gilets.

One of the common problems for dancers looking for new costumes is the lack of options at larger bra sizes.  If you are a dancer who can’t find bras for bigger curvier women, this is a great example of how a lingerie bra can be transformed for more zaftig physiques.

Shushanna Designs – How to Cover a Bra

This illustrated costuming tutorial walks the reader through how to cover a basic belly dance bra using Shushanna’s technique.  Virtually every lingerie style bra needs to be covered before it’s embellished and this method really works.  If you learn best from step-by-step illustrations this blog is not to be missed!

Sparkly  Belly – Ultimate Bra Tutorial

Mao has created a great free resource for dancers interested in creating their own glam-style belly dance costume bras.  There are many more free and paid tutorials, demos and classes available on her site.  So if you are more sequins and stones, rather than coins and chain, than this website is a great resource.

Studio Davina – Bra Tutorials

Of course, over time I’ve put up a few bra demos/tutorials as well.  Here are a few featured here in past blog posts:

Student Grade Belly Dance Bra – Need a cheap and cheerful costume for a student performance?  Need the costume fast and affordable?  This is the style of bra I teach in classes for students who need a “one-shot” bra suitable for performance with a minimum investment.  The key?  Start with a lingerie bra the color you want and simply embellish the cups!  Read more details.

Designing a Lavender Bedlah Ensemble – Although this four-part tutorial is for a bra and belt set, the bulk of the images and directions are about the bra. There are a lot

I constructed this bedlah set using more hard-style professional techniques for the bra and belt.  This is a very different approach from the student grade costume in the post above.  It’s nice to have some different approaches to reach for that accommodate different budgets and timelines. Read more details.

Three Day Assiut Challenge – When I was working on the build for the book “The Cloth of Egypt” I made this costume for a last minute show.  I wanted to promote my upcoming book, and yet, I didn’t have an assiut costume that fit!  So I took my sewing kit with me on the trip and made the costume in the days leading up to the show.  While this wasn’t my first assiut bra, it was the first made for the book!  Read more details.

Embellished Bras – The book

Of course, If you want to read the book that accompanies my basic bra building class, it’s available on both Amazon and on Etsy (if you want a signed copy)

If you already own a copy of my Embellished Bras book, thank you very much for supporting my business!  But I really believe in the motto, “There’s more than ONE way to do it the RIGHT way!”  It’s always nice to explore the internet looking for new tips, tools, and techniques.  I’m always open to learning new methods, especially if they save time and/or money!

If you find any wonderful resources, be sure to let me know.  The best way to share costuming information is either by joining me in the Studio Davina Facebook group, or you can drop me a line via email – davina@davina.us.

Happy Costuming!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
April 16, 2018

 

 

Categories
Costuming DIY General

New supplies list page

Various Pins stored in recycled mint tins.

2018 is turning out to be a big busy year!  We’re three months into the year, with only eight more to go. Every three months, I take a little extra time to go over my notes for few months. Now, at the start of the second quarter of the year, I’m pausing to conduct my quarterly review.

As I move through my business life, I make sure to write down all the comments, critiques, and requests when I’m reading my email, meeting with clients and professional associates. In late January, I asked a bunch of friends and fans across social media, about what they would like to know. I received numerous ideas, suggestions, questions, and advice.  I have spent the last three weeks evaluating this information.

Supplies List

One of the most often asked questions I receive starts like this, “What do you use to  _____?”  From special tools and supplies to essential notions and accessories, it seems that folks want to know what I’m using in my studio today.

Rather than spend the next six months writing a slew different blogs, I thought I would be nice to conduct a studio inventory of my tools and supplies and consolidate it into one master list.

New Master Supplies List

Pinterest

Of course, there’s a lot of information gathered on my Pinterest Boards.  I enjoy collecting ideas, inspirations, and information from around the web.  If you are interested in links to even more tools, materials, and supplies I use in my business, check out some of these

Sewing and Fashion Design Board

Sewing Studio Organization Ideas

Assiut Pinterest Board

Facebook Group

If you would like to join the conversation, I’ve created a group board for costumers to share their projects, ask questions, and support each other as we explore our creativity in the world of design.  This is the place to find me and hundreds of other makers to chat at.

Studio Davina Facebook Group

I hope that your year is going well!  What are you making during the next quarter?  Come join our group and tell us about your upcoming designs.

Happy Costuming!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
April 9, 2018