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
Costuming DIY

Thimbles

Davina repairing vintage assiut using a milliner's needle and a jelly thimble.

Jelly Thimbles

Hello my friends in costuming and dance,

I’ve recently taught a private workshop on making bras, when I got a unique question.  When I was demonstrating a finishing technique that involved hand sewing, a woman in the class asked, “Where did you get that weird thimble?”   I had to pause for a moment while I contemplated my finger, my thimble and where I got it.  I told her in a quilt shop somewhere, I don’t remember which one, and I passed it around for the other ladies to feel.

Davina repairing vintage assiut using a milliner's needle and a jelly thimble.

What made this thimble so unique?  It’s made from the same material that jelly shoes are made from.  It has the ability to really snug the tip of the finger. It doesn’t fly off and is soft.  You still need to get used to using a thimble, but for experienced thimble wearers, you will find a jelly thimble offers more comfort and security as you sew.  They come in two styles, a cupped version, which makes it easy to catch the needle and domed version, that I like when I’m doing beading and pushing with the side of my finger.

I got my jelly thimble at a quilting store.  (Quilting stores always have the best and most unique sewing tools and notions!)  But if you hunt around on line you can find them.  The brand of the ones I have are from the company Dill-Buttons.  If you know your size in millimeters, you can use a quick web-search to find out who’s currently stocking them.  If you don’t know your size, I recommend finding a local quilting specialty store and going in and trying them out!

Jelly Thimbles – What a wonderful invention!

Happy Costuming,
~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

An assortment of thimbles from my collection.

 

Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY

Assiut – Vintage Photos

Hello my friends in costuming and dance.

I just wanted to take a moment and share my latest find with you.  As many of you know, I adore working with assiut and have been doing a ton of research on the history of this luscious cloth.  As I have combed through dozens of books on the history of textiles in Egypt, I have found scant few references or citations to this mysterious fabric.  As it turns out, in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century, tulle bi telli, what we call assiut, was primarily sold to European and American travelers as tourist art. Hot on the trail of assiut, I’ve begun pouring over period novels, tour books, traveler diaries and journals.  Hoping to find references to the way this cloth was made, bought, sold or worn.

On this quest, I’ve begun looking at other forms of tourist art as well, including the ubiquitous picture post card.  While there were socially appropriate scenes of camels, pyramids, temples and tombs, there were also a great deal of naughty “French Post Card” style images available.   I recently found these two images for sale on the web and snapped them up.   Dating to the first quarter of the 20th century, these photos capture the pattern and drape of the classic assiut shawl.  While I would prefer to have images of women entirely dressed, I’m happy to add these two lovely young ladies to my growing collection of assiut-clad beauties.  Unfortunately the date and location of these photos along with the names of the models and photographers are unknown, lost in the mists of time.

And now, back to work on the trail of the history of assiut.  I’ll be back with updates as I uncover more information!  ~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

Categories
General Publications

Costumer’s Notes – Spring ’09

Costumer's Notes, Spring 2009 Print Edition

Costumer’s Notes – Spring ’09  – Print Edition in .pdf format

 

Costumer’s Notes, Spring 2009 Print Edition

Back in the spring of ’09, right before Rakkasah West, I revisited the notion of publishing a printed ‘zine again.  I was transitioning from the old eZine format of Costumer’s Notes into a blog.  I was excited about the prospect of having something new in print, I started working on a compilation of older previously published articles. In less than a month, I hammered enough material together to create the first print edition of the Costumer’s Notes magazine since we went onto the web in the late ’90’s.

 Many of the magazines I wrote for between ’97 and ’05 have gone out of print.  Wiggle Hips, Belly Dancer Magazine, Habibi and Cymbal are now gone. So I blew the cobwebs off of a few of my favorites pieces and put them together into this print edition. Although there are more than a few typos, and some awkward page layout issues, I had a blast revisiting my old articles as I worked on this project.  In under a month, I went from concept to product.

Once I was “done enough” I printed out a pile of this edition.  You may know that one of my favorite mottos  is  “done is good”  which really means I’m always two typos away from perfection. But I was happy to have this project done and I took copies of it to a bunch of dance events before I eventually ran out and it too went out of print.  But now, here on my blog, I’m delighted to bring it back to share with you in digital form.

What’s next? My vision for future editions of Costumer’s Notes magazine is to create a far more lush, colorful and beautiful digital magazine. With this goal in mind, I’m working on all new content. Although at this time, I have no idea how long it will take to bring this magazine to life, I’ll let you know when it’s ready so you can check it out too.  In the meantime, enjoy this blast from the past.

Costumer’s Notes Spring 2009 – Print Edition in .pdf

Categories
Belly Dance Design Jewelry

The origins of a jewelry designer

First Byzantium Collection Necklace - Cat's Eye by Davina

The Origins of a Jewelry Designer

The Byzantium Collection

As many of you have realized, 2011 marks a year of intensive change for me and my company.  I moved into a new studio (just to find out that the building is slated for demolition and my time here is limited) and discovered all kinds of treasures.  As I start purging the UFO’s (Un-Finished Objects) and sift through raw materials in preparation for using them or letting them go, I’m finding all sorts of lovely things that had gotten buried.

In one corner of the workroom is a pile of boxes full of beads and jewelry making supplies.  I have already sent many of these supplies out into the world in the form of raw materials to fellow jewelry artists, finished pieces for my patrons, and even a few gifts to myself.  As I’ve been working through a rather epic pile of tribal jewelry components, I found the very first piece of jewelry I designed and made myself.

I hired my good friend and jewelry mentor Laura Thompson of Beadzilla Jewelry to come and host a “ladies lunch & tea with jewelry” at my home.  There were five of us around a table, crafting away, and I made this necklace from a handful of beads and a piece of kuchi jewelry I adored.  Needless to say, I was instantly HOOKED on jewelry making and sucked up as much knowledge from Madame Beadzilla as I could.  Before I knew it, I was making and selling jewelry as a creative side-line to my costumes.  As time passed, I realized that jewelry making is fun, but it’s just one facet of my life as a designer.   Now, I make jewelry when called upon to do so.  I also make a few pieces and take them to art shows now and again.  But the truth is, I’d rather be making a head-to-toe costume than just focusing on the neck.  The Byzantium Collection is now created on a piece-by-piece custom for each client, sometimes even including a coordinating necklace.  But I’ll always treasure this very first piece.

It’s fun to sometimes peek into the past and see the personal relics and marvel at how things got started.  I’ve had a ton of fun as a jewelry artist.  Be sure to try your hand at jewelry design at some point!  Take a class, buy a book, or just get some materials to experiment with.  It’s fun, relatively easy, and you never know where you it will end up.   Enjoy!  ~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

Categories
Costuming DIY General

Costuming Pattern Lines

Davina's Belly Dance'O'Rama Display, inside the Simply Stylish booth, Cairo Carnival 2005
Davina's Belly Dance'O'Rama Display, inside the Simply Stylish booth, Cairo Carnival '05

Hello Gang,

I’ve been working on a an article and pouring through old photos.  In my world, photos can represent a moment in time or serve as documentation for a  project. Today, however, while looking for something very specific, I surfed past this photo on my harddrive. It made me think back to the days when I was an active vendor, attending shows, festivals and events up and down the West Coast.

Madame X - Adjustable Beladi Dress Pattern - 9803

To augment my book collection, I carried several different pattern lines for DIY costumers looking for actual patterns.  While my books give directions on how to make patterns from your measurements or drape a custom garment to your body, many costumers simply want to pull out a pattern and use it.

Tempest - Tempest's Corset Belt Pattern

With this in mind, I began carrying patterns to help my customers out. This includes patterns from belly dance costume designers Madame X and Tempest along with a select group of designs from the Caravan Collection by Folkwear. I even developed a great pattern for opera length gloves and other arm accessories that  I could print out on my old beast of a printer, Gloves and Gauntlets.

Why did I choose these patterns?  Well, honestly, I have personally, and successfully, used each of the patterns I sell. Bottom line, I sell them because I like them and they work.

Folkwear Patterns - Tribal Belly Dancer - 144

Although I’ve scaled back my business and I’ve retired from vending at shows, I still travel to teach both dance technique and costume design. I have taken my retail business online and you can buy my books here (by clicking on any of my book covers to the right) while other items like patterns and one-of-a-kind costume pieces are available over on my eBay store, Davina’s Bellydance-O-Rama.

I still have that old book rack and it’s ready any time I want to bust it out and hit a belly dance show!   Perhaps when all my books have been transformed to their new binding, I’ll hit the road again.  In the meantime, I’m going to keep sewing and writing.

Happy Costuming ~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina