Category: Costuming DIY

Articles about designing, making and renovating costumes for fun and dance.

Belly Dance Costuming Supply Sources

Post author By Davina
Post date November 28, 2013

It’s Thanksgiving day 2013, and I find myself feeling thankful for living in a land of abundance. So today, I’m sharing my favorite online resources, the ones that I am most thankful for and go back to again and again. Each of these suppliers was instrumental in supplying materials for multiple projects in my upcoming book, Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut. Happy Thanksgiving!

Velvet and Velvet Ribbon
Jo-Ann’s has great sales – so when they are rocking an amazing sale, I stock up on velvet ribbon. I love the contrast of texture between the matte cotton of the assiut and the depth and richness of the velvet pile. www.joann.com

Silk Dupioni
Practically the largest selection of colors. This company is local to me, so going over to their store is always a delightful selection. This is also a great source for white silk in a variety of weights in color and white ready to dye. www.thaisilks.com

Spandex Fabric
Make a comfortable, but stretchy dress to wear with your assiut bedlah – like the gorgeous dress designed by Poppy Maya and worn by international dance instructor, Sara Sharpnell. One of the biggest offerings of spandex are available via the internet from Spandex World. spandexworld.com

Rhinestones
Rhinestone Guy has a huge selection and fast service! If you work with rhinestones a lot, be sure to order one of their rhinestone sample cards so you can select the best colors and shapes for your products from the comfort of your home. www.rhinestoneguy.com

Rings
Interested in those sexy x-back tribal style bra closures? Here’s my favorite source for O-rings in four different finishes. Fast and accurate delivery. www.pursesupplydepot.com

Unusual Bra Sizes
If I have a customer who requires an unusual size, this is where I go. Their website allows you to conduct searches by size, saving time. Sign up for their mailing list – some of their sales are excellent. www.barenecessities.com

Tribal Bra Components
I love coins, chains, and all sorts of lovely tribal jewelry components. I find myself going back to Paul at Tribal Bazaar over and over again. This is my go-to source for coins, filets, kuchi jewelry, and more. www.tribalbazaar.com

(PS – special thanks to model Sara Sharpnell and costume designer Poppy Maya for this photo. Photograph by Alisha Westerfeld)

Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY General Publications

Assiut Workshop presented by Dance Essence

Post author By Davina
Post date September 15, 2013

Dawn Devine ~ Devine Presents
All About Assiut
Sunday, October 20, 2013 – 2:30pm
Season’s Dance Studio – Sunnyvale, CA
$15 in advance / $20 at the door
$45 Day of Dance – 3 Workshops & Festival Halloween Show
Dia De Las Dances

I’ve been invited to present my research in a presentation with slides and a show-and-tell on Sunday, October 20th! If you are interested in enjoying a multi-media presentation of my research on the history, origin, construction and use of assiut. There will be samples of vintage, antique and modern assiut, products, projects, costumes and clothes to look at and enjoy. Join us at Season’s Dance Studio in Sunnyvale! Pre-order and get my workshop for only $15 dollars – OR – spend $45 and get a full day of dance! Three workshops and a festive Halloween dance show!

http://www.danceessence.org/fundraisers/october2013/

Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY General

Headdress: Show and Tell

Post author By Davina
Post date August 28, 2013

About 10 years ago, I collaborated with a Bay Area belly dancer Celena, The Killer Ziller on a Hahbi’ru style costume. She was a long-time co-conspirator with John Compton, the artistic director and beating heart of the troupe, and Celena needed an appropriate costume for appearing with Hahbi’ru. This amazing headdress is built on a balsa wood box, wrapped in quilt batting. Then I covered it with blue fabric and an assortment of modern and vintage assiut. I finished off this edifice with a large kuchi choker and an assortment of pressed coins. It looks fantastic in performance as the three flaps on the back fly up during sharp, quick turns.

Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY

Turquoise and Blue Assiut in Full Color

Post author By Davina
Post date July 26, 2013

One of the projects for the book, Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut, was a lovely turquoise and blue bra for the illustrious dancer Princess Farhana of Hollywood. While I was vending at Cairo Caravan in June, I worked on this project. Here are some quickie phone snapshots of me working on this amazing bra! The final finished project will be featured on the back cover of the book. Princess Farhana will receive this lovely costume piece at Carnival of Stars in August!

Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY Design General

Belly Dance Belt Tutorial

Post author By Davina
Post date March 8, 2013

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of working on a dance costume for one of my models, Shalimar, for an upcoming performance in Las Angeles. We were under a deadline, and I had to crank out the outfit soup-to-nuts in 2 days. Since I’ve been working on the step-by-step construction portion of my upcoming book, The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut, I thought this would be a great opportunity to quickly test drive some of my ideas for the photography in the book.

Using my trusty cell phone and the power of Instagram, I very quickly documented the progress. The result was a series of step-by-steps that really work – but the photos are not quite up to publishing quality. However, rather than wasting them, I decided to hammer together this quick tutorial on my belt making method. This is sized for 8.5″ by 11″ so you can print it out if you like. Wanna see the final costume? You can scroll down and watch the video of Shalimar in her “test drive” performance on Wed before the big show on Friday night. We’ll be doing formal photography of this baby in a couple of weeks, and I’m looking forward to spotlighting this ensemble in my upcoming book!