Category: General

Categories
General

Getting a Grip – Rubber Tipped Pliers

Rubber Tipped Pliers from Fons Y Porter
Rubber Tipped Pliers from Fons & Porter - available from JoAnn's
Rubber Tipped Pliers from Fons Y Porter
Rubber Tipped Pliers from Fons & Porter - available from JoAnn's

Getting a Grip – Rubber Tipped Pliers

Do you do beading?  Have you tried to sew through the many layers of a stiff built or a heavily padded bra, only to have your needle get stuck somewhere on it’s slide from one side to the other?   Even if you push really hard with your thimble, sometimes it’s nearly impossible to get a grip to pull on the other side.  What do I do?   I use a pair of rubber tipped pliers!

How do they work?  You can use pliers to grip even a short length of needle tip.  The rubber gives you adequate grip to really pull the needle through, and since you’re using your entire hand to grip the pliers, it’s more comfortable too.

The pair I own comes from Fons & Porter and I picked it up in the quilting section of the JoAnn’s near my home, but you can find other brands from different outlets. I use them in conjunction with a metal thimble – for maximum push – and bees wax to condition and smooth the thread.

Rubber tipped pliers allow me to stitch through more complex beading.  One of the ongoing projects I’m working on is adding appliques to an already beaded bra.  This would have been an impossible sewing job if not for these pliers.

Check them out on the JoAnn’s website here.

Categories
Belly Dance General Publications

Costumer’s Notes October Newsletter – Sent!

Belly Dance Costumes to Color
Free to subscribers through November 30.
Belly Dance Costumes to Color
Free to subscribers of Costumer's Notes Monthly Newsletter - Sign up through November 30.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who helped me with getting my Costumer’s Notes Monthly Newsletter into production.  Today it went out, with a coupon link to download a free coloring book!   We will be sending out this newsletter throughout the entire month of November.  If you haven’t signed up for Costumer’s Notes, all you have to do is put your email in the box at the top of  the right column.

Once a week, throughout the month of November, we will send out the October edition of Costumer’s Notes with the link.  On November 30, the coloring book will then be available for sale for as a downloadable .pdf for $2.95.

Thank you to the team that helped put this book into production.

  • Kristina Reinholds,  graphic designer
  • Jerry Case, technical support, design and layout
  • Michael Hyde, editor
  • Jamie Hanrahan, editor
  • Joe Engledow, editor
  • Zemira/Alisha Westerfeld, creative consultant and model
  • Setareh, muse and model
  • Lulu, model

Without this team of talented and supportive individuals, neither this Belly Dance Costumes to Color Book or the Costumer’s Notes Newsletter would be here, and so much fun!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart ~ You’re all the best at what you do, and I’m so happy and proud to be working with each and everyone of you!

And thank you to my readers too!  I hope you enjoy the coloring book!

~ 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
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

Categories
General

Cairo Trend Report by Princess Farhana

Princess Farhana of Hollywood
Princess Farhana of Hollywood

Hello Gang,

I love to read everything that Princess Farhana of Hollywood writes.  She’s witty, has a point of view and is willing to share it.  She’s also a FANTASTIC performer and I highly recommend her!   (As you can tell, there is absolutely total bias going on here – but I have nothing to gain from the sales of her videos or your hiring her to be a workshop leader at your next event!)  She’s a total pro in every sense of the word.

Today she published an excellent post to her blog on Cairo Costuming Trends. Not only does she address the stylistic elements that are most current, but, she also does a house-by-house run down of the current fashion leaders in belly dance costume design. This is a must-read article for belly dance costume designers and dancers who want to be on the leading edge of fashion!    Until I can get to Cairo myself, I’m going to live vicariously through articles like these.  Enjoy!

~ Dawn

Cairo Costume Trends by Princess Farhana on her Blog

Princess Farhana website

Follow The Princess on Face Book (That’s what I do!)