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!
It was a great weekend of workshops and performances at Bedouin Bazaar in San Diego. I was pleased to debut my brand-new assiut bra and skirt ensemble. It was gratifying to receive some great complements on my tossed together look. Especially the bra. Thanks everyone!
Once the skirt is finished, it will hang about two inches lower than it did for this performance, but the 20 safety pins that held the skirt panels to my pants stayed put and did not come undone. To protect the assiut, I used a black faux-pashmina shawl as a hip wrap under my simple kuchi belt. All in all, I was pleased with the results, thought I would like to craft a much more prominent belt and find a better solution than this body stocking for my tummy. Like most costumes, it’s a work in process. I’ll get those changes made – for next time!
Unfortunately, the day of the event, I realized that I had forgotten my tie-top! Oh no! I’m not thrilled about dancing bare-armed at this stage of my career and at my current level of body confidence, so I needed to quickly find a cover-up solution. I took a quick turn around the vendor’s tables, but couldn’t turn up a tie-top, choli or sleeves that would work.
I remembered a tribal costuming trick I learned back in the 90’s. A pair of little girl’s tights can be quickly cut, converting the legs into sleeves. I sent my booth assistant (actually it was my mum) to Target on a quest for girl’s tights. However, they had none in black, so instead, she picked up a pair of leggings. For quick down-and-dirty solution, it worked. The directions for transforming a little girl’s pair of stretch pants into sleeves, check out my next blog post.
I had a great time performing to live music by John Bliezikjian and the Bedouin Bazaar band. I adore John’s lush voice when singing slow romantic tunes and his silky, rich tones are inspiring to me for sensual veil and taxim pieces. Turquoise is my favorite color and I was pleased to dance with a lovely silk veil from Judeen’s booth (only $40 and lush, I love the way it moved.) to add a punch of color and flow.
Since I am currently working on my assiut research project, I was exceptionally pleased to spot Judeen wearing an amazing vintage assiut tunic. Naturally colored, and dating back at least 80 years, this costume was gorgeous. Densely patterned, the drape was amazing. Here’s a great shot of her in motion and a detail shot of the lush designs.
Well.. I didn’t quite get that bra done in 48 hours, but all hope is not lost. Today was the Saturday of Bedouin Bazaar and I had a bit of time between watching performances, catching up with old friends, and selling books, to do a bit of work. While the bra was mostly done, I had a few things that needed to be addressed. First, it needed something – anything – done to the center front to give it a bit of swing and flash. After I had laid out all of my jewelry, I found one of my jewelry pieces, a Jean Jingler, would work admirably for a decoration on this bra. If not permanently, than perhaps just for this weekend.
However, when I laid the piece out I noticed that there were not enough coins to reach all the way to the clasps. So, I had a bit of work to do. So while I was hanging out at the show, I cannibalized s bracelet and applied them to the selected Jean Jingler to fill in the gap.
Lather, rinse, repeat. I made a tailor’s loop on the other side as well and hooked the clasp. At that point, I started doing some cleaning up of the stitching, making the front angles a bit neater, cleaning up some of the loose edges. When I was “done enough” because, you know, this kind of finishing work can go on forever, I paused and held the bra up to me. The appearance of this bra caused a but of a fuss as the vendors around me oohed and ahhhed over the progress. Thanks to Jackson for snapping this picture of me.
Although I think it’s good enough for now, I’m interested in finishing up the edges around the center a bit better. I think some trim or another piece of assiut as an applique to cover the plain black triangle. This Jean Jingler looks pretty good. I think I’m going to leave it as is for tomorrow’s performance.
I was especially excited to see that I wasn’t the only person with assiut at the event. David of Scandinavia performed in a fantastic robe. He was in the middle of preparing for his piece and posing for pictures with some fans. I really love the diamond grid pattern with snow-flake like pattern down the back of his robe and the row of heart-enhanced camels in a band near the hem.
I hunted through the dealer’s offerings and found another assiut gem. But I’ll have photos of that later. For now, I’m going to hit the hay… Tomorrow, a live performance with John Bilezikjian!
Happy Costuming! Dawn Devine ~ Davina
ps – Oh yes, I know, my three day challenge turned into a four day event. But I really like the way this bra is turning out. I’ll follow up with finishing details when I get home and back to the studio. ~ D
At the end of day three of this assiut challenge, and what have I got done? Well, most of the bra and a pinned together skirt. Today, I spent quite a bit of time fiddling with the numerous darts. Usually, when I’m covering a bra, I use one or two darts. But in this case, I was attempting to divide the darts, spreading out excess fabric, so that under each strip is a mini dart. I started with the top three strips at the tops of each cup and adjusted and fiddled with each subsequent stripe, trying to make the right side match. Moving from one side to the other ensures that the stripes are as symmetrical as I can get them. I invested quite a bit of time positioning each stripe and dart, nearly three hours! And boy, did I used a LOT of those whimsical (yet dull) pins!
I always pin and look Pin and look. Pin and Look. At one point, I actually made sure all the little tips were buried and tried it on! When I was satisfied with the position of the stripes, I then and made sure that the darts were all carefully folded and tucked.
And then I sewed like mad!
Hours later, several cups of coffee and a lot of TV. (Yeah Project Runway, Chopped, and Engineering an Empire to name a few who kept me company while my head was down and my needle was up!)
Sadly, I did all this stitching in black thread, so it’s difficult to see the details, but here’s the best shot I could get.
And I’m done for day three. What’s left to do? First, I need to come up with a solution to make the center front of the bra beautiful and finished. In the photo above, you can see the thickness of the pleated fabric. I’m going to the show tomorrow, and I will search the dealer’s room tables for a piece of jewelry. Alternately, I can place a fabric applique over the exposed triangle of bra.
Tonight, I’m packing my sewing kit up, the scraps of assiut, my books, patterns and heading over to the show tomorrow morning. If you’re in San Diego, stop by Bedouin Bazaar, drop by my booth and say “HI,”
I’ll work on that center front panel tomorrow! ~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina
It’s day two, and boy, am I worried about not getting this all done! But you know, I only really need to get it “done enough” because my motto of the moment is “Done is GOOD!” Actually, that’s sort of the motto for my whole life. With the skirt taken care of, with two cuts and 20 safety pins, it’s time to tackle project two, the bra. There really is no way to fake this bra. I’m just going to have to put my nose to the grindstone and stitch like mad!
First, I grabbed out my black bra. This is an Exxtreme Cleavage bra from Frederick’s of Hollywood. (Find it here) I’ve been wearing this style of bra for quite some time and have made dozens of belly dance costumes from this make. Although it’s a bit pricy, it really does create a gorgeous plunging cleavage line.
I love this palm-tree motif with alternating short and tall palms. Before I started cutting, I played with the layout of these stripes on paper. Once I sketched out my possible designs, I wrote down my order of procedure, so I wouldn’t leave out any important steps. And in the spirit of full disclosure, here are my sketches. Thus proving, you don’t need to be a great artist to be a good costume designer.
Okay – So now that I determined that I am insane for picking the hardest design I could come up with for this piece of assiut, it’s time to start applying the fabric to the bra. I start by laying out one cup first, measuring the cloth to make sure that if I cut the cloth, I still have enough fabric to make the other side. Thankfully, I do!
JUST FOR THE RECORD – I HATE THESE PINS!!! I am traveling and some of my tools have gone missing. I ran out to the nearest pharmacy and got their only style of sewing pins. They remind me of Lucky Charms cereal. Blue Stars, Red Hearts, Yellow Butterflies. They are wimpy, dull, and are not coming home with me! I long for my lovely yellow-headed quilting pins and my sleek extra long silk pins. *sigh* Next week!
And now, it’s time to replicate this design on the other cup. Just a few words on this process. Follow the same steps in order, and you will get closer results. Don’t be shocked if you need to do more pinning and futzing with it to make it match. What ever you do, don’t sew down the first cup! You might find it easier to adjust both to match rather than trying to make one look just like the one you just sewed. Once you’ve sewn it, you’re not going to want to rip it out!
Now – it’s time to cover another cup. (This time I don’t have to stop to take pictures, Yeah!) and then the sewing like mad portion of the project begins. Check out the next post to see how it turns out. ~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina
PS – Special Thanks to Jamie Hanrahan for letting me use his dining room table, light and most importantly, the use of his sewing assistant Sammy. This beast is diabolically cute, but I miss my well-trained old-lady cat Sassy who is most expert at finding “the middle” of every piece of cloth. Just an FIY – Assiut is very very attractive to cats. It’s shiny metallic bits and open network are perfect for kitty claws. Protect your expensive fabric! And that was my public service announcement for the day! ~ DD~D