Categories
Assiut/Assuit Belly Dance Costuming DIY Design

Three Day Assiut Costume Challenge – Part One

Inventory of existing pieces and materials on hand.

Hello Friends in Dance And Costuming,

OMG – I’m performing this weekend and I don’t have a thing to wear!  This is a classic case of the  cobbler’s kids have no shoes!  How can I, a costume guru of sorts, appear at a show wearing.. well.. off the rack stuff? I’m going to put all my projects for the next three days on hold, changing my plans, and making a costume NOW.  I frequently tell friends, clients and students that planning and executing a costume doesn’t have to cost a fortune or take a lot of time.  SO – I’m going demonstrate in a quick series of blog posts which will document this quickie “made in a minute” costume.

Clock Starts NOW!

First Thing:  Take Inventory and Make a Plan

My Motto: When time is tight, work with as many materials as you have on hand.   I start out by making notes on what pieces I have to work with.  Since I knew I was dancing, I brought along some basic costume pieces.  I’m also working on a Costumes of the Maghreb, and doing some research on Assiut.  (Which is spinning off into it’s own book because THAT chapter grew to epic proportions!  More on that project to comes soon!)   I do a lot of doodling while I’m making notes.  Here’s my inventory on paper, complete with slopping short-hand notes and rough sketches.

Inventory of existing pieces and materials on hand.

Costume Goal:  Put together an outfit that features MORE assiut.

First: I will make a quick-and-dirty panel skirt from the shawl.
Second: Make a new bra using the plain black bra and left over scraps of assiut.
Third: Create a headdress using assiut.
Fourth: Make a hip sash from assiut.  (I don’t think I’m going to make this one – but lets try!)

Down and Dirty Panel Skirt

So – I can take the shawl and turn it into a skirt.  That was not my original plan for this piece of assiut, but it’s a simple matter of  cutting it down the middle and putting a waist band onto it.  Ooops – I don’t have  a sewing machine.  SO – I’m going to improvise with a bunch of large safety pins and pin a front and a back panel directly to my harem pants.   I’m on the road, and while I have a small sewing kit with me, I just don’t take a sewing machine everywhere I go.   When I get home, I’m going to take the time to turn this shawl into a proper panel skirt.  For now, this is what I’m going to do:

1 – CUT – Since this shawl has a center panel, I’m going to cut to either side of the panel to preserve those useful motifs.  I’m not terribly worried about the panel skirt being too short, as I can always add a yoke to bring it to the proper length when I get home.

Be Brave!

2 – PIN – I used about 20 pins in the process – 10 in the front and 10 in the back.   I started by pinning down the sides where I wanted them.  I then divided the fabric in half, to find the center, and then pinned the center of the panel to the center of the pants.   Then I folded the fabric a bit to make it fit the width, pinning above the motifs so it will hang as straight as possible.

Yoked Harem Pants with Assiut Side Panels – Design by Anaar of Tombo Studios.
When viewed from the inside, you can see that I placed a pin about every 4" accross each panel
When viewed from the inside, you can see that I placed a pin about every 4″ accross each panel

I would like to take a moment and thank my ancient Roman ancestors for inventing the Fibula, which evolved into the modern safety pin. Without you, this quick and new-sew skirt would not be possible.  Thanks!

This pinned-in-place skirt is not a permanent or final solution.  When I get home, this will become a finished skirt or perhaps some other garment, but for this weekend, it will function just fine as a quickie pinned on 2-panel skirt.  A little short, but very very sweet.

Skirt Panel Safety Pinned to Pants – I call this project Done (enough for now)

Next Step: Assiut Bra – Check out the next post  ~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

Categories
Makeup and Appearance

Inspirations in Makeup – Purple Eyes for Fall 2011

Purple Eye Tutorial presented by MissChievous

Inspirations in Makeup

Hello my friends in costume and dance,

Purple Eye Tutorial presented by MissChievous

As you may know, (if you have attended one of my workshops, or just blathered on over a cup of coffee,) I believe that makeup and hair are layer 2 in my theory of 5 layers of a belly dancer’s appearance. It is so important for any performer who steps into the limelight to have significant makeup or you simply wash out under the glare.  Daytime level of makeup is just not enough, you’ve got to turn it up megawatts to fight the light!   How often have I told students… More Eyes.. More Lips..

On my own personal quest for inspiration a good friend (and co-conspirator Zemira) turned me onto a great website, The Art of Cosmetics.  As I spent waaay too much time surfing through their content, I found some great video tutorials links like the one to the right.  Naughty Purple Eyes Makeup Tutorial by MissChievous.   (Incidentally, if you like MissChievous, you can friend her over on

FaceBook.) If you haven’t mixed up your makeup recently, now is a great time to give it a go.  In Fall, the major makeup companies come out with new pallets of dark rich colors so now is the time to experiment.

So – true confession time – makeup is not my specialty! I wear makeup as little as possible in my daily life, but I’m not afraid to pile it on for performance. Early in my dance career, I took dance and makeup classes with Maleah of San Diego, and she gave me my first glimpse into the potential for allure. I quickly learned that eye contact helped me make more tips.  Overtime, I’ve had dozens of makeovers at Sephora and MAC stores at department store counters.  I ask for “Dramatic Evening Eyes” and every makeup artist has a different take.  Most recently, I’ve had makeup classes and consultation with Adriana of SF/Bay Area, (who, incidentally, does a fantastic makeup segment on the Secrets of the Stage: Volume 3 DVD – so if you can’t get to the bay area, you can contact her about this DVD via her website.  I really like and recommend this video.)  I also heard that the grand and fabulous Princess Farhana of Hollywood will be releasing a makeup video at some point.. that should be really good – you know I’m going to buy THAT when it comes out!

So – I guess I’m confessing that I’m addicted to the makeover process.  My favorite part are the eye transformations. Eye makeup is one of the places where you can really play with color and texture, where you can really go wild!

Of course, there are hundreds, if not thousands of makeup tutorials around the web. So hunt down a new look, be courageous and give it a go!

~ Dawn Devine ~ Davina

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