Whirlwind of Shimmys

I have been sewing like a madwoman, trying to complete a belly dance costume by the show date of March 26th.

I will write more details on the costume after the show, but in the meantime, here are a few in progress shots....

The bra, complete. It looks better on me. My dress form has a tragically small chest, a deficiency I do not suffer from. :-)


The belt, in progress


The skirt is the same black velvet as the bra, with heavy scatter beading at the bottom phasing into light beading at the top. I actually finished one version, but then realized that I cut the skirt so the velvet nap was not in the "pretty" direction. So after 40+ hours of work on it, I decided to chuck it and start over. I am keeping the old pieces intact in case I run out of time, but have recut and started beading a new skirt. Which is insane, because no one would ever notice the "mistake" if I didn't point it out, but it was bugging me so there it is.

Speaking of which...back to beading!!! :-)

Stop and sew the roses

I am no stranger to making fabric flowers. I have made them to put in my hair (back when I had enough hair to do this) and also to put on vintage style hats like this one (my very favorite hat that I have ever made)


But this is the first time I have made hip flowers! :-) I am recreating the flowers from the necklace in black velvet to put on the belt of my belly dance costume. And here is the result.

These are pretty much the same kind of flowers I used to make for my hair, only on a bigger scale. I liked them for my hair because they had were light-weight, had dimension, and didn't get all wilty and floppy when I sweat through them.

Here is how you go about doing it
(Diet Coke in picture above is optional, but highly recommended).

First, draw a flower and cut out a petal pattern. Then cut out a billion flower petals (or however many you need) in something that has some shape. I used stiffened felt here because I had it on hand, but you can also use denim or canvas or heavy interfacing. I have even used those funky foamie sheets in the past. The color doesn't matter because you will be covering them.


Grab some sort of wire stuff. I used 22 gauge beading wire, but have used pipe cleaners and floral wire in the past. Basically you want something stiff enough to hold its shape, but not so stiff that it isn't a bit malleable. Sew the wire stuff around the edges of the petal.


Cut a piece of your fabric slighly bigger than your petal. Since my velvet is stretchy, I didn't need a piece much bigger than the petal; you might need a bit more leeway if your fabric has no stretch or cut it on the bias. Run a gathering stitch around the edge of the fabric. Before you pop the fabric on the petal, bend the petal into the approximate shape you want. You can make some adjusting later, but if you cover it while it is flat, it won't be as smooth later on.


Once all your petals are all covered and pretty, cut a circle of fabric/felt/interfacing that is smaller than your finished flower. You can then attach all the flowers at the center point. Be careful to keep your stitches near the center so they won't show around the edges of whatever center pretty you put on your flower. Depending on what look you want, you can sew partway up your petals, but make sure your stitches can't be seen in the front. This is the underside of my flower after all the petals were stitched onto the center circle.


Adjust the bendyness of your petals until it is all purty. Then attach a button or a sparkle or another fancy of your choice in the center to cover the stitches there.

Voila!!


EXPERT TIP:
The more cats you manage to pile on your lap while you are working, the better your flowers will turn out. :-D

The Plan, it changes

So I had a plan for my belly dance costume. The shape of it was kinda vintage 40s inspired, a bra and belt set with a long trumpet skirt.

Here is a VERY rough sketch of what I was thinking (I can't draw for crap)



Black velvet with silver accents; the plan for the bra/belt decoration was a very cool geometric art deco design. I even started making some of the beaded appliques for the belt portion.

And then I visited my parents and my mother was going through her jewelry and I saw this necklace...



I had to steal...er....borrow it from her. And am now basing the costume on it. It is hard to see in the photo, but it has gorgeous mother of pearl stones. Still keeping the shape of the old plan, but the decoration is all changing to a more organic flower based design. And I have this pinkish shimmery fabric in the stash that I have had for 10+ years that goes perfectly with the mother of pearl that I think I will use as the base of the belt and then use the black velvet for the flowers on top of that. The skirt and the bra will still be black velvet.

I am building the flowers and gathering supplies. I will post a bit later on how I am doing the flowers, after I actually finish one and make sure it is actually going to work!

I am also beading the entire skirt with heavier scatter beading at the bottom with it transitioning to less beading at the top. There will probably be about 30 hours or so of beading in the skirt alone, based on what I have done so far. My lunch hours are being well spent these days!