for a little over four years now, one of my obsessions has been bellydance. once you get into it, you get into the costuming, and there’s a nice, big chunk of change flying from your wallet! some of the cabaret costumes, called bedlah, can cost from $200.00 and on up! so, to avoid the cost, many dancers make their costumes, which even that can get expensive, not to mention the time it takes to sew all those little beads and sequins on!
another of my obsessions would be thrift shops/yard sales too, so i combine the two sometimes, and the following is one of the results.
i had been wanting a costume with peacock colors for a while, and had covered a bra and belt with a teal stretch velvet. the belt was made from some denim and a length of felt found at a yard sale. then, i went to a thrift shop and found one of those ugly 80’s dresses, that are covered with beads and sequins. it was a royal blue, and it seemed like the perfect color to go with to add to my peacock colors! and for 50% off, it was a deal, even if i just took all the beads and sequins off to use from it.
well, when i got it home and put it on the teal velvet, it just looked awful. but i had a piece of purple satin laying on the table from another project, and it looked great, so i recovered the bra and belt in purple. i cut out some of the motifs from the dress, and when they were on the purple, even though it was a blue dress, it all seemed purple! (even though in the photo, it still shows very blue) one trick i had not yet learned when i did this one was, when cutting beaded/sequined materials, you can put a line of fabric glue down on the reverse side of the material, then when it is dry you can cut the material and all the beads and sequins won’t come unstitched. well, i tied them all off…yes, i am that crazy! lol!
here is a close-up of most of the motifs sewed onto the bra and belt base. the round irridescent beads are from a craft store, and are just sewed into the design. i sewed on several tassles from the original dress, and sewed beadwork around the edges of the bra and belt. it did not exactly come out looking like the peacock colors i had imagined, but it came out a nice purple color, which is hubby’s favorite, so he liked it quite well!
