Thread: Making Costumes with Assuit - Cutting & Sewing???

So, I have a stack of modern assuit in my sewing room that I bought for costume making, and it's mocking me.

How does one go about cutting this stuff without ruining your shears?

How does one go about sewing the pieces together without breaking your sewing machine needle on every stitch? Or do you hand-new it?

I covered a bedleh in modern assuit and made a sheer skirt from it. It had more mesh than silver so that made cutting easy! I imagine using really heavy shears would make short work of getting through the silver bits without too much damage.

I sewed it by hand, and everyone I know who owns vintage assuit has also sewn the seams by hand. They've always been tunics, though - no fitting required!

Originally Posted by zumarrad

I covered a bedleh in modern assuit and made a sheer skirt from it. It had more mesh than silver so that made cutting easy! I imagine using really heavy shears would make short work of getting through the silver bits without too much damage.

I sewed it by hand, and everyone I know who owns vintage assuit has also sewn the seams by hand. They've always been tunics, though - no fitting required!

I really had no issues with cutting it, I just cut threw any silver bits slowly, but it was mainly mesh. I sewed the bra by hand and the belts by machine, and again, didn't sew threw much metal and when I did, I went very slowly.

I had absolutely no problem with either sewing shears or sewing machine. The assuit cut easily, did not ravel, sewed up like a dream. No broken needles. When I covered the bra, I did sew by hand. But everything else was with machine. I did baste by hand and fit and then finish on the machine. If you baste, use a contrasting thread color so you can easily remove the basting.

Souzan

Can any of you daring assuit cutters/sewers please post pics of the assuit costume made?

cheers Rosemarie

Thanks Shira, I was goign to start a thread about this , how do you handle the assuit that has a lot of metal in it ?

Originally Posted by Rosemarie

Can any of you daring assuit cutters/sewers please post pics of the assuit costume made?

cheers Rosemarie

I have two pics in my gallery. I made a bra, belt, and panel skirt (actually I made 3 sets, one for me and two other girls).

I have only sewn and cut old assuit, but I didn't have any problems. The sewing machine needle slipped past the metal rather than piercing it.

If you are worried about your good shears, use some cheap or crappy ones. Or kitchen shears.

Originally Posted by Rosemarie

Can any of you daring assuit cutters/sewers please post pics of the assuit costume made?

cheers Rosemarie

Mine's a work-in-progress but pics are posted in the "what are you working on - december" trhead. My assuit is also mostly net, so easy to cut, just minding the pattern. I'm also hand sewing everything but the skirt (which I'll have my mother do since I'm *terrible* with a sewing machine) ..l;,

P.S. I'm so happy people are getting excited about assuit costumes again! I think they're so beautiful!

Originally Posted by maliam

P.S. I'm so happy people are getting excited about assuit costumes again! I think they're so beautiful!

Hear, hear!

So, I've noticed that assuit is mostly used to make tribal wear and has pretty much come to be associated with tribal style. Are there any sparkly cabaret costumes made of assuit? I too have some assorted pieces of assuit that I'd like to use. I have several antique pieces with lots of silver including a huge one that weighs about 3 pounds and a few modern pieces with less silver as well. They're all just sitting in a plastic bag waiting to be turned into something other than piano shawls, I just don't want anything tribal looking or with kuchi stuff on it.

Regards
Priscilla

Originally Posted by jessedan

So, I've noticed that assuit is mostly used to make tribal wear and has pretty much come to be associated with tribal style. Are there any sparkly cabaret costumes made of assuit? I too have some assorted pieces of assuit that I'd like to use. I have several antique pieces with lots of silver including a huge one that weighs about 3 pounds and a few modern pieces with less silver as well. They're all just sitting in a plastic bag waiting to be turned into something other than piano shawls, I just don't want anything tribal looking or with kuchi stuff on it.

Regards
Priscilla

I'm making cabaret. I bought loads of swaroski crystals to go on it, AB coated beads, and will use only a few coins. I'm trying to mimic a design by Bella (albeit with my own style). I love her tribaret costumes and would like to see more of them.

Originally Posted by palmier

Thanks Shira, I was goign to start a thread about this , how do you handle the assuit that has a lot of metal in it ?

There is a photo of John Compton wearing an assiut tunic in there gallery at the bottom of the page here: Lara writes of Men in Middle Eastern Dance for the Gilded Serpent, journal of Middle Eastern Music and Dance, including Bellydance

It looks as if the heavy metal part is the body of the tunic and the part with more net was used to make the sleeves.

Originally Posted by jessedan

So, I've noticed that assuit is mostly used to make tribal wear and has pretty much come to be associated with tribal style. Are there any sparkly cabaret costumes made of assuit? I too have some assorted pieces of assuit that I'd like to use. I have several antique pieces with lots of silver including a huge one that weighs about 3 pounds and a few modern pieces with less silver as well. They're all just sitting in a plastic bag waiting to be turned into something other than piano shawls, I just don't want anything tribal looking or with kuchi stuff on it.

Regards
Priscilla

Have you seen this fantastic costume by Hallah: http://www.bhuz.com/forum/bellydance...llah-sale.html

Not exactly "sparkly" but not tribal, either. It may be the first beads and assiut costume I have seen, and it works brilliantly.

I did assuit costumes and had no issues at all cutting or sewing. I used old sheers that I didnt care to ruin (though honestly, they were no worse off after I was done), and used a heavy, sharp denim needle in the sewing machine.

Assuit Cholis. - tribe.net

You can see in the pics though, that mine was not heavy on the metal ;-)

Zayna and Basina - tribe.net

Originally Posted by basina

I did assuit costumes and had no issues at all cutting or sewing. I used old sheers that I didnt care to ruin (though honestly, they were no worse off after I was done), and used a heavy, sharp denim needle in the sewing machine.

Assuit Cholis. - tribe.net

You can see in the pics though, that mine was not heavy on the metal ;-)

Zayna and Basina - tribe.net

Those are nice. Did you line them with cotton or something?

This assuit dress was made by Trish St. John in the San Francisco Bay Area:



If you have the video [i]Gothic Bellydance: The Darker Side of Fusion[/img], you can see Asharah dancing in a pretty assuit panel skirt. Suzanna Del Vecchio has a lovely red assuit panel skirt in one of the performances on her Dances of the Heart performance video.

Trish St. John used to vend a lot of assiut but I don't think she is doing that any more, do you know, Shira?

That costume is lovely on you.

Originally Posted by dunyah

Trish St. John used to vend a lot of assiut but I don't think she is doing that any more, do you know, Shira?

That costume is lovely on you.

Do you happen to remember a while back when I posted a thread here on bhuz about "web site hygiene" and warned people against letting your web designer register your domain name and enter into contract with your hosting company on your behalf? Well, that was triggered in part by something that happened to Trish. Her beautiful Liquid Silver Designs web site was being completely run for her by some web site design small business. Their business went under, the owners vanished from sight, and Trish's web site was killed by the hosting company because they hadn't been paid. Trish's business was pretty much nuked overnight because of it. She didn't keep a copy of her articles and photos on her own computer, so everything was lost, and the domain name registration company refused to let her take over ownership of her own domain name.

Last I knew, she was thinking about getting back into business, but was feeling kind of overwhelmed by what it would take to get going again.

I'm an oriental dancer through and through and I say if people think I must be "tribal" because my costume is made of assuit, more fool them.

There are pix in my gallery of my costume, and I'm also wearing it in my avatar. I wish there was more silver to it!

Originally Posted by jessedan

So, I've noticed that assuit is mostly used to make tribal wear and has pretty much come to be associated with tribal style. Are there any sparkly cabaret costumes made of assuit? I too have some assorted pieces of assuit that I'd like to use. I have several antique pieces with lots of silver including a huge one that weighs about 3 pounds and a few modern pieces with less silver as well. They're all just sitting in a plastic bag waiting to be turned into something other than piano shawls, I just don't want anything tribal looking or with kuchi stuff on it.

Regards
Priscilla

Pharonics made a beautiful cabaret assuit costume years ago, I still kick myself for never buying one - but I was a baby belly at the time. I have a scan of a print out of the website in my gallery. Oh man, someday, that costume will be mine.

Maybe heading off topic.....
I googled Trish St John and found a Myspace with some cool assuit photos.
MySpace.com - Trish St.John - 92 - Female - ALAMEDA, California - www.myspace.com/trishstjohn

Dunyah, the cholis are indeed lined with cotton. The prettier ones use a brighter shade under the assuit (the navy assuit has royal lining, for example, almost creates a shimmer to it). the panel skirts are lined with irridescent organza.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

I'm an oriental dancer through and through and I say if people think I must be "tribal" because my costume is made of assuit, more fool them.

There are pix in my gallery of my costume, and I'm also wearing it in my avatar. I wish there was more silver to it!

Yeah, I consider my costume to be a cabaret costume even though I used coins, assuit, and a little kuchi. *shrug*

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Do you happen to remember a while back when I posted a thread here on bhuz about "web site hygiene" and warned people against letting your web designer register your domain name and enter into contract with your hosting company on your behalf? Well, that was triggered in part by something that happened to Trish. Her beautiful Liquid Silver Designs web site was being completely run for her by some web site design small business. Their business went under, the owners vanished from sight, and Trish's web site was killed by the hosting company because they hadn't been paid. Trish's business was pretty much nuked overnight because of it. She didn't keep a copy of her articles and photos on her own computer, so everything was lost, and the domain name registration company refused to let her take over ownership of her own domain name.

Last I knew, she was thinking about getting back into business, but was feeling kind of overwhelmed by what it would take to get going again.

Wow, that's sad. She was the assiut maven.

My website of 80+ pages was recently wiped out due to a different type of error (that would be operator error and me being the operator, d'oh!). It is overwhelming to think of re-creating all that, it took years to build.

Thanks Maliam and Dunyah, those are great ideas for assuit costumes. That Hallah is amazing, it has an almost Native American look to it.

Regards
Priscilla

As far as shears go, my suggestion is to get a pair which you are willing to trash. Have them professionally sharpend and go into the project knowing that they will have to be sharpened again at the end of it - if possible.

{{{{hugs}}}