Thread: What fabrics work well together?

I have a pair of smooth textured cotton harem pants I bought to wear in a Hafla. I have to wear a black overskirt with them. Would chiffon be my best bet? Will satin look mismatched? what will "stick"? Should I just wear 2 skirts instead of the pants? We are a student group but not tribal should I have purchased "fancier" harem pants? .w.:

I would wear cotton over chiffon..think sexy undie..but not the other way around. Satin would be better.

Generally speaking, synthetics go with synthetics (polyesters, Lycras, etc.), and naturals go with naturals (cottons, silks, etc.). Occasionally you can find fabrics that will work both sides of the street. I'm assuming when you say you have textured harem pants, you are talking about something ethnic with a nubby, gauzy, or seersucker-y finish, and not something with a lurex (metallic) stripe that might help make the jump to the synthetic side. For plain cotton pants, I might go with a skirt made out of rayon (but not if you expect to need to clean it, because black rayon seldom survives the experience with quality results), or perhaps a lightweight shantung-style weave (nubby and slightly reflective). If you don't mind the casualness, a tee-shirt jersey might work, too. Personally, I wouldn't go with a shiny polyester (costume) satin, but they do make richer, heavier satins with duller finishes.

The big question is what are your troupemates wearing? You can have a lovely, pulled-together ensemble, but if it doesn't match the rest of the group, it still won't look right. In the future, the better approach might be to get the skirt and then work down to the harem pants, instead of the under-out approach. If you can sew, basic harem pants are probably the easiest costume item to make. They're not very involved--two inner leg seams, a crotch seam, and the casings at the legs and waist, and there are simple, commercial patterns available at any fabric store (in the costume section of the pattern books), if you don't want to wing it.

We're all wearing black skirts, black stretch velvet cholis and our hip scarves. Our teacher gave us the freedom of selecting an underskirt or harem pants. I picked harem pants because the leotards (had to be worn under skirts) were so expensive. Everyones skirt fabric will be different im sure. We're only onstage for about a minute and a half. But I needed to know for the future as well. I think something with a dull sheen would be my best bet for this. Its my first ever Hafla and Im really excited and worrried about it. .w.:



Thanks for your advice. I really appreciate your help as a baby belly!!

Well, in that case, you could probably also work a black stretch velvet skirt, if you could find something that matched your top, too. You'd need to make sure it was a compatible black, though. Not all blacks match equally well.

What kind of leotards do you need? Are you talking about a body suit, a unitard, leggings, or something like Sugar Petals? The first two are usually fairly inexpensive when bought through a dance supply store, and leggings can be bought just about anywhere. If you need a mesh middle cover, those can be trickier to find on the cheap. Some dancers hack up fishnet stockings and convert them into stomach covers. I like to catch the markdowns on Halloween merchandise myself. Places that sell Halloween costume materials often carry sheer and fishnet unitards in black, nude, or white as a base for people who want to make cat costumes and their own original outfits. If you hit the costumes superstores that pop up in empty storefronts right after Halloween, you can get amazing bargains on their markdowns. Of course, you may need to track how fast the items are moving before Halloween, because they may sell out of some of their inventory, and the only tights left in your size on 11/1 might the ones with the spider webs on them (which clearly don't work for our application). I've also gotten some crazy-good deals on aluminum coin jewelry after Halloween at those places. (The coin stuff will be in the Politically Incorrect Gypsy Stereotype section of the store.)

If you have minimal sewing skills, why not DIY? I am partial to silk essence pantaloons, and have them in many colors. The fabric is cheap, easy to work with, and due to its slipperiness and drape, it can be worn w/o too much cling under everything, incl. silk, chiffon and cotton. The only drawback is that the fabric tends to develop an icky poly-stench over time, even if you wash and dry and air the garments carefully.

A soft cotton might work well. Perhaps something with a bit of crinkle or texture, or perhaps a polished cotton with a bit of shine. The shine on polished cotton will fade with repeated washings.

Silk goes with everything, but it's not cheap. Silkessence from JoAnns is a good substitute. A full or 1.5 circle skirt works for tribal and cabaret styles. Tiered silkessence skirts have a richer quality than typical tribal skirts.

Thanks so much!!
I 'm gonna head over to the fabric store tomorrow. I'll take a peeksie at the silkessence. It sounds like a suitable fabric for me to whip up some pants. I'm nervous about sewing them but geeze I can sew a strait line so it shouldnt be that hard right???..g.:

Yes, harem pants are quite easy. The main trick you have to watch out for is that you keep the grain, shine, or nap of the fabric going in the same direction for each leg. In other words, you can't take a 3-yard piece of fabric and fold it in half at the 1.5 yard mark and cut out two legs in one step. You have to cut the fabric in half first, flip it back to back, and line up the two top edges before cutting. (You can also cut the pattern out individually twice, flipping the pattern in between the two steps.) It sounds like unnecessary work, but it is important to keep a uniform appearance in the garment--that is, so you don't end up with pants that look like the legs were cut from two slightly different bolts of the same type of fabric.

Personally, I like to keep my pants long and wear them at the calf so that the hems balloon up at the bottom, but some people like theirs to hit right at the ankle.