Thread: Help! My Eman is too stretchy!!!

Ok...I ordered my very first costume....measured myself, had someone else (experienced) re-measure me...ordered costume which had give by 4" either way...and the skirt fits fine...until I shimmy! Then if falls right off!!!

It has been over the 7 days allowance to return it-I recieved it when I had just had surgery on my foot and was unable to try it on. Any suggestions?



I don't know if this link will work to show it, but it's a skirt that has beading all around the waist..I just don't have a clue how to fix this!!! Help!!!

Ok the link didn't work at all....https://bellydancestore.biz/clients/list/index.php

Try adding elastic to the waistband.

lol that is so simple I'm dying laughing. Can you tell I'm not good at sewing?!?

If it makes you feel better, I've had the saaaaaame problem with one of my Emans. Even elastic doesn't seem to help, probably because the fabric is so heavy

I'm probably gonna send it off to the Swap Meet so it can be adopted by somebody with bigger hips, but I'm interested to hear what type of possible fixes everyone has to offer...

I think that's what it is too...it's sooo heavy....but it's beautiful! I'm determined to make it work.

Could you add a narrow casing and a drawstring at the top of the skirt? That won't have the same give as the elastic would.

I have an eman with an incredibly heavy skirt (actually both do...) and somehow the fabric is still really flimsy feeling. One I can just add elastic and some of it's rubberized stuff like what holds a strapless bra in place. That one works fine. The other one has a section of sheer mesh, so the elastic trick won't work. It'll show through the sheer and the seams where the sheer is connected to the thin lycra on the rest of the skirt isn't strong enough to hold any tighter. There's already one tiny tiny spot that looks dangerously close to ripping.
Sooooo. I'm going to make an underskirt(mini) in sheer mesh material, and include elastic around the back. That way the front stays flat, the top of the skirt has reinforcement, and hopefully it'll stay in place better. And bonus, it should smooth out some of those imperfections that are not hidden by thin lycra....

I’d stitch grosgrain ribbon to the inside of the front of the skirt band to keep it at the size it is at while not allowing the band to stretch larger (or maybe even sliiiiightly gathering the elastic fabric while I whip stitched it in so that it was a tiiiiny bit smaller but not noticeably puckered). Then I would add elastic to the inside back of the skirt band with a thread encasing so I could easily get at the elastic when/if I needed to pull it a little tighter.

If you have a zipper in the costume you could easily use grosgrain all the way around at the size you want it, but I’d use some elastic to allow for weight fluctuation.

Originally Posted by salsabelly

I have an eman with an incredibly heavy skirt (actually both do...) and somehow the fabric is still really flimsy feeling. One I can just add elastic and some of it's rubberized stuff like what holds a strapless bra in place. That one works fine. The other one has a section of sheer mesh, so the elastic trick won't work. It'll show through the sheer and the seams where the sheer is connected to the thin lycra on the rest of the skirt isn't strong enough to hold any tighter. There's already one tiny tiny spot that looks dangerously close to ripping.
Sooooo. I'm going to make an underskirt(mini) in sheer mesh material, and include elastic around the back. That way the front stays flat, the top of the skirt has reinforcement, and hopefully it'll stay in place better. And bonus, it should smooth out some of those imperfections that are not hidden by thin lycra....

For the mesh portion you could carefully stitch clear plastic from one of those clear plastic bra straps on the inside edge of the mesh waistline so it can't stretch anymore...and if you worry about it showing, first stitch a few tiny sew-on crystals to the mesh above where you'lld stitch the clear plastic strap.

Bellydancewithk has a helpful guide on how to add elastic to a skirt:
Costuming Tip: Elastic with Thread Casing - Belly Dance with Karolyne

Wear a net. Sew small hooks into the skirt and hook onto the net.

In addition to the above ideas, I've successfully taken in an Eman skirt- it was a lime green ruffle skirt- with sheer panels at the side. Being really careful of the beadwork I put darts in the back on either side of the zipper and ALSO added clear (slightly sticky kind) elastic in a thread casing around the sides and front. This only works with some costumes of course as the beadwork has to be placed right in order for darts to work.

Thanks everyone! I am sooo thankful for all the advice!! I'm going to try some elastic AND the clear plastic (like for the bra straps or thigh high hose)...I'll let you all know how it turns out :) and Anjela THANK YOU for that webisite!!!