Thread: Coin belt: Where do you find mirrors, stones etc?

I just bought a super cool brass coin belt (pic below) and when I got it, it came with some stones glued on some of the round medallions. I wanted to continue this pattern around the whole belt with mirrors or other stones.

I looked at Michael's and Jo Anne's and couldn't find any stones that had a flat end. The beads were plastic and looked cheap.

Where do you find stuff for coin belt "add ons"?

Belly Dance Costumes and Belly Dance Supplies by Cost Less
Click on Belly Dance Costume Supplies.

yep...also under natures gems, but it is all cost less out of berkley calif,

I saw jewels but not stones. Looking for more 'stone-ish' looking pieces. Also mirrors. Do they sell mirror pieces at Costless and I just didn't see?

How about these cabachons?

Shipwreck Beads - Search: Cabochons

I think they have special glue for it also and they even have some lapis which is awesome.

Mirrors have gotten kind of hard to find. I'll poke around.

..g.:

Wow. Ebay has tons of cabochons - too many to list - just do a search. Wow. Now I want to make a belt...l;,

Example, this item # is jasper, gorgeous: 160471686777

Here is Indian agate, Item # 190434225111

For mirrors, I did a search in Jewelry, Loose beads and some interesting stuff popped up, similarly there is some stuff in the Crafts department - hope this helps!

OK, here are very cool mirrors, Ebay # 310097526059

These are real glass, diamond shape.

These are acrylic sew-on mirrors, Ebay # 230505645660

I haven't seen glass sew-on mirrors in awhile, I used to use them all the time. Maybe somebody has a source?

Meanwhile here are some shisha mirrors: 120578637239

When I did the search for them other colors/sizes popped - hope this helps!

I found some round mirrors! Ebay # 390178449136

Originally Posted by Elibelinde

How about these cabachons?

Shipwreck Beads - Search: Cabochons

I think they have special glue for it also and they even have some lapis which is awesome.

Mirrors have gotten kind of hard to find. I'll poke around.

..g.:

This store is a couple hours away from me! cool. Thank you.



I am looking on ebay and I can find round mirrors, but if you glue actual glass mirrors within the open spaces on a coin belt, are they likely to break? Is acrylic better than glass?

Originally Posted by Bahtya

This store is a couple hours away from me! cool. Thank you.



I am looking on ebay and I can find round mirrors, but if you glue actual glass mirrors within the open spaces on a coin belt, are they likely to break? Is acrylic better than glass?

I would say, for authenticity and razzle-dazzle purposes glass is great but honestly the acrylic might be better. Also it's a lot lighter:)

There's an alternative for a heavy chain belt like that - since they have a tendency to chew up your costumes anyway, especially light fabrics like chiffon (oy) it might make sense to create a hip wrap to wear under it. Then instead of hanging the mirrors right from the belt you could glue/sew them to the wrap.

Or, you can find beautiful scraps of Banjara textiles and attach those to your wrap.

I have a "tribal" style belt I made combining chain, coins, that long long fringe, stones, the kitchen sink and of course the mirrored Banjara textiles - it's a monster. It's all mounted on black stretch velvet so it doesn't murder my skirts:)

And because the mirrors are all sewn down to fabric they are much safer.

Anyway I hope you'll show us your belt when you're done! It's really awesome already,r:;

Originally Posted by Elibelinde

Or, you can find beautiful scraps of Banjara textiles and attach those to your wrap.

I have a "tribal" style belt I made combining chain, coins, that long long fringe, stones, the kitchen sink and of course the mirrored Banjara textiles - it's a monster. It's all mounted on black stretch velvet so it doesn't murder my skirts:)

And because the mirrors are all sewn down to fabric they are much safer.

:;

Never heard of these textiles. will google. Do you have any pics of your belt for the craft-challenged? I swear I am so one dimensional and your ideas sound so cool. I do plan on mounting the belt to a black base at some point, but until then, I'll wear a hip scarf underneath to prevent shreddage. Thanks for the tip. Do you put anything under the black stretch velvet, like a stiff sort of belt form for stability? Or just use the stretch velvet?

Fire Mountain Gems: Cabochons & Cameos: Natural Stones & More - Fire Mountain Gems and Beads

I don't see that they have mirrors though. :(

Originally Posted by Bahtya

I saw jewels but not stones. Looking for more 'stone-ish' looking pieces. Also mirrors. Do they sell mirror pieces at Costless and I just didn't see?

Hi, just got home from visiting Cost Less Beads (New Name). I bought mirrors from him but he said that he had a limited supply. You could call and ask him if he has the size you need. There are the legendary Cost Less Belts and Bras in the back of the store. So beautiful and expensive.

Originally Posted by Bahtya

Never heard of these textiles. will google. Do you have any pics of your belt for the craft-challenged? I swear I am so one dimensional and your ideas sound so cool. I do plan on mounting the belt to a black base at some point, but until then, I'll wear a hip scarf underneath to prevent shreddage. Thanks for the tip. Do you put anything under the black stretch velvet, like a stiff sort of belt form for stability? Or just use the stretch velvet?

Hi, I will try to get a pic this weekend and post it for you and/or email it to you.

In this case I didn't put anything under the belt because the stuff itself stiffened it sufficiently.

Generally one would have to use a lot of interfacings for something that heavy but since I was using fabric (the mirrored fabric) all along the top I didn't need to do that.

Even so I think I did reinforce it from behind - I'm going to have to dig it out and see exactly how I did it. For sure I had to be careful everywhere I attached a chain with coins because of the weight.

Another tip: with the stretch fabric, I had never actually used that for a belt base before. I found I had to put the belt on and mark it on my body before sewing, otherwise nothing would be in the right place (due to the stretch).

It would have been a whole lot easier to do on a dress form, I'll tell you.

I learn the hard way...l;,

Anyhow, here are some examples of the kinds of fabric I am talking about.

This vendor has bits and pieces that work well for costuming; there are others besides this one on Ebay:

Ebay Item # 370306642612

Here's a site with pieces you probably wouldn't want to chop up - they are beautiful - people do use the cholis though as part of dance costumes in the ATS world but the old ones are usually really small:

Blank

Note I got a wall hanging that had already been made up from scraps of old/antique fabric and took that apart as I didn't want to cut up an old piece that might have value to a collector. So these pieces I used had already been discarded and reused probably more than once!

Also, people are still making these embroideries, there are some women's co-ops which are producing them as trade goods. They had been made just for personal use in the past:

Banjara Textiles from India

Those textiles are so pretty! But I don't sew (sister sews for me) so I'd need a visual. Do you cut up one of the Banjara belts? And wouldn't the colors show through your coint belt? I thought you just used something sturdy and the same color as your skirt (in my case likely black for the skirt)

Here's a picture of the belt:

Here's a detail:

Originally Posted by Bahtya

Those textiles are so pretty! But I don't sew (sister sews for me) so I'd need a visual. Do you cut up one of the Banjara belts? And wouldn't the colors show through your coint belt? I thought you just used something sturdy and the same color as your skirt (in my case likely black for the skirt)

Hi, I didn't cut up a Banjara belt, I actually cut up an old hanging that had been made from scraps of fabric. Then I attached the bits and pieces to the belt in a pattern that looked good, as I say it was on the body because that was the only way to get it to fit and also look right.

Then I added the other decorations, including shells, beads, a blue jewel for Evil Eye Deflection, coins, bells, and the heavy coin chain plus heaven knows what else...l;,

Oh right - I then added some old Central Asian beaded tassels.

This was quite a production as you can imagine plus I stabbed myself you know where several times while trying to figure out where to position stuff...l;,

Now - something like this, if you wore it under a chain belt, yes the colors would flash through, they would be visible under the chain.

I actually wear this under my big heavy coin belt. Just dragging this costume around is major calorie burning!

Here's the coin monster, it stacks right above the banjara belt, then in front I also drape some other stuff, depending (I like stuff:)

Hopefully these links work so you can see it on!

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...woresample.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...neresample.jpg

What a COOL belt! It looks so beyond my capeabilities though. I don't even know how to make a belt thick/stiff enough to safety pin my metal belt onto. I need something stiff underneath and then cover that with the pretty textile/fabric right?

Originally Posted by Bahtya

What a COOL belt! It looks so beyond my capeabilities though. I don't even know how to make a belt thick/stiff enough to safety pin my metal belt onto. I need something stiff underneath and then cover that with the pretty textile/fabric right?

You know what, here's what you will need if you want to do something with the mirrored textiles.

1. Carefully measure how much you'll need for your hip wrap including overlap. Think how you are going to fasten it. It could be tied, hooked or even just pinned.

2. I think a triangle or curved shape is best, because it will hug your hips nicely (like a hip scarf.) So think about how you want it to look and consider making a paper pattern before you start cutting your belt/wrap. It should also be somewhat deeper I think than your coin belt.

3. Heavy fabric such as velvet. I gotta tell ya - I'd avoid the stretch velvet UNLESS you plan on stitching it to other stiff layers, the stuff drove me nuts. If you stitch the stretch velvet down to a lining/interfacing it should work fine.

4. Interfacing! Tell the fabric store people you need a heavy woven interfacing. They have iron-on, but it can be a little tricky to handle. The other kind, you just cut it and baste it to the cover and it makes the belt nice and stiff and it will hold its shape. I think the iron on works fine too, I'm just used to the other and it is probably sturdier over the long run.

I think you should use at least two layers of sturdy interfacing.

5. Be sure to cut the covering fabric about 1/2 inch to an inch bigger than the interfacing so it will fold over it. Also allow for overlap.

6. Baste the velvet to the interfacing to create a nice sturdy belt.

7. Decorate (this is the fun part:)

At some point you might want to line the whole thing, probably when you are done decorating. That will make it look really finished and protect the stitches etc so be sure to figure on some lining fabric too. I think maybe just cotton, something non-slippery.

Does this make sense? If not let me know!