Thread: Question for the dancers with tiny butts

I have a gorgeous vintage-y fringe monster bedlah. The belt is the classic Egyptian "tuna-can" shape. It gaps away from my body in the back, because I don't have a bubble butt or much of a butt at all, hehe. Some padding in that region would angle the belt and press the top edge against the body (I think.) Even with fanny pads I don't think I am going to eliminate the gap. The belt is too stiff for darts and I don't have the skill or patience to take apart the beading and try to put in a dart and rebead.

What do you do when your belt is shaped like a tuna can and your body is shaped like a stick?

That seems odd to me because the tuna can generally works just fine when you have no backside to speak of. Usually people need to dart *because* they have a bubble butt, not the other way around.

I have no butt, or not much of one. Have you tried just angling the closure differently?

That's absolutely right! I have a bubble butt & a very arched & thin back & waistline...always gaping!
If you angle the belt closure downward or cross it over in an "X" it should help.

Originally Posted by Zumarrad

That seems odd to me because the tuna can generally works just fine when you have no backside to speak of. Usually people need to dart *because* they have a bubble butt, not the other way around.

Yup...

Originally Posted by Julsie

That's absolutely right! I have a bubble butt & a very arched & thin back & waistline...always gaping!
If you angle the belt closure downward or cross it over in an "X" it should help.

Yes that, works for me too!

I think I understand angling the belt closure downward but I don't know what the X means. I wonder if elastic in a thread casing along the back of the belt would help, too.

Thanks for the hints. I've always had trouble with the tuna can shaped belts but I really like this set and would like to make it work.

Queen of noassatall syndrome here..got a photo?

You might try rolling velor fabric in a matching color into a pad ,and sew it into the back of the costume. This fabric helps to cling the body fairly well. I have used this for heavily fringed costumes to keep them from slipping and it has worked really well.....

I'm a fan of the elastic in the belt trick.

Anchor the ends of your piece of elastic really well first THEN do the giant zig zag or 'X' stitches over it. I've anchored one before and it doesn't work very well. The darned thing keeps snapping back through the giant stitches and it's a pain in the tuckus to thread it back through. The weight of your belt should do a pretty good job of holding it'self flat: otherwise, pin it to your ironing board if you need to and sew it there.

Please post pics, I'd love to see this fringe monster.

Originally Posted by Larimar

You might try rolling velor fabric in a matching color into a pad ,and sew it into the back of the costume. This fabric helps to cling the body fairly well. I have used this for heavily fringed costumes to keep them from slipping and it has worked really well.....

I think this would work.

I will try to post photos but I can't find my camera, it's been missing in action for weeks.