Thread: Creating arm embelleshment

I'm performing with my troupe tomorrow and wearing a new to me gold fringy bedlah and borrowed royal blue velvet mermaid skirt for one of the pieces. I was thinking that maybe I'd run to Joann Fabrics tonight to whip up some sort of arm accessory (and maybe headband?) to round out the look as I've got nothing at home that works as I try to build up my wardrobe.

Seems like the popular style is either cuffs (wrist, bicep, or both) or mid to long gauntlets. I was thinking of getting premade gold sequin/ beaded trim (or just shiny fabric if they don't have all sequins) and elastic to fashion a headband and arm cuffs, and then create an interchangable rigging system where I could attach flowy kerchief type sleeves to the cuffs to swap out different colors depending on my skirt. I feel like I could easily do a velcro system with the soft side inside the gold cuffs in case I didn't want to attach anything.

So, couple of questions for you ladies...

1. Are flowy sleeves either passe or just plain uncomfortable to dance in?

2. Is the idea of a two toned sleeve thing goofy? I can't say I've seen it in person/ pictures- maybe because it's hideous? I'm thinking something that looks vaguely like this that I just Photoshopped:
SampleArmDrape.jpg

3. Should I even bother trying to get this done tonight? Will it really add that much? Should I just stick to a basic wide cuff if I'm going to do something simple?

4. Does anyone have a money tree I could borrow so I can just buy out a bunch of fab costumes and accessories to have a drool inspiring closet to choose from?!

My first thought is, what are the other troupe members wearing and will your troupe director be okay with surprise additions to your costuming?

Personally, I almost always wear something on my arms - I feel very bare without coordinating accessories and I think it makes the costume look more complete. My preference for something quick is to make armbands from stretch fabric. If you can find coordinating blue stretch velvet to match the skirt, that would be my first pick with what you've described. I made the teal, red, and aqua armbands in these pics (also the one armband in the photo on the home page). I used stretch velvet here and attached coordinating trim.

If it is okay for you to add to your costume at this point, whether or not you can do it tonight depends on finding the right materials quickly and your sewing skills. For me, it's usually a better use of my time to practice in my costume as is for the next day's performance instead of trying to do a rush job on accessories (and then take the time later to make them), but you may be okay.

Regarding flowy sleeves - you certainly still see them with some costume styles. If you are doing veil work, they can get in the way, so you need to practice with them. If you are dancing with your troupe and none of the other dancers have something hanging down from their arms, your sleeves would be very noticeable (and probably distracting). You need to serge or otherwise hem the cut edges of chiffon, so that would be more time-consuming.

Originally Posted by MaineMaya

1. Are flowy sleeves either passe or just plain uncomfortable to dance in?

2. Is the idea of a two toned sleeve thing goofy? I can't say I've seen it in person/ pictures- maybe because it's hideous? I'm thinking something that looks vaguely like this that I just Photoshopped:
Attachment 32634

3. Should I even bother trying to get this done tonight? Will it really add that much? Should I just stick to a basic wide cuff if I'm going to do something simple?

4. Does anyone have a money tree I could borrow so I can just buy out a bunch of fab costumes and accessories to have a drool inspiring closet to choose from?!

Originally Posted by kiyaana

My first thought is, what are the other troupe members wearing and will your troupe director be okay with surprise additions to your costuming?

We're all wearing totally different costumes... it's a free for all for a middle eastern cultural festival and we wanted to show all sorts of variety. So I doubt anyone would care if I switched it up with arm things.

Originally Posted by kiyaana

If you are dancing with your troupe and none of the other dancers have something hanging down from their arms, your sleeves would be very noticeable

This on the other hand is an excellent point. I think this makes up my mind for me on danglies- I think I'll pass. Gold arm cuffs- sure, I can whip those up in no time while watching NBC's primetime line up. And they will be inoffensive! And I can always add the interchangable floof mechanism after the fact if I choose. Thanks for that piece of advice.

I'm still interested to hear what folks think about two tone colors. Weird? Normal? Unique but in a good way?

Hi Maya, I think the two tone think works. I can help tie elements of a costume together. Here's a photo of a costume I made for Rosa. We used purple chiffon in the slit of the skirt and as an embellishment on the bra. I tied it into the arm pieces by using the silver velvet as the cuffs and the purple chiffon as a bit of floof.

Darn, the facebook links to her photos are working. If you go to her facebook page, look for the silver and purple costume. There are two or three photos of it that show the arm fluffs:

https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/rnoreen

To me, how well two-toned accessories would work depends on how the two tones coordinate with the rest of the outfit. Is the rest of the outfit that much "two-toned"?

If you are going to invest the time in making arm accessories, I personally would make something that looks like you could have bought it as part of the costume, and stay away from stretch-sequin, by-the-yard trim, because that isn't usually used with nicer, commercially made dance costumes. Stretch-sequin trim reminds me of the headbands that spirit squads and dance teams wear, not the arm bands you'd get from Pharaonics or Bella. For a modern costume, I would probably go for a minimalist sequin design on a matching base fabric. An older costume might have heavier fringe, coins, or paillettes that obscured the base fabric. If you wanted to go that route, you could make the base fabric in gold or silver and then work on your attachment system, so you could adapt one set of accessories to multiple costumes.