The "I don´t know what I should do with you" thread

[CassandreParparim]

Hello All!
The last year I´m thinking about what I should do with a costume I have.
I like it, but I only wore it once during this year and I wore it because I thought if I don´t dance with this costume I´ll sell it, and that night I take it to the restaurant XD.
I don´t really want to sell because was my first professional costume (it´s from Damascus, a dancer sell it to me)
I´m thinking in redo it because it´s confortable but heavy and I don´t really like it and I think it needs a little more of sparkle...
Maybe if I re-do it I´ll make it with blue-silver and not in blue-gold.
Do you think I´ll lose my time and better I sell it and buy another costume? or maybe I must have it for my personal museum?

There are some pics of me wearing it (of my second professional performance :3, loooong time ago)

Photos from Cassandra Parparim (Cassandra Parparim) on Myspace

Photos from Cassandra Parparim (Cassandra Parparim) on Myspace

Photos from Cassandra Parparim (Cassandra Parparim) on Myspace

Any Idea? If I redo it, what will you do? I was thinking on change the color of gold to silver, add another skirt better and more sparkle, change the shape of the bra and belt and maybe do it more chunky ^^U

[emma-bessa]

Any Idea? If I redo it, what will you do? I was thinking on change the color of gold to silver, add another skirt better and more sparkle, change the shape of the bra and belt and maybe do it more chunky ^^U

Hi Cassandre!

Since I´m swedish I love the gold/blue theme and don´t think you should change it
Don´t waste you time unless the bra/belt feels very comfortable and sits well on your body,if you are not good in sewing it can end up as a project in your closet...but easy alterations to make it better IMHO is to just:
1.Buy an extra skirt in the length of "touching top of feet"to wear under the original which is too sheer(also check shoulder straps length is perfect,shorten if too long)
2.Remove most of bra fringe,except a little "dangle"between cups to flatter your figure better.
3.Remove the belt fringe and stitch it back in clusters to give a richer look.(it look a little too sparse)

Cheap extras with big effects would be to add appliques like these instead of starting an expensive and time consuming beading project:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Hope this helps!

hugs Emma

[tahiradancer]

On the belt you can also do looped fringe with clusters between the loops. And either loops or a smaller straight drape between the cups.

I would like to see a close up of the beading, though. There may be some simply things you can add there which would make this pop!

{{{HUGS}}}

[EliAnn]

I would remove all the gold, and add turquise fringe to the center of the bra, and maybe some "Bella fringe" to the cups.

And I would add some AB crystals.

Maybe use white as the accent color :) But definately fringe in the same color as the bra and belt, maybe with some white mixed in. :)

[EliAnn]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I'm sorry about the terrible editing, I only have "paint" on my computer. (If I had had a proper editing programme, I wouldn't have known how to use it anyways )

[CassandreParparim]

Thank you all for your ideas!!!
I was thinking in add some green and black accents with the gold...
I don´t know!!!!
I´m looking tonny and robbie designs and lebanese designs and I like that style.
I´ll do a closeups pics, but I think I should remove all the beads because are plastic and I don´t like it. The pailletes are bad plastic too but I love the color...
I´ll think on your ideas^^!!

[Tourbeau]

I would say this is more of a student costume than a pro costume, but it's hard to see the detailing from the photos. If you don't perform much (don't really need a pro-quality) costume, I'm not sure I would bother to change it, since it would be a substantial expense in time and supplies to get it up to a higher standard. You'd probably be looking at redoing the fringe and adding more or new surface embellishments to the bra and belt bases. (You could keep the same color scheme, but what's there now isn't very prominent or attractively integrated, IMO.) It would probably make more sense to trade it or sell it to someone who is just starting to perform, and upgrade to a new or nicer second-hand costume.

If the costume has sentimental value as your first purchase and you really want to keep it for that reason, you might investigate the cost of finding someone who does a lot of costume rehab work to remodel the costume for you, especially if you are not very experienced in this kind of sewing. My concern is the worst case scenario where you jump in, spend a bunch of money on better fringe and expensive supplies like rhinestones and hours sewing, but still end up with a costume you're not happy with because the vision in your head didn't translate, or the upgrade process inadvertently changed the way the costume fits. Then you'd have a costume that doesn't look like the costume that was special to you as your first, and it wouldn't look like one you wanted to wear, either. In some ways, redoing an existing garment can be more difficult than starting from scratch.

[Karnak]

My suggestions were going to be about the fringe on the top, but others beat me to it! At the very least, remove the gold fringe on the top and only have a little in the middle.

[CassandreParparim]

For me is easy to do a design from the begining, but not redo it.
I think you have reason Tourbeau, I started using this but actually I dance in better places with better costumes and I feel I don´t really want to use this costume more. But is a pity T.T
It´s original because the base color is red and the sewing thread is red too, when you look it it has a strange color (the palletes are between cobalt blue and turquoise)
I love the accesories (the necklace the most ^^U) but I think that I´ll spend a lot of time doing this project and maybe as you say at the end I don´t really like it...
I even thought in do a copy inspired in this costume with better mats and a new shape and this for my museum, when I have children I can say: this was the first mom´s profesional costume XDD
This year I let this costume to one of my students for her first performance and I don´t feel well with the idea of sell it...
Excuse my doubts I´m veeery undecided. I´m libra you know?

[Ariadne_Eleni]

Maybe then you should just consider holding onto it until you find someone to give it to that will appreciate it. If you already have better costumes it's not really worth the effort to fix it up and I am sure that someone who is starting out and can't afford one themselves would be grateful for the thought.

[Zabelly]

My advice to you is to decide if taking the time to redesign this costume is worth the sentimental value. My guess is, if you are not happy with it now, you will struggle with the redo (unless you have a lot of experience sewing and beading).
When I originally read your post, I thought that just spiffing it up with some accents and changing the shape of the fringe from drops to loops would be best. Then you mentioned that the beads are plastic. If you are going to redo the costume to make it look more professional you are looking at completely pulling it apart and re-beading with glass. This will take forever (again, unless you are really good with beading)
My suggestion would be to sell it and put the money you make from the sell towards a better quality costume. There are so may beautiful second hand costumes out there that have only been worn once or have been "gently used".
For future costuming freshening advice, layering skirt colors will make a big impact on your costume. I suggest with bedlah sets, to have two Turkish style skirts (ones that you can do floor work in) of different but complementing colors. And one Egyptian style skirt that is a little more flashy. That way you have at least three different looks you can make. And by tucking the skirts up in different ways you can get countless looks.
*Hope this helps. Best of luck with whatever you decide*