*New* 'What are you working on?' thread.

[firefly5]

I was going to post my finished black and red costume on the ww-on thread, and couldn't find it, seem to remember it was getting a bit unwieldy any way so I thought I'd start a new one...

Apologies for lack of make up and odd poses -it was a spontaneous wine-fuelled late night shoot! And that's my gorgeous friend, the lovely Cherie modelling the green one I made last year.

[Azeeza]

WOW!! Are you for hire???

;-)

Azeeza

[mekyria]

ooh, that sheer fabric in the black skirt makes it a hawt costume! I like how you put a non-see through part along the hipline and how you kept the beaded design simple. I'd also love to see some detailed pictures of the beading on the green set, it's very sparkly!

[firefly5]

ooh, that sheer fabric in the black skirt makes it a hawt costume! I like how you put a non-see through part along the hipline and how you kept the beaded design simple. I'd also love to see some detailed pictures of the beading on the green set, it's very sparkly!

The see-through part goes right to the waist of the skirt, it is actually a separate belt, although hard to tell from the photos because it fits quite snugly.

Here are some close-ups of the green (click for larger):

[mekyria]

now I remember! this is the belt that you made half a year ago, you asked some questions about it on bhuz.

[firefly5]

That's the one!

[firefly5]

This is my next project, a peacock-feather number on teal velvet. I have done most of the beading on the bra, and made the matching trumpet skirt, but I haven't beaded that yet, so no pics.

[Surida]

Just Beautiful! I love the peacock design. Please post pics when you finish the costume.

[Shajar]

Wow! The peacock one is so amazing! Please bestow me with your talent! ,r:;

[firefly5]

I just took some photos of another one I am working on as a commission. It is so intricately beaded it is taking forever. It is also for Cherie, luckily she is the same size as me, so I might get the chance to wear it a couple of times too. I have almost finished the front of the belt, will probably finish it all by Christmas 2008!

[Surida]

Just gorgeous! What size seed beads do you usually work with?

[emijane]

Ohmygoodness, those are absolutely stunning! I adore the peacock one, it is perfect! I am totally clueless when it comes to things like this. How did you put it all together? Is there a regular bra as a base for the top? And what about the belt? Are the beads and sequins sewed on as a string, or individually? Sorry for all the dumb questions, I'm sure there are threads/websites out there on making costumes, but seeing those gorgeous costumes are inspiring... I want to make one NOW! Seriously though, what is the process you go through when making one? Do you sketch it out first? (There I go with the crazy questions again....)

[tahiradancer]

All I am doing is clean up. I bought a couple of costumes which need adjustments.

A dress from Audrena (Pharaonics) which was shop worn. I have hand beaded a line of silver sead beads along the bottom of the design. Of course, that meant that I had to do this along the bottom of ALL the designs! ARGH!!!

The beledy dress which I bought from Maria needed several rhinestones replaced and the neck strap reinforced with grosgrain ribbon.

I have a vintage set which I bought via ebay (see link below) which I have finished attaching the fringe on the belt, made a lime green straight skirt with one slit, and mounted the bra on to new cups which actually fit me. Now to add the straps and finish embellishing it.

Green-Gold Stairstep Belly Dance Costume - (eBay item 180161640897 end time Sep-25-07 09:59:51 PDT)

My costume repair box is getting lighter all the time!

{{{HUGS}}}}

[ozma]

firefly5 those are coming along wonderfully!

I should be working on comissions, but I injured my wrist a while back and am not supposed to do a lot of finicky things until the nerve injury 100% heals.

[Souzan]

WOW! These are great!

I am about finished with my new project--cerise crushed velvet beledi dress with circular sleeve drapes. The dress is finished but I still need to do the decoration. Using holographic silver sequins and abs beads. Probably minimal decoration since the fabric is such a great color. I had enough fabric left over to make a turban wrap headband and a hip belt that I will eventually finish with silver fringe and swirl design in sequins. In the meantime I plan to wear with a deep turquoise lycra hip wrap that has silver floral beadwork and some silver fringe accents.

Pictures later.

Souzan

[kiyaana]

What is the shape of the chiffon piece for the arm drape? And how do you finish your chiffon? With a serger?

[firefly5]

It is a long triangle shape, I just cut it out and experimented with pinning until I was happy with the way they hung. I attached the narrow pointy end to the wrist, and tacked it to the upper armband halfway along the longest edge. I don't have a serger, I just used a narrow zigzag stitch on a normal sewing machine. It does make the edge slightly wavier, but I kind of wanted that effect.

[kiyaana]

Thanks! That makes perfect sense when I look at the drape.

It is a long triangle shape, I just cut it out and experimented with pinning until I was happy with the way they hung. I attached the narrow pointy end to the wrist, and tacked it to the upper armband halfway along the longest edge. I don't have a serger, I just used a narrow zigzag stitch on a normal sewing machine. It does make the edge slightly wavier, but I kind of wanted that effect.

[jenlindseys]

I love the black costume! What pattern did you use for the trumpet skirt? Or did you make your own? I am wanting to do this with some lilac velvet...which is very stretchy. So it might be slightly different, but I want to give it a try!

[tigerb]

firefly5, you have a real talent for design!

I'm starting work on a purple cabaret dress... I have to modify a knit dress pattern to have a mermaid skirt instead of an A-line, and I want to add (gulp) cutouts to it backed by mesh.

So far the best advice on the cutouts I have is to use this method:

1. Make a "fabric sandwich" of fashion fabric, mesh, and tear-away stabilizer. Baste this together.

2. Draw the cutout shape on the r. side of the fashion fabric and sew around this using a zigzag stitch.

3. Tear away stabilizer and cut off excess mesh.

4. Cut out shape in fashion fabric.

5. Apply trim over zigzags.

Any other opinions on this process? Love to hear 'em!

[tamrahennatx]

firefly5, you have a real talent for design!

I'm starting work on a purple cabaret dress... I have to modify a knit dress pattern to have a mermaid skirt instead of an A-line, and I want to add (gulp) cutouts to it backed by mesh.

So far the best advice on the cutouts I have is to use this method:

1. Make a "fabric sandwich" of fashion fabric, mesh, and tear-away stabilizer. Baste this together.

2. Draw the cutout shape on the r. side of the fashion fabric and sew around this using a zigzag stitch.

3. Tear away stabilizer and cut off excess mesh.

4. Cut out shape in fashion fabric.

5. Apply trim over zigzags.

Any other opinions on this process? Love to hear 'em!

Wow, that sounds like a great technique!

[shahla]

I'm working on a commissioned costume with a zebra theme. I've got the belt done so far and am working on the bra now. Here's what the belt looks like:

[jenlindseys]

this looks great! How'd you do your sequin?

[shahla]

I used a fabric marker to draw the lines for my stripes. Then I individually sewed on 3 mm silver beads along that line. Then I filled in the lines with 6 mm black sequins held on with a seed beads. Do you know how to sew on sequins with beads?

[jenlindseys]

yeah...but oh man! That is super time consuming....

[shahla]

Yes it is. It takes me about a month to completely construct/bead a cabaret costume, but it's worth putting in the time. If you try to take shortcuts, it'll show in the quality of the costume.

[jenlindseys]

yes, I have noticed this. have you ever tried to use the rolled sequence? I may do this to add some sparkle to the costume below.
This is my costume I made for a salsa fusion piece. I love it overall, but somehow I'm just not satisfied with the sparkles and the amount of fringe. I bought some black fringe (since making it takes WAY TOOOOO LONG), and am planning to do some other updates when I remove the backing to the belt. I wanted to add some rhinestones & maybe more sequin.

[shahla]

Love the pants! Yes, I think adding black fringe would be helpful. I don't use the prestrung sequins because I don't think it looks good. It will look like shortcuts were taken. I have used rhinestone chain which adds sparkle and is easy to sew on. But, it's not cheap. Using hotfix or glued on individual rhinestones might help too, but is also time consuming.

[jenlindseys]

Thanks so much. The pants are wonderful and I love them, but will never make another pair. Haha, I don't think anyone could ever pay me enough for the amount of time I put into them. However, it may take less time now that I have a pattern and figured everything out.

If you ever want to make some, let me know. I can give you some more details!

[tamrahennatx]

Thanks so much. The pants are wonderful and I love them, but will never make another pair. Haha, I don't think anyone could ever pay me enough for the amount of time I put into them. However, it may take less time now that I have a pattern and figured everything out.

If you ever want to make some, let me know. I can give you some more details!

I would like info on how to make them - they are awesome!