Thread: Turning an egyptian skirt into a belt

Hello crafty Bhuzers,

I have a costume that I absolutely love but the skirt is too short on me (plus it's seen better days). The hip area is heavily beaded and I would like to see if there is a possibility of preserving it and making it into a belt. Have any of you guys ever done this?

I've attached a picture of the costume as it is right now.

In terms of construction, it could certainly be done. My immediate worry would be how to work in some of the green fabric into the belt. You will need it because that fabric is used on the bra. It wouldn't look balanced to have that fabric only appear on the top of the costume but not on the bottom

My suggestion would be, rather than make the hip band into a belt, make hte skirt into a mermaid skirt by cutting off the skirt around midthigh, and adding a circular flounce made of coordinating irridescent chiffon. You'd probably need 3 half circle panels.

How long is the skirt, and how long do you need it to be?

Originally Posted by ssipes

It wouldn't look balanced to have that fabric only appear on the top of the costume but not on the bottom.

Yes, I had the same thought. Another solution might be to salvage some of the skirt fabric and incorporate it into a new skirt, for instance as a modesty panel over a slit. You could also combine the new and old skirt fabrics into accessories like armbands to give the costume a cohesive look.

It should be possible to detach the belt and add a skirt, but the question is how to do it in a way that doesn't look conspicuous. That green color looks like it would be a challenge to match. If you wanted to replace it with, for example, a cream-colored skirt, one possibility might be to reserve what was formerly the green bottom and convert it into some kind of wrappy/flappy sash, perhaps along the lines of the hank of fabric wrapping around the body that ends in a modesty panel. (Closest I could find is here Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery, but it's not a good example.) The nice thing about having a sash that connects the top and flows into the bottom is that it helps to emphasize the idea of a single concept, instead of a skirt that joined the party late. It would also help if you could integrate some of the new skirt fabric into the bra.

Assuming the skirt needs to be made longer than wiggling it a little farther south could fix, another possibility would be to try to physically lengthen the existing skirt. You might be able to add fabric to the top of the skirt (move the existing skirt down) and make a comparable nod in decoration to the tops of the bra cups. (I'm just looking at the top of the skirt here, not the bottom Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery. This one is rhinestone banding, not additional fabric, but it's a more integrated strategy Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery.)

Actually, after tracking down a few more images in your gallery, I'm thinking it might be better to extend the area between the skirt and the belt by cutting them apart and adding a band of another fabric (gold-foiled Lycra?) to the gap. (Sort of like the stripe on this costume Belly Dance Costumes | Belly Dance Store.com: gallery) Since the bottoms of the cups seem to be fairly plain, you could add a matching design element with the new fabric to the bra pretty easily, and it would be consistent: beads on the top and new fabric underneath.