Thread: Ideas/Advice for new costume!

Hello! I'm new to bhuz, and I've only been performing for a year or so . . . I make all my own costumes (I've been sewing for as long as I can remember) but I need a little help with designing my new one.

I found this horrendous gold lame dress and immediately saw the potential in it for a really nice skirt, but after playing around with it I found that it had enough fabric to make a full costume. I'm currently working on a scrap-fabric version for the bra while I reinforce the bra cups and make the base back and side straps.

The skirt is not actually transparent, and I'll likely be wearing black dance tights underneath it. The transparent black will ideally be chiffon, and the opaque dots will be beading. On the belt I plan to have those curves be longs strands of seed beads. Any ideas, comments or suggestions? feel free to draw on the sketch!

edit: Actually I wouldn't mind this thread being turned into the April "what are you working on" thread, but I don't know how to change the title of it :/ any admins willing/able to do that?

I like it as is! Simple and very classy looking.

You'll have to post pictures and share your progress in our monthly "What are you working on" threads.

Thank you! I'm working on uploading the pictures I have so far to post to that exact thread!

Good luck with your project! I like the way you're adding the black chiffon to the bra straps.

Just a couple of ideas that occurred to me, mainly because that's what I'd be thinking of doing, if it were my project :
- You might want to think about adding some beading on the skirt itself, to tie the top & bottom of the costume together.
- Also, if you're adding swagging to the skirt, maybe you can reflect thison the bra as a belly drape effect.
- You could perhaps put in a black chiffon "modesty panel" drape in the skirt split, to give it some extra swish (especially as lamé doesn't have much swish of its own)
- I'm a big fan of accessories, I think they make a costume look "finished", so I'd probably want to make some arm-bands, possibly with black chiffon drape "sleeves", to keep the theme going, although I might then find it was a bit over the top! If there was enough fabric, I would also try to make a matching headpiece.

I'm trying to work out how to upload and attach the picture, which I've tweaked (badly! in Paint!) and will post it as soon as I can

ETA- I gave up trying to work out the bhuz pictures function, so I uploaded it to Picasa instead!


PS, there's already a WAYWO thread for April, here:
What are you working on in April 2012?

Originally Posted by beafarhana

Good luck with your project! I like the way you're adding the black chiffon to the bra straps.

Just a couple of ideas that occurred to me, mainly because that's what I'd be thinking of doing, if it were my project :
- You might want to think about adding some beading on the skirt itself, to tie the top & bottom of the costume together.
- Also, if you're adding swagging to the skirt, maybe you can reflect thison the bra as a belly drape effect.
- You could perhaps put in a black chiffon "modesty panel" drape in the skirt split, to give it some extra swish (especially as lamé doesn't have much swish of its own)
- I'm a big fan of accessories, I think they make a costume look "finished", so I'd probably want to make some arm-bands, possibly with black chiffon drape "sleeves", to keep the theme going, although I might then find it was a bit over the top! If there was enough fabric, I would also try to make a matching headpiece.

I'm trying to work out how to upload and attach the picture, which I've tweaked (badly! in Paint!) and will post it as soon as I can

ETA- I gave up trying to work out the bhuz pictures function, so I uploaded it to Picasa instead!


PS, there's already a WAYWO thread for April, here:
What are you working on in April 2012?

Thank you so much! I'm already so glad to have posted, bhuz and all of you are such an amazing resource :D

I had completely forgotten about accessories, so I will definitely include at least some armbands, maybe with detachable chiffon drapes. I also like the idea for a chiffon skirt panel, though I have not yet decided whether I will want to try to use the skirt for other costumes, so the panel and beading on the skirt may wait until I'm sure of what I want, lol.

Depending on if I can get a good deal on beads, I will try to do a matching belly drape, which would tie the belt and top together very well.

Originally Posted by nfladiti

I also like the idea for a chiffon skirt panel, though I have not yet decided whether I will want to try to use the skirt for other costumes, so the panel and beading on the skirt may wait until I'm sure of what I want, lol.

Hey, the skirt panel could also be detachable!