Crushed Cups?

[dancewish]

I just bought a new Johara costume a month ago. I opened it, tried it on, decided I needed to lose some more weight, and packed it back into the box.

I just tried it on yesterday and I noticed a ridge line on the upper part of the cup and underneath it looks sunken in. When I looked closer I noticed like red sharpie like marks underneath the fabric (is the stiffening cardboard) that show through. I think its underneath. Should I try to clean it with soap?

What do I do. I'm a newbie. Should I call the place where I got it from? Can I fix it?

Helen

[sabrinabellydancer]

hi helen,

i would contact the seller before you do anything to the costume. if for some reason you need to make a return, she will want it in the same condition as when it was sent.

i don't know what the material is, so i would caution you against using soap until you know how the fabric will react.

the patterns for beading are usually marked out on the material, so the seamstress can follow it as she beads. if this pattern was made in a sharpie, i don't think soap can remove it.

better contact the seller before you try anything that can make a permanent mark and compound the problem.

hope you find a good solution. this sounds very frustrating.

[Safiyah]

Hmm...can you post photos? It would be easier to see what might be done to fix the costume. You can see the sharpie through the beading and fabric? How noticable is it? I can usually see some white chalk-type line underneath the beading on my lycra costumes, but it's not noticeable when you're wearing it (you'd have to be really close, and I don't let people get that close when I dance, lol!)

[Souzan]

I would suggest that you forget trying to wash this. It is common for markings to be put on the dress fabric and the bra for both sewing and decorating guides. The bras in these dresses are constructed by the seamstress rather than commercially made. And the bras are often constructed of materials that will not hold up if washed. The red marks are lines put on the base of the bra fabric to show where the uderwires and construction stitches are to go. On the constume fabric itself, the embellishment design would be drawn on the fabric using markers and the beading and sequins sewn on using those guidelines. This is very typical and these marks are not seen by the audience even though you might notice them looking closeup. While some costumers (like Pharaonics and Ablas) finish everything beautifully, for the most part it is the outside that looks gorgeous and the inside can look like a mess since the feeling is that this is a COSTUME and not meant to be seen as anything else. Shame when we pay so much for them, but that is the way it is.

Souzan

[Zsuzsanna]

I've had this experience with even costumes from Pharaonics. Its just how they are made.