Struggling with your bellydance troupe costume options? Different sizes and preferences, amount of work, limited budget… Putting together professional troupe costumes is challenging! Rukshana (also known as Gail), a professional costumer and a member of cARTel bellydance, has shared with me her secrets to making troupe costumes that look amazing and most importantly, everyone is happy with! And she has… Read more →
Need to line a bra top for your belly dance costume? In Part 1 of this How to Line a Bra series, our alteration expert, Chani, shows you how to reline a bra top using the old lining that came with it. In Part 2 (this post), Chani will show you how to line a bra top from scratch, so… Read more →
In this post, Chani, our alteration expert, is sharing some of her tips and tricks for traveling with your sewing projects with ease. Read more →
Not sure how to dress now that you’re pregnant? Here are 5 pregnant belly dance costume ideas that are beautiful, comfortable and safe! Read more →
In her last post, Chani showed how she started altering the beaded bra top from the 90s. She found a bunch of glued-on stones coming off of the bra top, so she removed them, and drilled holes to turn them into sew-on stones! In this post, she will show you exactly how to drill holes in acrylic stones, so you… Read more →
Have you felt like your belly dance costume is incomplete? You put on a bra, belt, and a skirt, and it looks like something is missing…. or not dramatic enough. Don’t worry, it happens to many dancers, including me. In this video, I’ll show you how to solve this incomplete outfit problem quickly. Let’s get started! Click here to join… Read more →
Got some costumes you inherited from your teacher that don’t fit quite well? Love vintage costumes but need help with altering them? Today I’m super excited to introduce to you a belly dance costume alteration expert, Chani! As you’ll see in this post, she is excellent at taking an old costume and putting new life into it. And her work… Read more →
Whether you make belly dance, ballroom, or wedding dresses, you’re likely to encounter stretch dresses. Decorating stretch dresses or costumes can be tricky because if you don’t do it properly, you can lose the stretch of the fabric or your finished dress can pull in funny directions. So in this video, I’ll show you how I decorated this dress and… Read more →
If you’ve made a costume before, you know every costume has a story. Where the fabric came from, what the inspiration was, how the design transformed in the creation process…. But most often we don’t get to hear these stories. I’m ALWAYS amazed by how my students take what they learned, add their own inspirations and personalities, and create costumes… Read more →
In the last few years, many of you have noticed this trendy look of straps around the torso. These straps not only add sparkles to your belly, but also makes your torso look slimmer by creating this v-shape. It’s super easy to achieve this look, and I’m excited to share it with you in this tutorial. Let’s get started! Click… Read more →