DIY Sash Style Belly Dance Costume Design – Easy belly cover!

Looking for ideas to cover up your belly? 😉

Sometimes as a belly dancer, you may want a bit of coverage over your torso.

Belly stockings are a great option, but you may not want to completely cover up.

So in this post, I’ll share with you this partial belly coverage that you can incorporate into your costume design. 😀

The added fabric not only provides the coverage over your torso, it also helps create a beautiful and elegant style. The best part is, it’s super easy and beginner-friendly. Let’s get started!

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To make this sash design, you need:

Lightweight stretch fabric – I’m using stretch lace here. You can use other types of stretch fabric, but I recommend lightweight, so it drapes and gathers nicely. You need about 1m.

Or if you want a really light look, you can use sheer fabric like chiffon. But I recommend cutting it on a bias so the fabric has a bit of give and it’ll move with your body comfortably and drapes nicely. If you use chiffon, you may need more than 1m.

Matching colour thread

How to make DIY sash style belly dance costume

First, cut your fabric into about 10in x 20in (25cm x 50cm).

Fold the long sides about 3/8in (1cm) towards the wrong side, and do a zigzag stitch.

Then do a basting stitch about 1in (2.5cm) from the top edge. Basting stitch is a simple straight stitch with the longest stitch length. And leave the threads long at both ends.

Next,  if you have a dress form, put the costume on it, or if you don’t, simply put on your costume and have a mirror ready.

Place the sewn edge of the fabric around the end of a bra cup, and the basting stitch should be about 1/4in (5mm) above the bottom of the bra up. Place a pin there to hold it in place. Be careful not to poke yourself here.

Similarly, place the other edge near the other end of the bra cup and place a pin.

Then, hold one of the threads from the basting stitch, and gently pull it. This makes the fabric to gather. You can take a thread from the other end to gather the fabric as well. Gather the fabric until it’s about the same length as the bottom of the bra cup, and place a couple of more pins to keep it in place.

Now take the other end of the fabric, and decide where to place it. You can place it on the waistband of your skirt or you can connect it to a matching belt. Here I’m using a matching skirt.

Take the end of the fabric diagonally across your torso, and make it so that it’s not too tight but not too loose unless you actually want it to be loose and drape over your torso. Tuck the fabric on the inside of the waistband so you can see what it looks like better in the mirror.

Here, if you want a lot of coverage, you can keep the fabric wide like this. Or if you want less coverage, you can gather it up and keep it narrow.

Once you like the placement, place a few pins at the waistband to hold the fabric in place. And move your chest and hips around to make sure the fabric doesn’t restrict your movement. If it does, try loosening up the fabric.

Next, take a fabric marker, and mark along the top of the waistband on the fabric. Then remove the pins and move the pins to the waistband to mark the ends of the fabric. And take off your costume.

Back to the sewing table. Do another basting stitch about 1/4in (5mm) below from the line you drew. It’s not going to be a perfect straight line, and it’s okay. Use the line as a rough guide.

Gather the fabric so that it’s the same width as what you marked on the waistband.

Align the line and top of the waistband, and stitch the fabric in place. If you’re sewing on to a stretch waistband like I am here, make sure to use a zigzag stitch that stretches.

And trim excess fabric.

For the bra, take off the pins and carefully place it back in the same place except that the excess fabric is on the wrong side. Then stitch the fabric in place.

And you have a beautiful design feature that covers your torso partially!

Now, this is quite pretty and gives nice coverage, but here’s a bonus idea 🙂

Take 1 more strip of fabric, same size as the first one and prepared exactly like the first one.

Place it over the bottom of the bra cup, just like how we did earlier, but this time the basting stitch is 1/4in (5mm) below the bra cup.

Gather the fabric and place pins, and tuck the end to the wrong side.

Take the rest of the fabric along the bra cup, gather it around the bottom of the shoulder strap, and distribute the fabric nicely.

Place the gathered section at the bottom of the shoulder strap, and you can trim the fabric here and tuck the ends towards the wrong side of the bra cup, or take the rest up along the shoulder strap like I did here.

And at the bottom of the bra cup and shoulder strap, stitch the gathering in place.

Next, take another strip of fabric, same width but this time as long as you like, and prepare by sewing the long edges and doing a basting stitch.

Gather up the end and place it at the waistband of your skirt. Hand stitch it in place using a zigzag stitch and trim it to your preferred length, and hem at the bottom edge.

As you can see, if you want to add extra strips over the bra and skirt like this, you’ll have to do it before you sew on the strip that goes over your torso.

Now you have a whole costume with the added lace strips, and it has a more cohesive look. It’s a great design if you’re short or if you don’t want to look wide, as the added fabric creates a more vertical line.

You can add appliques like this to hide connecting points if you like.

You can make all of these pieces out of 1 strip of fabric too, but it’s definitely easier to adjust the fit and placement when you use 3 separate pieces.

Just strips of fabric can really spice up a plain costume, and this one is super easy. Just grab some scrap fabric and give it a try! Of course, you can decorate these fabrics with beads and rhinestones so they look more sparkly!

Hope you liked DIY sash style belly dance costume design. Everyone has a few things they want to cover up on their bodies, and it’s okay! The important thing is, you empower yourself with ideas like this and knowledge to make yourself look and feel good! And remember to highlight the parts of your body that you love!

Be sure to share this video with your dancer friends as your next costuming idea! And if you make a costume inspired by this tutorial, share your creation on Sparkly Belly’s Facebook group! 

And in my next post, I’ll share with you 7 ways to add coverage over your torso. If you’re curious, be sure to subscribe to my newsletter below, so you won’t miss it.

Click here to subscribe and receive the coverage tips in your inbox!

Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!

P.S. Pin this image for your future project!

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