The best part of my job is seeing my students’ creations š It’s quite magical when costumers combine what they learned in my courses and their creativity, and create their very own belly dance costumes. I often learn from them too! Let me show you what I mean. Here are 9 of my students and their beautiful creations! Sparkly Belly… 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 →
I shared the sparkly necklace DIY perfect for belly dancers and ballroom dancers with you last month, and so many of you came to my site and downloaded the free pattern! And some of you requested a bracelet to go with it, which is an awesome idea! So in this tutorial, let me show you how I made this beautiful,… 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 →
I often look at different dance costume designs other than belly dancing to get new ideas that I can bring to the belly dance world. And Iām in love with ballroom jewelry š They’re really sparkly and gorgeous, but the problem is, I can’t find any tutorials on how to make them! So I made my own sparkly swirly armband… Read more →
What accessories do you wear with your dance costume? š In the last couple of posts, I showed you how Iām decorating this costume, and I wanted to make a matching hair accessory. So hereās a cute and easy hair clip to make, and the best part is, it wonāt fall off even if you shake your head, which makes… Read more →
Remember this costume I used to show how to sew on beaded appliques? š Well, I decided to jazz it up with this vibrant yellow lace fabric š In this video, youāll see how I created this drape sleeve which continues over to the bra cup. Itās easy to do and very pretty! Letās get started! To make this lace… Read more →
So I opened my DIY Applique Kit shop a little while ago, and people love the kits because they come with everything you need to create beautiful appliques yourself! š But some of them asked, āHow do I attach the appliques to a costume?ā A very good question š In this post, Iāll show you exactly… Read more →
You know I love making beaded appliques and using them for decorating my costumes š But finding the right beads and the right stones can be challenging, and often I donāt know where to buy them or how many beads to buy to make appliques. š It turns out, many costumers face the same challenge! I… Read more →
When I make beaded appliques, I like to mix in aĀ rhinestone chain. š Rhinestone chains are great for defining the shape of the applique, which is a big plus for dance costumes. (Vague shapes don’t show well on stage.) And of course, rhinestone chains add lots of shine, and they are much quicker to sew on than… Read more →