Tag: sewing tips

Meet Chani! – Costume Alteration Expert

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 →

DIY 1 HOUR Belly Dance Costume Challenge! – Part 1: Bra Top

Have you been in a situation where you need a last-minute costume but can’t find anything suitable in your wardrobe? Or where you need a costume in a specific color for a specific show but you KNOW you won’t use it again, so you can’t justify spending lots of money or time creating that costume? Well, I think many of… Read more →

how to avoid sore fingers while hand sewing

How to avoid sore fingers while hand sewing costumes

One of my least favourite things about costume making is getting sore fingers 🙁 So I use my sewing machine for most part, but I usually do these things by hand: Attaching straps to bra cups – because feeding bra cups through a sewing machine can be tricky. Securing fabric to cover bras – because I don’t want stitches to… Read more →

3 Tricks for sewing stretch fabrics and avoiding uneven skirt hem

3 tricks for sewing stretch fabrics (& avoiding uneven skirt hem!)

Want to make this lovely grey skirt? Learn here! For making dance costumes, stretch fabric is essential – it helps us create fitted costumes and gives the flexibility we need for when we move around and dance in it. 🙂 So I have a lot of tutorials where you use stretch fabrics – like this mermaid skirt, Goddess Skirt, and… Read more →

How to Turn a Tube of Fabric without Tube Turner

How to Turn a Tube of Fabric Fast without Tube Turner

We make lots of tubes when we make shoulder straps, ties etc for belly dance costumes. To create a clean looking shoulder strap, you need to sew a tube wrong side out, then turn the tube so the pretty side of the fabric shows. I used to get frustrated when making tubes, because when the tube is narrow like a 1cm wide,… Read more →