Love your handmade belly dance outfits, but feel like something’s missing? Discover the 5 mistakes that could be making your costumes look homemade—and how to fix them for a professional, high-end finish!
Let’s get started!
5 Reasons Why Your Belly Dance Costumes Look Homemade
1. Uneven Outline
Such a common mistake, especially for beginners, and I made this mistake many times myself.
Anything uneven makes your outfit look homemade and amateur, like uneven bra edges, uneven appliqué or embellishment outlines, and uneven skirt hem.
Uneven embellishment is a very common one. You can see on one of the first costumes I made below.
Um… what’s going on here? The line with sequins kinda disappears, and the intention of the designer is not clear at all.
So the fix is very clear. For appliques and embellishments, make sure the shapes you’re creating are crystal clear.
For uneven bra edges, cover the bra cups neatly to create clean, polished edges, or if it’s too difficult, hide the edges with embellishments that go over them, so the uneven outline doesn’t show.
For uneven skirt hem, I have a tutorial on how to create a beautiful, even hem, so have a look at it here.
2. Using Only Sequins to Embellish Your Costumes
Embellishment takes a long time, and it’s tempting to use pre-strung sequins to add sparkle to your outfits, but these sequins often make them look homemade, flat and unprofessional.
Here’s another one of my first costumes. The top half of this pink bra was mainly covered with pre-strung sequins, and as you can see, it looks flat and cheap.
It’s not that you can’t use pre-strung sequins, but think about layers of mixtures.
Mix textures, like adding a layer of lace over lycra, or mix chiffon, mix beads and rhinestones, and fringe. Mixing these elements creates more depth in your costume design and makes it look more sophisticated.
3. Wrinkled skirt
This is such an easy thing to fix, but I’ve seen professional dancers or costume stores show wrinkled skirts!
But look at the difference! The wrinkled skirt just doesn’t look elegant, and doesn’t even flow and catch lights in the same way as the ironed, wrinkle-free skirt.
So make sure to iron or steam your skirt before your show. Your veil too 😉
4. Not enough decorations
This is a newbie mistake that I made countless times, and I still do, because the balance of minimalism and ‘I’m-too-tired-to-decorate-anymore’ is so tricky.
But normally, you’ll be performing some meters away from people, so small and sparse decorations won’t even be visible! Look at my old costumes again.
I should have used more strands of beads, so the design intentions are clearer. This bow is cute, but there’s nothing connecting the bow with this plain belt base.
Same below, heavier swag or mixing in larger beads here would have looked better. There is a beaded tassel on the belt, but you can’t even see it. From far away, it’s practically a plain red bedlah.
So the solution is, again, to mix textures. And if you tend to run out of steam as you decorate your outfits, try sequin fabric, embroidered fabric, lace fabric, or printed fabric. These fabric options will do half of the work for you.
Or you can also layer accessories. They really do a good job filling up those empty places on your body, and complete your outfit from head to toe.
5. Ill-Fitting Outfits
Even if you have a $1000 outfit, if it doesn’t fit you well, it won’t look great or professional. Same for handmade outfits.
This one was a store-bought bedlah. The fringe was too long for my body, the bra and belt were fixed, but they weren’t fitting perfectly.
Compare it with this one. This is fully handmade by me, and fits me perfectly. And it looks more professional and expensive, doesn’t it?
Your bra should fit you well and give you support, your belt should hug you nicely and not move around as you dance, and your skirt should be just the right length so you won’t trip over the hem.
To me, this is the most important factor in creating costumes that make you feel beautiful and confident, and it is my mission as a costume-making instructor to show you how to make well-fitting belly dance outfits. So let’s get in the habit of making your outfits based on your measurements.
And if you need help with creating belly dance outfits that fit you really well, check out Sparkly Belly’s All-Access Membership.
With All-Access Membership, you get instant access to all my courses — 19 and counting, with over 32 designs! Customize each piece to your unique measurements and budget, and create the perfect, professional outfits for your style.
Curious? Check it out here!
So, try adding these elements to costumes you already have, and have fun transforming them from homemade to high-end!
And if you liked this video, you might also enjoy my How to Make an Even Hem on a Skirt tutorial, since this is the first step towards creating a professional-looking costume.
Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!
P.S. Pin this image on your costume idea board!
Like what you read? Want to make more costuming bits yourself?
Learn more and sign up for my free email course, Belly Dance Costume Making 101