Padding a belt

I know -- you ware wondering why on earth I have a picture of a stack of panty liners.

I am about to reveal one of the secrets of the belly dancing universe.  If you have had a child, like to eat, or are past “a certain age,” you have a “goddess belly.”  A belly that has  . . . shape.  Curve.  Dimension.  And, as a result, your belt sits under that cute little belly curve that you may not think is so cute, after all.  You have that thing that is jokingly diagnosed as “Dunlap’s disease” where the belly done lapped over the belt.

Hence, panty liners to the rescue!

A good friend taught me this method.  What you need to do is to thicken the belt where it falls under the belly.  This brings the visible edge of the belt forward so that the belly sticks out less, making the belly appear a bit nicer.  To do it, take out a handful of panty liners near a surface like a table or counter.  Start with two as your base layer, but do not peel the backing off, yet.  Arrange them so that the narrow ends are touching, as if you needed a double-long liner.  Now, take one pad, peel the backing off, and lay it on top so that it covers the area where the bottom two meet.  Keep building up in a 2-1-2 pattern, until the entirety is the thickness you need.  I need about 5/8 inch, or 9 pads total.  To check thickness, put on the belt that you are working with and slide in the liner stack (centered under the belly button), look in the mirror, and see if it is enough.  When you are happy, open up the lining of your belt where you want to place the pads and THEN you can peel the backing off of the base liners to expose the sticky part.  Use that sticky part to help position the liners, then sew the belt lining fabric back into place.  Replace pads when your body shape changes or you replace the lining.  And hey, they do help absorb sweat, protecting your hard sewing work!

AND, this method can be used for belts you purchase, too!

(PS: I have also cut them up to use as bra padding, too!)

Here is a view of the finished belt, showing you the thickness added by padding.

Using Draping Fluid to stiffen a Dance Bra

The (is it infamous yet?) “300 Eyed Chemical Monster Bedlah” needed some stiffness to work.  Let’s see if this makes sense:  I was going to cover the entire thing in wiggly eyes.  If the fabric flexed too much, they would pop off (having this issue with the belt after 1 wearing, folks!) and the more rigid the surface, the more my movement would transfer to the eyes.  Draping fluid was in order.

I can’t remember if I first heard about draping fluid from Ozma or from bellydanceforums.net; but, it is basically a very thick glue used to stiffen fabric, as when making bows, little lace hats for dolls, or those lovely little snowflake Christmas ornaments my Mom made when I was a kid.  The directions say to wear gloves, and you should.  I have a box of the simple (almost plastic wrap like) food service gloves I keep on hand for messy projects, and I highly recommend having a box on hand.  The instructions also say to put the fluid in a bowl to work it into the item; but, I have watched enough Good Eats episodes to know that a zip bag will come in handy.  The directions go in to say to cover your mold in plastic wrap, which you REALLY should do, and I also completely lined the baking pan that housed this mess in plastic wrap as well.

The directions do advise that you can thin up to (25, 50%?) – which I may well do next time; and, they say to work it in thoroughly into the fabric.  Bag and gloves did this nicely.  Put garment and fluid in a zip bag.  Prep molding surface with plastic wrap.  While wearing gloves, massage fluid in.  Massage some more.  And more.  Carefully open bag (with gloves on), remove item, and shape onto mold.  Pull gloves off by turning them inside out, toss in messy plastic bag, dispose of mess, and thank yourself for wearing gloves.  Resist temptation to rearrange mold.  Wait until dry, about 24 hours.

The bra came out so hard, you can literally knock on it with your knuckles.  For the first time in my life, I have KNOCKERS!  Literally!

Granted, I could also see where the fluid didn’t work all the way in, giving the fabric an odd translucency.  IF you go full strength when you use this stuff, do consider leaving an edge without the stuff where you will sew.  Because sewing on dried draping fluid is about like sewing DRYWALL.  I had to use a rubber quilter’s grip to get the needle through, and had to push the needle against the table, kitchen counter, or any other hard surface (except my head) to sew it. 

Seemed like a good idea at the time!