This is an odd costume to be the
first one I show you here. It is completely impractical -- not really
representative of someone calling herself "the Practical Dancer."
But, it is Halloween, after all.
And, there were a lot of good
techniques used.
It started something like this: I
am sitting at a "Haflaween" a year or so ago, watching performers in
their crazy Halloween / bellydance costumes. And something, some piece of
music, made me thing of putting wiggly eyes on a belt.
Flash forward a year or so, and
my brother- and sister -in- law play a joke on my mother- and father- in law
while they are out of town. They sneak into the house and put wiggly eyes EVERYWHERE.
On the fridge when you open it. On switchplates. On the toilet lid when you
lift it. It was hilarious.
And I just *had* to make a
costume with them. Had to.
So, step one was figuring out how
to attach them. For a while, I had some idea (crazy) about quilting them down
under tulle. That wouldn't work -- it would make them hard to see from a
distance. So, I thought about some kind of clear plastic, lightweight, but like
contact paper that would seal them to the fabric.
You get really strange looks from
the clerks at fabric stores describing a problem like that.
But, bless the ladies at Hancock,
they have a sense of humor. (Mental note, I owe them a trip with the finished
product; I promised after all.)
The clerk there took me to the
glue isle and really recommended Fabric Tack. I had Sobo and (something else)
already; but, 3 is the charm. So, I took the Fabric Tack home for a glue test.
I had 3 dimensions for success:
1. dries clear
2. ease of application (can I
control the squirt?)
3. how well does it hold?
Here are the 3 lined up. The
fabric tack was the hands down winner.
Construction . . . and a LOT of
fumes . . .were in my future.
Knowing that the bedlah was going
to have a white satin cover, I knew I needed an all white bra and belt base (so
I wouldn’t have to cover it twice – once in an underliner and then again with
the cover fabric). Off to Target for a sacrificial bra for underneath. When I
buy bras for use in costumes, I always (now) follow the rule about buying a cup
size that is at least one size up from my streetwear bra size. By that, I mean
that I am a 32 B by day and a 34 or 36 B or C when I sew. Cups do shrink – look
for what that can do when I post about the Turquoise, Copper, and Root Beer
costume, and how upsetting that can be! I also pay attention to cup shape. I
can write more about that later, but you DO need to think about how you will
attach the straps, whether you will turn the cups in (I use this for strapless
bra cups, where I rotate them “in” toward the center by up to 40 degrees so
that they push in rather than up) and how you want the fit to be in general.
In this case, due to the
circumstances below, I knew I needed a cup with a pretty shape that covered
completely, without gaps.
This was because this bra would
have to stand on its own. It needed rigidity, so that the embellishments could
move.
This project required that kind
of thinking through. 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!
It’s not that monster from the
horror movie (what was his name, Pinhead?), it’s how you have to hold the cover
fabric on after you soak the bra in draping fluid. Sewing was a whole ‘nother
proposition. There was a lot of cussing, a lot of washing blood spots out, and
after washing 3 out, a LOT of waiting after every finger prick until the blood
stopped flowing and the sewing could resume. I have learned that many dancers
only make ONE white bra in their day. Guess why?
On to fitting the belt. 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!
(PS: I have also cut them up to
use as bra padding, too!)
The silly part (really, *this* is
the silly part) is that this bra was inspired by a Sahar mirror bra. Heh!
The one eyed spider hair
accessory. The feathers are so light that the float and wiggle like Daddy Long
Legs legs when I dance.
Close up of belt lining, inspired
by the lovely work that Ozma's Costumes
does. This lining is *really* an "inside joke" if there ever was one!
And, in case you wondered how it
moves, here is a little documentary / video silliness I did for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKmxT1lds8U
