What's inside the belt?

To make belt for Oriental costume, I use two layers of cotton fabric to make the base inside. Then I cover the base with another top layer fabric(usually Satin or disco micro dot fabric), sew it on the base with the seam tucked at the back.
Then I attach the backing, usually cotton jersey.

Hagala perfornance photos

I performed Kazafy's Hagala choreography for Kashmir's show on 8th May.
This Hagala costume is acutally beledi dress. I am wearing over skirt on top.

Blue costume

This is another costume I have been working on and it seems I'd never be able to finish...I need to add more sequins then add fringing to the belt.

For this costume, I used an old retro dress which I bought from Charity shop and chopped it up to make the costume base.

Bronze & brown costume

I bought some pretty motifs in Singapore on the way back from Japan.
This is one of costumes I am making at the moment.

The motifs I am using have fringing already, so no fringe making required for this costume. I am hoping to finish this costume for our school's show on 29th May.

How to make costume bra (3)

Now I can show some photos of covering a side panel of bra.

Covering side panels with fabric is the job I hate most, I rather prefer to cover the panels with sequins even if I have to sew them one by one by hand...

To cover a panel with fabric, you have to pin and sew the cup side first.
Then pull the hook end and stretch the panel of the bra(but do not pull the fabric),and sew with binding stitch. After sewing, the fabric on the panel will look gathered up when you let the panel go.
It will be easyer if you have a body of your size to put the bra on then sew the fabric on the panel.

If your bra cup size is between A-C, you can cut the webbing out and decorate the side straps with sequins.

How to make costume bra (2)

Here is the order I cover my bra.
(1)Cover the center bottom fo your bra.(Sorry, no picture)
(2)Cover the webbing(side panels) **make sure to pull the panel as you sew so the panel will stretch
(3)Cover the bottom half of the cups.
(4)Cover the top half of the cups.(but do not sew the joint part with straps yet)
(5)Cover the front part of straps.
(6)Sew the joint part with straps.(of top half of the cups)

How to make costume bra (1)

I was asked by some of my students about the instruction of making bellydance costume bra. You can use "an ordinary (underware)bra with solid cups(full cops prefered),a good support,and two or more hooks at the back" as a base.
If the bra is a plain satin one, sometimes you can find a matched colour satin to make a matched belt, then decorate the bra directly without covering with another fabric. If you don't want to cover the bra with another fabric, just use a plain black bra, because you can always find a black satin without too much problem.

The fabric to cover the bra - you can use; satin, velvet, lycra, disco micro dot, foil, etc.

The photos are examples of simple black bra which is not covered by another fabric, and made a belt with a balck satin then added handmade motifs as decoration.