3 Steps to Turning Your Belly Dance Costume Professional!

Have you felt like your belly dance costume is incomplete?

You put on a bra, belt, and a skirt, and it looks like something is missing…. or not dramatic enough.

Don’t worry, it happens to many dancers, including me.

In this video, I’ll show you how to solve this incomplete outfit problem quickly. Let’s get started!

Click here to join my FREE course, Belly Dance Costume Making 101!

So this problem often happens when you have a bedlah or a bra and belt set that you made or bought separately from the skirt you’re pairing with. 

I mean, it’s great to have a bra and belt in neutral colors like gold, silver, and nude, especially if you belong to different dance groups or student troupes where you need easy matching costume options.

So what often happens in a troupe is, you decide on the skirts, and you each bring your neutral color bedlah. 

But because the bedlah and skirt come from different sources, they look disconnected. That’s why the outfit looks incomplete.

So let’s solve this, shall we? 

We can make this outfit look more professional in 3 simple steps!

3 Steps to Turning Your Belly Dance Costume More Professional

Step 1: Add armbands

As you can see, my arms look so bare at this point. And the easiest way to solve this is by wearing armbands.

But NOT any armbands. You need armbands that match your skirt. 

Right now the skirt is the only purple in this outfit, which makes it look off-balance. So let’s balance out by adding a purple armband or two.

And already the outfit looks more balanced out. Armbands are great accessories for balancing out a belly dance outfit because they don’t add much weight to the overall look, some of them offer extra coverage if you don’t like to show your arms very much and they will accentuate your beautiful arm movements. 

I have many armband tutorials, so pick your favorite below 🙂 ↓↓

Step 2: Wear accessories

Even with armbands, my chest looks empty, and even though my bra and belt are sparkly, there’s nothing blingy around my face. 

So put on a necklace, earrings, bracelets and large rings. You don’t have to wear all of them, but you CAN wear all of them. Even if you feel it’s too much – which it probably is, if you’re just going grocery shopping – on stage, these accessories look just right.

And they fill up empty areas and balance out the whole look! 

By the way, you can make these accessories yourself! Check the tutorials:

Step 3: Add the color of the skirt on your bra top

Just by following Steps 1 and 2, it’s a huge improvement. But if you have time to do a bit more work, try to add the color of the skirt on your bra top.

There’s a very easy way of doing it. Get a piece of fabric about 25cm x 50cm (10in x 20in) that is the same color as the skirt you’re wearing. If it’s the same fabric, it’s even better!

Fold about 2cm (3/4in) from the top edge towards the wrong side, and place the fabric diagonally.

Take one edge and tuck it under the underwire. It’s up to your preference, but here my fabric is covering the right bra cup a little and half of the left bra cup. Tuck the other side over the side of the left cup. And place pins or clips. 

Then you can just make some folds to make it a purposeful design feature while taking care of the excess fabric. 

Here I decided to layer this pink fabric used in the underlayer of the skirt. I placed this first, then layered the purple fabric on top, so the pink layer shows slightly as it does at the bottom of the skirt. 

Then you can tuck the excess fabric towards the wrong side as I did here, or gather the fabric and take it up the shoulder strap, or twist the fabric for an interesting look… Be creative! There’s really no rule. Just add the matching fabric to your bra top and make it look like a nice design feature.

Once you’re happy with the placement, sew the fabric on the backside of the bra. If you want to make this temporary, just keep stitches long so you can easily remove them after the performance. 

Do a few stitches on the front side to keep the fabric up as you need. Make sure the stitches don’t show.

And trim any excess fabric.

And now you have a bra top that actually goes with your skirt! 

So by following these easy steps, you can turn an incomplete costume into a more professional-looking, thoughtful outfit!

To recap, the steps are, add armbands, wear accessories, and if you have time, add the color of your skirt to your bra top.

Give these 3 steps a try, and let me know how it goes for you!

And if you’re curious how to make the costume I’m wearing, the bra top base is from my Dina Bra from Scratch course, and the belt and bra top decoration were made using techniques shown in the Swirly Belt & Appliques course.

And this pretty purple mermaid skirt is from my brand new course, Daria mermaid skirts course!

In this course, you can learn how to make more elaborate mermaid skirt designs featuring these beautiful, flowy layers and professional finishes. We’ll create a custom pattern, so you can make sure your mermaid skirts fit you very well. I can’t wait to share this course with you!

Learn more about the Daria mermaid skirts here!

Hope you liked this tutorial, and if you did, please share this tutorial with your dancer friends! 

And if you’re inspired to try making some armbands and accessories to go with your costume, check out my free email course, Belly Dance Costume Making 101. You’ll get lots of beginner-friendly projects to try!

Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!

P.S. Pin this image on your costuming 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 here!