Decorating a costume is the best part of costume making. 🙂
You get to be creative and play with all the sparkly items!
But because there are so many embellishment options out there, it can be overwhelming! And once you start decorating, you realize there’s SO MUCH SPACES to fill!
So no matter whether you want to decorate your handmade costume or spice up a boring costume you have, here are 3 best approaches for how to decorate belly dance costumes.
Check out the Bellydance Bundle here and learn how to make beaded appliques!
The Bellydance Bundle has ended, but you can join the Applique Making course from here!
How to Decorate Belly Dance Costumes Guide
Decoration approach #1: Layer fabrics
When talking about decoration, most people go directly to rhinestones and beads, but fabric can be the easiest and quickest way to add more fun to your costume.
For example, you can take your hip scarf and layer it over your skirt…
or your top!
See 22 other ways to use a hip scarf here!
Or you can create a swag to attach to the side of your skirt or make a tail.
Make this skirt with side swags and tail here!
Really, all you need to do is find the right fabric. Sheer fabric like chiffon and shiny fabric are great options for this approach, and it’s also an easy solution for creating matching costumes for troupe members.
But if you want to add more sparkles to your costumes, then….
Decoration approach #2: Sew or add embellishment directly
Take out your sewing kit and get working! You can sew on beads….
Make this Dina Bra from scratch here!
Or sew on pre-made fringe….
Learn how to make beaded fringe and how to do other beading techniques here!
Or glue on rhinestones.
You can use any materials you can think of and glam up your costumes. This approach is fun, but it does require some experience and skills. You have to decide exactly how you want your embellishments to look ahead of time, which can be hard to visualize at first. Also, once the embellishments have been applied, it’s difficult to undo them.
So my favourite decoration approach is this.
Decoration approach #3: Appliques
You can find simple appliques in stores or easily make your own. Appliques are really fun to make, and the making process is actually pretty straightforward.
When you make appliques, each area that you’re decorating is rather small, unlike working on an entire costume, so it’s not as overwhelming for beginners. Once you make one, simply repeat the process to make as many as you like!
The best part about making appliques is that you can test how you want to place your appliques on your costume until you’re happy. Simply take the appliques you made, try different placements on your costume, use pins to hold them, and once you’re happy, you can sew them onto your costume.
It’s definitely not as overwhelming, less risky and much easier to visualize how everything will look together.
Now the next question is, how do you make your own appliques?
Well, I have great news! I have this brand new course on making appliques for costumes, where you can learn what materials to use, how many beads to buy, how to sew on beads to make your appliques look professional and high quality, and beautiful applique designs to try and lots more!
Now, even better, I’ll be launching this new course inside this year’s Bellydance Bundle, so if you join this year’s Bundle, you get this applique course AND dozens of amazing courses and lectures by well-known belly dance instructors around the world!
Learn more about my course and other instructors in the Bellydance Bundle here!
This year’s Bellydance Bundle has closed, but you can still join this applique course here!
And don’t forget to share this exciting info with your dance sisters!
Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling! 😉
P.S. Save this for your future project!
