Welcome back to the Perfectly Fitting Costume Guide! To quickly recap, here are the last 2 parts from the Guide: Part 1: 10 Ways to Make Your Belly Dance Bra Work Part 2: 3 Perfectly Fitting Belt Tips Part 3: This post! It makes me nervous when my skirt waist is a liiiittle bit too big. It appears… Read more →
Does your belt move around when you dance? – Perfectly Fitting Costume Guide 2/3
Welcome back to the Perfectly Fitting Costume Guide! In the first part of this Guide, you saw Part 1: 10 ways to make your belly dance bra work. So you’ve got many ways to make sure your bra looks nice on you. Now what about your belt? To me, there’s nothing more frustrating than noticing my belt is way off centre… Read more →
10 Ways to Make Your Belly Dance Bra Fit (with minimal sewing!) – Perfectly Fitting Costume Guide 1/3
What is the #1 costuming challenge I hear from Sparkly Belly readers? It’s fitting. Fitting costumes, finding the right size and right length, scaling patterns, not sure how to alter etc… But there are many tricks you can easily use to create much better fit! So over the next few posts, I’ll share with you the Perfectly… Read more →
Inside the Belly Dance Costume Workshop
Last week I announced that the enrolment to my online Belly Dance Costume Workshop (BDCW) is opening on May 22, 2016. I’ve been receiving messages and questions from excited dancers 🙂 If you have questions about the workshop, feel free to email me at mao@sparklybelly.com. I’m happy to answer your questions, and it’s great to know what you are wondering… Read more →
First ever… Sparkly Belly Scholarship
First ever… Sparkly Belly Scholarship Empowering belly dancers and helping them make their own costumes – that’s my mission at Sparkly Belly. The Sparkly Belly Scholarship is for someone who really wants to learn how to make costumes that fit their uniquely beautiful body. The scholarship will help you achieve that by giving you a full tuition to my Belly… Read more →
3 Big Announcements (hint: first-ever… scholarship!)
The weather is getting warmer, and it’s time to think about costumes for summer performances! Or in you’re in the southern hemisphere, think about winter holiday performances 😉 Either way, now is a good time to start making costumes for the upcoming season. So in that spirit, I have 3 big announcements for you today. Announcement #1… Enrolment of the… Read more →
Preciosa vs Swarovski rhinestones – Where to buy rhinestones, comparison, cheap alternative
Rhinestones are your best friend when you make dance costumes. But it can be overwhelming to know which one to buy. I often buy rhinestones from Dreamtime Creations. and since I was buying some rhinestones for a project the other day, I thought to buy one of different brands to compare the quality and colours and share my observations with… Read more →
How to Use a Glue Syringe – glue applicator syringe for rhinestones
Here’s an honest disclaimer – This post contains some affiliate links. This means that if you click on the links and purchase products, I earn a small commission (no additional cost to you). The small commission I earn keeps all the Sparkly Belly tutorials free 🙂 No obligation, just an option. Thanks! Last week I showed you how to make… Read more →
DIY Grape Vine Appliques – curly wire rhinestone appliques for dance costumes
I’ve been curious about those curly rhinestone appliques used to decorate belly dance costumes, often by Russian designers. And lots of dancers have been asking how to make these on Facebook. They are so cute and help you create beautiful, romantic designs. It took me a while, but I finally figured out how to make them, and in this video, you’ll… Read more →
8 Projects to Recycle Fabric Scraps for Belly Dancers
Last week I shared with you this book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which helped me clean up my place including my sewing station. It was great to hear many of you are also starting spring cleaning and have seen the awesome effect of the Konmari Method explained in the book 😀 If you haven’t tried, I highly… Read more →