Welcome back to week 8 – the last week of Your Sparkly Wardrobe Project, a series where you get fresh costuming ideas for belly dancing so you get more out of costumes that you already have. 😀 In week 7 of Your Sparkly Wardrobe, Mahin showed how to properly store your costumes and safely transport costumes when you travel. It was… Read more →
I like DIY’s using T-shirts. They are easy and cheap to get, and because they are simple, you can do so much with them 😀 In the first episode of Thrifty Belly, we made an off-shoulder peasant crop top out of an old t-shirt. I paired the top with a DIY Turkish vest also made from a t-shirt. I really… Read more →
Happy Friday and welcome back to Your Sparkly Wardrobe Project Week 4! Last week in Your Sparkly Wardrobe, Mahin showed you the really cool costume mix & match technique. If you missed it, check it out here. Now you can mix and match your costumes…but sometimes you need something to tie all pieces together. What completes the nicely put-together look… Read more →
Welcome to Thrifty Belly Episode 1! 😀 Thrifty Belly is a new series we’re starting today where I take old clothes or thrift store finds and transform them into dance costumes. I’ve been getting a lot of requests to do practice wear, and today we’ll take an old oversized t-shirt and transform it into this cute, off-the-shoulder peasant top, which… Read more →
I get costume design inspiration from all kinds of dance (and non-dance) costumes. Now just the other day I was looking at ballroom dance costumes on Pinterest, and I got inspired to create an armband with nude elastic. Nude elastic is used often in dance costumes, and I love how it gives a light feel while keeping things… Read more →
I like Princess Jasmine. Her typical look is not a floor length dress like other Disney princesses. She’s in rather simple harem pants, but she is still gorgeous and that’s what I find unique and attractive about her. And to me, the best part of her outfit is the sleeves. Her sleeves are so flowy, and simply romantic.I’ve always wanted… Read more →
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 →
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 →
Last 2 weeks, we made this simple and pretty baladi dress with a keyhole neckline. But what makes your baladi dress look complete? A sparkly hip scarf, of course! 😀 In this post, which is the last of this baladi dress series, you are going to see how to make this hip scarf that goes with the baladi dress. You… Read more →
Last week I showed you how you can make a custom pattern for a baladi dress using your own shirt. So glad to receive emails and comments from dancers telling me that they are excited about this pattern! 😀 This week, we’ll sew all the pieces together. So let’s get started! Get your FREE keyhole neckline pattern here! Check out… Read more →