Making Belly Dance Costumes

make YOUR ultimate belly dance outfit!

This lens will help you find patterns, sewing tips and suggestions for making your own belly dance costume, including how to make tassels or how to sew on mirrors for your belly dancing belt.

There are also links to sites that sell ready-made belly dance costumes for those who want to embellish or only make part of their belly dance outfit.

Whether you do Egyptian, cabaret, Turkish or tribal belly dance, this lens has something for you!

belly dancing costume info:

the table of contents for this lens

If you're working on a costume, be sure to mark this lens as one of your favorites, and then you'll have the ultimate belly dancing costume resource ready whenever you need it!

Belly Dance Costuming Books
Pattern Links
Coin Accents
Making and Decorating Your Tassel Belt
Homemade Panel Skirt
Tribal Tassels and Textiles
Shisha Embroidery
Construction and Sewing Tips
Beautiful Costume Inspirations
Costume Sites
Tribal DVDs
Costuming Tips and Comments

Belly Dance Costuming Books

Most of these books specialize in one aspect of creating a belly dance costume. Many dancers take ready-made bras and belt forms and then cover and embellish them to create the appearance they want, which can save a lot of time and effort if you aren't a sewing pro.

Costuming from the Hip

by: Dawn Devine Brown, Barry Brown

Avg. Customer Rating:

Amazon Price: $22.95 (as of 11/10/2009)
List Price: $22.95

Usually ships in 1 to 2 months

From Turban to Toe Ring

by: Barry Brown, Dawn Devine Brown

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Amazon Price: $22.95 (as of 11/10/2009)
List Price: $22.95

Usually ships in 24 hours

Embellished Bras: Basic Techniques

by: Dawn Devine Brown

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Amazon Price: $21.99 (as of 11/10/2009)
List Price: $21.99

Usually ships in 24 hours

Pattern Links

find just the pattern you need!

Here are some really comprehensive pattern links. Lots of them are listed online for free. There are skirts, pantaloons, cholis, ghawazee coats, accent scarves, hip belts and accessories galore. And be sure to check out the "franken-choli" tutorial and learn to recycle an old shirt into a new dance top!

Belly Dancing Costume Patterns: Where To Get Them: Although mainstream pattern companies do sell "harem girl" patterns, usually in the back of their catalog under "Halloween Costumes", their patterns are rarely suitable for use as belly dancing costumes. They start with the assumption that the person buying the pattern will probably use it to make an outfit that will be worn only once, on Halloween, and then discarded. Consequently, clothes made from such patterns are usually ill-fitting and not well suited to moving vigorously while wearing them. They bear little or no resemblance to what "real" belly dancers actually wear.
Belly Dance Costuming: In this section are websites that contain directions and patterns on making Belly Dance costumes and websites that sell Belly Dance patterns. Have fun creating your own costumes.
Dancing Patterns.: habithat.co.uk sells sewing patterns including national costumes, medieval costumes, Dancing Patterns.
Belly dance costume: Alexandra's Skirts: Belly dance skirts made easy with Delilah's tricks and tips from her Bellydance Costume workshop. Learn how to make a pattern that you can use over and over again.
Choli Pattern: Choli Pattern, adaptable to many sizes
Turbans, Tassels and Tattoos! - Free Choli Pattern: Here is my very own FREE pattern for a backless choli. It is made in stretch panne velvet, is very comfortable... and takes just one and a half hours to sew!
ethnicpatterns.com - Belly Dancing Sewing Patterns: Ethnic and worldwide sewing patterns.
Costumes: Harem Pants & Cabaret Skirt: Costume Tips from Sheikhani, Harem Pants & Cabaret Skirt
Belly Dance Costume: Free Choli Pattern: Black Swan Tribe: Free Choli Pattern for panne velvet choli or stretch velour choli
Bellydance Patterns: These patterns are produced by Atira Fashions, formerly Jehlor Patterns. The actual patterns themselves have not changed, what has changed are cover illustrations. A knock-yourself-out selection of bellydance and folkwear to choose from!
MidEast Ethnic Patterns: Online patterns and instructions for a Ghawazee coat, Shalwar, Blouse and Hip Belt.
frankencholi tutorial: make a choli out of a fitted tee shirt - great for bellydance, yoga, or a summer day

Coin Accents

the classic costume jingles

I've learned there are two types of dancers in the belly dance world: the ones who buy bags of accent coins and sew them onto hip scarves, and those who buy coin scarves from the people patient enough to sew them. eBay can help you with either option.

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Making and Decorating Your Tassel Belt

Here you'll find links for how to make your own hip belt, including making tassels, cowrie falls, yarn fringe and much more. I've tried to include links to just about any kind of tassel you can craft.

The Art of Tassel Making: Here is a fun and easy technique for making belly dance tassels.
Free "How To Make Tassels" Instructions from Fiber Images: Very simple and clear technique for tassel-making with illustrations.
(auralynne) how to make a tribal tassel - tribe.net: directions and illustrations for making your own tribal tassels
How To Make A Hip Scarf: This link is a PDF on how to make a hip scarf, so if you click on it, your browser will begin to download a file.
How to Make A Cabaret Belt: Caberet Belts are best used in a night club setting and for most private parties.
Corset Belts: The Pattern: Tempest's Corset Belt is a unique costuming element and corseting system for the hips that allows for a close, comfortable, and firm fit that truly conforms to your body and stays put!
Tassel belts, a variety of colors and forms.: Tassel belts are an integral part of an American Tribal Style Belly dancer's costume wardrobe. They can be almost any shape, the only limitation is your imagination.
isew.co.uk - Tantalising Tassels: How to make a ribbon tassel
How to make a Tassel: How to make yarn tassels, with great instructions for making the pattern/guide so you can make a whole bunch that match.
Try Your Hand at Tassels: Instructions for making tassels using rayonette fringe.

Homemade Panel Skirt

beautiful accessories don't have to break the bank

a recipe for a thrifty panel skirt

My homemade panel skirt is a great example of how a fun and funky belly dance accessory can be created from thrift store finds and with a minimum of sewing skills! What you see here is the inside and outside waistband of my panel skirt.

The panels are from a table runner/fringed piece of cloth I found at the Goodwill for less than $1.

The waistband/hip ties are scrap fabric that was leftover from a pillow project my mom had sewn.

The silver dangles were earring/accents I found at a neighborhood jewelry store when they were having a clearance sale. Each packet of eight dangles cost me about $2.50.

The silk "yo-yos" were found at a street fair and were 12 for $10. I picked interesting blues, taupes and grays and improvised from there.

Altogether, that puts my materials costs somewhere in the $16-17 range. The waistband required that I know how to sew in a straight line and the dangles were sewn on by hand afterwards. Total construction time was maybe an hour, and I did the hand sewing while watching a couple of DVD movies at home.

How easy is that?! Keep an eye out for bits and pieces that you can assemble and it's very easy to make parts of your own dance costume very cheaply.

Tribal Tassels and Textiles

Accents and elements which incorporate cowrie shells, tassels and all sorts of tribal details, along with ready-to-wear tribal hip belts.

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Shisha Embroidery

how to sew mirrors onto fabric

Shisha is the traditional name for mirror embroidery, as found in India and the Middle East. It was thought to help trap and/or ward off the "evil eye." I've always loved how it looks and finally decided to learn now to do it myself.

Here are some great instructions for how to do Shisha. These are the directions I used to do the embroidery you see below. What you are looking at is my belly dance belt in progress.

shisha - 1

shisha - 2

shisha - 3

shisha - 4

curated content from Flickr

Construction and Sewing Tips

These links are for construction and sewing, focusing on tops (choli), pants and skirts.

Learn to Dance - Learn to Sew: Not long after I started belly dancing I discovered three fundamental principles of costuming: (i) costumes are expensive, (ii) no matter how high the quality, constant repairs to the beading and sequins is required, and (iii) some things (e.g. great historic replicas) can not be bought. It was out of necessity that I began beading and sewing.
Sewing for belly dance | sewing and tailoring: making belly dance costumes for the beginner.
Choli for Roxane: A Choli Fit for a Queen...Well the biggest inspiration for this project is that I'm hopelessly anal retentive, and I love things that are shiny! That makes the Indian embroidery form called zardozi absolutely perfect. Zardozi is a style of embroidery that uses metal threads, coils, spangles, and ot
Belly Dancing: Costume Corner: Tons of how-to articles on Belly Dance costuming
frankencholi tutorial: make a choli out of a fitted tee shirt - great for bellydance, yoga, or a summer day
TUTORIAL: Shirt into Peasant Shirt - a set on Flickr: This top has adjustable sleeves and an adjustable top so that it can be worn for dance or any piratey/ren faire costume event.

This top is created from a secondhand shirt. Depending upon the type of/size/fabric shirt you use your results may be different.

Beautiful Costume Inspirations

belly dancer photo gallery

There are many different cultural variations to how a belly dancer might dress, depending on which form of belly dance they are performing. Here are some pictures to give you ideas and let you see some of the wonderful outfits found in the world of belly dancing.

belly dancin' at the...

2009 Renaissance Fes...

Chani Sword Maiden

New York Renaissance...

Belly dancer at the...

Sam dances

Belly Boys at Hank's...

Ole! (IMG_3144a)

Wow! Carrie is the e...

Aksana doing a lovel...

Twirling skirt (IMG_...

Belly dancer at the...

Kicking up the dust...

Belly dancer at the...

automatically generated by Flickr

Costume Sites

For those who would rather buy a belly dance costume

Here are links to ready-to-wear belly dance clothing and costumes. A very vibrant community of "one woman" sewing operations are thriving online and selling at regional events.

Sugar Petals Dance Accessories Home Page: A great source for belly dance costume items. Sugar Petals carries costume parts for the do-it-yourself dancer as well as finished items.
Belly Dance Costume & Dancing Supply with Moondance: MOONDANCE BELLY DANCE & BELLY DANCING COSTUME SUPPLIES: The inexpensive way to shop for belly dance & dancing supplies, including: jewelry, hip scarves, coins, bells, bras, belts, music, books, veils, skirts, harem pants, music and more. Free jewelry gift with every order.
The Belly Dance Shop - Costumes, Hip Scarves, Veils...: belly dance costume, hip scarves, belly dancing, harem pants, costume jewelery, zills, veils.
Oasis Dance Company: The highest quality belly dance costume, belly dancing imports, costume supply, world musical instruments, video, music, finger cymbal zills at the best prices, and everything for belly dance
Belly Dance Hip Scarves - Costumes - Dancing Isis Wings by Isis Exchange: belly dance hip scarf, Egyptian costume, belly dancing Scarves, Skirts, Choli Tops, harem pants, costume jewelery, zills, veils and coins all handmade direct from the manufacturer Isis Exchange.
Flying Skirts Tribal Belly Dance Costumes: The Flying Skirts line is known for high quality construction, gorgeous colors, natural fibers, authentic tribal embellishments
Desert Dancer Imports: From pantaloons to flying tier skirts, cholis, fringe belts, dreads, and even turban pins; we have it all here for you. If you want to do some creating on your own, we have some tools to help you do that also. Please let me
know if I can help you in any way, this is what I love to do; make dancers feel beautiful in their costumes.