We’ve all been there, you’re shimmying along and POP! The unimaginable has happened. Your bellydance costume bra strap has popped or your belt came undone, or a myriad of other costuming malfunctions.
Now, it would be easy for me to say that if you’d had a custom costume made by me then you wouldn’t have had an issue. But even i, as much as I pore over costumes and test designs before releasing them to customers, are not perfect.
So how can you avoid these mishaps or lesson their chance of occurring? Well, here are some tips.
1. Always do a once over. After each performance, take the time to check your costumes. In theater, they have costumers backstage for a reason. They keep track of them, make sure they ar ready to go for the next performance. While ours may be personal, a theater costume could be worn by 20 different people. Check to see if any beads are loose, fringe has come undone, wiggle your stones to make sure they are still set in their prongs properly.
2. Reinforce everything. Even if you used a lot of string to put in your hooks, check it again. Over time the pull of you dancing and your heat and body sweat can lay havoc to string causing it to become weak. Your’e worried about it coming undone and you could lose the whole hook altogether!
3. Rehearse in your costume. I know that some of us do this but not all. You never know what is going to happen when you bust out that new move. This is when you may discover that the skirt moves the slit to the side at an unflattering angle. That your bra strap slips. Better to have any issues come out in rehearsal than in front of an audience. We can’t prevent everything but we may be able to prevent things from happening. Also, this will give you a chance to see if your body heat will cause anything to be looser than it originally was when you purchased the costume or from the last time you may have worn it.
Last but not least
4. Safety pins are your best friend. When it doubt safety pin it. I am not saying that safety pins should be used in replacement of a needle a thread (you know who you are!!) but in a pinch they can. Also they can be used to keep things together- your bra- or to keep them from falling- your belt. A tip on the skirts, do not pin them to your underwear. I know that some will say to do that but one surefire way to show the audience your butt is for your skirt to take your underwear with it!
I hope that these tips have helped you or at least given you something to think about the next time you put on a costume. If you’re looking for your first custom order and you’ d like to chat, feel free to shoot me an email. I’d love to talk costumes with you!