Attractive swaying of the hips, curving movements of the abdomen, a mysterious look, grace and plasticity, all this characterizes the most popular belly dance of all times. One of its important components is the dancer's impressive outfit. It is distinguished by its ability to emphasize the advantages of a figure and hide its shortcomings. Oriental costumes differ from each other in their elements, but are always magnificent and brilliant.
Costume base
Typical stage oriental belly dance costumes are based on a base that includes a bodice and a belt. Why is it convenient to create such a foundation? The bodice and belt can be worn with a variety of bloomers and skirts. If the base of the suit is made in gold or silver colors, the trousers and skirt can be of any color. If the base is made, for example, in emerald or purple, the skirt for this outfit should be chosen to match.
A less expensive costume for beginner dancers would be one that is decorated with sequins and beads, as well as bugles, coins, fringe, braid and beads. Inexpensive acrylic stones can be added. In a more expensive version, Swarovski stones are used on jewelry. You can find a copy of the stones in the Chinese version. They are also glass, the quality is no worse, and the colors are different. All that remains is to decide on the color that will be the basis for the oriental beauty’s costume.
Clothes for oriental dances
The delightful and familiar oriental decoration is called Beledi. It consists of a traditional circle skirt, bodice and loincloth. Its appearance is due to Hollywood films of the 1930s, in which the image of the seductress of the East attracted widespread attention and gained unprecedented popularity among viewers.
Components
The skirt can be tailored in various options: “sun”, “half-sun”, straight “fish”, with slits and a high or low waist. To sew this part of the costume, light flowing material is used, creating the impression of a train during the dance.
In addition to a skirt, wide trousers can also be used as a bottom, effectively emphasizing the roundness of the hips. This item usually has a low waist and ruching at the ankles.
The bodice is the upper part of the robe, usually open, and with push-up to visually improve the shape of the chest and give it additional volume. Thanks to its tight fit and elegant decor in the form of fringe, rhinestones, beads and sparkles, maximum spectator attention is drawn to the chest during the dance.
Classic suits of this kind have an open belly, but there are models in which this part of the body is covered with a veil. A scarf or belt is a mandatory element in a dancer’s clothing; they are usually decorated with monists, beads or other luxurious decorative elements. These details, thanks to their melodic ringing during body movements, help to enhance the rhythm of the dance.
As a rule, traditional stage oriental costume does not include shoes; dances are performed barefoot. Despite this, modern dances allow shoes that do not exclude high heels.
Varieties and colors
Ethnic outfits for oriental dances are more modest options . Since women are not allowed to show half-naked bodies to the public, they simply decorate their loosely tailored clothes with a beautiful loincloth or scarf that emphasizes their movements. The costumes of representatives of different countries differ significantly from each other.
For example, for a Turkish woman it includes a shirt made of thin material (gemlek), trousers, a fitted caftan (entari) and a jacket (jelek).
Dancers from Israel, Syria and Lebanon wear a loose-fitting robe dress (toba) made from thin cotton with wide sleeves. This robe is designed for hot climates and serves as protection from the sun's rays. Rhinestones, embroidery and coins are usually used as decorations. In Egypt, this kind of costume consists of a long dress-shirt (galabey), decorated with embroidery and laces.
As for the colors, they can be completely different. The golden color can shimmer while dancing, the white color favorably emphasizes tanned skin. Black clothing, decorated with gold details, embodies the sexuality inherent in oriental women. The red color immediately attracts attention with its brightness.
Modern designers offer an unlimited number of models of costumes for oriental dances; when choosing them, you should be guided by personal preferences.
How to make a bodice?
If the costume is for an adult girl, you need to buy a regular bra, one size larger than the dancer’s bust. Why more? Because after the bodice is trimmed with decorations, it will shrink both under the bust and in the cup itself. Some girls who practice oriental dancing prefer to sew the bodice themselves, purchasing cups from the store. But this is a very difficult job. It’s easier to choose a ready-made bra for your chest, and then use it to make a bra for a suit. You should pay attention to how it sits on your chest. If something is wrong, it is better to choose a different bra.
First of all, cut it as shown in the photo below. We cover the cups with fabric selected for the suit. To do this, place the fabric face down on the cup to make darts. They are marked in the photo with a dashed red line. Sew them on a typewriter. We turn the fabric right side out and put it on the cup, trim off the excess fabric just enough to fold it inward and hem it.
Side straps are made as follows. Make a cut of the cut side straps on any dense material, lengthening it in the fastener area. This is done in order to have a fixed length of the strap, and not stretched, as in a bra. Place this cut on dublerin or any adhesive fabric. Trim excess fabric.
Using an iron, iron the adhesive base to the wrong side of the fabric that will be used to cover the side straps. Fold the side strap placed on the adhesive base with the fabric. Fold the fabric and stitch. The edge that will be sewn to the cup is processed with a zigzag. The photo shows that the edge with the clasp is not turned up. It is drawn up at the end of the work, when the bodice is ready and the comfortable length of the straps has been determined. At the ends, hooks for fastening or loops are sewn into which the lacing is pulled, which is convenient for adjusting the tension. The shoulder straps are made to the length required, from finishing fabric set on an adhesive backing, and can be decorated in the same way as the bodice itself.
Sleeve in a suit
There is one more detail to the oriental costume for girls - sleeves in the form of lanterns. They are usually made from the same fabric as the skirt or harem pants. They give the dancer grace in dance. The flashlight is made either as a separate element of the costume, or is sewn to the shoulder strap. The sleeve should not fit the arm, but be fluffy. In this case, in combination with a skirt or trousers, it will look rich. The sleeve may have an unstitched cut along the upper part. The cut can be used to make the same decorations as the cut sides of the trousers.
Belt for oriental costume
You can use felt for the base of the belt. There is a softer one, but it will not hold its shape as well as the denser one. But thin ones can also be used by folding them in several layers. You need to buy felt in a large size (it is usually sold in pieces). It should be enough to form the hip belt of an oriental costume. The simplest option is when a narrow belt is made. You can make it a wave. It is better to create a belt in two parts: front and back. When sewing, you need to make a small margin so that, if necessary, the belt can be slightly increased or decreased. Usually the reserve is made on the side in the fastener.
Sheathing material
The next stage is the selection of material with which the base of the oriental costume will be trimmed. As a rule, this can be supplex fabric, from which swimsuits are sewn. The entire bra is covered with this fabric, not just the cup, so it is important that it does not lose elasticity and stretch. This fabric is also used on the belt, only in this case it does not stretch, but is fixed according to the felt belt pattern.
Many people use satin, thick silk and velvet as lining materials. Undoubtedly, these fabrics look very beautiful, but they are more suitable for sewing the base for children's oriental costumes, where there is no bra, and the upper part is sewn in the form of a cut-down blouse covering the chest. Moreover, the more beautiful the fabric, the less effort you need to put into decorating it. In a suit for a girl, you can sew a belt together with trousers, as in the photo below.
How to sew an oriental or Arabic scheherazade costume
There are many ideas on the Internet that you can take as an example.
It is necessary to select the material from which the outfit will be made. To make the product bright, fabric with sequins, satin or velvet is suitable. Then you need to do the following:
- Choose a pattern;
- Determine dimensions;
- Cutting and sewing the product itself. This does not require any additional tools such as an awl. Everything is done very simply and from silky fabric.
Homemade suit for an adult woman
Costume design
After the base of the costume is covered with material, you need to start decorating. You should decide what will be sewn or glued on the bodice and belt of the oriental costume. Beaded stones with hanging beads look much richer than a sequined suit. The work of embroidering sequins in combination with beads is the most labor-intensive. The bodice of the suit is decorated with the selected material.
There are belts that have a relief pattern with curved ends, as in the photo below. If you are going to sew an oriental dance costume with your own hands with a complex belt that contains cut-out parts, you need to think about how to make the openwork part solid. No matter how dense the fabric of the belt is, under the weight of the embroidery it will sag and the back surface will be visible. Here you need clamps, they can be wire or whalebone. In this case, the shape will hold.
The belt in the photo has intricate embroidery, and the hanging is made not with tassels, but with waves of small beads. The belt of an oriental costume has a center at the back. The front part of the belt does not have a center, this is convenient for the case when a young dancer gains or loses some weight and needs to increase or decrease the volume in the side seam.
The flower depicted in front lies as if on the side and looks impressive. It is more difficult to make changes to a belt centered in front and behind if the dancer's size changes. Therefore, before you start embroidering a belt, you should think about the above problem. You can make a fastener at the back using two strong Velcro strips. In this case, there is no need to embroider or narrow the belt. Just move the Velcro. It won’t be visible from a distance, but the belt looks solid.
What does it consist of?
A special costume for oriental dancing is called beledi, consists of three main parts:
- Bra or top;
- Fluffy skirt;
- Belt.
Costume with fringe
Many oriental costumes are additionally decorated with a translucent veil that covers the face, leaving only the eyes open. However, in order for the costume to resemble as much as possible an attire of oriental motifs, it should be qualitatively decorated with various stones, beads, rhinestones, beads and glass beads, as well as selecting characteristic colors. And the whole essence of the idea of the image is conveyed by belts embroidered with coins and monisto. There are characteristic colors in which the costumes are made:
- Golden;
- Red;
- Light blue;
- Green;
- White;
- Lilac.
Often, oriental costumes are decorated with handmade embroidery with a variety of patterns that perfectly highlight the curves of the female body.
Frank oriental outfit
Additional accessories for the costume
To create a memorable image of a dancer, bracelets on arms and legs, golden cords, and beautiful elongated earrings are used as additional decorations for the costume of an oriental beauty. The monisto that adorns the dancer’s neck looks original. During the dance, it makes a characteristic ringing sound and matches the color and style of the costume. It can be made from pearls, coins and glass beads.
To add charm and charm to an oriental dance costume, dancers use many different accessories: shawls and scarves, scarves and headbands, sleeves and gloves.
How to sew bloomers for an oriental beauty costume
Before sewing dance trousers, you should first take measurements of the length, waist and leg circumference at the widest part. You can also make a pattern for the trousers, only increasing the width to suit the trousers.
You might be interested in this: The procedure for sewing a bedspread for a sofa with your own hands
To avoid material scattering, the side seams should be properly processed with a zigzag or stub seams. After that, the outer side seams on the trousers need to be sewn from the hip a few centimeters down and at the very bottom of the leg. In several places along the unstitched side seam you should grab it, and then sew on the decorations. In place of the ankle and belt, you need to thread a wide elastic band.
Pattern of trousers for oriental dances
Trousers
To sew harem pants, you can use a pattern of loose trousers. The best material for them would be translucent lightweight silk, knitwear or gauze. The details of the legs can be expanded, since the top will be made with elastic. The length of the trouser legs is taken 15-20 cm longer so that there is an overhang at the bottom. On the sides, the seams should not be continuous in the area from the middle of the thigh to the ankle. The unstitched sides of the legs can be decorated with metallic decorations, sequins, or any decorations that are harmonious with the basis of the suit.
Overlay belt for trousers
This detail is an optional attribute, but with such a belt the outfit will look impressive. In order to develop it, you need to follow several steps of the instruction, namely:
- Draw two identical lines on a piece of paper. The upper one is one half of the waist volume, and the lower one is one half of the hips volume;
- For each line you need to select the middle, and between the lines there should be the width of the belt;
- After this, you need to set aside 3-4 centimeters and connect them to the ends of the line to get a toe;
- Next, on the top line, 1-2 centimeters should be set aside from the central point and smoothly connected to the ends of the line;
- After which the pattern needs to be cut out and tried on according to the figure;
- Then this part is cut out on the fabric, placed on the lining, ironed and decorated in the way you like.
Girl's suit
Skirt
An oriental dance skirt is another option in an oriental dance costume. In the classic version, this is a semi-sun skirt. The fabric should be thin and flowing. Crepe satin is ideal. Having made the cut of the skirt, you need to sew it along the seam. The top edge of the skirt needs to be zigzag and tucked. Thread the elastic into the drawstring. Next, you need to let the skirt hang for a couple of days. To do this, you need, as an option, to attach the top of the skirt, taut, to the rope with clothespins.
Put the skirt on yourself and ask them to trim the bottom to fit you. You will see that the skirt sags in the front, so you will have to cut more at the front. Hem the bottom with a zigzag. Don't be embarrassed by the uneven hem; when you put the skirt on you will see that it is actually the same distance from the floor. Every seamstress knows this secret, and girls who sew an oriental costume with their own hands should know about it.
