Belly Dance Mermaid Costume Redux

2024 was the year I closed my sewing business.  As my hands have aged, I’ve had to acknowledge my capacity to hold and pull a needle is greatly reduced. I’ve become unreliable and as such, have stepped back from big projects.

When my good friend Shalimar arrived for the Fabulous Fall Festival, she brought a costume she purchased from a friend.  She loves the color, the flow of the skirt, and the belly dance mermaid vibe.

However, the bra was a bit too small for comfortable support and coverage. In the two days leading up to the show, I made the necessary fitting adjustments and repairs and the costume made it onto stage.

Shalimar’s Belly Dance Wardrobe

Shalimar have collaborated on building a strong and versatile working wardrobe for her professional belly dance business in South Carolina. For a decade, she lived and worked near Silicon Valley, and long-time readers will recognize her from many past projects.

If this color looks familiar, I made a costume which we call “Blue Stripes.”  You can read this article here.  Fortunately, when we made that blue skirt, we saved all the fabric scraps and now I’m using them in this new ensemble.

I’m also shopping my stash for rhinestone and chain.  I’ve got some bits and pieces left after making her the pink “Line and Dot” style ensemble with matching sleeves.  Remember Shalimar’s “Pink Floral” costume?

Pro-Quality Bra – House-Made Belt

But the most striking problem was the mix between the old bra and the new belt. The pairing was a bit of a strange marriage. With a major design disconnect between the the bedlah pieces.

The color was reasonably harmonious. However there was very little embellishment added. From stage, the belt looked a bit home-made compared to the heavily rhinestoned and pearled professional quality bra.  As you can see from the video clip, and photo the belt looked quite pale and plain.

Over the next three months, I’m going to bring the bra and belt of this “Blue Mermaid” to a more balanced level of design and embellishment for the coming 2025 spring season.

It’s going to be a slow project to accommodate my new sewing pace and schedule limitations.  I’m looking forward to sharing this process!

Dawn Devine ~ Davina
December 2024

PS – Check out my Facebook Group for full project documentation, to ask questions, and join the conversation.

 

Fabulous Fall Belly Dance Festival 2024

Grant Park
Community Center
1575 Holt Ave. Los Altos

Sat. Nov. 16, 2024 – Noon – 8:30 pm
Adults $20 • Kids & Seniors $10

Buy now via PayPal: fabfallfestinfo@gmail.com
Or Pay At the Door: Cash or Card
A portion of proceeds goes to Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence Raffle Drawing • Snack Shop
www.babdama.org

Last year I joined the planning committee for the Fabulous Fall Festival.  Back in the old MECDA days, I was part of the crew that launched this event back in 2004.  If you’re local to me and want to drop in a say “Hi,” I’ll be there all day.  I’ll have a table set up with some books, jewelry, assiut and belly dance accessories.

Now I’m headed back into the studio to make a collection of vintage Saroyan Earrings for the show!  If you’re interested in getting a pair, I’ll be listing on Etsy in November.

Here’s to a happy autumn,
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Oct. 2024

 

 

 

Jewelry Season 2024

October is here and it’s the start of Jewelry Season 2024!  Each fall I create a collection of jewelry pieces from stone, glass, and metal components. Over the years, I’ve worked with vintage Saroyan coins, broken and abandoned components from ethnographic jewelry, and strung-stone designs.

These jewelry pieces I take to autumn and holiday sales, belly dance events, and on my Etsy store.

Blue and Silver

For the 2024 Jewelry Season, I’m working with a curated selection of components from my collection. Blue hues from lapis to turquoise combined are joining an array of mystery-metal coins, components, and spacers from across the globe.

This year, I’m crafting charm-style assemblage necklaces with talismanic pieces from Turkish eyes, Coptic Crosses, and Hamsas of various sizes and shapes.
Above Photo: Blue beads of stone and glass
Below Photo: “Assemblage Bar” ready for chain

New Styles & Old Faves

I’ve got five styles key styles I’m working on for this 2024 jewelry collection. This season, I’ve chosen to work in a more assemblage mode. I’m inspired by the colors of the sky and sea and scoured my collection for these blue pieces.  These colorful pieces are pairing up talismanic iconography and up-cycling broken jewelry parts to create unique pieces.

Assemblage Torques and Bibs
By request, I’ve made a couple of assemblage torques and bibs for several of my collectors. These are some of the most dramatic and detailed pieces I’ve ever created and I’m happy that I’ve got four torques to use with these

Assemblage Bars
For people interested in a style suitable for daywear, I’ve created a style made from up-cycled choker components with drops. In this collection of metal components are a dozen bars waiting for transformation.

Coordinated Earrings
Although I don’t have pierced ears myself, many of my patrons do so I’m crafting earrings made from the same selection of components to coordinate with these various necklace styles.

Jean Jinglers
This is my longest-running and most popular style of jewelry.  This style is made from a chain with coins and jewelry components with large swivel clasps on each end.  These clasps make it easy to clip these jewelry pieces to your jean loops, on a purse or handbag, and even to wear around the neck as a necklace.

Cluster Drops Bag Dangles
These are versatile pieces that can be added to a costume, clipped to your favorite bag, or suspended from a chain as a jewelry piece. Perfect as that gift for the dancer who has everything.

Interested in seeing the progress of this jewelry collection? I share my work in progress over in my creative group on Facebook.  Join my newsletter to receive links when these pieces are available on Etsy later in the season.

Of course, I’ll share some more pictures here when I have some finished pieces to share.

Now – Back to the workbench!
~ Dawn ~ Davina
Oct. 2024

Have you heard?  Mahin of Phoenix is hosting me in a live history slide-talk “Veils UnVeiled!”  During this talk, I’ll trace the evolution of veil dancing from its ancient roots to the modern day.

Many years back, before 2007, I published a series of 48-page booklets on focused belly dance costumes and props. When we switched to a print-on-demand format, we let most of this series go out of print.

“Veils Unveiled: From Art Dance to Belly Dance”

A Live Zoom Talk and Q&A
Sunday, October 6th
12 pm PDT / 3 pm EDT
60 Min talk + 30 min Q& A – Includes Handout Digital Download

https://bellydancequickies.com/online-bellydance-events/

About “Veils UnVeiled”

I’ve been dancing with veils for my entire dance career. As a young dancer learning the classic Am-Cab style of dance, veil was an integral part of the 5-part routine. I had a veil in my hands in my first 8 week course, and have been performing with veils ever since.

As an art historian, I moved the topic of veils into my ongoing research project, “The Visual History of Belly Dance.”  In this talk, Veil’s UnVeiled, I’m sharing the deep connections that current dancers share with our immediate predecessors as well as our distant ancestors.

This talk will take us through some of the highlights of this history using images from antiquity to today.  There’s also a handout that includes links to some of the museums and libraries with important artifacts and images.  I’ve also included some other research notes and reading list for you to use a spring board to further research.

Perhaps I’ll see ya there!
Dawn Devine ~ Davina 

Hello, My friends in costuming and dance,

Today I’m flipping through ancient files, old photos, and out-of-print books and booklets. My mission is to find old illustrations from past projects.

Through the 30 years of my writing three-pronged career of costume design, belly dance, and historical research, I’ve written countless articles, blog posts, and micro-blogs for social media. I’ve drawn 1000s of dancers, filled dozens of notebooks, and more than 22 published books.  So my project for Sept. and Oct. is to revisit the work of a lifetime to build the most complete version of Costuming from the Hip to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

Costuming from the Hip: 30th Anniversary

When I set out on this journey to rewrite this book, my initial goal was to just update the text and modernize the language. As I’ve worked on this project over the past year, I’ve realized that what I want to do is craft the best belly dance costuming book I can make!

So I’m culling through this lifetime of writing to find the gems from these past writing projects, big and small. What am I finding?  A LOT!  And boy was I surprised by the sheer volume of content.

Costuming from the Hip: Expansion

With all of this existing content, I’m expanding the original book. “Costuming from the Hip: began in 1993 as a 75-page compendium of course handouts into a 200-ish page book. I’m folding out-of-print content from “Veils Unveiled,” “Hints and Tips,” and the much beloved, but outmoded “Style File.”

As I work on this book, long-time readers will spot illustrations from these past projects emerging from the archives.  These are a fraction of the images that have appeared in my 20+ published books.

Three Buckets and Five Layers

The next version of “Costuming from the Hip” will include some of the concepts I’ve taught as a college instructor, event speaker, and in workshops around the world.

In the updated CFTH30, I’m opening the book with an entirely new section on how to think like a designer, the history and evolution of belly dance style since 1850. I’ll also share my system for developing a cohesive look using the 5 Layers methodology.

Finally, I’m sharing the specific language and my stylistic identification and organization using three big sweeping costuming groups. This way of thinking allows for dynamic design and a deeper understanding of why we design and make costumes the way we do.

Costuming from the Hip: Plans and Timeline

So what’s next?  During September, I’m digging into my archives. It’s a quest for illustrations, photographs, and written materials to include in the new edition.

With luck and good fortune, in October I’ll begin the rough sketches for a new set of images to illustrate key points. While I’ve drawn quite a bit, in the process of modernization and expansion, there’s a new batch of images on the horizon.

I hope that you enjoy your journey through the spooky season 2024.

Happy Costuming and Dance,
Dawn Devine ~ Davina
Sept. 2024

PS: I’m calling this project #CFTH30, so over the next six moths of work on this project, watch for this hashtag on social media and you can use the search function to find all the blog posts related to this rewrite.