I’m please to announce that Andelee, over on the website has just published my article “Need an Instant Costume? Just Add Assiut!” featuring model Nicole Simone shot by photog Alisha Westerfeld. The article is about styling an assiut robe with a few tips that apply to dancers of any size, from size 2 to 22.
Andelee’s mission is to gather together informative articles, tips, hints and advice for us plus size belly dance. When Alisha and I were shooting photos for the book The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut there were many photos that we would have loved to use, but simply ran out of space. Why not take some of these wonderful photos and share them with the world and create some great content for a sister website!
Award winning plus-sized model, Nicole Simone who you can follow on Instagram here, or visit on FaceBook here, is one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Her satiny skin, clear blue eyes, wicked curves, and mega-watt star power on stage, make her a force to be reckoned with!
And guess what? If you go and check out this article, you get to see some of Alisha’s photos in COLOR! Cloth of Egypt was published in black and white because so much of the assiut was black and white to begin with, and b/w printing saves the reader money. I promise that in the fullness of time, we will release another full-color book.
But in the meantime, enjoy!
Yours in Dance And Costuming,
~ Davina
July 14, 2015
I enjoy working with modern assiut and I often use my sewing machine for seams and hems. Many dancers like to open the side seams of their assiut garments from hem to hip for maximum freedom of movement. Most ready-made assiut robes, however, arrive stitched closed to the hem. Although assiut doesn’t fray, a clean smooth well stitched hem will hang and move better.
3 – Use your iron – Using your chalk line as a guide, fold and press your new hem in to place.
4 – Pin parallel to the hem – After your fabric has cooled off pin your new hem into place. I like to
6 – Sew slowly – Always go nice and slow so you can control the shape of the seam and pull your pins out as you sew. To remove your pins easily, simply use your thumb to capture the heads of the pin and as the machine pulls the fabric through, your thumb will pull the pin out of the cloth. This technique works best when using big-headed pins with brightly colored heads.
During the production of my book The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut, Alisha, my photographer and co-author, and I had the opportunity to seek out private collections throughout the greater Bay Area to photograph some of the finest assiut in area.
My co-author and photographer, Alisha Westerfeld, and I took thousands of photos prior to the release of The Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut. At public appearances and lectures, I’m frequently asked, “How did you get such nice photos?” Well, it took trial and error, a lot of practice, a bit of luck, and help from our photographer mentors. If you own a vintage assiut shawl and want to take some documentary photos, here’s our top six photography tips.
Love Assiut? Wanna see more photos of this magical cloth? Get your copy of Cloth of Egypt: All About Assiut 
If you’ve been following my blog, you have probably read some of my DIY costuming books devoted to Middle Eastern belly dance costumes. However, I find that many novice seamstresses purchase my products and find they need advice on basic construction. Fortunately, there are already numerous books on general sewing technique available today. But which one to choose?