{"id":5136,"date":"2017-09-18T21:57:03","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T04:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davina.us\/blog\/?p=5136"},"modified":"2017-09-18T22:44:13","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T05:44:13","slug":"three-days-life-belly-dance-costumer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davina.us\/blog\/2017\/09\/three-days-life-belly-dance-costumer\/","title":{"rendered":"Three days in the life of a belly dance costumer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello Gang,<\/p>\n

WHEW – have you ever had weekends that just seemed to be all work? \u00a0Well, I’ve just come off a weekend just like that! \u00a0Although it’s been a lot of work, it’s also been a heck of a lot of fun too! \u00a0Because I’m self-employed, I try to work 4 long days and take three days to off to R&R. \u00a0Loads of people ask me what I do and how I manage my time, so here’s a peek into my past three days.<\/p>\n

Friday: Admin Work & 2 Customers<\/h2>\n

Every morning I spend quality time in front of my computer. \u00a0I try to start my day around 9 am, and keep a similar morning routine to give my day shape and help me keep focused on the details of running a business. \u00a0Bills to pay? \u00a0Check. \u00a0Books and products to ship? \u00a0Check. \u00a0So my morning started with answering email, checking social media, prepping photos and advertising my latest blog post.<\/p>\n

Below: Top Left – I Made a square image of Zemira for Instagram to share last Thursday’s blog post<\/a> using the Layout app on my phone. \u00a0There were a few questions through my Etsy<\/a> store that needed answering and some listings to update. \u00a0I made a note that next week I have to rewrite my Announcement. Then I spent some time on my favorite website, Pinterest<\/a>, adding some pictures to my boards. \u00a0After that, I cleared my work table off and set up my kit so I could do some sewing.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Customer 1 – Azura’s Costume Alteration<\/h3>\n

In the afternoon, I had two meetings scheduled with a pair of glamorous Bay Area belly dancers. \u00a0 First up on the schedule was a repair job on a costume rehab project I did earlier in the spring. This berry-hued beauty was a modern bedlah set with a bra and embellished skirt. \u00a0I took this bra from a full B\/C cup, to an ample E or F. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what size it is now because I built the bra to custom fit my dancer.<\/p>\n

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I put a wire on the upper, inside edge of the bra cup, to support the upper edge. \u00a0But after a few wearings, this wire was getting a little pokey! \u00a0I opened up the lining and reinforced the edges, and gave them a curl so they won’t poke. \u00a0I stitched down the lining back down and she is now ready to take the stage again, perhaps as soon as next weekend! \u00a0I did the repair in about 40 minutes while my client waited.<\/p>\n

Above: Before and After Bra Renovation<\/em>
\nBelow: Bay area belly dancer Azura<\/a> performing at Hafla Adira hosted by Adira Dance and Costume<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Customer 2 – Shalimar’s Pink Rhinestone Bedlah Finished<\/h3>\n

I’ve spent nearly 20 hours working on this belly dance bedlah set. \u00a0It has nearly 600 rhinestones individually stitching down rhinestones between undulating rows of rhinestone chain. \u00a0My client, Shalimar, will be debuting this costume next week, so it needed to be perfectly fitted and finished this weekend. \u00a0Unfortunately, we experienced style “drift” and the bra and belt no longer coordinated with the skirt. \u00a0So, I’ll be making a new and different skirt this week. \u00a0Her backup plan is to debut this bedlah with a white skirt. \u00a0Later on, I’ll whip up a second bedlah set to coordinate with the orphan skirt.<\/p>\n

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Saturday Morning: Cleaning the Sewing Room<\/h2>\n

Once I complete a big costume project, I spend some quality time cleaning up my studio and sewing room. My sewing room was a PIT. \u00a0It hadn’t been really tidied up for the past three months of intensive design work. \u00a0I decided to roll up my sleeves and dive into this massive cleaning project. \u00a0I’m about 1\/3 of the way through and after a day-long blast, I’ll be finishing up in hour-long blasts throughout this week.<\/p>\n

Below – Sewing Room viewed from the door. \u00a0There’s a guest bed under that pile. \u00a0On the right, you can see the before and after of my craft bench. \u00a0As of this moment, my bed is almost clear and I have another table not shown that is still a tragic pile.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Sunday: Makeup Video and Belly Dance Cheer Team<\/h2>\n

My co-author Sara<\/a>\u00a0Shrapnell organized a “cheer team” to entertain, pose for pictures, and cheer on the walkers at a fund-raising lake walk for the organization Boldly Me<\/a>. \u00a0A group of dancers converged at Lake Elizabeth in Fremont, CA.<\/p>\n

Since I was putting on a full-face of belly dance makeup, I decided to film a FaceBook live of me putting on what my hubby calls my “Belly Drag.”<\/p>\n