Inspiration: Ter’zim & Students at the First ATS UK Residential

31 Jan 2014 4 Comments

by Arien in ATS, Events, Inspiration, Performances

Me, wearing an ATS costume

All dolled up!

By this time a week ago, I was getting ready for my first ever proper ATS performance at the ATS Residential. It was a bit scary, but something I’d been looking forwards to do, coming a bit more than one year after I started learning ATS. I know I performed to He’neya in the summer with my friend, but that was a choreography so not *quite* the thrill of improvising on the spot, as this was.

You can get a better view of the costume on the photo on the left. I wore an off-the-shoulder stretch velvet choli which I made myself, a necklace that was cleaned-up and re-worked to have all new stones, one of my gemstone bindis -with a garnet-, the stripey pantaloons from Belladonna’s Bouduoir that I spoke about earlier, and a big fluffy red skirt that I mentioned reshaping for my hips ages ago. My cover-up is a lovely piece of Egyptian Assuit that I got some time ago, intending on using it for costuming, and that, when it arrived, I couldn’t face cutting. It’s very lovely and soft!

In the video you can see my teacher and her usual dance partner doing the drum solo; the students (J and me) did the slow song. The whole experience was very enjoyable, and I should be posting a review of the Residential and other things that came out of it pretty soon. In the meantime, enjoy!

New utility page: Circle Skirt calculation

30 Jan 2014 Leave a Comment

by Arien in Resources, Sewing Tags: , , , , , , ,

Just been using this circle skirt calculation script for myself on and off, and I decided to add it to the website. Basically, it’s a small script that allows you to enter your waist, the length of the skirt you want in centimetres, and the amount of panels you want to use for the skirt, and it will give you a calculation of how big you need the inner and outer radius of your semi-circle panel to be. Or for those not math-inclined, the translation: how big the “hole” in the middle needs to be to accommodate your waist, and how big the semi-circle needs to be, using the amount of panels you want to use.

The script calculates things on the fly and does not collect any data, so I will not see anything you enter.
Hope you find it useful!

circle-skirts-calculation

Inspiration: Mona Amar

24 Jan 2014 Leave a Comment

by Arien in Inspiration

Mona Amar

Mona Amar

It’s been a while since I posted an inspiration set, but it’s been mostly because I wanted something different… We all have our favourite dancers, but I hadn’t found any “new” dancer that I wanted to feature here yet, for some reason or other.

Today’s is Mona Amar, a dancer whom I hadn’t seen before. Needless to say, aside from really enjoying her performance, I am completely in love with her costume. SO flattering, such a great use of materials, and yet again more stretch lace and minimum decoration… I definitly need to get moving with my stretch lace costume next, and that mermaid cut with the contrasting colour on the bottom looks amazing… time to put that rolled hem overlocker to work! And if you neeed any more good ideas for costumes, take a look at the one on the left!

Enjoy!

Seller Review: Belladonna’s Bouduoir

19 Jan 2014 Leave a Comment

by Arien in Uncategorized

Belladonnas Bouduoir Strippey Pantaloons

Belladonnas Bouduoir Strippey Pantaloons

I met the owner of Belladonna’s Bouduoir in a Belly Dance Facebook group some time ago, we became quite friendly. Back then, she offered to do what I’d wanted for a while but couldn’t find: a version of ruffle fluffies that would fit me, and at a reasonable price. Score! The trousers arrived, they fit like a glove, and they look great, and the only small issue is that they are a couple of inches too long, courtesy, it seems, of hubby’s measuring. I haven’t worn them for any performance or event, but when I do, I will be publishing a photo!

My second purchase from her were the pantaloons on the photo. The fabric is very soft and light, and they look fantastic on. Blaise does work really well on bespoke items, she is very aware of potential issues for the bigger sizes, like the extra allowance we need for our booties, and will take them into consideration when drafting the pattern for you. I have been extremely satisfied with both items I’ve got from her, and would heartily recommend her if you are looking for something special that you can’t get off the peg. Be aware, though, that bespoke orders can have a long turn-around time.

You can find Belladonna’s Bouduoir’s Pantaloon offerings here: http://www.belladonnasboudoir.com/loons.html, and while you are there, take a look around the rest of the site, you won’t regret it!

Black and Silver Old School ATS bra and belt, Mermaid Skirts and Cholis

18 Jan 2014 6 Comments

by Arien in Costumes, Eye candy Tags: , , , ,

Black fusion costume

Black fusion costume

Last week we had a belly dancers party night at the local restaurant, and that usually means showing off whatever I’ve just finished. This time it was doubly interesting, as my friend L was wearing a chocolate mermaid skirt and off-the-shoulder-choli that I made for her, and I was using my Old School ATS bra and belt, and the black velvet mermaid skirt for the first time. My friend didn’t want to bother with a body-stocking, so went with a cami under her choli, and finished it all with her belt. I used a bodystocking and bolero from BellyStockings.com.

The off-the-shoulder-choli was made simply by removing a bit off piece B and D on the FCBD pattern, to create the “strap” look, and not stitching the top part of the sleeve piece, although depending on your shape, you might need to take some of this in, or adapt it. As usual with this pattern, YMMV and always do a test run to make sure everything is looking the way you want it to look.

Chocolate Velvet Costume

Chocolate Velvet Costume

I’ve mentioned before that the mermaid skirts, when cut properly and carefully, allow to make a full choli with leftover fabric. Three metres of stretch velvet was enough to do both pieces, I marked both patterns before cutting to make sure pile and fabric stretch would be the way it needed to be. I’ve made a similar one in black for myself to match the skirt and to go with ATS costumes. Both cholis include the extra wide back piece D to cover up bra straps, and a “tube” to go over the bra band for a neater look, although mine will be finished with more of a sweatheart cut, as I think it favours me better than the V neck. I hope I can get photos wearing it next week during the ATS residential.

Click on any of the photos to see a bigger version, and please excuse de decapitated photos, as I wanted to preserve my friend’s anonymity.

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