Old School ATS belt and bra set, part 1: the gathering

I’ve been accumulating bits and bobs for tribal since I started dancing, and finally I’ve got everything I need. I am attending an ATS residential in January, there’s the chance of performing, and I wanted something 100% neutral so I could keep as a staple regardless of colours for cholis/skirts. Which trust me, was a difficult thing to do, considering that most tribal belts and pieces come with a rather colourful mix including, very often, complementary colours (red and green seems to be a favourite). But since my skirts so far range from sea green to purple to red, I wanted something I could use with ANYTHING, and so it had to be purely black/white/silver. And the reason I am calling it “old school ATS” is because I wanted to go as close as I could to the typical tribal belts I’ve seen online and up close, with plenty of ethnic pieces to give the right vibe, and trying to ignore as much as I can my usual penchant for using pieces outside the box.

I’ve already done the bases. The belt is fairly standard, this time it’ll be a single piece. I’ve used a double layer of calico and demin to give it strength and sturdiness and prevent stretching; I didn’t make the ends meet at the centre but opted instead to finish them off around my hipbones, to add big banjara mirrors as accents on the ends. I will be using grey and black cord to create ties, and finishing them off with dark grey and silver tassels. The bra is already half covered, I’ll make it with cross-straps again as that gives me the best support, although I haven’t decided yet whether it’ll be tied as the teal one or hooked as the black and red one.

Current plan is to machine-stitch the braid and trim to the belt, and then sit down with everything over several nights and attach all the more difficult bits and pieces. I just hope it doesn’t end being too heavy for the cord I chose.

The leftovers -and there will be leftovers- are currently planned for a short (3/4 length) Ghawazee cover up in a similar theme: black crushed velvet, with silver accents, so I can use over any of my costumes.

In the photo, from top left, clockwise in a spiral:
cotton velvet-covered bra (just cups so far), Turkomen dangle buttons, silver and black braid, silver and black Turkish trim, shisha mirrors, mini-dome Turkomen buttons, hand-beaded WIP trim for edges, round metal trinkets, black cotton velvet belt base (barely visible, it is *that* dark!), rectangular metal trinkets, big banjara mirrors.

Costume bits and bobs