How to Make a Belly Dance Bra
Aug 29th, 2009 | By Amulya | Category: Costume Tips, How ToA lot of belly dancers create their own costumes. Making your first costume is very exciting. I will be publishing a series of ‘how to make belly dance costumes step by step’ and I will give tips and tricks on avoiding ‘costume mistakes’. As a beginner, it is so hard to get the right info on the how the to’s of belly dance costumes. I have made my beginners’ mistakes in the past and will share them with you.
The most common mistakes are made with the belly dance bra’s. Belly dance bras are different from normal lingerie bra’s because they have to withstand the dancing and keep the dancer ‘in’. A belly dance bra can be made from a lingerie bra, but you have to be careful to buy the right one. Padded bras are the what you need, because they have a good base to work with. You can use a pre-formed bra, but I prefer a padded bra that’s not preformed; it’s a little bit more flexible and easier to work with. Make sure you buy the bra a cup size bigger than you normally do: the bra will ’shrink’ when you embellish and line it.
Next thing you need to do is cut off the back straps and shoulder straps and put buckram in the insides of the cups so the shape will hold after embellishing. I like to make an extra sturdy bit in the middle of the two cups: as you see in the pictures I have removed the original connection in the middle and replaced it with a bigger one. This is not always necessary, but it is a personal preference. I think it makes the bra more comfortable and durable. You will have to make new straps, this can be done with heavy duty cotton. Cut the back straps about the same shape as the original ones, only longer, as these will not have stretch in them. Same for shoulder straps. Cover them with fabric and add them to the bra. It’s important that the straps are replaced, otherwise it will not look like a real belly dance bra but like a lingerie bra (see the following two images). It also prevents unwanted bouncy effect while dancing!
Here is picture of a bra that I cut the straps of and replaced them (yes it looks horrible, but after it is all covered with fabric it will look very different):
This is the inside where you can see the buckram in the cups:
You’re now ready to add sequin, beads, fringe etc. Check this site next week: more on how to cover your bra with fabric!
The bra above looks now like this:
Very helpful! Thanks so much for the tips!
Thanks, I’m glad you like the article, check back later for more: I’m working on part 2 of ‘how to make a belly dance bra’
thank you very much for your sharing! I am in making first belly dance costume progress.
Do you sew fabric by hand?
Looking forward to your part 2.
Yes I sew all by hand, but if I make a skirt I do that on a machine. I’m working on part 2! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me
Hi Amulya,
From a lingerie bra, how do I get the bra to have that erfect hard rounded shape? Do you use a special buckram to reinforce the inside? Im completely lost…
Hi Crissie,
) is a bit harder to work with, because it’s less flexible. So I buy padded bra’s for my costumes (you can also google image search to see what those look like). Buckram is a material that looks a rough fabric bit it feels a bit like cartboard paper! As far as I know there’s only one type of buckram. I put that on the inside if I plan to use heavy beading, coins etc. It is not always nesecairy to use it. It totally depends on the size bra you use. Smaller sizes tend to need it less than bigger sizes.
If not, I’m finishing a second article on bra’s this week and it got more pictures!
I buy a bra that’s padded, some people buy a preformed bra (those ones that are quite hard). I find that a preformed bra (if you don’t know what they look like, do a google image search
I hope that helps a bit
Happy costume making!
Amulya
method of making belly dance bra: (for lingerie bra)
- cut all thing except bra cups ^^
- sew buckram
- sew fabric
- embellish
Is it right?
by the way, which side do you sew buckram? I see lots of sewing and I can’t guess which side.
ah why does my bra come smaller (after I sew fabric)? especially, bra cup????
Many thanks
The buckram goes on the inside of the cups, The cups become smaller because of the buckram and the lining. But sometimes when you embroider the cups they shrink as well, why that happens is a mystery to me LOL! If you plan to make a very plain bra with less embellishments it might not happen, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
which I will be publishing soon.
So what you do is: take the bra and cut off the shoulder straps and back straps (the connection in the middle can stay, but you need to re-enforce it with some sturdy material) and make new non stretchy straps and sew them on the bra cups.
Before you start anything, check back for ‘how to make a belly dance bra part 2′
hello your tops are beautiful… i was wondering if you ever sell them?
Great tips, thank you so much
I learn so much, I thank you so much. Thank you for shearing all your expertise.
Thank you so much for sharing. I’ve been wanting to make my own bra for so long and now I can
give it a try, with your expertise.