From Turban to Toe Ring is a guide for designing and making tribal-fusion belly dance wear. This style, which originated in the San Francisco dance community and has spread world-wide, is fast becoming one of the most popular costuming options. Tribal-fusion costuming is an assemblage of design elements pulled from many different tribal, rural, and nomadic peoples from North Africa, across the Near and Middle East, and as far away as India. Surface design techniques, articles of clothing, and jewelry components are fused together to create a look that blends all of these items into an exciting and uniquely individual image for each dancer.
This book will be an excellent reference source for the libraries of dancers, costume designers, historical re-enactors, and dancers who want a break from the high glitz and glamour of cabaret-style costuming.
From Turban to Toe Ring contains numerous hints, tips, and directions for making, designing, and assembling a tribal-fusion costume, including:
* A country-by-country breakdown of tribal jewelry styles from the Berber people of Morocco to the Ribari of India.
* Pattern making directions for several different choli and salwar designs.
* Directions for traditional surface embellishments, including applique and shi-sha.
* Mehndi (or henna), from mixing the paste to creating your design.
* Adapting Indian textiles, such as the toran and chakla, for tribal-fusion dance wear.
* Extensive bibliography and guide to historical research of Middle Eastern costume.

Skirting the Issues & Pants for the Dance are now two great books in one

Dawn Devine Davina has combined volumes 2 and 3 of her Belly Dance Costume Essentials series into a single edition, Skirting the Issues & Pants for the Dance. Designed for dancers, designers and costume makers, this book offers hundreds of ideas, tips and hints for crafting original, beautiful and well-constructed belly dance attire. This book is lavishly illustrated with instructions for how to take your body measurements and draft your own custom fit patterns.

Skirting the Issues focuses on the wide variety of popular and easy to sew skirt styles for belly dancing costumes. The first half of this book presents dozens of skirt designs; including straight skirts, full skirts, circular skirts, tiered skirts, skirt toppers and loads of variations. It includes an invaluable circle-skirt calculation chart for making a skirt with a perfectly fitted hipline.

Pants for the Dance addresses the exciting design possibilities for one of the most ubiquitous yet unsung garments in the dancer's wardrobe, pants Go beyond the basic harem style and explore the variety of options for creating pants for male and female dancers alike. Includes directions for making harem pants, gusseted pants, draped pants, and dozens of details such as fitted yokes, cuffs and applied surface designs.

From taking your measurements to drafting the patterns, from construction to final embellishment, Skirting the Issues & Pants for the Dance is an invaluable resource for belly dance costume designers. This book is jam-packed with design concepts, detailed directions and helpful hints for bringing your costuming ideas to life. Even if you are not a belly dancer, the basic designs featured throughout this book are great for adapting into casual, comfortable ethnic inspired street wear.

This book gives you the tools to be your own designer

Embellished Bras: Basic Techniques provides in-depth instruction and useful advice that guides readers through the process of turning a store-bought lingerie bra into a fabulous costume piece. This easy-to-follow four-phase process is presented through graphic step-by-step photographs and illustrations. You'll learn how to make a bra cup pattern, cover the bra and straps, and embellish with fringe, beadwork, appliques, and jewelry. From ballroom to belly dance, Embellished Bras addresses the special needs of dancers no matter what performance style. This "workshop in a book" is an excellent resource for both novice sewers and professional designers.

Bedlah, Baubles, and Beads is a book about designing and crafting the elaborate bra and belt sets worn by contemporary belly dancers. Also known as "dance oriental" and "raks sharki," belly dancing has numerous sub-styles that are defined not only by their movement vocabulary, but also by their distinctive costuming. The first part of the book provides a conceptual framework by starting with a history of this costuming style and its origins here in the United States. From there, it concentrates on introducing the reader to design principles, methods, and techniques for developing figure-flattering styles. The second part presents the materials, tools, and processes for putting together an elaborately decorated bra and belt set. Step-by-step illustrations for applying beads, a fabric shopping guide, and directions for constructing the bra and belt bases are all illustrated with descriptive diagrams to aid the reader. Finally, the book finishes with a portfolio of styles and ideas for expanding the performance wardrobe. From skirts to accessories, these chapters introduce the essential garments that transform the bra and belt into a complete costume. Detailed topics include: * Step-by-step illustrations of beading techniques, including back stitch, couching, tambour beading, scatter beading, and more. * Directions for making high-quality bedlah, from concept to finished costume. * Techniques for developing beading patterns using clip art sources and transforming images into dynamic designs. * Fitting and covering bras and belts. An extensive bibliography is included.

Costuming from the Hip is a comprehensive reference for anyone who works with Middle Eastern dancewear. Dancers, costume makers, designers, and historical re-enactors will like the many illustrations, historical patterns, construction techniques, and hundreds of hints and tips. This 118-page book will take you step-by-step through measuring your body, researching your costume, laying out the patterns, fitting it, and accessorizing your creation. Topics covered include: * Making your measurement chart * Turkish coats, kaftans, and thobes * Veils * Jewelry * Designing for every body type * Coin, tassle, and cabaret belts * Bras and cholis * Shirts, vests, and blouses * Men's wear * Going professional. The book includes a glossary and an extensive bibliography.