Now that I have your attention...Hello, loyal blog readers! Insert a self-flogging sentence here where I talk about what a horrible blogger I've been and make lousy excuses. Follow that up with a promise to be better.
And now we can move on to bras. I've been wanting to make more belly dance bras. The studio always has cool bras, but they're never my size, and besides, I have needles and thread and coins and beads, I should be able to make my own. If only I wasn't busy trying to finish my BFAC project (more on that tomorrow). But since I don't have any performances coming up any time soon, there's no great rush.
I've had the nude bra for a while, I actually bought it to wear as, you know, a bra, under clothes, like a normal woman, but Tucson is too blasted hot to wear extra padding on my breasts. So I decided to make it into a dance bra. My first thought was to tea dye it, but initial tests quickly showed that the synthetic micro fiber would not hold the dye. So instead I'm going to try to cover it with that pretty brown, white and silver stripey fabric, for an awesome steampunk look. I should even have plenty of fabric to make a belt or maybe even a little panel skirt (I love panel skirts). The only problem is that it's an odd shade of brown and I couldn't find any appropriate trim to match it at JoAnn's. I'll have to shop around.
The other bra is a little more doubtful. I found it at Target for $8. They have the same style in a lot of other beautiful colors, so if it can actually support the weight of embellishments and look decent as a costume, it will be awesome. I'm just not certain if it's sturdy enough or if it will have quite enough coverage. But I would love to have some nice, colorful bras to go with my nice, colorful costumes, instead of sticking to the usual tribal black.
As a side note, there are those among the dance community who find it incredibly tacky and possibly even downright offensive to wear a bra that has not been covered by other fabric (hence my desire to experiment with the nude bra above). I'd like to acknowledge that segment of the dance population, and state that I understand their feelings. However, in my area it's pretty much the norm to take a bra and just add trim and coins and such, without an extra layer of fabric. My compromise is that I will no longer wear a lingerie bra without layering some sort of top over it to conceal the straps. I'm sure that's not good enough for everyone, but it's not my goal in life to please everyone :)
And one is green!
ReplyDeleteI think it's creative to decorate a bra- that way you get to use your artistic ability and art supplies on a base that's pretty cheap. :)
ReplyDeleteMarilee, of course it's green!
ReplyDeleteMeri, plus from what I've heard it's really difficult to actually make a bra from scratch!
The SAS fabric store in Tempe might have some sort of trim that would go with the stripey fabric. The sell fabrics, trims, etc. by the pound or by the yard. It's a treasure hunt & you never know what you'll find.
ReplyDeleteIf you go, take plenty of cash! The one that used to be in Phx. woudln't debit or credit cards, and neither does the one in Peoria.
That's one of my costuming pet peeves if a bra looks like a bra, well....it's a bra, and the costume misses the mark for me. And it's not very professional looking either.
Sorry for the typos. Trying to type with a toddler hanging off my elbow.
ReplyDeleteSaraBeth, we have an SAS here and I've been meaning to check it for trim. If I have no luck there, there's a REALLY awesome trim store in NYC that I can probably visit next month.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads-up about bringing cash!
I can understand the peeve about a bra looking like a bra... but I feel like covering the bra and making new straps is not necessary if I'm going to wear a tie-front top over it. If I'm going to wear it over a choli, or all by itself, then it definitely needs a makeover.