Customer Reviews

Embellished Bras: Basic Techniques

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a dance costumer with 30 years' of sewing experience under my beaded and bejewelled belt. Having made my share of beautiful dance bras, I thought I'd mastered it all...until last night, when I was attempting to cover a D-cup with glittery spandex that showed every tiny flaw in my draping technique. I was about to give up until I paid attention to the little voice in my head whispering, "Would would Davina do?"...and got out this book, which my wonderful husband bought me this Christmas.
The moral of this tale is: Davina has been there, done that; follow her advice, because she knows how to help you get from the dream costume in your sketchbook to the real thing.

As someone that is new to belly dancing I was surprised at the prices of the costumes. Being an avid do-it-yourselfer, I decided to figure out how to make my own. Unless you count 7th grade home economics I have never made a garment in my life, nor have I had any sewing training. This is not to say that I don't sew at all, because I do. I have made lined Roman blinds, pillow covers, duvets, and slipcovers for the v-berth of a boat. Garment sewing has been something that I avoided because it seemed far too complex. This book has given me the confidence to give costume making a whirl.

This book is extremely well written and very easy to follow. The directions are very clear, even for a novice sewer like myself. The close up photographs of the many steps make the whole process easy to follow.

The book covers the following information:

Styles of Dance Costumes
The Method: An overview
Design
Phase I - The Foundation Bra
Phase II - Making the Pattern
Phase III - Sewing the Cover
Phase IV - Embellishments
Hand Sewing Techniques
Sewing Beads and Sequins
Care and Maintenance of the costume
Resources
References

The method this book suggests is covering a purchased bra. This idea will obviously make this process much easier to pull off. The steps for covering the foundation garment are very detailed and easy to follow. I was quite surprised by the photographs in the book of the finished garments. It is impossible to tell that these are covered purchased bras without being told. The author lists many sources for embellishments, fringe and beading that are invaluable.

There are many more steps to this process than I expected. I would suggest only purchasing this book if you think that you can spend 20+ hours on the first embellished bra. However, if you love to do-things-yourself, and it you are a serious dancer what do you have to lose?

Overall, I highly recommend this book to serious dancers and/or tenacious do-it-yourselfers.

I started belly dancing a year ago and my neice followed a few months after me. I wanted to learn to make the costumes and I became frustrated with the lack of information I was able to find. Being a intermediate seamstress, I decided to wing it and make my neice a costume for her christmas present, thinking I will learn as I go. When I was almost done with her bra, I came across this book. I bought it and when I went through it, I found out that I wasn't far off from the techniques I was using, trying and helped me with aspects I wans't sure about.

This book is really good for beginning belly dancers who are wanting to make their own costumes. The bra, which is the most important piece, sets the setting for the rest of the costume, then the belt follows the bras design. The books is really good for those who are beginner sewers and need visuals to help them understand the instructions.

I might recommend this book for a beginner dancer who wants to make her own costumes and hasn't the slightest idea where to begin.

The book goes into great detail on how to create patterns for covering a purchased bra with fabric, and it gives some good tips on strengthening and lining a purchased bra.

However, it says little about actually embellishing the bra. It offers suggestions (and resources) for WHAT you could use to decorate a bra, but it does very little to instruct the reader on HOW to apply the embellishments. For this reason, I find the title of the book to be a little misleading.

Additionally, despite the lovely full-color cover, all of the step by step instructional photos inside the book are in black and white.

This book is laid out in an easy to use format that should help beginners cover a dance bra and give professional belly dancers some new ideas on ways to lay out a bra design. Nice and clear pictures and descriptions.

Hello there - This is Dawn Devine aka Davina, Author of Embellished Bras. We've just republished the book and it's available here Embellished Bras: Basic Techniques It's the same great information, but is now 8" by 10" with a glossy wrap-around cover and an updated resource list. I hope you enjoy my book! ~ Davina

This book is fabulous ! Full of information and ideas. the step by step directions are easy to follow and the author takes you to many different types of costuming, from Tribal to Vegas. The best I have seen on this hard to find knowledge.

This is a FABulous book packed full of great ideas! A must have for every dance library! I bought this a number of years ago and have used it many times for guidance and inspiration.

This is a great book if you are a beginner dancer who doesn't want to pay for and expensive bra, or an experienced dancer who just wants to make a unique costume. The pictures take you though the steps from the kind of bra to buy, how to do the straps, cover it and decorate it. Beautifully done! Once you look at this book you will be itching to make one of your own.

Great book with lots of information and easy to understand instructions. A must have for dancers looking to make their own costumes.