My Mermaid Costume:)

[MissVega]

Okay! This was by far my most intense costuming idea yet lol. My grandma made the base for the skirt with chiffon and lycra and I then proceeded to sew on somewhere between 5000-6000 paillettes. And then of course the shell belt line and the bra. It took approx 20 hours for grams to make the skirt base and just over 80 hours for me to do all of the decorating/hand sewing.

And of course I finally wore it for the first time and the skirt is just a touch too big (probably because I didn't account for the fact that it would have be tighter than normal since it would weigh so much). So now I have to pull off the shells on the belt, tighten the waistline of the skirt, then realign and re-sew the shells.

No rest for the wicked With the amount of effort that has been put into this, I've decided I want to be buried in it LOL!



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FYI I Love how the iridescent paillettes look under lights or in sunlight. HIGHLY recommended LOL!

And thank you for looking

 

[Mosaic]

Oh WOW! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! You talented little cutie you. What a wonderful Grandma you have as well, the pair of you are one very creative team.:clap::clap:
~Mosaic

 

[Pleasant dancer]

Wow, clever you! Love it. I can feel my fingers aching in sympathy from all the sewing though! :lol:

 

[nouraki]

NO NO NO !!! :naghty: It doesn't fit you !:naghty:
Give it to me!!!! I want it....NOW!

Of course, I 'm kidding! It' s really nice!!!!! :clap:

 

[Shanazel]

You look so darned CUTE!!!! Gorgeous joint effort between you and your grandmother- what fun it must've been.

 

[Darshiva]

That is awesome. What a lovely, flattering costume.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

:shok: OHMYGOSH what a GORGEOUS costume! You and your grandma did an absolutely lovely job! :clap:

 

[MissVega]

Thank you very much everyone

I'm actually going to add some straps to the bra (it just has clear ones on it now) because the one time I danced in it it just didn't feel like enough support for me to be comfortable in it. But the straps will be asymmetrical: One willl be the same blue stones on teh bra, and the other will be the pink starfish.

Yah Grandma and I always have a good time together. I spent 3 days with her for her me to explain the design of the skirt and then for her to actually make it. And then I took it home and the 80 hour saga of decorating/hand sewing began. My cat actually got spiteful over it and peed on the skirt... so then I had to pull those sequins off and wash it and wait for it to dry again etc then reattach them. Kitty is lucky that I love her. That is all I have to say.



But thanks again. I'm really proud of this one as I learned that sitting down and sewing for hours is much harder on the body than dancing for hours. Nothing but respect and love for the seamstresses of the world.

 

[walladah]

This is great!

So beautiful, colours very well arranged, the pattern original but not excessively eccentric (a bit of eccentric we all need on our costumes), and yes, this is the perfect costume for you! like a second skin! you are gorgeous in this outfit!

Post the videos of you dancing in this costume!

Congratulations to both you and your grandmother!

 

[Shanazel]

And congratulations to you for not strangling that rotten cat. If we didn't love our kitties...

 

[Nath]

OMG so cute!!!

 

[AndreaSTL]

I really like the way you did the skirt. You've got the mermaid look and didn't have to sacrifice the swishy skirt.

 

[Corylus]

Wow! Lovely costume, you and your Gran did a brilliant job :clap: and you look beautiful as always!

Hope you don't mind me asking, but have you lost weight recently? You are gorgeous whatever your weight but you just look like you may have lost a bit?

Corylus x

 

[nightdancer]

The costume is adorable. You've lost some weight, too, since the last video you posted, too (at least that I saw). Go you

 

[Shakti]

All that sewing is really a great achievement. The sewing equivalent of scaling Everest!

 

[MissVega]

Thanks again everyone
As for the weight, honestly according the scale I haven't lost any:lol: I have cut back on my sugar for fear my pancreas might be overworked and underpaid but nope no weight loss that I know of. Maybe more toned? Or maybe it's just the lighting.

I do tend to fluctuate 4-7 pounds throughout the course of a month due to water retention issues so maybe that is what you're seeing.

This is my most recent performance vid (filmed on dec 12th and uploaded dec 29th), costume is a hoda Zaki, not one of my homemade ones.

Could also be that some of my costumes have more "bulk" and puff" to them than others:think:

YouTube - Drum solo (Khatwet Serena) by Cassandra Fox

And this is from back at the end of September, no costume, just leggings etc.
This video also stars my cat that so lovingly peed on the mermaid skirt
YouTube - Habibi Nour El Ain Bellydance improv

I have also often heard from people who have seen my videos and then seen me in person "Oh you're smaller than I thought". I seem to give off this amazonian impression in videos. I'm only 5'6, but with 34D - 27 waist - 37 upper hip - 40 lower hip (badonkadonks stand up lol). I had one woman once be like "Oh wow I thought you would be like 5'10 LOL. No no, just average height, sorry to disappoint

 

[Souris]

That's beautiful! I'm working on a costume right now and my fingers hurt thinking of all those paillettes! I wish my grandma would make something with me but she doesn't approve of costumes that don't look like turtlenecks and cover every bit of skin. Haha.

 

[RayaDancer]

wow that came out gorgeous! My mom sews; we are about to start the process of making a costume ourselves (not nearly as intricate as yours however!) it feels kind of like a daunting task with all the beading that we plan to do but you have definitely provided me with the confidence that it can be done!