bellydance
While I was in college, I took a course that included Orissi dance, one of the sixteen classical dances of India. When I joined the SCA, I decided to incorporate that into my persona. However, I didn't want to try to recreate the costume, as it is extremely jewelry intensive and rather specific, with things that cannot be made unless you're actually casting your own metal, which I wasn't.
So I went with bellydance and reinforced this later, by joining a bellydance class. I've been out of dance for a while, but am planning to get back in to it, simply because I find it a beautiful form of movement. Orissi is a form that tells stories, with specific meanings assigned to gestures and movements; they can be put together to make a larger story. The first dance that every dancer learns is the Vasanta Pallavi, which is, roughly, a coming of age dance, in that the dancer has enough skill and understanding to dance it. The version I learned told a rather complex story about the god of love for the first part, and then was an "improvisational" demonstration of mastery of the concepts for the second. I say improvisational because, while I'm sure that there are and were dancers in the historic tradition who improvised while on stage, this is not a true improvisation any longer. The dances and the music have become codified much more firmly, partly as a result of British colonisation. You can, if you have familiarity with the form (or, presumably, most of the classical dances of India) see where there could be both musical and dance interpretation done while on stage.
Bellydance does not, insofar as I have been able to find out, share that historical root, coming from an entirely different tradition as it does (or at least a tradition that changed significantly before it came down to the Middle East - bear in mind that the Romany are Indian and there are close ties between their music and that of Orissi and bellydance). It seems, again as far as I know, to lack the symbolic aspect of Orissi - in bellydance, one is moving to the music; in Orissi, one is telling a story. There are set movements for both dance forms, but there is no symbolic meaning to the movements of bellydance.
One of the problems with both traditions is the influence (destructive) of colonisation. In the case of Orissi, the English thought that the dances were obscene and that the dancers were as well. Orissi was initially a temple dance done in the temple of Jaganath (you can see how much the British loved their new conquest, by knowing that the god is the root of the word "juggernaut".) by the women who were the wives of the god-king. The British decried it as prostitution and pornographic and banned it; the tradition, when it was revived, was almost entirely practiced by men who used a "male" tradition that emphasises the movements of the body much less - the emphasis is on the hands, feet, head/face and the body's pose, while in the women's tradition, the dance is much softer (more like bellydance, in fact!) and allows for the movement of the hips, shoulders, and breasts.
Obviously, the problem in bellydance history is Richard Burton, who made it into a pornographic dance designed only for sexual titillation; this is historical hogwash. The bellydancer was not a whore, and the "nautch" dancer is a myth composed of some historical elements with some totally ahistorical ideas.
If you wish more information about either subject, of course, google is your friend, largely because I am attempting to rein this page back to its initial premise. This page shows both my sewn garb and the jewelry that I made. Bear in mind that this is SCA bellydance, rather than historical Muslim garb. The difference is significant. If you're interested in the historical garb, I have a list of the items of clothing and how they are worn; this is not it.
vest and sash
pants
ghawazee coat and blouse
veil
accessories
jewelry
vest and sash
I made these pieces most recently of my bellydance garb, and I think it shows. They're a bit more accomplished and more ornate. I love wearing them, but the first time I wore them it was a bit of a challenge to go out in public and dance!
The material that I used is a very heavy satiny brocade, patterned with crosses and knot work. I lined both in a remnant of white poly-cotton with a visible weave to it. The pattern for the vest is Atira's Fashion's pattern "Saadia's Vest". For the sash I winged it. Basically, it's a strip of fabric long enough to go around my hips, straight on one edge and with a bow curve to the other. At the ends, it's approximately 2" wide; at the center, it's about 12" wide and slightly pointed.
I cut out both pieces in one with their linings - I have terrible trouble getting the linings to match up, otherwise. I sewed the darts in the vest and the lining, then I beaded vest and sash with blue seed beads. I do all my beadwork on fabric that will be lined. That way, rather than doing each bead with a separate knot, you can do your pattern on one thread, then line it to protect the long bits. If I'm doing a large pattern of beads, I like to used fusible interfacing to hold all the threads in place, then line it.
Then I sewed in the linings. I left the armholes open on the vest. On the sash I sewed in an 8" gold chain fringe. Then I sewed down two narrow white ribbons (1/4" I think) around the edge of both the sash and the vest so that they formed one large ribbon, and overlaid a gold trim onto that.
I made a number of tassels and attached them. What I did was take a 5/8" wooden flowerpot (available at craft stores) and a small eye hook. I glued the hook into the flowerpot with Tacky Glue, then painted the whole thing gold. Each one took two coats. I took a length of 6" chain fringe and rolled it up, using Tacky Glue to hold it, rather like a jelly roll. Then I glued the fringe into the pot, and stitched each tassel onto the garment using gold thread. I put three at the point of the sash, then two at each side of the sash at the next repeat of the pattern, then two more, again on each side at the pattern repeat. On the vest, I sewed 9 total - 1 at the bottom of each of the four darts, 1 between each of those pairs, and 1 at either side of the front opening, right on the edge of the vest.
On the sash I sewed some coins on chains and also some gold dangles with blue beads on them. I also hooked more of the dangles to the loops of the trim on the top edge of the sash. Each dangle has a blue seed bead on a jump ring hanging from it.
For the sash closure, I took some 1/2" white and gold cord. I tied a large knot in one piece and stitched it in, then stitched the other piece in as a loop. The knot is somewhat fragile, given that I didn't glue or stitch it at all, but it holds up relatively well (this means that I've never had to retie it). If you do the same and are worried, a hook and eye at the opening would take the strain off the knot, but you'd have to position the whole thing right so that a hook and eye would work.
For the sleeves on the vest, I took some chiffon and cut out two ovals, longer than my arms and about 14" wide. I cut off one end flat and sewed that end into the armholes. It doesn't go all the way around the armhole - probably only two-thirds around, with the gap at the top. There are gathers in it, so it's got a lot of ease.
When I hemmed the sleeves, I folded the material, stitched, folded, and stitched again. I put the vest on and marked a point on the sleeves where the two sides would meet. I sewed them together for about three inches. Then I hand-applied a smaller version of the cord that I used for the sash to the hem. I attached another small dangle at the apex of the bottom opening and a length of chain with coins on it at the shoulder. I also put a matching length of chain across the center back and put more of the beaded dangles on the trim across the top of the back.
I closed the vest with three white frogs. The pattern has an optional modesty panel that I didn't make, but the frogs are quite tight so the pattern doesn't gap much. The only thing I would change would be that I'd put some sort of wire in the points of the neckline; I used the keyhole neckline view and the points are never, ever flat.
pants
In contrast to the vest and sash, these pants were the very first thing I made for the SCA. They are made of an unknown length of olive green material that I got for $1.00/yd. I don't know what it is, but it's obviously artificial. It works well, though - the fabric has just enough Lycra or whatever to give it a little spring. It blouses beautifully.
For a pattern, I took a pair of my leggings. I folded them in half so that I could see the crotch curve. I placed them on my folded material (4 thicknesses, folded to make two legs) and cut around my pants. I made them about 8" longer and about 8" wider than my leggings. To do that, I moved the straight edge 4" from the fold of the material and cut around the crotch curve side with only about 1" for seam allowance. I increased most of the length at the ankle, but put about another inch at the top for the casing.
Then I sewed the whole thing together. I put casings at the ankles and waist and put ribbons through. If you want, you could use elastic, but I like the look of the ribbon ties. And, obviously, they're far more period that way. But it does make using the privy interesting.
ghawazee coat and blouse
Again, this is early work. The coat is based off the Atira's Fashions pattern of the same name, but I wound up not using it, as it required extensive alteration to fit me. Instead I used a DKNY pattern that I had for a very similar garment. The only changes I made were to the front closure, the sleeves, and the length. The coat is made of another $1.00/yd. find, this one in a lightweight green cotton blend. The blouse has chiffon sleeves that I added, and is an altered pajama top that I found at Goodwill.
To make the blouse, I found a longish pajama top with no sleeves in a satiny white material with small blue flowers randomly printed on. I cut off the bottom of the thing and made elbow length sleeves, to which I attached a double thickness of the chiffon, forming the sleeve flounces. I serged the new hem line and attached snaps down the front. Basically, the blouse provides color at the neck and support for the sleeves. If you make a similar garment, you can fake both with chiffon or some other material, but - as a friend of mine found out, if you recreate in an area that gets cold, you should have one coat with an underblouse, as faking the blouse removes a layer of warming material.
The coat is an ankle-length tunic, originally front-opening. I put a seam there instead and put frogs over it to fake a closure. This did not, honestly, work as well as I had hoped it would, but on the other hand, the coat doesn't gap over my breasts with every move, and as it's quite loose, given the seam positioning, there is a lot of extra width in the body of the coat. The side and front seams are open from the hip to the hem. This is not complex sewing - just seam it and serge it, or finish however you want.
The sleeves are not the ones from the pattern. I traced the pattern sleeves onto another sheet of paper, then went to town, altering them to look more like the ones from the Atira pattern. The pattern winds up looking like the picture to the right. This makes an elbow-length sleeve with a drape.
I sewed the seam all the way down, joining together the two funky bits. Then I folded the drape up, wrong side out, so that there was about 1/2" extra at the top. I sewed around the long sides, and then flipped it right side out. The extra at the top was folded over and stitched down. Then I topstitched around the rest of the drape. Then the sleeve edge was hemmed.
To get the sleeve in, pin it in like any other sleeve. For dancing ease, I left the bottom third open. Then I hemmed the open edges.
veil
Actually, this isn't so much a veil as a cloak. I made it out of some fancy material that caught my eye. It's a heavier fabric, black with gold threads in it - I don't remember what it was sold as, but I think it's a type of Lurex. I made it using the "Salome's Skirts and Sirane's Veils" pattern by Atira.
Basically, you take your material and figure out how long it should be - I had to sew a wheel piece on mine, as it was not wide enough. Cut out a half-circle or half-oval as best you can, and hem it. I didn't decorate mine, but that's because it's pretty heavy and I didn't want to add to the weight. There are a number of embellishment suggestions on the pattern, however.
To wear it, I roll the center of the straight edge and fasten it to my hair with several bobby pins. The points come around the front and cross over my breasts and are wrapped around the straps of my vest. The back is tucked into the top of the sash, leaving a flounce free. It's good camouflage, and surprisingly warm.
accessories
I have a number of accessories that I use with my bellydance costumes, including scarves, a belt pouch, and shoes.
Scarves: I have a number of scarves, some of which can be worn as head scarves, some as hip scarves, and some as hip sashes. One of note is the traditional coin scarf, which I didn't make and don't know how I would go about it. My supplier for good coins went out of business - if you know of a good one, let me know. Some kind of head covering is essential for this outfit - even if, like me, you want to bend tradition enough to appear outside with less than a full veil, you should have a head covering. I also have a coin hip scarf that can be worn on the hip for bellydance, or in a burnoose fashion with regular clothing. All clothing should fit into the mundane world as well as the play one, in my opinion.
Belt Pouch: One of the main attractions of SCA if you don't fight is the Merchant's Row. I wanted something to carry my checkbook and plastic in. What I did was use the Zil Pouch from "Farasha's Accessories" and made it large enough to hold a checkbook. It's black velvet with a frog closure and is nice and discreet.
Shoes: I don't make shoes. No one else makes shoes I can afford, given that I wear a thirteen women's. In the winter, I have a pair of suede ankle boots that work well and don't require me to make my own shoes. In the summer, I use ordinary fisherman's sandals. I tried the Chinese slippers so beloved of so much of the SCA and found out that they suck. It was one of the larger mistakes of my life, buying them.
jewelry
Rather than spend a fortune on jewelry that didn't fit, I decided to make my own. I wound up with a whole suite, consisting of earrings, a necklace, gauntlets, and a belt. I purchased a pair of anklets, as at that point I didn't want to make any thing else. I bought most of the supplies, including the main flower piece, at Shipwreck Beads (linked on the links page). It would be very difficult to explain how each piece was made; if you really want to know, email me. If I am forced to write it all up for one person, I'll probably post it.
The one thing I'll point out right now is that the flower is a necklace center and has three loops on the back for jumprings.