DIY White Floral & Gem Belly Dance Bra

Flowers and gems… these are girls’ best friends, aren’t they?

The other day, I was browsing through DIY arts & crafts videos on YouTube, and encountered a video titled “DIY EDC bra.” I didn’t know what EDC meant (EDC = Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas), but the thumbnail showed this pretty bra with shiny rhinestones, so I had to watch it…

After watching, I had to re-create it into a belly dance bra!

This would be a great weekend project, especially when it’s rainy outside. It would be fun to buy the supplies in bulk and share with your troupe, so they can make their own, but your costumes will still look great together because they are all in the same colours.  I think this design is perfect for wearing at summer events and fun performances.

Check out this video where I show you how I made the bra.

Supplies:

Bra of your size

Fabric – For this costume I used stretchy, velvet white fabric

Fake flowers – I got these fake flowers from a dollar store, I mixed different shapes

Rhinestones – These are called Bead Landing Jewels, from Michael’s. Michael’s carrys different colours.

Hot glue gun

Ribbon or interfacing to make bra straps

Scissors, pins, needles and thread

 

1. Cut all the straps and sides from the cups.

2. Cover the bra cups.

It’s a belly dance costume, so you don’t want it to look like an underwear with decorations, so you have to cover the bra.

Quick tip: It is  easier to cut a piece of fabric big enough to cover the bra cups, then adjust it later.

Once you have the fabric cut, pin it to the cup from the top, and when you get to the bottom, fold the fabric from the centre, so the fabric sits on the cup nicely. Make sure to not stretch the material too much, as this can cause the cup to shrink.

Another quick tip: Stretchy velvet is quite forgiving, compared to non-stretchy satin or other fabric, because the fuzzy surface doesn’t show stitches and mistakes so much.

Once the fabric is pinned to the cups, you can go ahead and sew the fabric on to the cups.

Since I knew most of the edges will be covered with flowers and rhinestones, I used the sewing machine to sew the fabric as much as possible, and where the foam of the cups was too think, I sew by hand. I also sew the folded section by hand as well. Then I trimmed the excess just to clean it up.

3. Cut the ribbon or interfacing and make straps.

For this design, you will need:

• 2 straps for each side of the bra (1 long & 1 short)
• 1 long strap for the halter neck
• 1 small one to connect the cups

How to measure straps:

For the side long straps:

1. Measure your underbust

2. The length of your underbust minus the added length of the 2 bra cups

3. Divide that by 2

4. Add 5cm or so for overlapping and sewing.

For the side short traps, it’s best if you cut pieces longer than you think you will need, and adjust later. I cut about 30cm for these straps, then just trimmed them when I assembled all straps.

For the halter neck,

1. Measure from the top of a bra cup, around your neck, till the end of the other cup

2. Add 5 cm or so to the measurement for sewing the strap on to the cups.

 

Then cut fabric to cover the straps. Pin the ribbon to the fabric, and make sure there is enough room for overlapping. The ribbon I used was 1cm wide, so I cut 3cm wide pieces to allow a couple of cm for overlapping and sewing.

You can sew these by hand, or use a sewing machine. I used a sewing machine, because this is velvet and the stitching won’t show so much. (Well, some people will probably disagree, but the stitching won’t really show when you are performing in the costume unless the audience is only an arm’s length away from you.)

4. Assemble all straps and bra cups.

Pin them together to adjust lengths so it fits you perfectly.

Quick tip: It is easier to pin the straps outside of the cups, so when you try it on, the pins won’t poke you, and you can adjust the pins more easily.

Once you have the straps in the right places, sew them securely on to the inside of the bra cups.

Now you have a nice white canvas to work on.

5. Prepare flowers.

These flowers actually come off very easily, and you can just pull them off the stems.

6. Glue flowers on.

Pour some rhinestones on a plate so they are easy to grab, and while you wait for your glue gun to heat up, place the flowers where you want them and plan out your design first. Then go ahead and glue them on.

I had to cut off the plastic on the back side of each flower, as they were sticking out too much.

Quick tip: Placing bigger flowers first makes it easier for you to ensure they are glued on where you want them to be, and fill up with smaller ones.

7. Glue rhinestones on.

Once you glue your flowers, you can start on the rhinestones. Basically, I put glue on a small area, then placed several rhinestones at a time.

I placed rhinestones randomly here, but making patterns out of the different colours and shapes of rhinestones would be really cute too.

Now be very careful with the hot glue, when you place rhinestones. A smarter way of doing this would be to use tweezers.

When about one-quarter of the cup was covered with rhinestones, I started placing them with more room in between. I think it looks like the gems are falling on the flowers and I liked the design.

8. Just kept going until you are happy.

Put on some music or a radio to keep you company.

I added some flowers and rhinestones on the straps too for a nice flow of the design.

9. Try on!

I completely forgot to mention in the video, but to wear this bra, you have to sew on a hook and eye and/or snaps, of course.

Hope you liked the video. If you have any questions, please ask in the comment section below 🙂 I will share with you how I made the belt soon!

Listen to your favourite music, have some tea, and make your shiny creation! And share your creation below 🙂

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