Fabulous Full Figures, Part 4: M'shisha al Fo'awi - Page 2
© Shira
Liberty Belle
As a member of a dance company called The Veiled Threats that specializes in belly dancing comedy, M'shisha al Fo'awi needed to assemble a red, white, and blue costume to wear for a specialty number involving American flags, Sousa marches, yodeling, and belly dancing. This picture shows what she put together, mostly using costume pieces she already had in her collection:
M'shisha al Fo'awi had made the basic blue harem pants just to wear for classes and troupe rehearsals. They're made of 100% cotton fabric.
The silver tissue lamé skirt consists of three half-circle panels. M'shisha al Fo'awi had made this one to use when dancing with Troupe Wasila, a dance company that performed "normal" belly dancing. Directions on how to make this skirt appear on my web site. The photos on that page include one of M'shisha al Fo'awi wearing this skirt in a group shot with The Veiled Threats.
The red vest is made from a glitter scarf purchased from Universal Imports in Saratoga, California. A design of starbursts is outlined in sequins across the scarf. The two corners along one of the long edges were brought into the center of the same long edge and anchored with a few stitches. M'shisha al Fo'awi then just placed her arms through the holes created by this process, crossed the bottom edges at the hip line, and tied a hip scarf over the top to anchor it in place.
The hip scarf is a typical Egyptian rectangular red chiffon hip wrap with red and silver glass crocheted bead strips attached in rows.
Here's a view of this costume from another angle:
The blue top in this photo is a sports bra of a cotton, polyester, and spandex blend purchased many years ago at Target. In cooler weather, M'shisha al Fo'awi sometimes replaces the sports bra with a blue unitard she purchased from Sugar Petals with a flesh-colored power net insert in the midriff.
One of the reasons M'shisha al Fo'awi likes this costume is that it's comfortably cool in hot weather. The cotton sports bra and pantaloons breathe, and the glitter scarf covers the midriff in a way that still allows air to circulate. The day this picture was taken was very hot, and M'shisha al Fo'awi was highly tempted to jump into the fountain. But the ducks were there first!
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