Skeleton Dance - No Bones About This Costume

Our troupe was going to do a Skeleton-themed dance at a Halloween Hafla and I had a month to figure it out.  I was hoping to use inspiration from bones from the dollar store, plus flowers to make it pretty and using orange fabric and black netting.

This was not my most successful costume.  It looked better in my mind and as I was designing it, and I ultimately wore only parts of it, but I hope to re-visit it, as I do when I have trouble executing my vision.

There were lots of fun bones and things at the dollar store, which is where I started for inspiration.  I used some orange fabric someone had gifted me, which was going to be an asymmetrical skirt.














I used Simplicity 1033 for the skirt.  I struggled with the skirt material, which is why this costume was ultimately not as successful as I would have hoped.

I had leopard printed netting and black net, plus this orange material (organza?) that did not sit well as a skirt.  I didn't realize this until I had already followed the store bought pattern and sewed the whole skirt.

I laid out several different combinations of flowers and bones on a cheap bra I bought.

I made a simple belt, using a pattern I had from a troupe I danced in previously.  I made a youtube belt tutorial here for my students.  There are commercially available belly dance costumes, including Simplicity 2158 and Simplicity 2941.

The belt was made from scrap materials I had left over from other costumes, plus felt for interfacing.



I struggled with the black of the bra and belt, and not being able to see the outline either piece when I wore it over my "bones" bodysuit.  Everything looked great on the table, but not so much on me.  It blended in and just was not working.

The finished outfit.  I did not end up wearing the skirt and I was unhappy with the placement of the flowers.  Next time I think I would use a color other than black or put some sort of trim around the bra and belt.