15 Tribal Costume Care Tips
by Patti Beaman
1. After each performance, lay your bra and belt face down to air for at least a day. This allows any sweat to evaporate and helps keep the costume smelling fresh and prevents moisture from damaging the costume. A wooden drying rack works really well for this.
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| Dawn Ruckert, Dayanisma troupe director |
2. Store costumes in containers that allow them to breathe such as pillow cases of fabric packing cubes, never in plastic or anything air tight. Use silica gel packets to help absorb residual moisture.
3. Store heavy skirts folded, not hung, preferably in something breathable. Some folks twist and then knot them prior to storage. One trick is to fold them and store them in a hanging shoe storage bag.
4. Removing smells from non-washable items: mix half vodka, half water and spray the inside of the garment; let it air dry in fresh air if possible, but be careful of exposing it to direct sunlight and be sure to test it on a small inconspicuous spot first.
5. Hand wash washable fabrics in a small basin or bowl with baking soda, Woolite, or baby shampoo in cool water.
6. Line your bra with felt either with large basting stiches, Velcro or snaps that will make it easily removable to wash or replace after it absorbs moisture and perspiration.
7. Reinforce bra/belt hooks with embroidery thread making them less likely to pop and more durable through multiple performances.
8. Hand sew strong bias tape along the inside back of your belt to use when pinning skirts and/or pantaloons to the belt. Use diaper pins as they are less likely to pop open when performing.
9. When making a tassel, an easy way to make sure they are all even is to push them tassel first through a toilet paper roll, and then trim the excess.
10. When making coin bras, be sure not to put holes in American coins- it is illegal to deface American money! Embroidery thread or fishing line is best to attach coins/embellishments securely.
11. Store your bindi in a pill box/organizer- easy to see which one you want to wear and also portable for when traveling.
12. Cover a bulletin board with pretty fabric and hang your jewelry on it using push pins/silver tacks. Decorative and utilitarian!
13. Tack a length of ribbon to your wall or door and clip your hair flowers to it- another decorative and useful way to store them. This also will keep them from getting crushed and make it easy to find the colors you want to wear!
14. To keep jewelry protected and looking its best, store it carefully. Don't just throw it together into a single drawer or box. Invest in a compartmentalized jewelry box or use sets of pouches and bags- small cloth bags with drawstring tops work particularly well and can also double as storage for your jewelry when you travel.
15. Store beaded jewelry, especially necklaces, flat so that the stringing material does not stretch. One method is rolling a soft cloth such as velvet around them one by one so each necklace is completely embedded in the fabric and then storing them in shoe boxes (or boot boxes if they are rreally long).
Ohh wow! thank you. Love it! <3
ReplyDeleteThese are all fantastic - thank you!
ReplyDeleteThere is one error here -- you can indeed drill a hole in an American coin, quite legally. (If you couldn't, you'd commit fraud every time you used the coin elongator at all those US historical sites like the Smithsonian!). Here's the relevant statute language:
ReplyDeleteU.S. Code is 18 U.S.C. §331 reads: "Whoever fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled or lightened - shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."
The U.S. Mint website explains the passage this way:
Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who 'fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States. This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the U.S. Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent. (Source U.S. Mint)
That means that you can drill a hole in your pennies and put 'em on your coin belt, as you are not intending to defraud anyone.
The other thing is that once you drill holes in your coins to use them on your belt, they stop being legal tender, from what I have read. So as long as you are clear that you are wearing a coin belt made up of altered pennies and nickels, for example, then there's no trouble. You've got a belt ... for pennies (sorry, couldn't resist). But if you then are running short at the Coke machine and decide to clip off a couple of the gilded, drilled nickels or dimes on your belt to make up the difference .... nope. Can't do that.
ReplyDelete