How can I make a belly dancing hip scarf out of recycled things?

belly dancing hip scarfOk, a bit of a random one but, against our completely uncoordinated better judgement, my friend Katherine and I are currently learning how to belly dance.

We’re both naturally clumsy but it turns out that life isn’t like a film where the most hoof-footed woman becomes a goddess once she enters a dance studio. Imagine a drunk person on a pogo-stick during an earthquake: they’d still be more graceful than me.

We’re planning to distract from our natural lack of skill with fancy-swancy hip scarf/belts and since I’m the craft-y one, I’ve been charged with the task of creating them. I *could* just go and buy some scarves from the market and decorate them with sequins, “coins” (circles of metal that clink together) and bells from the haberdashery but, really, where would the fun be in that?

So any suggestions for other, more interesting, more recycled things to use instead? For both the scarf/belt itself and the decoration.

I thought maybe ring pulls/bottle caps for the coins – I’m not sure how to attach them though. I’ve also got a decent stash of empty drink cans for crafty use – shapes cut from them would be nice and light but possibly a little sharp… Thoughts?

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6 Responses to “How can I make a belly dancing hip scarf out of recycled things?”


  1. Delusion says:

    If you use bottle caps you can create a “tie” with wire or thread etc. Fill the bottle cap with some epoxy glue while you hold the ends of your “tie” inside it.

    This will give the cap a little weight, once its dried the tie will be sealed inside it and you can add dyes / glass beads to the glue to make it look decorative.

  2. kelly says:

    for the scarf part you could use old bed sheets or sheer curtain panels. i tied a black sheer around my waist once as a scarf for my gypsy renaissance festival costume. of course i didn’t dance, but it looked good. :)

    for embellishments… bottle caps & pull tabs like you said, but also beads or jingle bells (i sometimes have these fall off of christmas decorations or cat toys, so i tend to have a few extras laying around)

  3. Melissa says:

    You can use bottle caps, like “Delusion” said, but by putting glue in them you take away the sound that they make. You could take a hammer and a small nail, and gently tap holes into them. Make sure you have a board or something behind the bottle cap, so you don’t accidentally put a hole in your countertop or something. After that you can use fishing line, thread or mini craft chain links to attach them to whatever. :)

  4. Karmae says:

    The round bits from old floppy discs make neat spangles. They jingle on jewelry and they already have the holes for hanging. Two of the black plastic or metal rectangles can be glued together to make a buckle like thing and then can be strung alternating with the spangles for a foxy low slung hip belt. The other bits for another project.

  5. megan says:

    old necklaces – i’m thinking of long beaded ones, or puka shell, or seed ones from hawaii – sort of swagged along the fabric, you could also use t-shirt material to make it, cut it into a triangle to fit your hips, cut strips of fringe into it, and attach beads to the end of the fringe (like those cheesy shirts from the 80’s) here is a link to a beaded bandana retailer http://www.dogcatsupplies.com/peoplebeaded.html

  6. Radhiya Taj says:

    I sewn 2 scarfs together from resale shops to make one, a good place to get scarfs for belly dance. You can also use old beaded dresses to make or use the appliques to attach to your scarf. If you are hand with sewing try using remnants from the sale bin @ the fabric store. You might be able to find trims as well at resale shops.



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