*Ahem* I mean a crafter was perhaps inspired by my costumes and went off to design something similar... Or maybe it was just coincidence that she happened to design a headband, with cowrie shells, one of the exact India jewelry pieces I've put in a cascade before, and with flowers and hair falls positioned exactly where I position them on my headband hairpiece. Wait - WHAT?! I see corset pants in her ebay store. Oh my god - that's a macrame belt...

But *SNIFF!* She's selling it all way cheaper than me... and... I am terribly terribly sorry.

I'm sorry Melodia, for rolling my eyes at that post where someone was looking for melo-knockoffs and you posted with a link to the originals. I'm sorry Tempest, for the deepest darkest part of myself where I didn't sympathize with you for all the non-Tempest made corset belts on the market. I'm sorry Mom, remember the time I was out till 2 and I told you I was hanging out with a bunch of friends from church? Wait, I probably don't want to own up to that one quite yet...

Anyhoo, I just wanted to tell all of you knocked off designers out there that I now understand how you feel! I'm reading the description, and I see that she wraps her wire headband in satin ribbon (that would make it so much softer on the head) and it looks like she uses more kinds of yarn than me and more flowers, and the india jewelry dangling from the cowrie shells is really a great idea... And I almost want to buy it just so I can see if she wraps the stuff on with wire like me, or if the flowers are reinforced on their stems...

And the macrame belt is way better than mine - it's got 10 kinds of yarn and cowrie falls and better tassels... sniff sniff... And the corset pants - okay, nope, the corset pants don't compare to mine. Mine fit better and have bigger grommets and are fuller in the hem. Slight sigh of relief, but still, aaaaauuurrrrgh!!

So I'd like to give a shout out to anyone who creates or is thinking of creating a knock off design. Please know that somewhere in the belly dancing universe the designer you've ripped off is a person, and that person was much much happier when their designs were ORIGINAL!

I'm tempted to contact her and tell her I have plenty of designs I haven't made yet and probably will never have time to make - would she perhaps like to create some of them instead so that that way only her and I know that she is a sad individual with little creativity?

And now, as I can see this going downhill quickly, I shall sign my whiny self off to get some work done today!

btw, since I'm sure you're all curious:
stores.ebay.com/enchanted-dream-wear