I worked on Ice Girl's competition dress two weeks ago. I again used Kwik Sew Pattern #2796. The small was a bit too tight on Ice Girl, but the medium (below) needed tons of adjustment.The problem with Kwik Sew is that it's hard to tell where the waistline is on the pattern. Alterations are kind of hard when the pattern pieces cont
ain no references to hip, bust, or waist measurements.For this dress I wanted to do beading in a pattern, so Ice Coach came up with the beading scheme. I copied the pattern piece onto some stabilizer and Ice Dad drew the beading pattern onto the stabilizer. We cut out the beading pattern and transfered it to the skirt before I sewed it together.
I bought hotfix faceted rhinestuds
instead of crystals this time. Seven gross cost me $25, including express shipping. Yeah. I was trying to go the cheap route.The rhinestuds don't look bad, but they look better when mixed with the tiny crystals that I had left over from the pink competition dress.
Here's what you need to know about affixing rhinestuds: use the flat tip of your Bejeweler, not any of the tips with indents.
Rhinestuds are smaller and flatter than crystals. Using the indented tips will encourage the rhinestuds to stay in the tip and never leave. The
her ooze down the tip or ooze inside of it. Either way, it's not a fabulous solution.
The flat tip, however, is a great choice. Let that puppy heat up and place the rhinestuds directly on the fabric. Press down for maybe 15 seconds and the rhinestud is set.
Sewing review: I'd buy the rhinestuds again, especially if I were to make this kind of concentrated beaded design. Sprinkle in the little crystals so the design isn't too flat. Do not use the rhinestuds for smaller designs. The rhinestuds just won't show up from a distance.
I think it looks like a lovely dress! I like the rhiestuds! I used hot-fix crystals for dd's competition dress and I LOVED how easy they were to afix. I LOVE my Bejewler!
ReplyDeleteIt looks really pretty! You're getting GOOD!
ReplyDeleteGood job!
ReplyDeleteI dont have it in me to do that :} Glad you do !!
I just ran a week long skate camp, booked 160 private lessons, made sure everyone was happy ect. More my cup of tea.
I glady pay for dress and stones !!
Hi Icemom,
ReplyDeleteYour story sounds so familiar. I also have a 12 year old who's just crazy about ice skating. She's going to be in her first competition in less that 2 weeks up in Green Bay and she's totally psyched.
It started when I found a pair of roller blades at a rummage sale last year. She just took off with them and skated all summer. Shortly after she saw one of those crazy skating flicks--Ice Princess or something like that and boom--all I heard was how she just had to take figure skating lessons.
We were knee deep in select soccer when this came up so I put it off as long as I could but by October she was signed up for group lessons at the Pettit Center. While the Pettit is a great place to have near us for practice the group lessons weren't so great. I wish we could've stayed with the group lessons longer than we did to save money as you mention in your posts but we've already made the leap to a paid coach and I don't see her going back. At 12, almost 13, it's probably all a bargain anyway just to keep her focused on something she can achieve and build self confidence through. At least that's what I keep telling my husband.
Congrats on sewing your own outfits. I tried working with the material and it seems beyond my sewing skills but I may try again.
I promised my skater girl I would sew a pair of soakers and I have the material but haven't gotten very far.
Anyway, I love your blog. This is certainly a learning experience for me. I'm glad you and others are out there sharing your experiences as you go along. This can be so expensive without a little advice from others who've been there, done that.
Hi, skatergirlmom!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice comment!
Don't give up on the stretch fabric. It's really not that bad. Just realize that it stretches and is very forgiving.
Maybe we'll see one another at the Pettit sometime! They have great hours during State Fair: 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. open skate for the regular open skate price. And you know that they let figure skaters practice moves safely during open skate. Ha! Cheap ice! I love it!
If your daughter is competing at next month's Madison Open, we might see you there, too!
Ice Mom
You have done a lovely job! I applaude your patience, I make tons of dresses for my own skater and other girls at our rink but I never seemed to get the hang of using the hot fix stones and studs. I dont know why but the coordination is just not there for me LOL! The hot fix wand seems to take forever and I have also tried to use the hot plate method where you melt all of the stones at once and then transfer them into place with tweezers.... total disaster, I had stones dropping every where and sticking where didn't want them to be and I would try to grab them quick but I would only end up burning my fingers and leaving glue spots!! In the end and after much trial and error I now use plain old flat back stones and e-6000 glue to affix them. This works out really well for me and I can stone a dress(5-6 gross of stones)in under an hour. The glue is dry and the dress can be worn in about 10 minutes. I get my stones from a website called danceshopper.com . You have to order 10 gross at a time which is a big initial investment but the price cant be beat! I mostly use size 20 stones and I get the plain crystals for about $65.00(6.50 a gross WOW!!) and most colors are $75.00 for 10 gross. Thats the cheapest I have found so far.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever worked with the Jalie patterns? www.jalie.com , they have a huge selection of skating dresses and are fairly easy to sew. The patterns are about $12.00 and they include all sizes from a toddler size 2 all the way up to an adult size 22 in one pattern. They are also made of heavy paper so they are very durable. I just trace the pattern size that I need and keep the original un cut. This is great for adjusting sizes too!
Sorry for the long comment but I love to pass on the tricks that I have picked up over the years that my daughter has been in this crazy sport that we love so much!!
Becky
Thanks for the great comment about the beads, skatedivasmom!
ReplyDeleteI was talking to a gal at a competition yesterday about the stones that you set with E6000, too. She said that she became frustrated with the E6000 glue because it would dry up and clog applicators and then leave a trail of spider webby glue.
If you have any tips about applying them, shoot me an e-mail; I'd love to put up a post about them.
I'm tempted to try Jalie. I just bought another Kwik Sew yesterday, but, as I said, I'm very tempted.
Thanks for the comment!
Hi again!
ReplyDeleteThe glue can get pretty stringy and clog easily if you use the tip that come with the original packaging. I have tried lots of differnt ways to work with the glue and I have found the best way for me is to use a dental impression syringe. It's a plastic syringe(that is refillable) with a semi fine point on it just the right size to make a perfect glue dot for the stone. I put down about 20 or so dots at a time then go back and plunk the stones on the dots. I use one of those long q-tip things with a ball of dental wax smushed on the end to pick up the stone. The wax is tacky enough to pick up the stone but releases as soon as it touches the glue. Super easy! I get the syringes and the long q-tips on e-bay from a dental supply store. The syringes come 50 to a box for about 10 bucks and I can actually use one syringe over and over again. I just plug the hole at the tip with a straight pin to keep thr glue fresh until I need it again so one box last quite a while. The long q- tips come 1000 to a box and I bought a pound of wax so that will last me for ever LOL!!
Go ahead and make the leap to Jalie patterns you will be happy that you did! Although I have to admit I do also love the kwik sews.
Happy sewing!
Becky
Oh, Becky, you smart thing.
ReplyDeleteDental syringes, dental wax and some swab thing? I'm so there.
That's what I'm going to use on Ice Girl's next dress (blue stretch velvet with blue stretch netting sleeves). I would love to finish a beading project in an evening instead of carting it for days from rink to rink!
I think once I'm done with this next dress (Kwik Sew #3272), I'll branch out to Jalie. I've been on their site a bunch of times, but I'm chicken.
I bought a Specialty Sportswear pattern and system, but I haven't been brave enough to try them. I'd need a seeing eye dog to figure those out! :)
Thanks for the great advice!
Ice Mom
Hi Ice Mom,
ReplyDeleteYeah I am totally hooked on the glue method of stoning!! If you want to contact me through my website I would be happy to send you a few syringes and q-tips so you can try before you buy.
Thanks
Becky
www.sammyskatewear.com
Anyone else run into bad batches of hotfix crystals.....where you have say a half dozen out of 30 that don't have much of the glue on the back (or none at all)? Between that problem, and hotfix crystals falling off after a few wearings, I only use this method now as a last-resort or emergency application method.
ReplyDeleteNope. I haven't run into any bad batches of hotfix - and I've bought the cheapies from JoAnn Fabrics, too.
ReplyDelete