Is It Easy for You?

Dancebug

Dancebug

Well-Known Member
This is a question for folks who make and/or stone their own dresses.

I find it very difficult to make a decision what kind of pattern or which color rhinestones I want to use for my dresses. I get so nervous and delay stoning and sometimes I just cannot finish projects on time. Maybe it is related to the fact that I have ruined couple dresses because of bad stoning. Also it may have something to do with the fact that I normally get bargain fabric and I often wonder if it is worth while to spend a fortune for cheap fabric. For example, my fabric costs me under a hundred dollars, but stone costs me at least twice, normally three times more (the dress looks nice, as it is).

Do you find yourself in this kind of dilemma, or is it just me?
 
I like stoning.. I find it easy andrelaxing. But that's just me... I've put over $400 worth of stones on a gown before :)
 
stoning is so much fun when you are not in a hurry to get it done of course :wink:

I can stone over laces or on the skirt (dotting), but I am to afraid to try stoning free hand on the body of the gown without any patterns.
 
Unless the fabric is really poorly made, I don't see how the cost of the fabric makes a difference in the stoning. I try to never spend more than $6/yard for fabric, and I've made some nice dresses. I just bought over 40 yards of some really great fabric that is just like Chrisanne's "dance crepe" but rather than costing me nearly $35/meter from them I paid under $5.00/yard where I got it.

I did mess up one dress by stoning it once, so I know how you feel.

One way to pick colors is to order a stone card with actual samples of real stones on it. I've got several from various stone vendors. The best one came from Chrisanne that I got when I used to be a member of "Chrisanne Club." It had the whole line of colors glued to a plastic sheet so that you could lay your fabric under the stones and see what colors looked good on it.

For stoning patterns, it's good to start simply. Outlining necklines and stoning over lace are easy and safe bets. Dotting stones all over is the next thing to try. If you want actual designs you can try looking in coloring books, embroidery books, or applique books that you can get a craft stores to find simple designs that you can use. Sometimes I cut shapes out of index cards and pin them to the dress, and then stone around the shapes.
 
I like doing it (stoning), or is it more of helping my wife? Either way, I do enjoy it . . . I design and apply, she keeps the glue flowing and lots of stones right smack in front of me!

I do design patterns "on the fly," or free hand. I see it, then do it!
 
Porfirio Landeros said:
On the last dress project, I glued a couple rows of rhinestones, and then I was kindly asked to leave :x
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YOu must have done a terrible job since I would never say no to someone helping me stone a gown.
 
i am really the most visually impaired, uncrafty person on the planet. now that i'm dealing with the cost of dressing myself to compete, this makes me really sad.
 
I usually place the stones - without glue - on the fabric and play with the colors/ patterns until I find something I like. That requires that you have a few pieces of different colors - a while back I bought a whole bunch of 1 gross packages just so I can do that... (yes, it works out to be a bit more expensive than if you buy the whole 10 gross pack, but to me it has been worth the expense as I can find good color combinations now by playing with the real thing).

And a thought... if you are in a rush, I think it is better to leave the dress unstoned/understoned and wear lots of bling jewelry at the comp to make up for the lesser shine. In the past, I have been up till the crack of dawn before major comps stoning, and my dancing suffered as a result, so the amount of stones on the dress didn't really matter in the end. Of course in the ideal world the stoning would be done at least a couple of days before the event, but that doesn't always happen :wink: (as we know)
 
I usually started my stoning projects at least a month before I needed to wear the dress... Didn't want a stress of unfinished gown the night befor a competition....
 
Heh, I can do 40 gross of stones in about 16 hours, so as long as I start stoning the dress two days before the comp, I'm alright :-)
 
Laura said:
Heh, I can do 40 gross of stones in about 16 hours, so as long as I start stoning the dress two days before the comp, I'm alright :-)
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I guess not everyone is as quick :)
 
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