stoning dresses yourself

[VAsk8r]

I'm beginning to think about my next competition dress, and I know a lot of people here stone their own. I know you can save a lot, but I'm worried the dress and the stones will become a gluey mess, or at least, the pattern won't be even and it'll be obvious I did it myself. I can sew buttons and hems and had a lot of fun making jewelry and scrunchies when I was little, but I've never tried to decorate anything an adult would want to wear.

I'm wondering if it's smarter just to fork over the money and buy a ready-to-wear dress. I'm on a tight budget, but I don't want to put hours into stoning and end up with a dress that doesn't look professionally made.

For those of you who stone, do you feel it's relatively idiot-proof? Are you naturally good at crafty projects like that, or was stoning your dress your first attempt?

Also, what does AB mean? What do the sizes mean?

[Skittl1321]

I did very simple stoning on my dresses. Outlines, etc.  No overall pattern.
I used e6000 and it has held up very well.  I put a bit on a plate, balled it onto a toothpick, and placed it on the stone. Then placed the stone.

I got my stones from beadsfactory.com. you have to buy 10 gross, but otherwise they have the best prices I've seen, even with the shipping. I prefer preciosa to swarvoski because of price. I cannot tell.the stones apart on quality.

AB is a coating.  It means Aurora borealis.  I prefer it on crystal stones, it depends on colored ones. It does add sparkle.

The number is the size.  I like 20 ss best for all over stoning.  The price is reasonable, and the size is manageable. Smaller would be tough to.glue.

I saved at least $200 by stoning myself, possibly per dress.  It was time consuming...a weekend per dress, but I get tons of compliments. It was well worth it.

[hopskipjump]

I do dd's dresses (well one we got was purchased stoned but I didn't pay for the stones -it was on special).  I love doing it and her dresses are unique.  I watched youtube videos and read online to figure it out.  I use a white crayon and pick the stone up and dip it in the glue.  For super tiny ones I use tweezers.

[Live2Sk8]

I have put crystals on 3 dresses.  I found that it was a lot of fun and I was proud that I did it myself.  The first one, I made a design on paper, then basted the design onto the dress with contrasting color thread.  Then I glued the stones making sure I stayed away from the thread.  I was worried about the same things you're worried about but it turned out ok!  I like to do crafty things but I had never done something like this before. 

For the second dress, I dreamed up a very simple pattern with a 34ss stone in the middle with four 20ss stones around and repeated that a few times along the neckline of the dress in a V and it turned out really pretty.  Simple but elegant.

My third dress I just did this weekend.  I didn't use a pattern this time - I just put the stones on randomly.  I divided the stones into 2 piles, one for each half of the dress bodice, and just started out randomly gluing on each side, trying to keep it balanced, then adding in wherever I felt there was too much empty space.  It turned out great!

On all 3 dresses, I outlined neckline with stones first.  I also did the straps on the first dress.  For that, I just eyeballed to see if I was gluing the stones on with approximately the same distance between each.  I am pretty sure I used  less than 100 stones on the first dress.  Second dress was even less, and I used an entire gross (144 stones) on the third.

Good luck if you decide to try it!

I also used e6000, and I read the hints and tips on icemom (great blog that is not current but you can still access the articles).  I also sew - if you can sew, I am sure you can do this!  Don't forget that no one will be looking at your dress up close except yourself.  Any minor imperfections will not be noticeable on the ice.

[davincisop]

Word of advice, don't look up at the tv while you do it. You will burn a little rhinestone sized hole in the dress when your tool slips off. (I did it)

[FigureSpins]

Second word of advice: once you lay out the stones, don't let anything get plopped on the table/desk.  I laid out all the stones in the order/position I wanted on the fancy stone pad, then went to lay out the very-heavy dress.  As the dress came down, it raised a breeze that sent the rhinestones flying all over.  I found another one last week when I moved a cabinet.


Definitely go for bigger stones - they have more impact at a distance, which is how it will be viewed.  I used smaller stones on DDs dress and it looked better close-up.

[dak_rbb]

I did very simple stoning on my dresses. Outlines, etc.  No overall pattern.
I used e6000 and it has held up very well.  I put a bit on a plate, balled it onto a toothpick, and placed it on the stone. Then placed the stone.

After experimenting a bit, I also like this technique and am much faster at it then when I first started.  I'm not terribly creative (was never, ever crafty) and the toughest part is figuring out the design or patterns.  Some dresses it's very obvious and some take more pondering.  I look at dresses online and on videos for ideas. I purchased a clear plastic sampler with the different colors of stones, both regular and AB, and that helps when deciding on which stones to use. 

The one piece of info that really, REALLY made this easier for me is that Goo Gone will remove the e6000 glue from the fabric, so you can clean up random spots of glue or redo some of the crystals placements.  Of course I always test it on each dress in some inconspicuous place, but so far it's worked great (Thanks Icemom!).  This has given me the courage to try more elaborate patterns and to work faster as well.

Good luck and enjoy.  It's tedious, but it's fun to watch the dress really come to life.

[JSM]

It took FOREVER, but I stoned my first dress with hotfix crystals.  I like the way it looks, though I need to do a more complex pattern as you can tell it was self done (but not bad, just not professional).

I recently bought a used dress off ebay, it came stoned professionally.  Close up you can see glue spots and excess glue on some of the stones, but there's no way you can see the 'mistakes' on the ice!  It looks fantastic.  Up close it looks almost over done, but when I put it on, the thousand or so stones just make the dress shine.

I'll stick to hotfix myself because I'm scared of glue, lol.  I've been looking online at finished dresses for ideas too!  There are a lot of creative people out there.

[Skittl1321]

Close up you can see glue spots and excess glue on some of the stones, but there's no way you can see the 'mistakes' on the ice! 

The people I know who do amazing stoning (I'd say semi-professional, since they sell costumes to others, but in limited scope) say it is important to get some glue onto the front of the stone.  Otherwise you are just glueing the backing, and overtime, the crystal can seperate from the foil backing.  You want a little "puddle" to go around and catch the stone too.

[VAsk8r]

Thanks for all the tips! I'm feeling more confident now.

What do you all think about this dress with crystals on the solid band around the neck and the hips just above the skirt line? Too much with the glitter? Is the cut too conservative?

http://www.tidewaterice.com/figure-skating-dresses-mds-page1.htm
(the one I'm looking at is the fourth one down, MDS916.)

[hopskipjump]

Not a professional but I would do the neck and then I would do little trios every couple of inches at the hem.  I think a single row at the waist will make the skater look shorter.  I did a waist with good results but she was very narrow and the waist was dropped making her torso looking longer (she was on the short side).  I like the trio of crystals more than a single one because it sparkles more.

[Sk8tmum]

Hmmm ... if the dress already has the glitter on it, I would add the stones where the glitter are to "pump up" the sparkle, and make it look more professional. As it's a random pattern, using a solid "line" neck and waist would be inconsistent, and, frankly, you would need to do a lot of stones to make it look impressive on ice - you would need about a tri-row of stones for each, or use something big like a SS30 complemented with SS20s.  What looks really "pretty" off-ice fades into nothingness on-ice.  Years ago, the first dress I did, I was cringing about how bling-y it looked standing in my living room at home; it got on the ice, and you really didn't even notice the stones at all!!!!!!

I would also leave the skirt alone as it makes a nice contrast to have the undecorated skirt and the sparkly top.

BTW: I'm hotfix all the way, but, that's my preference.  Glue is too fiddly for me, and I've had more success with the hotfix ones.  And, look at sites like Sharene, Brad Griffies, Del Arbor, Carrie Jones if you want inspiration on stoning patterns

[PinkLaces]

I have done a few of my DD's dresses.  I used the hotfix stones and very simple patterns....around the neck and down straps.  Trios along the skirt hemline.  Sometimes I would just scatter larger ones through out the body. My DD's coach is truly amazing at stoning.  She does really intricate patterns and does not charge to do it (she says she loves doing and it relaxes her) so now I just let the coach do it.