Rhinestone Dilema?

[Skittl1321]

I ordered this dress for a competition in June: http://www.figureskatewear.com/nv74983/

I'm not entirely sure when it will get here (apparently it has to be cut by the factory and essentially made to order, but "off the rack") but the "last possible date" I gave her when I ordered was May 28.  So assuming it gets here as late as possible, that doesn't give me much time to color match for rhinestones- so I need to order them ahead of time.

I'm skating to "I feel Pretty" from West Side story, so while my freeskate dress is going to be plain, I feel like this needs some decoration.  What color rhinestones should I use?  Red, or "clear"? (And how do I know what color red?)  What size?  Do I get two different sizes?


If anyone has some ideas of patterns I could use to decorate the dress, I'd really appreciate the advice.

I was thinking of just along the neckline and the back straps.  Should I do any on the bodice and skirts? 


I'm so stressed about this competition already- stoning a dress is just another worry...  maybe I can skate with it blank, but it seems the wrong song to not be all dolled up...

[Skate@Delaware]

I would go with your plan, and not worry about doing too much if you are pressed for time. It's a very pretty dress, btw! Good luck at your competition!

[MadMac]

Beautiful!!  You would be safe with a clear AB? stone and it would really light up your face if you outlined the neckline - 2 sizes adds to the highlighting - maybe 2 or 3 small stones then 1 large one. The beads on the fabric are gold, so that might be an option too. I agree that the dress will be great as is if you are pressed for time. Picture please when it is ready!

ps -- I've had several dresses from this dressmaker. All are stunning and fit like a dream.

[Skate@Delaware]

Beautiful!!  You would be safe with a clear AB? stone and it would really light up your face if you outlined the neckline - 2 sizes adds to the highlighting - maybe 2 or 3 small stones then 1 large one. The beads on the fabric are gold, so that might be an option too. I agree that the dress will be great as is if you are pressed for time. Picture please when it is ready!

ps -- I've had several dresses from this dressmaker. All are stunning and fit like a dream.

That's good to know about the dressmaker--after seeing the dresses and the PRICES, and I'm sure I saw them at a prior competition, I'm keen on ordering one (esp. seeing the sizes, which would fit my girth).

[Sk8tmum]

Topaz will look amazing on the dress; I've used it on a number of red dresses, and it glows beautifully, plus, matching the beading. You can pair it up with clear AB ones if you want more glitter.

[jumpingbeansmom]

My dd has a dress with a similar back, and it has rhinestones on the criss cross-- it looks really nice.    I agree about doing around the neck. 

[Skittl1321]

That's good to know about the dressmaker--after seeing the dresses and the PRICES, and I'm sure I saw them at a prior competition, I'm keen on ordering one (esp. seeing the sizes, which would fit my girth).

I have one of her off the rack dresses already, so I ordered 2 more.  If you call or email her she is SO helpful.  She's an adult skater too.  The previous dress I have is M, and it's a little tight so I was wondering if I should move up to a large.  She knows the fabrics, and the fits for adults- so she kind of worked me through the sizes, and told me that this dress will run slightly (slightly!) larger than the lycra- but that the large would be swimming on me.  Lots of retailers sell her line, but going through her meant she knew which ones worked for adults (the one I really wanted she advised against unless "you have really good abs" based on the fabric...I don't so I went with another suggestion) she was also able to tell me which skirts were longer and such.  Working directly with her was well worth it.  (Of course, I still have to see if the dresses get to me on time!)

Her website says she can change the skirt length for adults wanting longer skirts- but that makes them semi-custom and the price refelcts it.  Basically the dress has to be made from scratch for a longer skirt, so it's not cheap.  So I just went with stock length.

It looks like her custom dresses are EXPENSIVE (and probably worth it) but her off the rack line is one of the best deals in figure skating, and the dress I have is great quality- and they are made in the USA.

[Skittl1321]

Okay- one vote for just leave it as is.
One for clear AB or maybe gold.
And one for Topaz.


I like the idea of not getting red, that way I don't have to try to match it.  Maybe I will get clear AB and Topaz, and if the topaz don't work on the dress, I can use them to bling up some practice pants...

I'll probably try to order sometime this week- so I'd love to hear more ideas too


Where does everyone get their crystal rhinestones?  Who has good shipping rates for small orders?

[Kim to the Max]

You could also look at fire opals which are a red/orange, but they look amazing on red fabric. I put some on a red dress from that same company last year and it looked amazing.

[Skittl1321]

The fire opal looks a lot like the topaz...
http://rhinestonesupply.com/store/FIRE_OPAL_Flat_Back_Rhinestones-list.aspx

http://rhinestonesupply.com/store/TOPAZ_Flat_Back_Rhinestones-list.aspx

How am I supposed to choose???


Is 2 gross of stone enough to do the straps and the neckline lightly do you think?  I suppose I could always order more later if I decide to do the bodice...  Or should I just go ahead and order 5 gross and just bead it as far as it goes.... 10 gross seems out of my price range.

I'm thinking either 12 ss or 16 ss (or both).  Does that sound right?  I am SO out of my element...i've always used plastic rhinestones before and those are so cheap i can buy them by the truckload.

[jumpingbeansmom]

The fire opal looks a lot like the topaz...
http://rhinestonesupply.com/store/FIRE_OPAL_Flat_Back_Rhinestones-list.aspx

http://rhinestonesupply.com/store/TOPAZ_Flat_Back_Rhinestones-list.aspx

How am I supposed to choose???


Is 2 gross of stone enough to do the straps and the neckline lightly do you think?  I suppose I could always order more later if I decide to do the bodice...  Or should I just go ahead and order 5 gross and just bead it as far as it goes.... 10 gross seems out of my price range.

I'm thinking either 12 ss or 16 ss (or both).  Does that sound right?  I am SO out of my element...i've always used plastic rhinestones before and those are so cheap i can buy them by the truckload.

I think 2 gross is enough, and I like the fire opal.  My daughter has 20ss, 16 isn't that big and I think 12 is teeny.  I'd go with the 20ss fire opal

[Skittl1321]

Thanks for the size advice!  I was looking at a pdf printout and 20 seemed huge, but it's nice to hear from someone who has them on their dress! 20 it is!

[Kim to the Max]

I usually use 20ss and 16ss...anything smaller than that and they are teeny!

[jumpingbeansmom]

Thanks for the size advice!  I was looking at a pdf printout and 20 seemed huge, but it's nice to hear from someone who has them on their dress! 20 it is!

My 10 year old is about 5 ft 2, and wears adult xs.   Her dress with the criss cross like that has the 20ss, they are not huge at all.  I found the pdf printout seemed much bigger than they actually were

[Skittl1321]

Thanks for the help! 

[jumpingbeansmom]

Thanks for the help! 

No problem, I almost ordered the 16ss myself, to replace some on my dd's dress- then when her friend who is much younger got hers, I found out they were 16ss and realized how small they were compared to the pdf

[Sk8tmum]

I use the 30ss regularly; the 20SS are good, but, on straps I'm more fond of 30SS and then I use small ones (like SS16 or SS10) tucked into the join between the SS30s. On adults, the bigger stones work ... my kid is adult size, and we "moved up" in stone size when she got to be bigger.

I've seen the fire opal on red; it does look pretty; but are you looking for glittery, which is what You're So Pretty sounds like to me - ? If you are, then, you might want to go for the AB ones ...

[jumpingbeansmom]

I use the 30ss regularly; the 20SS are good, but, on straps I'm more fond of 30SS and then I use small ones (like SS16 or SS10) tucked into the join between the SS30s. On adults, the bigger stones work ... my kid is adult size, and we "moved up" in stone size when she got to be bigger.

I've seen the fire opal on red; it does look pretty; but are you looking for glittery, which is what You're So Pretty sounds like to me - ? If you are, then, you might want to go for the AB ones ...

We use AB

[Sk8tmum]

My DD's last dress had 250 30ss and around 300 20SS, plus some ss16s and maybe a 100 variety shapes on it.  It didn't look overdone at all; because the stones were close together, you got a ripple/flowing effect and she had people continually commenting on how elegant and beautiful the dress was. Now, in the drugstore AFTER the comp, it looked a bit over the top ... but we weren't designing for streetwear!

I also stitch on Swarovski crystal beads and Swarovski pearls on straps: it creates texture and visual interest, and it generally is the feature that gets the most comments from people in terms of the appearance of the dress. Takes some time, but is well worth it when you see it on the ice.

[Skittl1321]

I know there are many very elegant heavily stoned dresses out there- but I don't see many on skaters of my level... IIRC, your daughter is a mid-to high level skater, right?

When I think of overdone I think of a freeskate 1 skater who is out-sparkling the seniors....  I think you need jumps to back up the crystals   Now if I were going to adult nationals- it sounds like everyone brings the sparkle, but this is a low level local competition. 


Now that I've seen that I really need to be using the larger sizes, and at 2 gross is going to be the absolute minimum, I'm thinking maybe I should just go plain for this competition and wait until next year when I have some more money to throw at it - and get about 5 gross instead. 

[Sk8tmum]

Nope, this one is a Junior Bronze skater (which is test track, axel, 2 doubles up to 2T 2L). Because of the bigger frame, small amounts of rhinestones get "lost" - so what looks like a lot on a smaller girl looks just fine on a larger frame. It depends on the dress: with the one you've got, you can go crazy on the straps, and it'll look quite nice, and not overdone; it's when you start getting tons of appliques and gold threading, etc etc, that it really starts too look quite - a lot of stuff.

[isakswings]

I ordered this dress for a competition in June: http://www.figureskatewear.com/nv74983/

I'm not entirely sure when it will get here (apparently it has to be cut by the factory and essentially made to order, but "off the rack") but the "last possible date" I gave her when I ordered was May 28.  So assuming it gets here as late as possible, that doesn't give me much time to color match for rhinestones- so I need to order them ahead of time.

I'm skating to "I feel Pretty" from West Side story, so while my freeskate dress is going to be plain, I feel like this needs some decoration.  What color rhinestones should I use?  Red, or "clear"? (And how do I know what color red?)  What size?  Do I get two different sizes?


If anyone has some ideas of patterns I could use to decorate the dress, I'd really appreciate the advice.

I was thinking of just along the neckline and the back straps.  Should I do any on the bodice and skirts? 


I'm so stressed about this competition already- stoning a dress is just another worry...  maybe I can skate with it blank, but it seems the wrong song to not be all dolled up...

If you end up having time to crystal, I might go with either clear or clear AB crystals. I lthink the areas you are thinking of crystalling sounds great!

[aussieskater]

Lovely dress!  (And I agree that you have to "jump" to match the crystals!  I wonder what the correct ratio is?  Maybe no more than one gross per jump rev in the arsenal, so if you have all your singles to axel reliable you can maybe justify up to 6.5 gross?? )

Just a heads-up for Fire Opal - I used them on my DD's red velvet dress (still looking for a photo to link - I'm sure I have one somewhere!)  In the daylight and close up they looked great, but in our dark dingy rink they did tend to disappear a little (a bit like I suspect Siam would have done).  I teamed them with Light Topaz and Clear, and those colours showed up much better than the Fire Opal did.

20ss was a good size.  Much smaller wasn't really worth the application effort; larger was too expensive.

[tazsk8s]

I made most of my DD's dresses when she was skating (ISI "greek" thru USFS Intermediate) as well as my own competition dresses when I competed, and still do an occasional dress for a kid or two at the rink.  My thoughts –

- Agree with the above poster about color-matching....if you match too closely, the sparkle just gets lost.  Crystal AB's are my friends (clear with the iridescent coating).  They pretty much go with anything.  You can also alternate colored stones in between clear ones if you want.  For maximum "pop" on the colored stones, I suggest the AB version of those.

- Also agree about the size.  I will occasionally use 16's on a younger/smaller kid, but 20's show up a little better.  30's can get expensive, but again, you can come up with a pattern of alternating a large stone followed by 2 small ones or whatever.  Not to mention...the larger sizes are easier for me to work with and for my old eyes to look at closely.  Anything smaller than a 16 really isn't worth the hassle (IMO).

- Make sure and look at the dress from a distance.  What looks good close-up is often "not enough" once you see it from a distance and under rink lighting (which is its' own separate beast).  What looks gaudy close-up might be perfect on the ice.  If you aren't sure, have your coach or a friend take the dress on a hanger to the middle of the ice after you've stoned it, and go up and look at it from the stands.  You can always decide to add more for next time, too.

- For the dress in your link, I'd go with highlighting the straps and the neckline as a start as others have suggested.  If you want to add more, some 16ss crystal AB's scattered on the nude mesh, and since the red fabric looks like it has some kind of flower or starburst on it, add a colored stone to the middle of each starburst.

I love to stone dresses...if I could get someone to do the sewing for me and just "bling" them, I'd be thrilled!

[Sk8tmum]

Just found a new Swarovski colour that looks like it would be amazing on red ... Sunflower ... a really deep yellow with a tinge of gold ...