Opinions on Glueing on Stones?

Amulya

Moderator
What do you think of costumes that have glued on stones? Do you mind? Do you ever glue on stones on your own costumes?

I have never done it as I saw what a mess it makes in the ballroom dance floor from ballroom gowns and Latin dance dresses and thought it was a waste of stones, they will all have to be re-glued. As a belly dancer I kind of see it as laziness. I don't want stones to be able to fall off, it's bad enough if a strand of beads falls off (that very rarely happens with good fringe anyway)
But it would give the option of having an extremely heavily decorated costume in less time. Or with a dress it might be easier because they can cover a lot of fabric easily. Easy in belly covers too, otherwise each stone would have to be sewn on separately with a knot at the back.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
I'm not a fan of combining glue with fabric; it's unaesthetic and, as you noted, not particularly effective. The exception is when working with leather which is traditionally glued and sewn.
 

Daimona

Moderator
Only if sew-on-rhinestone isn't an alternative and in emergency cases.

I've seen glued-on stones on costumes that worked well, but I also know that if I'm going to try to glue on a lot of stones I'll ruin the fabric and mess it up completely.
 

Shanazel

Moderator
Hmmm. That's a little too busy for my taste. Too many shapes in too many colors in too many sizes for any kind of harmony. How well do the glued pieces stay in place on the flexible areas of the bra/hip band?
 

Amulya

Moderator
Our own Ellen has some costumes where she glued tiny stones on, but that's only a small section on a costume and she's good with glue so no stray glue. But I would be afraid they'd fall off.

I recently bought a (non belly dancing) dress, it arrived last week and it was full of glued on stones and stray glue :( I bought one last year and I washed it in cold water and all the stones fell off and all the glue was all over the fabric. I'm sending this one back, don't they realise that everybody has problems with them? They have been selling things with glued on stones forever. I think they use very bad quality glue but still I don't want to end up with stones missing.
 

AndreaSTL

New member
I've seen it look nice, but I've also seen nasty messes from glue. Costumers do it because it's faster and cheaper than sewing stones and beads. If at all possible I prefer all embellishments to be sewn. Because I like to offer various price points I've purchased costumes with glued beads. I try to give them a good once-over checking for big globs and glue smears. If I were making something for myself, though, I wouldn't use glue unless there was no other way to attach a stone that I just HAD to have.
 
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