This is a little bit out of order for what I planned for this series, but I finished applying rhinestones to a costume recently and wanted to share my process while it was fresh on my mind! Have you had difficulty applying rhinestones to your costumes before? Do you want to know what size rhinestones to get for your costume, or what kind of glue to get? Worry no more! In this post I’ll share the products I like to use and the method I use to apply rhinestones to my costumes so you can too!
Materials Used
Applying rhinestones is so easy once you know how! All you need are:
- rhinestones
- adhesive glue
- a toothpick or ‘Picker Upper’
- protection for your work surface
Rhinestones
I’ve purchased rhinestones from several different places, and you can really find them anywhere these days. If I need a lot of rhinestones for a costume I’ll get them from The Rhinestone Guy or Fire Mountain Gems. I like the 30ss size but 20ss are good for costumes as well; it just depends on what your personal preference and budget is. I really like the sparkle of Swarovski but the Czech rhinestones have a lot of sparkle and are great to use as well.
Adhesive
I have used the hot-fix rhinestones in the past but found the method to be really finicky and the hot-fix adhesive to not stick very well. If you happen to buy hot-fix rhinestones they will still work with regular glue. I like to use Gem-Tac and E6000. The project photos in this post were with E6000. Gem-Tac is much thinner but is also non-toxic; E6000 has some fumes associated with it, so be sure to use in a well-ventilated room if you do use it! I like using the small tubes because you don’t need very much glue on a project. I can probably stone one gross’ worth (144) of 30ss rhinestones with a tiny tube of glue! Most of the stoning I do are as accents, so if you want something very heavily stoned you may prefer the larger tube.
A Handy Helping Tool
I like using this rhinestone setting tool – it’s basically a plastic stick with a bit of dental wax on the end to pick up and place rhinestones. If you have tried any of the nail-related rhinestone setting tools and like them I’d love to know! I also like using a toothpick to partition and place the dots of E6000; I find I can place Gem-Tac straight from the tube.
Work Surface Protection
Sometimes glue will seep through a costume, or mistakes happen and glue gets somewhere you didn’t intend! It depends on the project, but there are several ways I product my work surface. I have wrapped my dressform in plastic wrap. In the pictured projects I used a piece of cardboard wrapped in plastic wrap to protect my table and applied the rhinestones flat. You can also lay down waxed paper to protect the work surface.
Method
Before you can apply the rhinestones, you need to decide where you want to place them. On the white costume I outlined key design features with spaced stones. You can outline much closer or further apart, it just depends on how many stones you have and the effect you want. On other costumes I highlighted floral motifs on the fabric. This red costume had big spiral ruffles on it, and I placed the rhinestones to emphasize its circular shape. I’ve also seen rhinestones applied randomly, either singly or in clusters, to good effect.
I apply a small dot of glue to the spot I want to place the rhinestone. This can be either directly from the tube or from a dot of glue on a toothpick. You can also use the pointy end of the rhinestone setting tool but I prefer using a toothpick as it’s smaller and more precise. Once you get good at placing the glue you can place several dots before setting the rhinestones.
I then pick up a rhinestone with the dental wax end of the rhinestone setter, and place it onto the dot of glue and press it into the glue so it bonds with the glue and the costume. Then leave to dry! With Gem-Tac I’ve had to leave the costume completely alone before I could shift the costume and work on another part, but I’ve found with E6000 I can let it set for a few minutes and then flip the costume over and work on a different part of it without having the stones shift on me. Whatever adhesive you use, you want to let it set for at least 24 hours before wearing the costume.
What’s Next?
Next in this series, I’m going to share with you how I like to apply appliques to costumes. I’ll also share where I source the materials and other embellishments I use. You’ll always find all these tutorials on the Tutorials Page, and resources I like on the Recommended Resources Page.
How do you like to apply rhinestones to your dance costumes?
- Introduction
- Inspiration
- Fabrics To Use
- Basic Method
- Practice and Test Skirts
- Embellishments and Where to Source Them
- How I Apply Rhinestones
- How I Apply Appliques
- Repurposing Dresses for Costumes
- Transporting and Storing Dance Costumes
