Friday, July 19, 2013

Adventures in Sewing: Horse-hair Braid

In my adventures into sewing a dancesport dress, I have come across are variety of sewing items that can make an outfit flounce, curl and create volume, the latest of which is Horse-hair Braid or in South Africa: Mesh Tape.

The pictures below are of the tape that you can buy at material shops that sell bridal haberdashery. This one is an inch thick.



While exploring the various tutorials I came across this tutorial that showed how to sew the tape to the bottom of the skirt. This their case, they folded it up again to create a hem, but in my case I left it exposed to add to the effect.

Unlike the tutorial, I did not pin it before sewing, as I stretched the Lycra as I hemmed it.

Each ruffle is two full circles to make the many curls needed to create volume in the skirt. In my case I could only get hold of white mesh tape, so the dress is decorated in silver crystals to match.




Thursday, July 18, 2013

Adventures in Sewing: Crystal Designs


Every Latin outfit needs to be bling, the word opulent springs to mind, and the best way to do so is to apply a LARGE number of rhinestones to a dress, but cleverly, to suit your design.

I have a Hotfix applicator wand that heats the crystals and the glue on the back of them. Each crystal is applied by hand, following a design of some description.




Some advice I followed for the large crystals  "Make sure you glue AND sew your large sew-on stones! The larger Swarovski stones are now available in a wonderful variety of shapes and colours, and they can really add a great look to your stone design on your dress. But be sure to remember that these stones will stick the best if you glue AND sew them."


My dress half way through stoning: