Sewing on sequins

[Pixiewoo]

Help! DD needs 00s if not 000s of sequins sewing onto a costume (skirt and waistcoat) But not small ones that I can buy on a thread ... bigger ones, that come separately! But, they only have one little hole at the side.

My problem is ... how do I sew them on, so they don't flap around?

And then I'll start worrying about getting them evenly spaced and level!

 

Guess how I'm spending the Christmas holidays?!!!

[Bluebird22]

Do you mean penny sequins? Depending on the fabric you can glue them on using a glue gun?

[Pixiewoo]

Yes, penny sequins! The fabric is lightweightish polyester ... it would need a cool iron so I'm thinking a glue gun isn't going to work.:0( but thank you for the suggestion. X

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I'd have no clue & certainly wouldn't have the time to do all that.

 

Can you buy a ready done costume instead?

[Ian Macmillan]

Pixie:  This will be of no help at all, I suspect, but there are likely to be others here who will remember Victor Sylvester's regular ballroom dance programmes on the BBC - Monday nights, I think, in black and white, so long, long before Strictly.  (Latin American dances were danced to genuine Latin American music and rhythms, for example.)  Anyway, we were regularly given the sequin count on the ladies' dresses, often into the several-1000s, and we'd be assured that Mum, Grandma, Aunts had sewed every one by hand.  Any chance of your getting others in to help?

[meadowblythe]

My favourite (but not very funny) sequins joke.

 

"She sewed all the sequins on herself.  Then decided they looked better on the dress."

[sarahw]

Pixie woo - why not try glue gun on a spare bit of fabric? We've used the rhinestone heat guns on various fabrics....

[Cara in NZ]

Help! DD needs 00s if not 000s of sequins sewing onto a costume (skirt and waistcoat) But not small ones that I can buy on a thread ... bigger ones, that come separately! But, they only have one little hole at the side.

My problem is ... how do I sew them on, so they don't flap around?

And then I'll start worrying about getting them evenly spaced and level!

 

Guess how I'm spending the Christmas holidays?!!!

 

I'm no expert, but did learn from a dressmaking colleague about using tiny beads to anchor the sequins – you sew the bead on with the needle also going through the hole in the sequin to anchor it.

 

I think that what you call 'flapping around' is actually intentional so that the sequins move and catch the light? (That was the idea of the beads, ie the sequins weren't sewn flat to the fabric)

Edited December 17, 2016 by Cara in NZ

[Pixiewoo]

I'd have no clue & certainly wouldn't have the time to do all that.

 

Can you buy a ready done costume instead?

[Pixiewoo]

I wish I could have bought a ready made costume! ... Pearly Queens are obviously not a regular choice of costume!

 

I tried a low heat glue gun ... but sequin fell off :0 (

 

Ideally, I don't want the sequins to 'flap' around..but the cost and weight of buttons was prohibitive to the costume. I have ordered sequins and am waiting for them to arrive ... and my holiday task will be sewing them on! I might enlist a bit of help, but hard to all be sewing the same item!

 

A friend suggested just sewing straight through them by sewing machine, but I know I'd have to tackle them in place first, in which case, I might as well hand sew them on!

 

Thank you everyone for your help!

Edited December 17, 2016 by Pixiewoo

[Fiz]

Oh, Pixiewoo! What a horrible Christmas present.

[BlueLou]

My advice is to make a rubbish job of it. In my experience, if you do a good job of things like this you'll end up doing it for the whole dance school Everyone knows I can’t do hair or fancy make-up or complicated costumes or props - makes for an easier life  

[sarahw]

I think I would refuse to do it Pixie woo. ..... I don't think it's fair to give your dd a dance that requires that sort of costume without checking with you first. I would ask the teacher to suggest a different costume.

[Guest]

I wish I could have bought a ready made costume! ... Pearly Queens are obviously not a regular choice of costume!

 

I tried a low heat glue gun ... but sequin fell off :0 (

 

Ideally, I don't want the sequins to 'flap' around..but the cost and weight of buttons was prohibitive to the costume. I have ordered sequins and am waiting for them to arrive ... and my holiday task will be sewing them on! I might enlist a bit of help, but hard to all be sewing the same item!

 

A friend suggested just sewing straight through them by sewing machine, but I know I'd have to tackle them in place first, in which case, I might as well hand sew them on!

 

Thank you everyone for your help!

What did you do to upset the dance teacher  ?

[Katymac]

start off with pins or sticky dots & place them everywhere you want a sequin

 

Are the sequin holes at the edge or the middle?  If the edge just tack them on, the middle is harder

 

If you want them to stay in place put a second hole at the opposite side if they are on the edge and sew that too (don't cut the thread in between)

 

If they are close enough together you can zigzag from one sequin to the next - I think we did 38 for the last show

[Cara in NZ]

start off with pins or sticky dots & place them everywhere you want a sequin

 

Are the sequin holes at the edge or the middle?  If the edge just tack them on, the middle is harder

 

If you want them to stay in place put a second hole at the opposite side if they are on the edge and sew that too (don't cut the thread in between)

 

If they are close enough together you can zigzag from one sequin to the next - I think we did 38 for the last show

 

Aha, I wondered how long it would be before an 'expert' popped up  

[Pixiewoo]

start off with pins or sticky dots & place them everywhere you want a sequin

 

Are the sequin holes at the edge or the middle? If the edge just tack them on, the middle is harder

 

If you want them to stay in place put a second hole at the opposite side if they are on the edge and sew that too (don't cut the thread in between)

 

If they are close enough together you can zigzag from one sequin to the next - I think we did 38 for the last show

Thank you!

 

Hole is at the side ... the way you suggest marking is sort of how I plan to do it.

 

I'm only going to do a very simple pattern and maybe add to it over time!

Edited December 18, 2016 by Pixiewoo

[Pixiewoo]

Aha, I wondered how long it would be before an 'expert' popped up

I knew there would be one on here somewhere! :0)

[suzysue]

I have no idea but when dd had a pearly queen outfit, they were the string of sequins and that had the right look. They were glued on.

[Pixiewoo]

I have no idea but when dd had a pearly queen outfit, they were the string of sequins and that had the right look. They were glued on.

Thank you!

[annaliesey]

I'm so sorry but tbh, and probably not what you want to hear, I would do them all by hand. I'd do them on continuous piece of invisible thread, so that the needle goes through the little hole on the side, round once, and then immediately onto the next place and through the next little hole in the side. They will flap about a bit but once they are all on they will all hang together in pretty much the same way. 

 

If I really wanted to cheat or was in a hurry I would use some fabric glue but you will need to wait for it to go tacky or it will slide about  use a paintbrush or even the spray fabric glue and just spray a few sequins at a time, wait for them to go tacky, stick them on. Then i would run over the whole load of them with sewing machine with a metalic needle. 

 

Hope that helps. 

 

I hate sequins haha but they look gorgeous on stage

[Pixiewoo]

I'm so sorry but tbh, and probably not what you want to hear, I would do them all by hand. I'd do them on continuous piece of invisible thread, so that the needle goes through the little hole on the side, round once, and then immediately onto the next place and through the next little hole in the side. They will flap about a bit but once they are all on they will all hang together in pretty much the same way.

 

If I really wanted to cheat or was in a hurry I would use some fabric glue but you will need to wait for it to go tacky or it will slide about use a paintbrush or even the spray fabric glue and just spray a few sequins at a time, wait for them to go tacky, stick them on. Then i would run over the whole load of them with sewing machine with a metalic needle.

 

Hope that helps.

 

I hate sequins haha but they look gorgeous on stage

 

Thanks. I'd already come to the conclusion that I would need to sew by hand :0)