Hand me some glue and a bit of sequence!

I am not a big advocate for using glue on garments, but when you’re in a pickle and you’ve run out of time, it gets the job done. And that’s exactly what we used for the embellishments on this dance costume.

For this “Eve” outfit we decided on a dusty pink instead of the traditional flesh colour, just to make it a bit more interesting and modern. We actually took the dancer with us when we did the fabric shopping to see which colour will fit her skin tone the best, because we wanted something interesting and feminine, but still didn’t want it to seem like she’s completely naked on stage. We looked at different creams, peaches and even stone colours, but she has a slight pink undertone in her skin, so the blush pink complimented her perfectly.

For this dress pattern, we’ve divided the basic leotard pattern in the waist to create a seam where we can join the skirt and gathered top section. The shear overlay is made from power mesh to still create the illusion of the nude aspect that is typically associated with the Eve character. The leotard underneath helped to keep the costume in place and comfortable to dance in while the half circle skirt allowed for easy movement. We’ve embellished here and there with sequence, just to make it so much more vibrant under the stage lights.

For the flowers, we’ve cut different sized circles from organza and burnt the edges over a candle to get them “wrinkled”. Then we just glued them together using a glue gun and embellished it with sequence and beads. Fabric glue was not that successful, because once we’ve started moving the flowers around, the sequence fell off. Now because this is a dance costume, which needs to handle a lot of movement, we’ve decided to use a regular glue gun and it worked like a charm! Here is a video tutorial from The DIY Mommy that I’ve used for inspiration if you would like to try it yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlSN6VSaceA

So although a glue gun isn’t really one of the go-to tools you use in sewing, there definitely is a time and place for it and should not be overlooked.

Thanks for reading!

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