Quote:
Originally Posted by Aliyyah
Thank you, Shanazel. I'll try your suggestions. On a related note, have you ever tried to decorate lycra with the iron-on metallic decorations or the sticky-backed press-on "gems"? I was thinking they might fall off easily, but I'd like to hear from someone who has used them.
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The cool thing about lycra is .. it stretches! But, iron on metallic decorations, press-on gems, and firm-backed sequin appliques don't stretch.
When a non-stretchy is applied to a stretchy, the stretchy will no longer stretch, because it's affixed to the non-stretchy. This can be a good thing or a bad one.
I applied sequin appliques to a stretch velvet dress by putting the dress on and pinning the appliques in place, then taking the dress off and on (to make sure I didn't need more stretch to do that). When the dress was off, the fabric under the appliques looked a bit puckered, but not a lot. I sewed them on by hand, stretching the fabric as necessary so that the applique stayed in place.
I bought a fabulous beaded dress with cut outs. It fit like a glove when I tried it on. But as I wore it prancing around the house it began to s-t-r-e-t-c-h ...side to side and up and down, and grew about 4 inches in 15 minutes. This was a bad thing, as I bought the dress used for half price ($400 instead of $800) but "as is no returns". So I applied interfacing and sheer mesh fabric inside the stomach cut outs to stabilize them. It worked like a charm! I've worn the dress several times, and it no longer stretches lengthwise. It does fit more snuggly around my middle, but it's still a good fit. So in this case, the reduced stretch was good.