Figure Skating Sewing Question Roundup

I’ve had a lot of small questions about sewing lately, so I thought I’d put them all in one post and we can have at them.

Crystals. This first question comes from reader Shelby, who sews equestrian outfits for her granddaughter. Shelby says that the equestrian outfits are very similar to figure skating ones in both fabric and sewing technique. Her question is about crystals:

About crystals –what size do you find is best as far as ease of application and look? Clearly the bigger the crystal is, the easier it is to apply, however, many smaller crystals would be preferred for the “bling” effect. Is there a “size chart” on the web someplace? Thank you so much!

I use Dream Time Creation’s Rhinestone Size Chart to figure out what size crystal to buy. I’ve used both small stones close together for a nice shot of bling and wide-spaced 40ss crystals for a jewelry effect. I really think it depends upon your budget and the dress.

Readers: Do you think one size crystal is better than another? Which is easier to work with? Which is a better value?

Garment bag. The next one comes from reader CapeCodSkaterMom, who wants to make a garment bag for her daughter.

I have seen some of the skaters at our rink with these great garment bags to bring their competition dresses in and I was wondering if you know where I could get a pattern to make one for my daughter? I would ask the mom who made her girls bags, but I don’t see her much and I would like to get going on making one before a competition comes up.

Thanks!

I bought Butterick 3934 (out of print) for Ice Girl…um…two years ago. I know, I know. It’s a garment bag. How hard can it be? Well, it’s not hard, it just doesn’t have the urgency of, say a new dress to replace the one that’s way too short in the seat. I will tell you that this pattern isn’t as easy as a basic garment bag with one zipper. This one’s covered in pockets because Ice Girl loves to throw everything she owns at the bottom of her current garment bag. The pattern calls for fabric that looks kind of like Vera Bradley’s line of totes. Ice Girl wanted just basic black quilted fabric that we can crystal at the diamond points. I’m sure I’ll finish it…someday.
Readers: Do you have a recommendation for a garment bag pattern? Do you have a suggestion about ready-made garment bags that a person can just take to an embroidery shop to customize?

Figure skating practice pants. I received two similar questions about fabric for figure skating practice pants.
From Ice Mom in California:

I am looking everywhere for a specific type of figure skating practice wear fabric. Chloe Noel is one line that uses this fabric for their pants, and my daughter really likes it. It is typically 90% POLYESTER (not nylon) and 10% Spandex (or Lycra). That company has also used a slightly heavier blend at 87% Poly and 13% Spandex.

The Poly/Spandex blend is better than Nylon/Spandex blend for figure skating because polyester does not attract water and keep it next to the skin as much as nylon does….so you get that nice “moisture wicking.” But man, is it hard to find! Can you possibly ask your readers for me? I have looked at fabric stores online across the country and not been able to narrow down a good source yet.

By the way, I also asked LycraLady, and she is looking around for suppliers that have the fabric content I’m specifically asking for.

From reader Denise:

I was searching for a pattern for skating pants when I came across your old blog. How exciting! I have been watching and reading for awhile and even sent you a question a few months ago. Which reminds me, I have another one for you. I’ll send that one later. Anyway, I came across your review for the Jalie Pants pattern #2215. You did the review a year ago. How do you feel about the pants a year later?

I’ve been looking for some for my daughter but don’t want to pay the prices for Chloe Noel stuff. Any suggestions on where to get moisture wicking fabric? I wasn’t sure if I could just get some from JoAnn’s.

I like the pants pattern, but altered it to have more of a Chloe Noel leg to it. Jalie has a new pants pattern 3022 that I think might work better, but I haven’t tried it yet. The pants I made last year have held up well. I made two pair for another skater at the rink and she wears them all the time. Ice Girl doesn’t wear hers as much because the Lycra doesn’t stretch as much as the poly/Spandex blend of her Chloe Noel pants. She likes that fabric better because she can put her pants on first and then put on her socks. It sounds like small potatoes, but for her it’s important, especially when she wears flip-flops to the rink in the summer.

I have to tell you this funny story about sourcing fabric:

I’m friends with a speed skating mom and she was telling me that she had a hard time finding vinyl-covered Lycra, like the speedskaters wore in the Olympics. Know where she found it? Online, er, online….adults-only shops. Here’s what she said:

They were so nice and helpful! They even sent me free samples.

I think I doubled over with laughter and snorted a lot. Free samples. How funny is that?

Readers: Do you know where sewers can buy that poly/Spandex blend fabric? Has anyone sewn the new Jalie yoga pants pattern #3022? Let us know how those pants are to sew and whether or not you had to do much altering to make them work on the ice.

Sewing machines. The final question comes from reader Angel who wants to know about sewing machines.

I read a few of your blogs and I was wondering if you would recommend a special type of sewing machine to make figure skating outfits? I have heard from other people that it is difficult to sew 4-way stretch material?

I think sewing four-way stretch is much easier than sewing non-stretch garments. Four-way stretch is very forgiving; if you make a mistake, often no one will be able to tell. The biggest thing to remember about sewing four-way stretch is to not stretch the material. Stretch the material and you’ll have puckers. Even when you’re sewing elastic into the leg openings, try to stretch just the elastic and not the fabric (easier said than done).

My sewing machine is a 20-year-old Bernina 1230. It has many, many stitches, but the ones I use for sewing four-way stretch are the straight stitch and the zig-zag. You’ll want a machine that comes with a zipper presser foot and a button hole stitch. Anything beyond that is extra, in my opinion. You can pick up a decent sewing machine (refurbished or used) for $100 – $200. To see sewing machine reviews, I recommend Sewing.PatternReview.com. They have reader machine reviews, a sewing machine search wizard, and forums where you can ask questions. Premium subscribers can see all content, but you should be able to access enough to make a good decision. Check with your local sewing shop to see what used machines they have in stock in good working condition.

I sew figure skating garment seams with a very narrow zig-zag stitch; although, you can also use a straight stitch and stretch the fabric just a little while you sew. I worry about puckers, so I do the zig-zag method. I finish off my seams with a long zig-zag stitch on the machine’s default zig-zag width setting.

A serger is an optional piece of equipment for sewing figure skating garments, but if you sew very many of them, you’ll want to consider making the purchase. I bought mine refurbished from a national seller, but if I had to do it all over again, I’d buy from a local shop. I’d want to sit with the shop’s staff and have the person show me how to thread the machine and also make index cards for the settings that work best for fleece, Lycra, glissenette, stretch velvet, and athletic mesh. Whatever extra they’ve charged you for the machine is totally worth the time they’ll spend walking you through how your machine works and what settings you’ll need.

Readers: Do you have any tips about sewing on four-way stretch? Did you find it difficult to sew or pretty easy? What sewing machine do you use? Do you own a serger? Is a serger something you’d recommend for a beginner sewer?

Thank you Shelby, CapeCodSkaterMom, Ice Mom in California, Denise, and Angel, for sending in your sewing questions. If you have a sewing question, you can send it to me and I’ll do my best with it. If you have other questions, send ‘em to me, too. If the question is way too big for me to handle on my own, I’ll pass it on to the smart people who make up the Advisory Board. If you have an idea for a blog post you’d like to read, feel free to e-mail me that, too. I’ve been working crazy hours at the ol’ 9-5 job (8-7 job…but who’s counting?), so I’ve been kinda slow on the e-mail. I’ll get to you, though, I promise! IceMom.Diane@gmail.com

As always, IceMom.net and Rinkformation keeps editorial content separate from any advertising content.

Photo Credits:
Miracle Blue: striatic / hobvias sudoneighm on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Ice Girl’s blue dress with 40ss bling: Ice Mom
Butterick 3934: Butterick / McCall’s / Vogue
Jalie 3022: Jalie.com
Bernina-1230: Bernina U.S.A.
Brother Lock 1340D: Brother International
Crowded: Shermeee / Sherman Tan on Flickr.com Creative Commons

Anonymous

RHINESTONES
Ok, so I prefer to use glue on rhinestones (not heat set) or ones that you sew on by hand (aka the big honkers). The sew on ones are usually sized in millimeters (mm), which you can use a ruler/tape measure to estimate size, as getting sample charts for those is not available or VERY expensive (because each stone costs $2-5 and there are many shapes and sizes). You might be able to find a paper size chart with accurate size/shapes, but you won’t see the colors. If you use these make sure they are flat back with holes for sewing because gluing on something heavy with a round back = recipe for disaster. These stones are very showy but heavy. I don’t know how much you would want to use these for equestrian, but I have seen some used to great effect as cuff links or as tie tacks on boys/mens dance costumes. Also, some of the smaller pear shapes might look cute in a “western” type design on a shirt or jacket. And for Arabian show type costumes I always think the more the better, although I can respect the realistic look that has become popular.

As for the glue on stones, those are usually sized by “stone size” or ss. I have herd of/seen ranges from 5ss (tiny) to 48ss (pretty big ~11mm). Usually the very small and very large sizes have limited color options. What I would consider “typical” sizes are 20ss and 30ss. In terms of applying the stones, the larger sizes are somewhat easier, but the 20ss isn’t really that difficult. Personally, I don’t think I would go much smaller than a 16ss, because at that point it might be too annoying to deal with, and you don’t get as much effect for the effort. The smaller stones tend to give more “twinkle” effect and the larger ones more of a “flash” or “shine” effect. The AB coated stones also tend to give more of a “flash” than the non-AB coated stones. Also, some colors tend to look better at a distance than others. I have seen people with 5-10 gross of stones on a dress, but across the rink it doesn’t look like they have any at all, because they blend with the fabric and don’t sparkle much (usually very dark blue or very light pink). Of course, rhinestones have much different effect outside, so for equestrian you might not have such a problem with some colors if you are at an outdoor/daytime event or an evening event with floodlights/spotlights.

There are two main producers/types of crystals: Swarovski and Czech Preciosa. In almost all cases, go with Preciosa. It is cheaper (by far!) and now looks almost the same as the Swarovski. I liked them better when the Czechs had only 8 facets (more flashy bling!) but now both companies only produce the 12 facet stones. Preciosa is still a much better bang for the buck. The cases where I would not get Preciosa: (1) large sew on stones (Swarovski pretty much dominates this part of the market and has superior product) or (2) Swarovski has a “special effect” color and Preciosa does not (for example: Fire Opal, Sun AB, or some of the vitrail or volcano colors look different). I would recommend getting a color chart for both brands because some colors are very different or have no counterpart. Some are very similar and the only difference is price. In terms of “best deal” I think the most effect for the money is probably a stone with AB coating in the 20ss size, especially if you can “bulk order” 10gross at a time. I mainly order my rhinestones from rhinestoneguy. If you are in the area you can call ahead and go look at the stones in person/bring your fabric/costume and they will be happy to help or recommend colors or stone options (Also you can see his fabulous rhinestone encrusted motorcycle!). They also let you pick up your orders to not pay for shipping and no lost package worries. However, they are happy to mail out orders too, and have always been quite helpful with me over the phone. His website is nicely organized and at the bottom has a lot of tips/advice from someone who really knows his stuff. My only problem has been that he does a LOT of business so sometimes he runs out of the particular stones I need. I usually try to order very far in advance (a month or two if I can) of when I need them to make the costume. I have also (recently) ordered from Dream Time Creations. I like the fact that they have sales, and some stone options (especially for the large stones) that rhinestoneguy does not have. You can order online, which is nice, and they have many shipping options. However, I find their website organization somewhat frustrating, and some of their products do not have a picture (which is important for some of the large stones/shapes). Overall for the glue on I would go with rhinestoneguy and for specialty large stones I would price compare the two sites and look/wait for Dream Time sales.

GARMENT BAG
I haven’t made one, but I would assume it isn’t too hard, as long as you can deal with the zipper (I was having some zipper issues lately!). You can buy the material pre-quilted and use some cute cotton prints around the edges…

I must confess I used plastic garment bags for a long while, but they ripped too easily. Now I use a fabric-like garment bag I got at Target, which has held up remarkably well, but isn’t very inspiring to look at. And actually I have seen people move toward housing their costumes in plastic craft storage boxes because the costumes are so full of rhinestones that they bend/break the hangers or stretch out the dress if it is left hanging (of course, these are world class level competitors but that doesn’t mean we can’t all have quite a bit of bling…).

Also for dance I tend to wear quite a bit of jewelry (necklace, bracelet, earrings, hair bling) to get more of a “ballroom” feel. I like to go to Target/Clair’s/cheap jewelry store and buy something I can put stones on myself (to match the dress) and from far away it usually looks like (or better than) the $80+ jewelry you see in the malls, but for around $30-40. I usually store those in Tupperware containers with some cotton batting. Not sure if anyone else has any great ideas about accessory storage?

PANTS
I haven’t been able to find this sort of material at all at the major chain stores. I am sure there is probably some in the LA or New York fashion centers, but its lack of availability makes the Chloe Noel pants prices seem slightly more reasonable. Sort of. A little. Maybe. Also haven’t used any of the Jalie patterns or made pants for myself (made some for some other people, for a show costume), but maybe if I find good fabric I would think about it.

SEWING MACHINES
I have a Brother CS-6000i that I bought new a year and a half ago on Amazon (it was less than $150, although the list price is $450). At the time I wasn’t having much luck looking for used machines and wanted something not too expensive in case I broke it. The price/features were also what I was looking for and in the budget. This has been a very good machine for a beginner and I like the many stitch options (the “fun” patterns look cute on doll clothes). I think if/when this one bites it I will probably put more effort to finding a local shop and getting a used better quality machine (Bernina/Husqvarna).

In terms of sewing stretch fabric – I started sewing with the intention of making skating costumes, so I jumped to the stretch material pretty early on. It is actually very nice to work with and doesn’t tend to show mistakes as easily as other materials. However, I think that sometimes people find it frustrating because it can feel slippery and if you are pulling it, it won’t go through the machine evenly and can stretch and pucker. I avoid this problem by giving myself some extra seam allowance because when there is more fabric on each side of the presser foot of the machine it tends to go through more smoothly. The slippery problem is worse if you are lining the dress because there are more layers of slippery-ness. Also, I find it more difficult to put zippers into stretch material than non-stretch material, so I avoid zippers if humanly possible. In general I think it is the “slipperyness” of lycra that makes it difficult, not the stretch factor. Cotton and other materials tend to stick to each other when they go through the machine and stay flat, where as the lycra tends to like everything else and sort of slide. Also sometimes the fabric rolls more than other types of fabric, so getting started can sometimes be a challenge. I think that (good) stretch velvet is easier to sew on than lycra, but it is more expensive. Velvet might be a good way to go for a fist competition dress though, because it looks nice and seems to hide even more flaws than lycra.

I would say that you should be able to use the sewing machine reasonably well before you try sewing on stretch material. I would start with cheap muslin or cotton or remnant sale fabrics just to get used to feeding fabric through the machine, and to test out different stitch options and see what speed you are comfortable sewing at. I also heard a tip to get fabric with stripes – then you can see if you are sewing in a straight line and it will help you assess your mistakes. After you are comfortable, maybe you have some leftover stretch fabric to test out and see what size zig-zags work best for you. Then go ahead and jump in. I recommend using a cheaper lycra and making a practice dress first. You can see how you need to alter the pattern or if you want to make changes to the real thing. After 1-2-practice dresses try making a nice dress for testing or competition. Better quality fabric is usually more fun to sew on, and usually looks nicer when it is done too. I think making other clothes will be easier if you have made a skating costume. I have made some Halloween costumes and party dresses, and overall I thought it was mostly easier than making a skating costume. But I also think the skating costumes looked better when I was done. Also, for skating, there is always the possibility of covering an error or messy stitching with rhinestones and nobody has to know.

In terms of sewing on stretch fabric, I have been using the zig-zag stitches as well, but I have “found” a new stitch option on my machine that I like better because it makes the seams look smoother. I don’t think it is a true overlock stitch, but more of a psuedo-overlock that requires a special presser foot (stitch #06 on my machine). I like using this now for the non-elastic seams and a regular zig-zag for all of the elastic areas. I agree that with the elastic the most important thing is to stretch the elastic and not the dress. If you don’t stretch the elastic it won’t fit tightly, and if you stretch the dress it will have a weird bulges. I also (often) have to dart my costumes and I just use a straight stitch for that because I typically don’t put stress on those seams or need them to stretch much.

I do not have/have not used a serger, but the lady who used to sew for me used one. If you are going to make dresses to sell them, it might be better to use this because the seams are much more secure and look very polished and professional (some of the practice dresses are really old and after the years of sweat and moisture the fabric is rotting, but those seams – still secure!). However, I don’t think you can really tell a serged dress from a non-serged one while people are actually skating, and from all I have heard these machines are not for the faint of heart. Also, the ones I have seen cut the fabric as they sew, so once it is done there isn’t much going back to fix it if you made a mistake/it is too small. I don’t think I would recommend this to a beginner unless you had a tutor/teacher who is going to be helping you a lot in the beginning.
Shelby

Thanks, Becky! I’m so grateful for all you help for my little granddaughter’s show outfit. Shelby
http://www.bestdancewear.net/ DanceWear

That’s the great
article! I just pass ‘n read it, two thumbs up!