My Final Reveal: Strides & Speed Bumps

Six hours over three days.  The hand beading is finished.  The rhinestoning is mostly finished.  The choreography is finished (but that's a separate time log).  Holy cow.  I've made some great strides on this project.

In the top of the photo, you can see the trim on the edge of the robe's bodice.  I originally intended to fully encrust the trim with stones, then I realized that many stones would significantly alter the weight of the robe.  I decided to make it less sparkly so the garment would maintain its shape and wouldn't be much heavier.  I used the rest of my leftover 16ss sun AB stock to start the inner edge of the curve.  I had some leftover 30ss padparadscha that I used on the outer curve.  I ran out of both and hit the rhinestone store early yesterday morning.

This was my first speed bump.  I could easily get the sun AB and the light rose AB I used on the top curve of the bra appliques, but the stores I hit were all out of padparadscha in the size I needed.  At one of the stores I was asked why I wanted to use such an unpopular color.  I was a little dumbstruck by the question.  It can't be that uncommon, can it?  And why would I want to use the most popular rhinestone color?  I'm not the girl who wears black and red costumes, so I'm not the girl who's going to stock up on the most popular rhinestone colors.  I spent $46.77 in stores and another $12.50 on the internet so I'd have the stones in time to finish the collar before the May 20th debut.  I did pick up some 16ss padparadscha that I used to pop the appliques a bit more.

I picked up a couple coral bows from the wedding section of a craft store for possible use on the costume.  I can't decide if I want to put one in the center of the bra or not.  That was an additional $5.98.  I'm probably going to put the bows on the backs of my shoes, which means I'll buy a couple more bows if I want to put one on the bra.  The wedding section is fantastic for merch packaging, sparkly accessories, and clever embellishments.

My second speed bump is my shoes.  The silhouette is perfect, but the fit isn't ideal.  They're a bit loose in the heel.  I spent $9.55 on heel grips, pads for the ball of the toe, and traction stickers for the soles.  I have a little more to do with them in hopes I can get them to work.  It's tricky to buy shoes over the internet.  I wish I'd tried on this brand in a store beforehand so I'd know how the brand fit my foot so I could order a smaller size (if it would fit).

My rhinestone shopping was more efficient than ever.  I measured each surface that needed to be covered, then divided that number by the size of rhinestones I wanted to use.  If you try this technique, I recommend measuring in centimeters; you can find the diameter of individual stones in terms of millimeters.  I have few leftovers from my project.

Total spent to date: $218.07 and 38:30.