Today you’ll see how to make rhinestone appliques!
Recently I tried this new method of making appliques, and it’s easy to make symmetrical embellishments. Plus these are not bulky like felt-based appliques!
I decorated my latest belly dance dress with these rhinestone appliques, and I’m thrilled about them!
These appliques help create more dimensions in your dress design than just gluing on rhinestones. They are super easy to make too! Let’s get started!
Want to make this flowy dress for yourself? Check it out here!
To make these rhinestone appliques, you need:
Pattern or paper to draw designs on – OR you can download my pattern for free here!
Fabric – Same medium-weight lycra as the one used for the dress.
Rhinestones and rhinestone chains – I didn’t use all the stones shown in the video, but I like to take out stones in the same color scheme and see what works as I go. So that’s why I had a lot of stones on the table.
Gem-tac glue
How to Make Rhinestone Appliques
Make Rhinestone Applique Pattern
First, I made a pattern for my appliques. I roughly traced the shape of the area that I wanted to cover with appliques on a piece of paper. And, also, I roughly planned out the size and feel of the design. I took a stone that I wanted to work off of to find the right location for it, and traced the stone on the paper as well.
Then at the desk, I just drew the design I liked. It helps to have some of the larger stones and rhinestone chains you want to incorporate in your motifs when you draw your design.
I just outlined the general shapes in this pattern and left the details to be figured out on the fabric.
I made 1 large motif for the neckline and another one for the side cutout.
For the side cutout, I wanted this one perfectly symmetrical, so I designed half of it, cut that side out, and folded it at the center. Then I traced it to make the other side.
If you would like to use this pattern, you can download it right here!
When your design is ready, cut out each motif.
And simply place each motif on your fabric and trace it. I’m going to have this motif on either side of the neckline, so I flipped the pattern and traced it again.
Decorate Rhinestone Appliques
Now have fun and apply rhinestones using rhinestone glue according to your design.
I like to start with large pieces because I usually want larger pieces in specific areas.
Then I move on to follow the outline of the motif with a rhinestone chain. Creating a neat outline is very important to creating a beautiful applique, so I recommend you take your time here. And the neat outline gives you the boundaries and guidelines that you can work around. (Here’s a how to apply rhinestone chain neatly tutorial :))
I like to work on symmetrical pieces at the same time. It helps me make sure that the rhinestones are placed in the same manner.
Then fill the rest with whatever pieces you like. For small rhinestones, I just used the Gem-Tac glue out of the original bottle, but if it’s hard to squeeze out a little bit at a time, you can use glue syringes. You can make small dots of glue very easily with a glue syringe. You can find more about where to buy and how to use glue syringes in the glue syringe tutorial.
Once you’re done, let the glue dry for 24 hours.
When the glue is dry, take a threaded needle, and stitch areas that you feel you could use extra hold, like the rhinestone chain and the large sew-on rhinestones. My applique is going on a belly dance dress, so I like to make sure all the stones and chains are secured well.
Then take your scissors, and cut around the motif. You can cut it very close to the stones, but be careful around the areas where you stitched, and don’t snip the threads by accident.
It might be easier to use small scissors for tight areas. Take your time and clean up the cutout areas.
And your rhinestone appliques are complete! Let’s apply them to the dress.
Apply Rhinestone Appliques to Dress
You’ll notice that after the glue is dry, the whole thing becomes stiffer. But you can gently mold it with your hands.
Place an applique on the dress and hold it with pins. Once you decide on a good placement, stitch around the applique by hand. There’s not much fabric at the very edges, so just go in between stones. As long as the applique is secured well, it’s okay!
The great thing about using appliques is that you can remove them in the future. So if you want to change the embellishment of the dress or if you want to use the appliques elsewhere in the future, you can easily snip the stitches and save the whole appliques.
I wanted a little movement piece, so I added little rhinestone fringes. I pre-cut strands of rhinestone chain and sewed each one directly onto the dress. You can go under the first stone a few times to secure it. I placed the strands side by side.
And that’s it! I did the same process for all of my appliques and glued on some more rhinestones around the appliques and the mesh cutouts of the dress too.
Thanks to the appliques, the neckline design is beautifully symmetrical. And the motifs of the appliques appear more raised than the rest of the stones, which creates more depth to your rhinestone design and makes it look more sophisticated!
Again, you can use my pattern for free from here!
And if you want to make this dress, I have a brand new course where you can learn to make these dresses with mesh cutouts in your size!
Dresses with mesh cutouts have become quite popular among belly dancers in recent years, and these cutouts help create such unique, professional-looking dresses!
If you’re curious, check out the mesh cutout dress designs at SparklyBelly.com/Leyla.
Learn more about these mesh cutout dress styles here!
Hope you liked this rhinestone applique tutorial, and if you did, please share this tutorial with your dancer friends!
Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!
P.S. Pin this on your decoration idea board 😉
Like what you read? Want to make more costuming bits yourself?
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