This is my daughter in the skating costume. She started skating about 3 years ago, and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. The world of figure skating is am intense one, physically, mentally, and financially. She loves it so much, and it has taught her so many lessons in such a short amount of time. Since it is an individual sport, and there are no team costumes, that part fell to us. There are some resources out there on amazon, and etsy, but they are NOT cheap… I was worried about the financial strain it would take at first, but having some experience in sewing, I knew I could pull it off.
I am not a seamstress.. by any means. I sew costumes for skating, halloween, and basic home decor. I have made several dresses and such for baptisms and photoshoots, but I would never call myself a seamstress. I am ok with imperfection. I always have to bust out the seam ripper on a project. AND most of all, I just make it up as I go. I have only ever used an actual pattern a handful of times, and maybe you can tell, but I am ok with that.
For the base part of her costume, I made a pattern with some tissue paper, and traced other clothes/ leotards that she had that I knew fit her well. This fabric is lycra, and very stretchy, so it was forgiving where I didn’t trace well…. The nude mesh is also 4 way stretch.. which is very important on a costume like this that will see a lot of movement. I got it at a JoAnn’s fabric store and total it cost me about $20 for all of the material. I had the thread and tissue paper on hand. I put it together on my serger since I needed a lot of movement in the seam thread while she moved. I chose a white base, because I knew I would be airbrushing it, and I have tried airbrush on a few other costumes. I have found that a bright white base always shows the colors more vibrantly than any other color base fabric.
I plan on making another post about the actual pattern making and construction of the costume, but this post will mainly focus on the airbrushing part. Here are the materials you will need to airbrush a costume:
Materials:
- A small airbrush machine- I use this ONE from Harbor Freight.
- Createx color airbrush paint. I chose the primary colors so I could mix anything. I got mine at hobby lobby.
- Water
- A dress form or way to stretch the costume tight with no wrinkles
- Small bowls for mixing colors
Optional materials for putting gems on after airbrushing:
- Gems- I just got the cheap plastic ones from hobby lobby in bulk, but tried to get as many AB glazed ones as possible. The swarovski ones have more sparkle because there is actual lead in the crystal going on there. The AB is a light metal based coating that looks kind of rainbow looking, but gives it way more sparkle under stage lights. I used flat back gems.
- e6000 glue
- Gem applicator This makes the process SOOOO much easier.
Step 1:
Cover your dress form or stand with plastic wrap to protect it from any paint that will get on it. Stretch your costume over it, ensuring there are no wrinkles or folds in the costume. I moved mine outside to prevent overspray and to decrease drying time.
Step 2: Creating your colors
In this step I chose the primary colors of createx paint because I planned on a rainbow costume and knew I was going to need to make it a gradual fade between colors. I also grabbed the pearlized one because… well sparkle. I used the opaque ones, so I could water it down as much or little as needed to get different strengths.
That other thing in the photo is a travel sized salad dressing container. It has a spout, and I used it to shake the colors in with water so it was fast and there was no stirring.. but either would work fine.
*****HUGE NOTE*****
USE WATER…. NOT RUBBING ALCOHOL.
I read online for a post that this paint was watered down with rubbing alcohol to paint… I tried it, and it kept clogging up, coagulating, and causing my airbrush machine to stop spraying. I was frustrated. I took apart the whole pen part of the machine thinking it was a problem with it… NOPE.. Still was happening. Then I saw it was water soluble on the containers and had one of those… “are you kidding!?!?!” me kind of moments. I tried again with water and boom! No more issues. I wasted HOURS trying to figure this out. Don’t be like me… Use water.
I used small containers from around the house to mix the different colors with water until I was satisfied with a full rainbow of options.
Step 3: Paint!*
In this step I played around a lot with different techniques in painting. I came to the conclusion that long smooth strokes worked best. When I wanted it to fade off a little I simply moved the airbrush farther away from the fabric. The closer you are the harsher the line, and more vibrant the color. The farther you are the most spread out the pattern of the line, and the lighter the color. Because I started with the rubbing alcohol and paint combo first I had some weird bleeding marks on the top that could have been avoided, and now I know and it is a mistake I WILL NEVER MAKE AGAIN. I also found that wetting the fabric first helped it get more of a smooth look overall when trying to do a gradient color.
*Make sure to pull the fabric smooth where you are painting, as wherever you paint will get colored. If the fabric is folded the tucked away parts will remain white.
The reason I chose this brand of paint is because of its flexibility. Once it is dry, it remains soft. It can be washed, and stays, and the fabric never feels stiff, flakey, or crusty. It feels comfortable, and smooth, and just like it did before it was painted. I love the vibrant colors, and the clean up is easy with just water.
Step 4: Be- dazzle!
This step is optional, and tedious. BUT WORTH IT. I dab a bunch of small dots where I want the gems to go first, kind of creating a pattern while doing it. I use the gem applicator to pick up the gems on the sparkle side, and press them flat back down onto the glue on each dot. I vary the sizes of gems as I go, and press down with my finger after to make sure it is good and stuck.
Thats it! The paint takes a few hours to dry. I ended up going over a few of the layers of paint after each layer dried to make it more vibrant etc. The gems needed overnight to dry. It fit perfect and she killed her routine!
Thanks for stopping by!
-Amanda