I am not going to pretend at all that I did not screw up a few suits when I first started putting rhinestones on my suits, but do not let that detract you from getting creative and taking a step out there to decorate on your own. The main thing that got me into trouble when I first started was that I tried to do perfect patterns. When you try to do patterns that have to be lined up perfectly and they are not exactly even it tends to look a bit off. That is why now I prefer the random look. Also if you have a mannequin this will help you tremendously. Check my archive for where to get those from.
HOW MANY DO YOU NEED: Ok this is a very vague question and will depend on two factors, your budget and how blinged up you want the suit to be. If you have someone else's suit to look at you can get a count of the approximate amount of stones to put on. But what I love about Art Beads, is that they never charge you shipping. This is great. I would start out with 3 gross of size 20 (1 gross is 144) and 2 gross of size 16. This will be a minor investment for you and also give you an idea of how far that amount of stones will go. You can select any color you like. If this is your first suit, I would stick to crystal or crystal AB. Crystal AB lets off a bit of a pink hue to it, so if your suit is red, I will recommend the crystals. All other colors, crystal AB's look great.
WHAT TYPE OF GLUE DO YOU USE: There are many types of glue that you can use. Personally, I love the E6000 glue, also available on Artbeads.com. This glue allows you to move the stones around for about 2 minutes before the glue totally dries and it dries clear and you can hand wash your suit, and no stones should fall off at all.
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT PATTERN TO MAKE: I like to look around a bit on the internet to get some ideas of the shape that I want the pattern to be. I personally prefer a more scattered pattern that way if I make a mistake the left side does not have to be perfect with the right side. I will often make a print out of the suit pattern I like as a guide. After I did a few suits, I used my old suits as a guide for my new pattern. Now I pretty much know what I like and do very similar patterns each time.
BE PREPARED TO PLAY: Don't be inhibited to play around and make mistakes. Most often times, I start trimming the edges and then work my way inward. The suit does not actually start looking good until there is a reasonable amount of stones, so just keep going and eventually you will have a masterpiece that you created yourself. So if you are ready, check out the link below to look at some different rhinestone sizes and colors and start blinging up your suits. Remember to give yourself plenty of time before your show to do this. Start about 6-4 weeks out and work on it periodically when you have spare time.
