I have a doublet that has ryrlets. The person who made this item did not reinforce the grommets and some started to pull and tear out. Would the best way to save this beautiful boublet be to sew around the grommets. If I go tot he next size up to replace them they wouldbe to big. And by sewing around them it will strenghten them?
Second question or cord ties for dresses, doublets ad other things. Do any of you put ends on them like Bolo tie ends? The top I had above the person did just that but one fell off and the cord is unraviling. Not to mention the dress I had made wants to do the same thing. I'd rather not burn the ends as this doesn't always work... at least when I did it, it didn't. It also tends to mushroom out the ends making them bigger. One lady at Joanns said to use clear fingernail polish as that is what they do. I did try this on a spare cord and it does work fantastic. While it discolors the cord a bit, it's not as bad as burning does, It also will allow you to cut the tip of the cord ata slight angle once it is dry and then coat it again making the end easier to get through grommet holes.
So any agreement, or ideas?
Thanks
Bolo ties work very well. With a needlenose pliers, tuck the cording in and then scrunch the bolo tie all around evenly so that it will fit through the grommeted hole.
On your gown, Laney, I did not put the ends on because sewing over the grommets made the hole smaller. A suggestion would be to get some Gold Embroidery floss. With a Large eyed needle, you can pierce where the tape is and wrap the end, then finish it off. Fray check will keep the floss from getting ratty.
If you sew over the grommets on the doublet in question, be sure to have a strip of fabric that you can poke a whole through to act as a reinforcement. I hate it when grommets come out. That is why on Bodices, there isd plenty of thickness to support where the grommet goes. That is why I take stuff to the Shoe Repair than do it myself. They do such a better job and the grommets are a better quality than the Dritz you can find in the fabric stores.
Quote from: Lady de Laney on July 17, 2008, 05:15:17 PM
I have a doublet that has ryrlets. The person who made this item did not reinforce the grommets and some started to pull and tear out. Would the best way to save this beautiful boublet be to sew around the grommets. If I go tot he next size up to replace them they wouldbe to big. And by sewing around them it will strenghten them?
I've found, when I had that same problem with grommets, that removing one (unless i'ts practically ready to fall out on its own) tends to make too big of a mess as the fabric frays around it. Sewing around them seems to have worked, though, and is the way I'd recommend (unless there
is a way of neatly removing grommets thatI'm not yet familiar with).
Quote from: Lady de Laney on July 17, 2008, 05:15:17 PM
Second question or cord ties for dresses, doublets ad other things. Do any of you put ends on them like Bolo tie ends? The top I had above the person did just that but one fell off and the cord is unraviling. Not to mention the dress I had made wants to do the same thing. I'd rather not burn the ends as this doesn't always work... at least when I did it, it didn't. It also tends to mushroom out the ends making them bigger. One lady at Joanns said to use clear fingernail polish as that is what they do. I did try this on a spare cord and it does work fantastic. While it discolors the cord a bit, it's not as bad as burning does, It also will allow you to cut the tip of the cord ata slight angle once it is dry and then coat it again making the end easier to get through grommet holes.
Burning the ends can work, but only if the cord is made of synthetic materials. I have not tried the clear nail polish (I'll have to keep that one in mind, thanks for the tip ;D ), but since it works, that would be a good way to go. For ties that are not meant to go through grommets (belts, cape ties, etc), I usually hide the burn mark by wrapping a flat ribbon of matching colour around the end and sewing it on. I usually add a tassel as well, in which case I wrap the tassel's loop around the end first, then the ribbon.
Hope this helps
For the cords you can use Fray Check. You get it at any fabric store and it works fantastic and doesn't really discolor at all. For the grommets, yes a floss will work very well to sew over them and not decrease the size too much.
I had issues with grommetting when I re-did/re-made my friends bodice, (I will Never ever ever ever try to use that heavilly embroidered stuff again ever ever ever, without having fray check! (ever) and never again with grommets! I had grommets just randomly fall out in moving it from my bedroom to my makeshift sewing table! but anyways, what I did? I went over all of the grommets with embroidery floss hand binding them and sewed up the areas taht had already fallen out The grommets taht I hadn't done yet? I just bound those up and said to heck with grommeting that fabric! lol.
For my lacings... I actually use military grade 550 cord, I bought a whole spool of it when my boyfriend and his dad got me into making bracelets and stuff out of it. It's cotton on the outside and nylon on the inside (if i'm not mistaken) I melt the ends using a long lighter and a pair of tweezers, if you do that then you can use the tweezers and a flat surface to melt the edges and if it mushrooms out I often take a pair of scissors and clip the ends.
One thing I have yet to try on lacings is a trick I used to use on some of my friendship braclets and those bead critters, you take some plain white glue and mix it with a little bit of water and then dip the ends in... the glue dries clear. but this would be washable because that glue is water soluble... but you could experiment with other kinds...
It's a pain in the hind-end, but I've learned to handsew all my lacing holes and by golly, they're not half bad. If you can save the gromments, sew around them, well.
Quote from: nliedel on July 18, 2008, 07:03:31 AM
It's a pain in the hind-end, but I've learned to handsew all my lacing holes and by golly, they're not half bad. If you can save the gromments, sew around them, well.
I've got four left and will finish them these weekend.
As to the end of the cords. You can try using an old technique called "Wipping", or "whipping", whereby you are taking twine/thread and wrapping the end and tying it off. It's an old sailors technique for keeping the ends of ropes from fraying too badly, and if done properly can look really nice.
I like using whipping to finish off cord ends, if it's not a synthetic cord that I can melt the end of. If I want to make extra sure it's staying put, I'll put clear nail polish over the whipping.
Here is a link to instructions for basic whipping: http://www.inquiry.net/images/whip.jpg
And here are some fancier techniques: http://www.animatedknots.com/usesropecare.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com