You may never sew a beaded silk dress in your life. But if you ever do, you’ll be down on your knees thanking us for this blog post! Beaded fabric, silk or otherwise, can be a pain-in-the-behind to sew with. Here are some pictures, tips, and pop culture song references to get you through such a project!
As you sew along on this fabric, the glass beads will inevitably break your needle, no matter how hard you try to miss them. When we first started sewing a garment from this fabric, we thought the solution would be to cut the beads off the dress. Unfortunately, that also meant cutting threads that held other beads and sequins on the fabric, leaving bare spots. What to do? What to do?
Hammer time! I can’t exactly remember how we got to this solution- I’m sure it was all mom’s idea- but here it is!
Trace your pattern onto your fabric and then place painter’s tape along the edges of the pattern piece. Painter’s tape is low tack, so it should not damage your fabric. (I’m using a small sample of the beaded silk here, because it can cost $100/yard)
Then, hammer along the painter’s tape to break the bulky, glass beads.
Pull the painter’s tape up, and voila! all the little pieces of glass are nicely contained and ready to be thrown away. Hint: You may need to repeat this process a couple of times- it depends on how heavily beaded your fabric is.
Your seam lines are clear of debris and hazardous decoration. Best of all, the threads holding the sequins down are still intact, so you don’t lose any more sparkle than you have to!
Believe you me, we were pretty excited when we figured this out! It erased our fears and motivated us to use the fabric more often. Here are some photos of projects we’ve done with beaded silk…they were both for me 
Mallory and dance partner Brad in 2007. Ballroom dress repurposed from a thrifted beaded silk gown.
Mallory and friend Becca at prom in 2007. It was the year of the beaded silk dress!
Happy Sewing!!!
This has to be one of the best ideas I’ve seen online yet! Since all that glitters is gold to me, I collect all sorts of beaded and sequined fabrics for my crazy quilt work. And I always have blue tape in the house! Wonderful!!!! Thank you!
Pam,
This technique was developed at 4am the morning of prom, so I’d be happy to save anyone else the trouble of coming up with it on their own! I’m happy to empower anybody to use more sparkle in their projects. Thank you for visiting the blog!
Great idea . Just another tape possibility – pink hair setting tape. Leaves no residue, it’s not quite as wide as the blue tape, but will do the trick and not damage the fabric. Used alot in doing canvas/needlepoint work – for parking threads on the surface. It’s that lovely stuff we used back in the 70s & earlier – for taping down your bangs – or the like. Still available at beauty supply stores . Just thought I’d add this in -I’ve been using it for years with silks, wool, cotton – and never had a sticky residue or pulling apart of threads (learned it at a class). Thanks for the great post!
Thanks Ellice,
If the tape is gentle on hair, it must be good for fibers as well! Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for sharing this technique. The dresses are beautiful as is your daughter! I especially love the dance outfit. That back is awesome!