Thread: how can you keep metallic lycra from marking or wearing off?

can't remember if there's been a thread on this, but i've noticed thru my own experience and the frustrations of others, that those gorgeous metallic lycras tend to wear off or mark

sometimes it's minor and seems like a 'spot' here or there, i've seen one coppery metallic where contact caused it to wear down to a black base.....many others where wrinking leaves a crease...........and this is with folks who care METICULOUSLY for their costumes....not wear it and forget it.....

so i guess the question is 2 fold

what's the best way to MINIMIZE these effects (obviously wear and tear and travel will cause alot of contact damage)

can it be fixed?

I can remember a thread from way way back, about one of those Eman "Cleopatra" type costumes (I don't know what they are officially called!) made with gold metallic lycra and the fact that the fabric was losing its metallic finish.

Aha! found it
http://www.bhuz.com/forum/fitness-be...ce-needed.html

The prognosis was not good in the long term, I'm afraid.

I always line my costumes before wearing them. It's sweat that seems to make the metallic sheen or spots wear off fastest. I line them with a t-shirt type slightly stretchy cotton or polycotton knit and it definitely makes them last longer.

Sometimes I just line it to the knee, especially with fuller style skirt. I find around the bottom and groin get the sweatiest (and where I see it rubbing off on other dancers' cossies first) so that's where it's most important.

Avoid letting sweat drip off your face onto the skirt.. I have noticed spots wearing off almost instantly just from that! And obviously, handle it as little as possible.

But the rule is - no matter how tempting - do not wear it until you've fully lined it! It's painful but it lasts so much longer. And especially on pale coloured lycra, avoids those two smiley faces under the backside by the end of a performance...

I also find that adding solid elastic to the skirt, so that it's held up more by the elastic than by strain on the lycra, helps costume longevity.

Hope that helps!!

The lining is brilliant! Do you tack down the bottom edge of the lining? I'm wondering if it doesn't try to bunch up under there....

I don't generally tack the bottom edge. I tack down along any splits, and hem the lining fabric just above the level of the skirt hem. You are right, it can bunch up or pull if you try to sew two different levels of stretch together.
I'll post photos if I ever get time...

A friend of mine told me her easy trick for lining the top half of a skirt is to get a Bonds singlet in the same colour and cut the top off - so you have a cotton stretch tube with no seams. Absolutely simple, if you only need the top half and there are no zippers etc. (Do you have Bonds singlets in the USA?)