Thread: How to cover/camoflage designer markings

So, one of my projects this month is a costume rehab project. I bought the black/silver costume off this thread from Julsie, knowing full well what I was getting into: http://www.bhuz.com/showthread.php?5...th-this-seller!

When I got the costume, I took the liner out of the bra and put the whole thing in individual pillowcases in the washing machine. It was nasty. Suprisingly, a wash did this costume alot of good. The fabric is all in very good condition, I just need to replace some worn out beads/crystals.

So, the skirt had been hemmed into the designs on the bottom. The length is perfect for me, so what I want to do is remove the designs from the very bottom of the skirt and put a beaded finish on the hem. I started removing some of the beading and noticed the original maker of the costume had used some sort of white marker to outline the motifs. I'd still like to remove the silver beading and put a finish on the hem but am seeking ideas on how to cover/camoflage the designers markings. I was thinking of using flat black sequins to cover the markings. I know it will still be noticeable, but not nearly as much as a full silver sequinned motif.

Have any of you had any luck removing markings or what are your ideas for covering them?

I'm so glad you started this thread! I don't have any great ideas for you, but am very interested in others' responses as I just recently had a similar problem. I was doing very minor rehab on the purple and pink Hanan bedhah I recently bought off the Swap Meet (cutting down the center top of the front of the belt to be more v shaped) and was disappointed when I removed the beads in the area to discover the design had been marked on the fabric in wide dark ink. I just ended up filling the area back in with a modified bead design, but believe this has made the area too busy/ crowded now.

Oh that must have been dissapointing. I don't know why designers do that. I make alot of my own costumes and draw outlines onto fabric, but I always use tailors chalk or pencil or something that dissappears or washes out. I never use ink or paint or grease markers.

I don't know what kind of fabric marker is permanent and white. White marks are traditionally chalk, but that would have washed out when you cleaned the costume--must be something more durable. Of all the products I know for marking removal, Carbona #3 is the best. I go through a couple of bottles a year taking ink and art supplies out of my laundry at home, and I haven't found a case where it affected the color of the fabric, but that doesn't mean this couldn't be the first. You can order it here http://www.carbona.com/staindevils3-inkandcrayon.aspx , but Hancock Fabrics, Kroger's, and some Walmarts carry it. It isn't cheap, but it's worth a try, and even if it doesn't help on this costume, it's a good, all-around product for any mysterious, colored stains.

Looking at the Photobucket picture of the skirt, I am concerned that black sequins would look like a kludge, since there aren't any black sequins anywhere else. To that end, I think I would be tempted to paint over the marks before adding a new kind of trim. The paint wouldn't be a match, but it would recede more than the sequins would. I wonder how it would look if you dusted the hem with silver or black glitter after you colored over the marks? I doubt the design of the bra would lend itself to a similar treatment, so it would probably look like a reverse-engineered "improvement," too.

It's sort of an odd design--there isn't anything happening for a chunk of the middle (from the end of the "belt" to around the 14" mark), and then the design gets denser at the bottom. I'd like to say that it might be interesting to replicate the mesh-and-sequin side thing along the hem, but I'm afraid it would look ratty (like the hem was chewed up) instead of glamorous and intentional. Dunno...

Thanks for the suggestions Tourbeau. Well thought out and expressed. I thought of paininting over the marks too. I will probably sacrifice the headband as an experiment piece. It's pretty nasty and not very pretty, so I'll make a new one. I can use the scrapped headband to experiment with removers, paints, et al. I purchased some black sequins this morning and will see how that looks. The other idea I thought of depending on how far up from the hem the marks are, is using a maribou boa as trim on the hem. Kind of Ginger Rogers looking. There's no slits anywhere on the skirt, so it might be cute.

Is it the 'new' 32" hem that is perfect for you or the 'original' hem? Is it straight across design marks you're trying to cover or a 'scroll' design? When I clicked your link all I could see was the skirt laid out with the 32 inch length pointed out.

If all else fails you can cut the skirt a couple of inches below the heavily decorated part and attach your own circle skirt. I did this with a fuschia Egyptian costume and it turned out very nicely. The best part of doing this is that you can choose any fabric you like...my friend I did the work for chose three staggered layers of black/purple/black sequinned chiffon. It looks great! If you do some sequin and beadwork at the demarcation between the two fabrics and decorate the hems it looks intentional.

Here's a better pic. The new 32" length is what is perfect. As you can see from the photo, the skirt was hemmed right where a bunch of motifs are. I'd like to remove the sequins/beads from those very bottom ones but am left with a white marking outlining the motif. I thought it would look better with them removed and a nice finished edge put on the hem.

Originally Posted by shahla

Oh that must have been dissapointing. I don't know why designers do that. I make alot of my own costumes and draw outlines onto fabric, but I always use tailors chalk or pencil or something that dissappears or washes out. I never use ink or paint or grease markers.

If the designer and the seamstress aren't the same person, the designer may mark on the fabric for someone else to follow. Often they aren't done exclusively in the atelier, so through transportation chalk lines would be gone before the seamstress got home. They may have used a silver Sharpie on the black fabric. I understand why they do it, but I agree it can be really frustrating. It's even worse when they don't bother to fully cover the marks!

Do you need to lengthen the hem, or did you just not like the way it was finished? If you just want to change the finish, what about only picking out the last two rows of each design? That way you'll have one design element around the entire hem. If you need to lengthen the skirt, then I'm out of hints. With that much wear on the sequins it would be just about impossible to fill in the motifs without the new areas standing out. The maribou might be your best bet. Good luck!

The hem is perfect as is in terms of length. I just think it looks obviously "lopped off" at the bottom and think it would look better if the motifs/design's didn't "run off the page" at the bottom.

I'm going to try picking up the stain removal product Tourbeau mentioned in her earlier post and try to spot test that. If I can remove the markings, I do think that would be the best way to handle it.

If you can match the beads and sequins (and you'll have as good a chance with silver as you'll ever have), maybe you could glom more decorations onto the bottom to make a continuous design? It would make for a heavy-looking hem, but the top and "belt" are pretty fully loaded, so perhaps an uninterrupted, irregular pattern would look more intentional than truncated chunks?

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

Of all the products I know for marking removal, Carbona #3 is the best.

Thanks for this tip, Tourbeau! I'm going to try and get some this weekend and see how it works on the Hanan marks (I'll try first on an armband or something and if it works, I'll then unbead what I did to cover up the marks on the belt and treat with Carbona).

Shahla, I hope the product works on your markings as well.

I tried it and it definitely faded it, but didn't remove it. I'm going to try painting over the marks with a fabric paint next. I need to get some since I don't have any.

I think Tourbeau was right about not adding the black sequins. They won't fade into the background enough.

So sorry to hear the marks are still there after a treatment. Do you think the marks might have been made with a grease pencil? Since the initial treatment with Carbana faded it, do you think if you gave it another round of treatment it might fade some more? You probably already thought of this. Trying to hide under fabric paint sounds like a good way to go. My fingers are crossed.

Would tracing the design with a black Sharpie blot it out?

I do think it's possible that it was made with a grease pencil. I might try another treatment, although I put alot of the stain remover on and even gently rubbed the marks with a toothbrush, so I'm not sure how much more I can remove.

I tried the black sharpie and it worked a little. I think the fabric paint might do a better job and last longer. I'm going to try to pick some up today.

I'm sorry to hear the Carbona didn't work. Sometimes it does take more than one application. I've had persistent stains that took multiple rounds of soaking, hand scrubbing, and rinsing with hot water, but nothing gets every stain out.

Personally, I think fabric paint pens or fabric paint applied with a brush is a better choice than a Sharpie. Sharpies sometimes leave an "oil slick" residue with an iridescent cast that never quite blends in.

Just to update you all: In the end I used a combination of the Carbona stain removal and a paint marker. The carbona lightened the markings enough so that the paint marker would cover them. You can see that there's been something done to the costume if you look very closely, but even from just a couple feet away it's not at all noticeable. I finished removing the old motifs, camoflaged them and have now got the hem beaded. I'm almost done with the rehab on this costume. I'll post some pics when it's finished.

The paint marker worked well for the black fabric, but I doubt it would have worked for just about any other color. It was easy to find a black paint that would blend in. I can't imagine having to do this for red or yellow or anything else.

I want to see the costume when you're finished! I got the blue one, and I'm still working on it. I'm putting hot pink swarovskis on it to pick up the pink in the fabric. I had to redo ALOT of the sequins and beading. Completely faded. And the hooks were all rusted and gross. AHHHH lots of work.