Beaded Trim for Not a Fortune? (And one more question)
Last year for Otakon I made a Jaynestown Inara dress for myself and a Mal costume for my boyfriend. Between graduating and moving to a new apartment, there has been no time for new costumes, so we are going to reuse them this year. But I thought I could make a few updates to the existing costumes to make a few less-than-perfect areas more polished. We've already spent about $200, $250 on the costumes combined and as student's we'd like to make the updates on as much of a budget as possible. So I would appreciate any help you could provide.
1) I couldn't find burgundy beaded trim I liked last year, so I used a burgundy cord braid to make the trim on the Jaynestown dress, then methodically glued on about a hundred beads or so to approximate the look of beaded trim. Most of the beads have fallen off during the course of the three-day con and now there is glue everywhere on it. I would like real beaded trim, short like on the dress, but not have to pay $30, $40, $50 a yard for it... Has anyone had luck with some cheap trim stores online I haven't seen, or has used a particular kind of trim with any success for this dress?
2) Also, I kind of spray-painted pleather in a decent shape to make buckles for my boyfriend's browncoat. Which incidently, dying a lab coat three times and adding on fake leather cuffs DOES make a very respectable looking browncoat. But real buckles would make it look even better. Anyone found some for reasonable, since I don't really need to buy a whole new coat.
The only other thing I need to fix is the holster. I can't work leather so I used a leather-printed fabric to make it, and it looks exactly like the real thing but isn't stiff enough to hold the large resin prop gun in place. I assume some discretely placed cardboard will solve that problem.
Thanks in advance for any help Re: the trim or the buckles!
1) I couldn't find burgundy beaded trim I liked last year, so I used a burgundy cord braid to make the trim on the Jaynestown dress, then methodically glued on about a hundred beads or so to approximate the look of beaded trim. Most of the beads have fallen off during the course of the three-day con and now there is glue everywhere on it. I would like real beaded trim, short like on the dress, but not have to pay $30, $40, $50 a yard for it... Has anyone had luck with some cheap trim stores online I haven't seen, or has used a particular kind of trim with any success for this dress?
2) Also, I kind of spray-painted pleather in a decent shape to make buckles for my boyfriend's browncoat. Which incidently, dying a lab coat three times and adding on fake leather cuffs DOES make a very respectable looking browncoat. But real buckles would make it look even better. Anyone found some for reasonable, since I don't really need to buy a whole new coat.
The only other thing I need to fix is the holster. I can't work leather so I used a leather-printed fabric to make it, and it looks exactly like the real thing but isn't stiff enough to hold the large resin prop gun in place. I assume some discretely placed cardboard will solve that problem.
Thanks in advance for any help Re: the trim or the buckles!