Experimentation

I have this white top that I really like. It's not expensive or anything. It just fits nicely and looks good. It has kind of a wide (but not deep) scoop neckline and a little ring of rhinestones on the neckband. Like, the ring connects two pieces of the neckline. Oh here. I'll just show you what I mean and then you can also see the problem.

The problem is, all the rhinestones have come out in the wash. Now, maybe you're supposed to wash this in some special way so as not to dissolve the glue. I don't know. The tag says Machine Wash Gentle Cycle. Which, now that I'm thinking about it, is pretty stupid. Of course it's a hand wash. Because of the rhinestones. But I didn't hand wash it. I sent it through the gentle cycle on the machine.

I thought at first I might just glue some more rhinestones in those empty sockets. Or pearls. I thought pearls would be nice, too. But then I'd be right back where I started with a handwashed garment and empty sockets. Hm. So I decided to replace the no-longer-rhinestone ring with a different ring. So I cut it off.

And pulled it right out.

Inside the tube of fabric on each side were rhinestones that were still in the settings. Of course, they came out when I pulled the ring out of the fabric.

So then I took a ring that I had (It's actually a ring for purse handles.) and I was going to slide it in, when I noticed it was all... blah. Not shiny at all. Not the kind of thing you want right up there by your face. So I painted it with the copper metallic paint I used on the 3-dimensional letters I did a while back.

Looks shiny now, right? I don't know if that will work or not. It may flake off, too. We'll see. If it does, maybe I'll try a ribbon. Or else, throw the top away. As I said, it's not an expensive top or anything.