I recently read a friend’s Facebook post where she was unhappily (and slightly unsuccessfully) sewing her daughter’s Girl Scout badges to her vest, and various other friends were chiming in and debating the virtues of glue vs. needle and thread. It made me realize that 99% of the world’s population is blissfully clueless about the wonder creation E6000, so here’s a brief overview and manifesto on “Why E6000 is the Greatest Invention on the Planet.”
1. STONES: Nothing, and I mean nothing, works on stones and other beadwork like E6000. Don’t even bother with “bead glue” or other expensive garbage, including E6000 Jewelry and Bead glue. Stones (aka “A Performer’s Portfolio” because goodness knows we invest more money in them than any decent person will publicly admit) won’t fall off until you want them to come off — see #2.
2. REMOVAL: When it’s time to retire the garment but reuse the stones, all you have to do is sew the garment into a pillowcase, take it to most any dry cleaner, and tell them you used E6000. They’ll know exactly which chemical to use to dissolve the glue, and if they don’t, take it somewhere else. When you pick up your garment and open the pillowcase, you’ll find all the stones safely at the bottom, silver backs intact, and no residue left on the fabric at all. Purely miraculous. Just make sure your pillowcase isn’t sporting a hole, or you’ll lose all your stones and the dry cleaning lady will yell at you (no, it didn’t happen to me personally, but the friend who experienced this expensive humiliation swears she still has flashbacks).
3. FABRIC: Not to give away trade secrets or anything, but we use E6000 for more applique work than we’d like to admit. In the photos below, all the piecework was done with E6000 and not a sewing machine.
In fact, Pink Dress above was started in the hotel room 36 hours before the wearer had to compete, and yes, it was fully stoned and finished with about 6 hours to spare. Every single appliqué on that dress was glued on, not sewn, so there were no buckles, bulges, pulls, stretches, or anything that otherwise would have occurred had I tried to wrestle the bulky thing in circles on my machine. E6000 stretches with the fabric, so when the leotard/main bodice fabric stretches, so do the appliqués. Plus, no seamlines. I would have had to stock (and remember to pack, and then carry up two flights of stairs while carrying the machine, Peg the Mannequin, and my then-4-year-old sleeping child, and then keep away from the other three kids who wanted to use them as prisoners on their Fisher Price pirate ship that somehow made its way into the car even after I told them they had to leave it at home) seven different shades of pink for this dress alone, but by using E6000, I could layer and move from one color to the next without any lost or wasted time. Try THAT with a machine.
Purists might condescendingly say this is cheating; but these are the same folks who refuse to rely on the magic of a single safety pin too, so they’ve obviously never been in the Ready Area with a 12-year old boy whose outfit fit perfectly 9 days ago but who, through the wonders of biology, now is taller and skinnier than he was a week and a half ago (don’t believe me? Raise three boys and see for yourself); so frankly their opinions don’t count. At all. Get over yourselves and admit that just because you’re skilled enough to sew it doesn’t mean that’s always the best option.
Anyway, just when I had everything figured out, the heavens opened and Eclectic Products sent us E6000 spray. I’ll save that hint for later, as I’ll be using it for a particularly intricate design I’m working on this month, and I’ll photo the whole process.
Eclectic Products also released a .18oz tube of E6000, and I have 40 on their way to my shop as I type this. They fit perfectly into these little emergency fix-it travel kits, which also contain a stone setting stick, safety pins, tiny scissors, a sewing kit, Hollywood Tape, and several small compartments for various replacement stones. I actually have one for each dress that goes with us on our travels, and I had no problem going through TSA security with the tiny tube of E6000. You can buy the travel kits here or with the one-click button in the footer.
Next Tuesday we’ll go over several ways to set stones…so you have a week to stock up on E6000…
Leave No Stone Unglued 
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