Prom Creations from the 80's

Some of my first designs for myself.  Prom dresses for my junior and senior proms.

 

8th Grade Party Original

 After visiting SR Harris Fabrics our daughter decided she wanted her 8th grade party formal dress created from this stunning gold shimmer brocade and burgandy irridescent taffeta.

Reign Inspired Winter Formal

Our daughter loved the show Reign and all the beautiful dresses 

the costume department created.  

Fabrics purchased from SR Harris. 

Her 2017 Winter Formal dress was inspired by the gown below.

Custom Party Dress

Kudos to all those parents of 8th grade girls that have spent the last 6 weeks looking for “The Dress”. The idea of finding the perfect dress by far outweighed the actual hunt experience. That infamous day is almost here and I have come to realize my calling. After 8 hours at the Mall of America and placing two different website orders we settled for a dress that would work, only to head to the fabric store the next week to start all over. We found some fabric and drafted a pattern to create a dress Maddy would feel confident and comfortable wearing. After talking with many of the girls and their parents, so many had the same experience and settled for a dress that was “okay”. The dresses available to these girls are too short, too tight, too skimpy and too much black. If the money and time were no issue, I would create a unique and individual dress for each and every girl in the 8th grade. Thank heavens prom is 3 years away!

Custom Flower Girl Dresses

While I no longer created custom bridesmaid or wedding gowns, I will from time to time take on custom flower girl dresses.  For this bride four custom Flower Girl dresses were created in bright coral taffeta and satin for a fall wedding. Dresses were created to fit each girls personality and body style.  Can't wait to see the formal group pictures.

Bridal Gown = 1st Eucharist Dress

Our daughter Callista celebrated her 1st Eucharist this April.  Three years ago I approached our oldest daughter to see if she would like a First Communion dress created for her from my wedding gown.  She did not want any lace and so I waited.  This year when our youngest celebrated her sacrament, she embraced the idea of having a dress created out of the dress her mom married her dad in.

The project started with sketches.  Once the design was clear the original wedding gown  dress needed to be  disassembled.  The original wedding gown was one I designed and created 19 years ago.  A basic dress pattern was found, then a new the designed dress was sloped from the basic pattern.  The sleeves were made fuller, darts and ribbon accents were added to the bodice.  The skirt was box pleated instead of gathered and  lining was added to the skirt so no slip was needed.

The finished dress is more beautiful then I could have imagined.  If you attend the Iowa State Fair this year please visit the Fabric and Threads exhibits to see the dress on display.

1st Communion Dress

Our daughter Madeline celebrated her 1st communion a few years ago. Above is the photo I took in front of our stain-glass windows at church and then did some fun photo editing.

I designed her custom dress to fit her personality and size. It was constructed of silk and adorned with Swarovski crystals. We switched out the sash and made it gold for the father/daughter dance.

Easter dress in the making

We hunted High and Low for the perfect Easter dress this year. No luck. We decided to visit the local quilt shop. She selected 2 prints from the Eclectic Garden line by Jason Yenter for In the Beginning Fabrics 2009. The pattern she chose was Simplicity 2989. When assembling the dress I added a lining to the skirt with some tulling sewn in to give it more fullness and an elastic band to the back of the dress bodice for a more comfortable fit. The end result was perfect looking princess.

Now to try and make a miniature matching dress for her American Girl doll Chrissa.