i finally did finish my sole prom dress for the year! i actually finished it last Monday and she picked it up on Tuesday, just in time for the prom on Friday!

Which led me to the question how much time should be between pick up and actual event, for custom made items? I guess i never gave it any thought because i normally ask custom orders to allow 4 weeks for creation and it has never been a problem for me. But then i was talking to a cousin and she said she thought that was too little time in between pick up and event date. I asked her why she felt like that and she really didn’t have an answer. The young lady had purchased shoes, which she worn to her last 2 fittings, she had all accessories matched up by the fabric swatch that she had from the onset of the project i just don’t  see why she would need to have her dress weeks ahead of time, to just sit there and look at it? I don’t know, but i welcomed my cousins comments and it gave me some thing to think about.

For the past few years i have only accepted 1 prom dress per season. I don’t know why, i just don’t much enjoy formal wear creation. I don’t mind working with the fabrics, and the designs are almost always so very creative, which i love, but i think that because it is a “special occasion” people tend to micro manage every tidbit of the planning, etc. that goes into making that day special and if there is one thing on this earth that i just can’t stand, it’s to be micro-managed! So because of that, i take only one dress!

This is the original dress that i was shown by my client. She loved the design of the dress and i always ask during consultation, why the customer wants to have there dress made and not just buy the original ready to wear one. this young lady want to choose her own color scheme. So that was a good enough answer for me.

I instructed her that i would do my best to recreate, but that I may have to deviate from the original, as i always allow myself that wiggle room, just incase i can not re-create!

I consider myself:

an above average seamstress
a mediocre salesperson
a very savvy business woman
but a okay pattern designer! (i am still learning all that i can to become better!)

so i need that wiggle room.

The first thing i did was take really good measurements! I then put them into, i believe PMB4 or maybe celebrations, not sure at the moment and i can’t check right this minute.

I then created the pattern as best i could in the software. I believe i did a mini length panel type skirt with gores, empire waist strapless gown. I tweaked the plunging v not in the software but at the table once i had the the flat pattern.

once i had my pattern all down, i made a muslin. she came tried it on and it fit perfect! I was really impressed as this was the first gown i had made using Wild Ginger. I wasn’t using it much last year for prom season and the year before that the young lady came to me with purchased pattern in hand!

I will post PMB4 screen shots when i get home.

from there i used my pattern pieces to create the dress in her fabrics. She purchased  really pretty fuschia and purple satin fabrics in the correct yardage, but for some reason decided that i didn’t know what i was talking about when it came to the tulle for the tutu portion of the dress.

Now i’m no tutu expert, but i have made a couple for other projects, i told her to get a 25 yrd roll, she came back with 5 yards each of two different colors.

if you come across this type of situation. make the customer go back for more right then and there. my truck was in the shop for a total of 2 weeks so when i came home from work to work on my prom dress, that last thing i needed was to try and find a ride to get tulle!

I used what i had. the tutu was a royal pain, as i keep running out of colors, but i had like 30, 25 yard rolls of 6” tulle in my stash and most were not full rolls so i ended up using up most of that!

The one regret with making this dress, is that i wish i had taken more pictures along the process! or even better pictures of the ones i did get! please excuse my mess!!

I ended having to attach that upper layer of the tutu to the bottom hem of the dress, because i simply did not have enough tulle to do another layer for the tutu. and because of the tulle being light weight it was already pretty heavy at the bottom! but once i got it on her along with the the underskirt (tutu, petticoat, whatever) i could cut it to length and i was pleased with the turn out and so was my customer!

The purple tulle you see here is to match her shoes, the purple in the underskirt, matched the purple binding!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also hadn’t realized when taking the photos that she was a little crooked in the front! let alone i really didn’t need the additional props!!

but since we were both tired and it was getting late, we just wanted a few photos. now since prom has passed, i should be getting the professional ones any day now, i hope!!

Thanks for sharing my prom dress journey 2009! maybe next year, I’ll feel adventurous and take 2!

i doubt it!!