Sarah's Dress

Sarah is a senior dancer from London. This is her 2nd costume from me....the other is the purple one for sale at the bottom of the right hand column. This was my first attempt at a 4 panelled dress.

We decided to 'upgrade her' hmmm I sound like Beyonce Knowles don't I? Yes, I am a hip n happening mum, and I know all the words, hahaha!

skirt under construction ^
bodice v

She had a design in mind, but we decided together that it wasn't going to work and she liked the design on one of Rhi's old costumes, so we took inspiration from that.

It's also a 2 piece, so Sarah can keep cool between rounds.


These were all the work in progress, am waiting for some finished pics from Sarah, as the one's I took were all at the wrong angle her legs were too white hahaha, she'll kill me for that!
The main red fabric is satin 'falling rain' from http://www.whitelodgefabric.com/falling_rain1.htm and an orange sequinned overlay http://www.whitelodgefabric.com/chiffon_sprayclover_sequin.htm with silver, and white appliqué. The back is finished off with a small loose shawl in the orange chiffon. Sarah's delighted with her new dress and wore it out at 2 feis last w/e..... yes 2 one in London the other in Birmingham. As soon as she gets the finished pics to me I'll post them.

Jaisie's Dress

Jaisie is my friend's little girl. She's 4 in May. Her big sister, Jasmine, dances and has a couple of old dresses still at home....however, Jaisie, being Jaisie decided she didn't want a second hand dress, she wanted one of her own lol.

So we decided to make her one. Nothing fancy, her mum said, just something she can call her own. Well as Jaisie is at most local feis and will be at the Worlds, I thought what a great walking advertisment, so put more in than they were expecting.


She rang me tonight on the way to dance class to tell me she was very excited......... well she was dumbfounded, as was her mum and sister, when they actually saw the dress.

Fitted her perfectly, even without any fittings. Here are a couple of her in the dress at dance class....love the socks don't you?


Oh yes, she loves butterflies, but had no idea that's what was going on the dress....so the butterfly hair accessories were a complete coincidence. Poor love can sleep tonight now. She's been waiting for this dress since last year and each time we saw her she looked at us in anticipation and then disappointment when we didn't have it with us.


We made the butterfly cape to emulate the bought butterflies on the dress. This has been an absolute joy to make, and I think Margaret and myself have loved it because we were making it for Jaisie and she's such a cutie. This is one of those dresses that will be put on AFTER she's competed, if and when she does.....there's a ruling in NW UK that Novice dancers can't wear dresses, lol that's going to confuse everyone isn't it?

Ashleigh's dress

Second attempt at a 'Theatre Curtain' dress. Made this for Ashleigh who's a young dancer in Rhi's school. She's 10 and wanted a pretty dress.



Think I may have just filled that request. It debuted today at a St Patrick's Dispaly at school and will be seen again on Friday and Saturday.

The base fabric is a lovely white chiffon over net embellished with mother of pearl sequin circles. You may recognise the pink I've used on the upper bodice, insert and sleeve as the same pink I used in Tori's dress. See an earlier post.

The lining is pink and white gingham as are one of the sets of frill. The other set and shawl are a very pale pink voile curtaining with silver hologram circles. We decided to add some celticness to this dress as well as keeping it 'trés moderne' Please excuse my attempts at French, it's been over 34yrs lol. The finishing touches were some tiny little voile flowers with a circle of crystal in the middle of them. Hope this dress brings you lots of luck Ashleigh, and I'm sure you'll turn people's heads in it. If you would like to leave a comment about the dress feel free. Constructive criticism always welcome.

The Finished Routine

Riverdance on Ice (the journey)

Back to Class

Well we got back to class on Saturday, Thursday being to wild to do anything other than jar the door on my car so it now creaks :o(

After 1.5 hours in the car my poor knees were killing me (think they creak more than the door) and I made a rather 'undignified' exit from the car when we got there. Although I'm not sure who was hurting more, me or Rhi after her 2 dance classes :oP

Aren't breaks a pain....in more ways than one? How many dancers actually do anything when they're 'on a break' and I don't mean the Rachel and Ross type of 'on a break'.

We got to Derby and I had a much needed cup of tea (whereas after one dance Rhi needed a glass of water) then found out I'd won the 'bonus ball' :oD
Yay, good start to the year, paid for my fuel and dance classes with some left over. So Derby done n dusted, off to Nottingham for the 2nd class of the day. Another ungainly exit from the car ensued....stopped short of palms on the ground tho'. We had 3 birthdays...and 2 cakes...good job I haven't started my healthy eating plan yet, I'd have hated to pass up on that, especially as one of the cakes was from Costco and I knew it would be sooo delicious. I was so tired we decided to forgo 5 o'clock club and head off home..... not like me, I must've been REALLY tired. Stopped at McDonalds half way home for a coffee... oh yes I fed Rhi too. She was ravenous after all the 'work' she'd put in :oS Then when I got home had to go to McDonalds again, no not for Rhi, she wasn't that hungry, for Niall, who was! He was fishing...see his pic.....and wanted a large 6 chicken nugget meal and 2 cheeseburgers......he's a growing lad :oP So back home I put my feet up and watched TV for the rest of the night. So first class back went well, I think, and I'll get myself on the eating plan and refuse any more birthday cake, should it be available in the future ;o)

China Blue

This was my first 'Off the Rack' and I loved it so much I was upset when it sold. The fabric just reminded me of some china tea cups my nan used to have, hence the name. I could have sold it about 10 times over had it been the right size and even Kelsey, the new owner, had a list of dancers from her school ready to buy it if it hadn't fit.




This has also been a lucky dress for the new owner, who after 2 years in Prelim, without placing, placed at the 1st two feis after buying the dress.



The main fabric is a printed cotton and parts are overlayed with a white chiffon with tiny hologram discs, appliquéd with blue diamond foil fabric and silver hologram sewn sequin this dress sparkles all the way

Jacqui's Dress

Jacqui's TC contacted me and asked if I was willing to make a dress with their fabrics and design....course I was, who can afford to turn down work? The main dress is made from a flannelette with a sparkle chiffon overlay. We stuck to the design with just a few tweaks here and there.







As you can see once Jacqui took delivery of her dress she 'pimped' it herself :o) Nice add ons Jacqui. She also recalled at the SRO this year which was great news.

Nicola's Dress

Nicola is 10 and lives in Scotland. Her mum contacted me and asked if I could do the new wrap dresses. I said I could.... then panicked, I'd never done one before eeek! Nicola wanted lilaccy/purple with pink and white soI did some sketches and this is the one decided upon



She also wanted stripes on the dress and I decided to do the ruffle in a stripe, but, I couldn't find a striped fabric to go with the main facric, which is a beautiful pure silk tie dye sari fabric with flowers made up from purple sequins so plumped for pink and white gingham which went with it perfectly.


^front


^Nicola being fitted

Turned out fine for a first attempt I think

Tori's Dress

Tori is a dancer from North Carolina. Her mom contacted me after my shameful self promotion on the Voy boards. After many e-mails discussing the type of dresses Tori and her mom liked I came up with the drawings below.





Once these were approved we set to work making it and as you can see by the following photos it didn't turn out far from the drawings.


^front


^back

Hope it brings you lots of Luck Tori

Brigid's dress

Brigid is a dancer in the MAtR. I was contacted by one of the senior dancers at her school who had been given the job of liasing with the chosen dressmaker. I was very lucky that this was me.


^This was the original drawing I did and e-mailed to Brigid and her mom for their approval. They liked the design, apart from the striped fabrics in the pleats so we used the pink and green combo. My trusty assistant, well my friend, Margaret and myself started the dress and despite a few unforseen delays along the way, we finished it in time for Brigid's 'O' in Philly


^ front of dress


^ back of dress

This is the headband we sent over, together with a regularone which could have been a backing for a tiara.





The dress, unfortunately, was water damaged when it got there and to date we're waiting for UPS to make a decision about compensation.