Success for Less for Sally!

This post is to show you that you do not have to spend a fortune to look great on the dance floor.  Sometimes a cocktail dress can become a costume with minimal tweaking.  This great little dress is from Cache, shown at the link in black.  My client Sally found it last fall in Steel Grey, and asked me to adapt it for her as a Rhythm gown.  It had tremendous potential!  The best dresses for adaptation have some things in common.

1)  Made of stretchy fabric.
2)  Fits you beautifully or fits some places and is too large elsewhere.  There is NOTHING to be done if the dress is too small.
3)  Is sleeveless, or if it has some sort of sleeve, you can raise your arms without the dress moving up on your body.  We can add a sleeve cut for movement, but dresses you buy are cut for standing-around-looking-good, and this means you cannot raise your arms to dance if there are sleeves.  Sometimes, existing sleeves can be replaced with something else, or adapted themselves.
4)  Has a lining, which also stretches, and can be made into a leotard beneath the gown.
5)  Has its tags still attached and can be returned if I tell you it will not work.
6)  Is one of several so that a second one can be purchased if additional fabric is required.

Sally brought in her dress, matching all the above criteria, and I gave her a big YES, and she immediately bought a second one to scrap for parts and fabric.  After that first Steel gown, Cache recreated it for Spring 2014 in a fabulous orchid pink, and Sally called again. This is the one I will feature here.  (I apologize, I COULD NOT capture the color in my studio accurately without hauling out the studio lighting, and I didn't do that.  It is a blue pink, not this coral-ish!! As many of you know, it can be very hard to capture neon color with a camera.)

What the Cache dress lacked was interesting movement in the skirt, although the front and back drapes were pretty fabulous.  Also, the straight hemline was tight, and did not allow for kicks and big movement.  So the first thing to do was to cut the hemline diagonally, in sympathy to the lines of the gown, to create a bigger movement potential.  Then I chopped off the overdrapes from the second dress, and they became the drapey skirts.  I installed a bra for suppport, and created a leotard out of the interlock lining, after stablilzing the fabirc to prevent running.

Then we discussed embelllishment.  Rather than weigh down the drapey bits and turn them into spinning Ninja-quality weaponry aimed at her partner, we decided to embellish the parts that did NOT move, in a way that would be visible in motion, but not entirely when standing still.  A peep show of sorts, animated by action.  We both thought floral and tropical, because of the great hot orchid color, and we both scoped out loads of possible images.  I took her ideas, and my own, and began sketching, working to create something that met our joint criteria, and would be reasonably easy to stone and dazzling when finished.

In addition to the peekaboo bits at the left side, I removed the rhinestone cup mesh on the shoulder, replacing it with a shaped piece that boldly stated our motif.  I also wrapped my design diagonally across her back hipline, a place where cuban motion would animate the stoning and call attention the strong action of her back.

Sally has been doing her own stoning for MANY years, so she is an application pro.  I sketched the design on brown craft paper for her, and pinning it to the gown in the correct position.  Then I showed her how to cut open my pattern and fold it back to draw outlines for her application work.

I think she danced in it with the back drape hanging down like this, but we had discussed tacking it up as it is shown in earlier images, and for what it's worth, I personally would prefer just to shorten that drape, leaving it free.  But clients should get what they WANT!

I also patterned and made a cuff for her, for her right wrist, to diagonally balance the shoulder piece.

Sally did a great job with following  my stoning plan on this motif, and I am really happy with my design work.  The rest of the gown could certainly be embellished as well, but it is just not always necessary to be dripping in sparkle.  Sometimes having your own unique look is worth as much, or more on the floor.

So here is stunning Sally, and the gown in the RIGHT COLOR!  I wish I could let you see it move.

Due to starting with an existing garment, and Sally's time spent on rhinestone application, the cost was super reasonable on this project, approximately 1/4th of the cost of a new, custom designed and made from scratch project, including the cost of the two off-the-rack Cache dresses.  If you want to give this a try, give me a call and let's discuss how you should shop for some possibilities.  And call right away!

It has been a while since I posted to this blog!  I have two posts started, which I MUST finish, and many more to catch up with.  Being on my own in my studio due to Michele's accident has forced me to focus on dressmaking, but Michele is back, healthy, and ready to work, so make sure you get on the fall schedule if you want costumes for Minnesota Madness, Ohio, Holiday Classic, The Snowball, or anything else this year!  We are filling fast.

Tracy's Emerald Vine

It's easy to make a beautiful gown for a beautiful woman.  Tracy fits that description.  The ideas for her gown came from video clips on You Tube, featuring one of her favorite Latin dancers, in three different but similar costumes.  We picked and chose components from each of the gowns, she chose her color, and we ordered Zircon dance crepe and stretch satin from Dance Sport International in England.

Most of the fabrics I use come from England, where ballroom dancing is a much bigger part of life than here in the US.  It is very hard to find fabrics in this country that meet all of the requirements of competition dancewear, and there are no suppliers devoted specifically to the needs of the ballroom.  First, we need richer, more purely intense color than is available for street clothing, since the objective is generally to be easily visible and vibrant.  Secondly, I usually need fabric of several different kinds for each gown, and usually I want these fabrics to match.  For example, this gown required a supple, soft stretchy crepe for the bodice, and a shiny, lightweight poly satin for the skirt.  Neither of these things is available at my local fabric shop. Finally, I need fabrics that have been created specifically for the rigors of competitive dance, and will stand up to sweat, not tear in aggressive movement, will travel without wrinkling, and wash easily without needing to be dry cleaned.

In the upper right, my usual favorite nude mesh, and in the forground, the same mesh with a gold metallic finish.

In this particular case, one of the fabrics we used came from a New York City supplier, Spandex House.  Tracy wanted a portion of her gown to be sheer and appear to be nearly nude.  But Tracy is a modest woman, and wanted her nude sheer not to look TOO nude.  So we used a metallic gold stretch mesh for the right side of the bodice.  The metallic sheen helped the eye focus on the surface, and not so much on what was just beneath.

This gown is also conservative in terms of visible skin, but by no means a gown that is not exciting on the floor.  The high back allows the design elements to lead the eye around the body, plus there is a wide "slit" of sorts at the skirt attachment at the left side, that is decidedly sexy.   The over-all impression is that of elegance, with a touch of racy indifference.  It was super appealing on the dance floor!  Let me show you.

From the right side, this gown has an elegant feel, because of its strapless look and length.

From the left side, this gown has a sexy flirtiness, and in action, shows lots of beautiful leg. And that metallic gold is clearly gold, and not skin.  Tasteful, but tempting, I think!

I apologize for the quality of my iPad photos.  When I am trying to both man my costume display and sneak into the ballroom to watch my clients, there is not much time to set up a tripod and deal with appropriate camera settings. But I think you can see what I mean.  And she is a beautiful woman, no?

Here's that left side, looking odd on my half form, but I wanted to talk about the gold mesh portion.  We debated whether or not to do any imagery on the gold, and initially thought that it might just be encrusted with Light Topaz AB stones.  But the Light Topaz AB and Crystal AB and very near to each other in effect, especially from a distance, and I wanted to make sure the Crystal AB swirl pattern was neatly visually isolated.  So I created the vine graphics, with an eye to making sure that Emerald AB stones sat at the edge of the Crystal AB swirl to help it pop. We also debated skirt shape and length, as there were slightly different skirts on each of the three original gowns we drew from.  Tracy's teacher Scott had some concerns about how much skirt there would be, ("that looks like a LOT of skirt") and I think we landed on a happy medium.  Notice our sexy slit hangs closed at a standstill, but opens in action, something Tracy appreciates, I think. The weight of a longer skirt would force it to hang open.

Tracy has bangle bracelets for this gown, but no necklace.  I appreciate jewelry can be warm, and one more thing to think about, but I would love to make this gown a necklace for the elegant side.  The flirty side probably likes its shoulders bare.  :)

A Tropical Paradise for Jeannie

Vivacious Jeannie dances on the other side of the Twin Cities from our studio, at The Tropical Ballroom.  Although I doubt she set out to get a gown that would represent her studio, our results call to mind a tropical paradise for me, both because of the profusion of pink blossoms and the lushness of the deep spruce green velvet fabric.

Pretty, dark-haired Jeannie did the homework I always request of my clients, and brought with her to her design meeting several inspiration images.  Some were illustrations of style silhouettes she liked, and a couple were ideas for skirt finishes and details.  She carried in a rich suede jacket that represented the color of her dream gown, and she also brought a friend, but that is another blog post entirely!

I knew from the moment I saw the jacket that I would be doing some hunting to find the color she wanted, in four fabrics: a lycra for the bodysuit, soft sheer for the skirt, shiny fabric for the skirt binding and a rich spruce-y something for the bodice itself.  The suede jacket had a nap, and part of the beauty of the spruce color was in the richness of that nap.  Also, I had just hunted for blue-greens for Patty, and knew very little was readily available in dancewear fabrics in that hue.  We spent a little time looking at my British fabric swatchbooks, and my favorite American lycra sources, but nothing that matched the jacket was immediately to hand.  

I told Jeannie that I would have to hunt for fabrics in the colors she wanted, and keep her posted with swatches and photos of my quest.

As you can see, I had a scrap of crushed velvet that had been custom dyed and it did the jacket justice, but was too textured for our needs.  I also had a piece of lycra from the hunt for Emerald for Patty that would serve for the body suit, since it didn't have to be an exact match. Our first find was a luminous piece of georgette that became the skirt, and next that I discovered a piece of charmeuse that could be made in to shiny skirt binding.  Finally Michele said she had seen a piece of velvet in a local shop, and with these fabrics in hand, we got underway.

After we had the shell of the gown complete, we looked a a myriad of different possible flower options.  We even considered three-dimensional silk or fabric flowers, but Jeannie wanted a something flat and I wanted an exciting edge, since it would be strongly featured against the deep velvet.  Jeannie also wanted shades of pink, and nothing else.

We finally settled on a lycra print with lots of pinks and interesting shapes, and we cut out bits and created applique, for which I found we needed yet another piece of fabric for the backing of these bits.  Jeannie was disturbed by the olive greens in the leaves, but I assured her that our embellishment would change that.

And indeed, it did change!  We also emphasized the edges with Crystal AB outlines and I just love this result!

I am also really pleased with the skirt movement.  When a gown is a darker hue, it must compensate to achieve visibility with sparkle, texture, and action, and Jeannie animated it beautifully.

I apologize again, for my photography.  My camera is not sufficiently sophisticated to capture action on the far side of the dark room, and rhythm dances do not travel around the room, but stay in one spot.  Sadly, Jeannie was never close to me when dancing, but although these are not great photos, they do at least hint at the shiny skirt and sleeve edges in action.

Thanks Jeannie, for letting us work with you on your delightful new gown, and we hope to see you back in our studio again!

Charlie and Jana in Black and Red

Don't they make an adorable Pro-Am team?  Jana is Charlie's teacher, and they compete all over the United States together.  Charlie really likes to have a great and unique look on the floor, and this is the fourth set of costumes I have created for him and Jana.  Jana is an artist in her own right and likes to be very involved in their design process.  This time, she brought me sketches of what they wanted and Michele and I did our best with her designs.

Jana's gown reminds me of a "French Maid" look.  I kept thinking it needed ruffled panties, or a feather duster as a prop.  And I can't quite stop wishing Jana had red shoes.

It's a simple and clean gown, in black with red details, a very classic Latin and rhythm color scheme. Since dancers spend the majority of their time on the competition floor facing each other, I am very fond of 3-D details, and this dress delivers!

The skirt is very flirty and the detailing at the back with the sash, crisp little bow, and split to reveal the ruffled 1950's crinoline style petticoat is so cute in action.

I also feel like I had the perfect piece of jewelry to offer Jana. 

 Somehow the flowers and styling feel very French to me!

An up-close look...

               Most of the jewelry I purchase for re-sale requires adjustment and sizing,
                               and I am glad to offer that service for my clients.

Charlie's suit provides a nice frame for Jana's "picture."  Charlie is always chilly in the ballroom, which is generally kept cool for the comfort of dancers working hard on the floor.  I've been thinking that I would love to design a smoking jacket styled dance costume for him, maybe velvet, with a quilted satin shawl collar.  It would be warm and cozy, and I think, flattering as well on Charlie's slim frame. 

Our last set of costumes featured Charlie in a wrap-style coat, which I loved on him.  Here's a peek!

Love the addition of the snowflake pin on Charlie's lapel

(from the Snowball Competition last January!)

and Jana's puff bangle bracelet.

Charlie has mentioned thinking about a set of French blue costumes for his and Jana's next look, and I look forward to working with them again!

Leslie's White Peach

I first thought I would call this post, "The Gilded Leslie" a play on the idea of "gilding the lily."  But gilded lily implies a false shell of beauty, which she does not need.  She is delicate and subtle, and reminds me very much of a white peach, which is also a great name for her new rhythm gown.  She is my second "Golden Girl" of this fall.  She brought her teacher and coach, Kate, to her design meeting and Kate provided a video of a gown she thought would be a good style for Leslie.  I agreed.

Kate's style suggestion was a white slip dress with lace panels, which allowed the sides of the dancer's body to be seen through the openings in the lace.  It had the quality of lingerie, and was sexy in a subtle way.

Leslie is a very modest woman.  She didn't really like the idea of appearing in lingerie, so we were careful to use opaque and substantial fabrics, and also to finish the hem with braid that made it clear that the beautiful end product was a rhythm gown, NOT a slip.

Leslie's new gown is white, and made of two different fabrics; a soft matte white lycra and a voided white lycra with a sheer pattern of interlacing loops and scrollwork at the sides.  Leslie didn't like the idea of being visible through the sheer at her sides, so we backed with voided lycra there with the matte opaque, but used its see-thru beauty in the godets at the base of the skirt, carefully cut never to reveal thighs or hips in turns.  We also added a demi sleeve to the design, which really flatters Leslie's beautiful decolletage.

The gold enters Leslie's picture through her rhinestone choice, Light Peach AB, which gives the gown a delicate golden glimmer.  I filled in the beautiful scrollwork at the sides with the stones to emphasize the pattern, and used less stones at the hem to allow glimpses of Leslie's legs.

My jewelry design takes advantage of the loops and scrollwork in the pattern of the sheer.  I used both Crystal AB and Light Peach AB in the loops, a very subtle difference, that paves the way for a beautiful pair of Crystal AB earrings Leslie she wanted to wear with the gown. 

I think the lovely Leslie wore her new gown last night, at an Dancer's Studio Showcase event, "Under the Big Top."  I missed the event, but I hope she enjoyed herself in her White Peach!

Chantilly Lace and Cindi's Pretty Face

I have been at Twin Cities Open for much of the last three days, checking out my recent work, and the fantastic dancers who animate it. I am so pleased to have my costumes worn by so much talent!

The last costume I created for TCO left my studio before I could take any photos, (on the day before the event!) so I followed Cindi around as she waited to dance and took few a detail shots as well as a few action shots.

Cindi has rich, dark hair and creamy skin, and nearly each time she visited my studio, was wearing black and white, so it seemed a great choice for her new Latin gown. She wanted a sexy and sophisticated look, with tastefully covered style lines but an exciting impact. Black gowns are notoriously challenging in terms of being seen on the floor (since almost every gentleman dancer is wearing black too!) but I think this combination of black with white was very visible and showy.

I am pleased with the framing and accent of face, hands and back that the pearl-encrusted lace provides.  The bit of fringed bead embroidery at the top of her spine makes a nice focal action point as well.  Pearls have an inherent note of sophistication that help us achieve our goal here as well.  And the jewelry helps to keep the attention on her pretty face and cheerful performance.
My action shots are just dreadful, and I apologize for the worse than usual quality, but they do indicate the movement of the gown, so I will share one, if you will pardon my photography!  I'm especially pleased with the eye-catching white skirt and sleeve lining, and gently stiffened hemline.  Her lace is encrusted with Swarovski Jet and that flashes and sparkles beautifully in action, as you can see here.

I look forward to spending time on the TCO professional photographer's site next week to locate some better shots of my most recent gowns, but did want to share Cindi's new Latin gown today. Thanks for taking a peek!  I look forward to sharing Christine's FIERCE look with you next, and hopefully a look at my many guys, all of whom looked great in their black!

It's Been a VERY Busy Month!

I have been too busy making dance wear to post!  But today, the fog lifts a little and I have a moment to mention a little of what we have been doing.  Hopefully in two weeks, I'll have photos from The Twin Cities Open competition to post as well, but just to get up to date... 

First, today Jane picked up her new ballgown, to go along with her Purple Volcano Rhythm gown of a month ago.  It's a simple and clean design with plenty of sparkle, in a color that looks a little like Caribbean ocean water to me.  The jewelry designer in me would call it Blue Zircon, which is the color of the rhinestones on the body.  She looks happy, doesn't she!  As we speak, she is having a dress rehearsal on her lesson with teacher Charlie Hardcastle, and I anxiously await a "thumbs up!"  It has a floaty organza skirt stiffened at the hemline with matching crinoline braid, and I think it will dance like a cloud!  Here are a couple more quick shots, and yet another version of one of my favorite necklace designs, adjusted to neatly fit the space provided.

Immediately before that project, the beautiful Christine Hallberg picked up her new Hematite ballroom gown, (I'm calling it "Fierce!") which I am dying to share with you, but I do not yet have a single photo. Hopefully, I'll have some photos from TCO.  Christine is finishing her own rhinestone embellishment.

Additionally several Gently Used gowns from our rack went to new owners.  Sue purchased Flame Latin, and I shipped it to her Florida address today!

Then another of my favorite gowns found a new home.  Joyce and her husband visited my studio to try on a very inexpensive little rhythm gown, and after many try-ons, upgraded dramatically, leaving the studio with a splendid piece that serves both for the rhythm dances and for the ballroom dances.  It's a personal favorite of mine, and I was told Joyce looked great in the gown, "As though it had been made for her!" at her Dancer's Studio showcase two weekends ago.  I am hoping she might dance at TCO as well, so I can have pictures.  Here is her new Gently Used "Navaho Rose" gown in it's rhythm mode:

It was such a great piece of fabric and so fun to design and enbellish!   And this is what it looks like, when converted into a ballroom gown:

Joyce really looked fantastic in it, and both she and her husband seemed to agree it was a good purchase.  I was so happy for her!

Then "Jade Swirl" was purchased by Gwen, who I thought looked lovely in it, again for TCO.  She also had us re-model an off-the-rack dress for use in her Rhythm dancing, which I think turned out very nicely.  Gwen is doing her own rhinestone application as well, so I am hoping for photos again from the competition to post here.  Here's her new ballgown:

We are also finishing two more gowns for Twin Cities Open, (just eight days away!!!) and have dressed four gentlemen, Tom, Kent, Alan, and Troy, as well as adding wings to a new Gently Used gown for Patty, and another for Suzanne, and adding sleeves to a Rhythm gown for Jacqueline. 

Boy, do I ever have a load of photos to take! 

So you can see why I have been neglecting my blog, and the blogs of my friends as well, and I apologize!  June is usually my craziest month, and when you add my son's High School Graduation and college parent orientation into the mix, plus many graduation parties to attend, and one to plan...   It's been a VERY busy month!