Cathy's First Gown

Cathy is a confident and lovely young dancer at Arthur Murray St. Paul, and her teacher Nate suggested she visit me when she was ready to have her first ballgown created.  Both Nate and his wife Rachel, also an Arthur Murray instructor and counselor, offered their ideas about what the general impression of Cathy's gown should be.   Nate said, "poised, regal and elegant" and Rachel offered "demure, lighthearted, and clean."  Cathy brought me lots of mages all of which featured cool, peacock colors and most of which also had floral motifs.  We decided that purple was the right royal touch, and used jeweled floral lace to ensure the gown had a youthful and lighthearted quality.



I see what Nate meant by "poised."

Cathy did lots of rhinestone application on her gown to help keep costs reasonable.  I finished her necklace and earrings for her, to show her what I had in mind for the lace.

 Then, using the lace as a guide and doing a sort of "paint by number" process, she spent about 20 hours, over a 10 day period, adding stones to the lace on the front...

...and the back of the bodice...

... the cuffs,

... and the barette.

  Because Cathy's hair is dark, we backed the barette with black ultrasuede, so the jeweled flowers could appear to sit neatly in her hair, which I think worked out nicely!

Then Cathy returned the gown to me, after a practice session to assure that everything worked as expected and to give her time to get used to the idea of wearing the gown.  She was so sweet, telling me how hard it had been to dance in it the first time without trying to watch the dress move in the mirror instead of concentrating on her dancing, and how exhilirating it was to feel fabric swirling around her legs and seeing the cuffs sparkle as she extended  her arms.  I can remember those feelings well, and some of my professional clients intentionally get new costumes for big competitions, specifically for the added sense of excitement and discovery they provide.

 I finished the gown by placing the less-fun-to-apply, but equally important, amethyst stones on the gown bodice, and then, I installed a delightful detail.  The electric blue pearl chiffon underskirt provides flashes of color in movement and adds a great deal of depth to the layers of skirt.  I was fortunate to see her dance at her showcase event on Sunday, and take a few photos. 

And that is Made for Movement menswear on Nate as well.  Don't they look wonderful?

I love working with first-time clients and Cathy did an wonderful job of both the rhinestone application, and with trusting me and the Made for Movement process.  I look forward to working with her again!

In the mean time, as Rachel suggested to Cathy when she called after wearing the gown for the first time and was sad to have to take it off, "It would not be entirely wrong to watch TV in it some night..."

Jane's Purple Volcano

Sometimes my clients want to change the image they present on the competition floor, and Jane was ready for a change.  Here's her first rhythm gown, which I thought looked very nice on her, and obviously had good movement as well.  It was not a Made for Movement gown, although I did adjust the fit for her.  I think it is playful and fun, and a bright, vibrant and visible color, all good things on the floor.  I also thought the bare chest and shoulders were flattering.

But Jane wanted a change.  Something more "grown-up" looking, and more understated and elegant.  So we set to work on a design that would flatter her body, and create the impression of elegance and maturity.  We started with a deeper richer color, and a more complex grouping of lines and shapes.  We softened the skirt, removed some weight, and used a more transparent fabric to feature her pretty legs, although we wanted to maintain good potential for movement in the skirt so used a similar volume of fabric. 

We also moved the focus from the center of her body to one side and  provided a vertical division.  We achieved this division in two ways.  We used opaque draped dance crepe on one side of the gown and sheer stretch mesh on the other side, as well as using different embellishment on each side.  We also found a bronze scrollwork applique we thought might provide a hint of vintage antique aesthetic to use a a base for our rhinestone decoration.

Decorating this gown was fun.  We chose a Swarovski effect crystal called Volcano for the scrollwork details and the sheer mesh portion of the gown.  Effect crystals are a different color viewed from a different angle.  Volcano viewed directly from the front is a pinky purple, but as you move to the side for an oblique view, it turns a green gold.  One stone, multiple colors.  This too added a mysterious complexity to the gown.  You can see the effect at work by looking at the bust area of the gown in this photo.  As we view the crystal headon at the bust point, the purple color blends into purple mesh, providing just sparkle.  Beneath the bust, where you view the stone at an angle, you can see the vibrant gold color of the effect, and as your eye traces the curves, you can see the transition from purple to pink to deep, bronzy gold. We used Amethyst crystals on the opposite draped crepe side, which are simply purple from all angles, providing lots of sparkle, but less color drama.  All of the scrollwork is embellished with larger Volcano crystals, and even some big sew-on jewels for added punch.  We did the embellishment work in stages, allowing Jane to decide how much sparkle she wanted to see and consequently, allowing her to choose the final cost of her gown.  Jane chose plentiful rhinestone embellishment, and was pleased with her decision.  We did not stone the skirt, wanting to keep the focus on the pretty shape of the handkerchief hem, and allow our eyes to see though the fabric to her shapely legs.  I like the assymetrical balance of this gown.

Since we were not revealing as much skin at the top of the gown, we opened one sleeve with a keyhole and embellished it with our scrollwork applique. 

We also opened a keyhole at the back of the gown.

And here is a shot of those lovely legs in their new skirt.

We do not yet have competition photos to post, but I have seen Jane's video from Wisconsin State, and both she and her new gown look wonderful. and move beautifully!  I think we achieved Jane's elegant new look successfully.

We are in the process of creating a new ballgown as well, and I am enjoying working with Jane again!  When we are finished, I look forward to sharing our work with you.