Bonnie's Black

It used to be no one wanted a black ball gown for competition.  Black is the color of almost every gentleman on the floor.  Universal belief is that the man is a frame and the woman should be a picture.  SO... a black picture in a black frame?  But when champions and winners wear something, then everyone wants it. Lots of winners have been wearing black lately, and Bonnie is a woman who looks great in black.  She has striking blonde hair, great skin and beautiful features.

When she told me she wanted a black gown, I had to agree it would be beautiful on her.  But I also know that she will wear this gown for a while and wanted her to be visible, and not instantly out of date, when this trend shifts, as they all do.  I encouraged her to add a color to her black gown, at the very least white, or lots of crystal AB sparkle.

After lengthy negotiation and multiple re-designs, we finally landed on an acceptable solution, which included the addition of both a partial white side and a red accent.

Black soft boning hem adds shape and movement.

The gown converts for International Style Ballroom by means of the skirt becoming a float.  Another scarf float attaches to the center back of the necklace, designed just for the Ballroom.  Bonnie has a simpler necklace for use in the American Smooth style.  Isn't she lovely?  I have the best clients!

Holiday Hostess Mary Christmas says THANK YOU for a Great Year!

Thanks SO MUCH to all Made for Movement clients for a great 2015! My 2016 is almost entirely booked, and really, over-booked for the first half of the year, so if you are thinking of a gown in the coming year, call fast!

Many of my clients may know Mary as humble Waltzing Matilda, studio fixture devoted principally to holding skirt panels and bodice pieces for me until they are assembled for other more shapely dress forms.  So she was thrilled to be tapped for the job of Holiday Hostess.

I don't know all of Mary's history. But I do know she had a previous owner, who had a substantial backside and not much in the bust department.  SO, being a UniquelyYou model, I let out her cover at the front, and provided her with free implants, a service many of my clients would also be familiar with. :)

Then her cover was re-fit to her new and improved shape.

I provided her with a new external skin with a nice tan, and and a tube top of bright red panne velvet, draped and pinned into shape.

With the help of my husband, she got a crinoline of dart-folded chicken wire, with a spring steel boning hem line for strength, and a skinny, chic green wire belt.  I know I took a photo of her crinoline before I started covering it, but sigh, it is gone. Here you can see just the top of it and the twist ties holding it to the wire belt.

Then, beginning at the bottom, over the spring steel, I cable-tied pine garland, up to the halfway point of the 36" chicken wire shirt.

Poinsettia garland was swagged to create the illusion of panniers, and I began filling she space between the poinsettias and fir with an iridescent bay leaf garland. I filled in above the swags with holly garland, and down the front and back with random silk sprays from the myriad boxes of holiday florals I have collected for years.  I contemplated lights, but decided she was sufficient to the task and also heavy enough.  But I did add some baubles and bows.  A friend had sent me a gift tied with a lace bow, and that became her neck edge.  More baubles and berries were pinned in place for a necklace and our Holiday Hostess was complete!

Mary and I wish you The Merriest of Holiday Seasons, and  Happy 2016!

Waiting List Only for 2015

I am sorry to say Made for Movement is booked completely for the remainder of 2015.  If you are looking for a custom-made competition costume, I can put you on a waiting list, in the event that someone who has reserved my time cancels her project.  If you would like to take a look at Made for Movement gowns currently for sale by their owners, please see the gowns for sale on my website at www.made4movement.com.  I also have a very small selection of gowns for sale here in my studio, and you may call to ask about sizes and styles at 952-595-0003. Otherwise, I will begin taking projects for 2016 in the Fall. Thanks so much for your interest in my custom dancewear.  -Marsha

Last Chance for Menswear and Gently Used Gowns at Minnesota Madness

Dear Clients Past and Present,

In the interest of beginning to move toward my retirement, I have made the decision to eliminate some portions of my business and focus on others.  The biggest changes are:

   1)  I will be eliminating menswear.

   2)  I will not be vending at events any longer.

3)  I willl no longer offer a consignment service for Gently Used costumes.

   4)  Instead of 40-45 projects per year, I will take about 20.

My final event as a vendor will be the Minnesota Madness, October 19th, 10:30am until 8:00pm, at the Medina Ballroom.  The event runs until 10:30, but I will stop selling at 8:00pm.

I will be contacting you all to encourage you to tell me your lowest imaginable selling price, so that I can sell as many costumes for you as possible, without having to contact you for negotiation,  I will mark each gown with the price you name.  I encourage you to think big, because after this event, I will ask you to pick up any unsold gowns.  I will be happy to keep them listed on my website, if you like, but potential buyers will constact you to schedule appointments to try on your gowns at your home.

I will mark my existing menswear down 20%, and may increase that markdown as the event progresses.  Michele is no longer working with me and no more of our menswear will be made.

Thanks to all of you for 28 great years, and I am looking forward to working with you in the final years of Made for Movement.

Fondly, Marsha

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.

A Hawaiian Carnival for Rita

Rita is one of the very first dancers I dressed, way back in the late 1980's. She has never stopped enjoying ballroom dancing. She is now retired, and her investment advisor told her she would need to take money from one her investments this year, and her thoughts turned to dance. She decided she would compete at Arthur Murray Dance-O-Rama this month, and wanted a new ballgown to wear for the event.  And she called me!

The criteria we worked with were, soft, flowing, elongated, and elegant.  And Rita had no trouble choosing colors and fabrics.  She wanted lace, and chose a piece called Desire, which I really liked working with.  Since she wanted the result to be soft, we selected a georgette skirt, with a satin chiffon lining.

Rita chose two pinks, a blue based one, called Carnival (upper left, folded to the right), and a more balanced but slightly warm one, called Hawaii Pink (folded to the left side), both from DSI in England.  Blending warm and cool pinks has always been a challenge for me personally, but I really liked this combo. I think the Carnival by itself is near to "Radiant Orchid", the Pantone color of the year for 2014, (although ballroom brighter!) and the blend of the two is kinda magical, much more so in person than what I am capable of capturing in my camera.

We kept the lighter, bluer color (Carnival) on top, in the lace and georgette, and put the deeper, hotter Hawaii Pink under the lace in dance crepe and a satin chiffon for the underskirt.  This is the logical thing to do, as lighter colors tend to move toward the eye, and darker ones, to retreat. (In all fairness, cool colors should receed and warm ones advance, but I think in this case, value trumps hue.) In the rhinestone application, I was able to leave some of the Carnival lace visible, which I think turned out really nicely.  The curvilinear stoning emphasizes the beautiful shapes in this lace, while letting the lighter color beneath it help to pull the pattern forward.

I am also very proud of the matching job I did with the lace in this gown, the bi-lateral mirror symmetry of which is really featured nicely in the back.  I was also able to use the edges of the lace fabric to create a scalloped edge at the bottoms of the sleeves, neck edge and skirt connection point.

At the gown front, where the center seam is replaced by two side seams to accomodate bust shaping, the lace looks more organic, but I am still super happy with the figure placement, and think you really have to look for the seams to see them.

Rita had a necklace she thought might be good with the gown, but it really didn't work out.  The shapes and sparkles were pretty different, so I made her this piece, which I think works nicely with the scalloped edges of the neckline.  I made a couple flowers we did not use on the dress, and attached clips to them for use in her hair.  Those flowers really demonstrate nicely the warm and cool pinks in the gown.  :)

We originally had two layers of the georgette over the satin chiffon lining, but they were too blue, and we reconfigured them to alternate, achieving a really good color match between bodice and skirt.

The flowers were not part of the original design.  The gown probably would better meet the "elegant" part of the design criteria without them.  But listening to Rita in her fittings, talking her performance nerves, and about being encouraged to be more expressive and joyful in her dancing, I thought she might be best served  by both providing a focal point on the gown, and by offering a little whimsy.

Best of luck to Rita , who has practiced in the dress and seems happy with the results!  I am so glad to have the opportunity to be a part both of the beginnings, and the maturity of her dance career.  Are you wondering about that first gown?  Styles and construction have changed over the years, but it's still a pretty thing

Prayers for Michele

Many of my clients have met and worked with my seamstress/tailor Michele Kielsa.  I would ask you to keep her in your thoughts, and offer prayers for her today.

Last week, Michele's mother had heart valve replacement surgery, which went well and her mom was able to go home on Thursday.  On that same day, Michele fell from a ladder in her garage.  She fractured her arm in three places.  The upper break was clean and set immediately.  The fracture at her elbow required surgery and two metal plates, with many screws to hold everything in place.  The fracture of her wrist requires additional surgery, scheduled for April 10th, with a hand specialist.

In addition to all this, Michele's son-in-law posted to his Caring Bridge site yesterday that the Hodkins lymphoma that he has been fighting since before his wedding to Michele's daughter has returned for a third time.

Please send Michele and her family your prayers, healing thoughts and positive energy as they work through all of the difficulties in their paths.