I wasn’t thinking about prom, focused on completing grandboy’s graduation quilt and a t-shirt quilt I was commissioned to do. But, when a friend asked me to shorten her daughter’s gown, I looked forward to a change. So the first gown I did whispered the ground, not touching, but giving the illusion it was. It was perfect when she tried it on after the hemming which pleased both of us! The top was absolutely stunning with all the bead work. I know she had to look like a princess! The bright sunlight sure distorted the true colors in the photos below – the top was much more golden, and the skirt was green, not turquoise. By the way, the 2 under skirts were satin and not even close to the 10 yards used to make up the lush outer skirt. Yes, that means in the outer skirt alone, I hemmed 10 yards of fabric!
I did not get photos of the other dresses, but one was very similar to this one, but done in silver and black. 10 yards of black!
I also took in the waist of a long dark skirt that would be worn with a lush beaded top. What I found the most fascinating about this alteration was I was taking it in 2 1/2″ from the extra small (XS) size! This beautiful girl’s waist is so tiny I couldn’t use my dress form because it didn’t come close to being small enough! Rather than cutting away the extra fabric, I was able to open the waistband sufficiently to slide the excess into the adjoining band and put a “dart” in the side seam to keep the line. Benefit of doing it that way, the skirt waist can be easily altered to the original measurement should the next person to wear it need a true XS! When I heard “you nailed it” shouted from the bedroom, I knew I had another happy customer!
