Prom Dress.....finally

Sorry this has taken longer to post than expected.

In between making daughter #2's dress my husband tore his Achilles and had to have surgery to repair it.

And then we had computer issues and had to get a new one.

And then now today is the last day of school.

I've been a little distracted.
So here goes the big reveal.

M. and her date J.

 Their entire group that went together.

The pictures were taken at Centennial Lakes Park in Minneapolis.

Lovely place!

Such a fun and nice group of kids.

They all came to our house afterwards for some hanging out at the firepit and making s'mores.

For details about her fabric and dress you can go to this post.

I have to say that the fabric we bought for her skirt is DIVINE.  It drapes so nice, doesn't need to be ironed and washes up amazing.  She has already wore the skirt another time or too to Church because she loves it so much.

Prom Dress 2014

So, so, so happy with how this dress turned out.
Red just might be her new favorite color.

She had a great time at Mormon Prom on Saturday night.
Went with a fun bunch of her friends.


It makes me so happy that my kids have good friends.

Thanks Amber, who was once again this year their hair and make-up artist.

Dress details:

• Bumi Satin in Tango Red from Jo-Ann's on sale for $2.99/yd.
• Black Satin same as above.
• Invisible side zipper
• Butterick 5850, view A
• Added lined, short sleeves to pattern.
• Did not attach bow at waist side seams per pattern instructions but made it separate.
• Also did not line the bodice as indicated per instructions (that was more for the sleeveless version).

Last year's dress here.

Prom preview

Well, it is that time of year again.

Prom

L. did not go to her school Prom last weekend, even though she is a senior. Earlier in the year her friends talked her into going their school's girls' choice dance, even though she didn't want to, and she hated it.  The music and the dancing disgusted her and they all actually left the dance early and did something else.  She informed me she isn't making the same mistake again---at a higher ticket price.  We are making this dress for the second annual Mormon Prom instead, which is tomorrow night.

I talked L. into this dress.
Butterick 5850.



And the color.
RED.

At 6' tall she can rock just about anything.  However, she isn't real fancy in her tastes.  She is definitely more about comfort.  But I felt like she would look great in this dress.  Over the past couple months I've talked her into a couple other styles she wasn't sure about and they were a hit.  So my track record is looking good.  As we've been fitting the bodice this week she has gotten more excited about it.  We have added short sleeves and she will have a contrasting black bow.  Can't wait!

I'll post pics of her next week after it is all said and done.

I've also shortened hems on 2 other girls' dresses for last weekend's Prom and am making a modified tank top/camisole for another girl to wear under this dress.



She wanted to be able to wear a non strapless bra with this dress.  I have to say I just love this dress.  The skirt is amazing and the lace is so pretty.

Sorry I haven't posted a ton.  I am up to my eyeballs in moving mayhem, but luckily I can get a little sewing therapy in today and tomorrow.

Off to finish a dress.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Prom Dress--Finale

Well, my intention was to post some more sewing pics of the girls and their dresses, but it turned into quite the week last week for our family.

The Reader's Digest version:

• Tues. night take son to ER for broken arm--both bones right forearm.
• Get admitted at midnight because they couldn't get them both in place.
• Wed. afternoon surgery on arm--2 plates.
• Complications arose with his blood pressure and by 2 a.m. on Thurs. morning we were transferred by ambulance to Children's hospital and admitted to the Pediatric ICU.
• Find out that his kidneys are different sizes and this is probably the cause of his high blood pressure.
• Tests indicate all appears to be fixable at least in the long term.
• Mon. finally get moved out of ICU to regular room--hope to be sent home on Tues.
• Broken arm = blessing in disguise.  Not sure we would've found this problem any other way.

Soooooooo....after all that I was not around much to help the girls.
Unfortunately I ended up finishing the dresses for them because that was less stressful for me than trying to walk them through the remainder and still get them done on time.  Mostly it just meant me putting in the zippers and attaching the skirt lining.  They were O.K. with that.  Seriously, after all our time and effort I didn't want them to not be able to wear their dresses to the dance.

So here they are in all their glory.

My daughter with her design.




We just added a pretty little brooch that we found at the fabric store to attach to her ruched piece.
It seemed to add a nice touch without being too over the top for her.

BFF with her purple and black concoction


She bought her flower at Jo-Ann's in the hair/jewelry section.
We took off the clip part and hand sewed it on.
Then added some ribbon to hang down too.

All the girls together.


And again with my friend Amber who was nice enough to do hair and make-up for them all.
They all said they had a fun time.

Details:

• Turquoise bodice fabric HERE. 3/4 yd. 
• Simplicity 3878 for skirt pattern.
• Simplicity 1797 for bodice pattern
• My daughter opted for no tulle under her skirt once she got it on.  Decided it was fine just the way it was.
• I think both girls spent under $50 each for their dress materials and embellishments.  Yeah!!

Article here about various Mormon Proms held around the country.

And another article here.

Go here to see the original inspiration dresses.

Prom Dress--Part III

The girls are deep into the sewing of their dresses.
I started them on the skirt and sleeves first.
That seemed to be easier sewing than putting the bodice together--which is how the instructions start.
I say let's start with some long straight lines to get their confidence up.




Daughter #1 pleased with her sleeves.

Sleeves are fully lined.
Showed them how to understitch along the sleeve hem in order to make sure the lining fabric doesn't roll out and show.  They did a great job and they look really nice.


They are working on the bodices pieces now.
Then we'll move onto putting it together and embellishing.

My daughter has decided she wants her tulle underneath the skirt with maybe a hint peeking out at the bottom.  I had to buy a bit more for her in order to do that.  She is super excited about the "swish" factor on her dress.  It is getting exciting around here!

Part I post--picking the dress.

Part II post--lay out and cut out.