Custom Designed Prom Dress

Hi Creative People,

I know I am super late with posting this project, but like I have been saying in every post, life happens. Anyway, I wanted to share this with you now because very soon after the Holiday Season is over, Prom Season, will here before we know it and hopefully, it can inspire others to think about what they want for that special day.

My best friend's daughter went to prom this past June and I had the pleasure of designing and constructing her prom dress. Considering this was the first time that I ever seriously drafted my own pattern from my own design, I was super excited to do this for her; none of the pieces for this dress was used from commercial patterns. I first started off discussing with her what she wanted in her prom dress and she wanted something long sexy and unique. After our initial consultation and full body measurements, I did a couple of rough sketches on the design of the dress and the one she approved is pictured here:

This fully lined dress consisted of a neck cuff closure, halter style bodice with a closure, trimmed with sequins around the bodice, waist, and upper hip area, with a 10 inch length train with a split in the back of the gown.

Once the design was approved, I took additional measurements to fully draft the pattern. Since I did not have any pattern paper to draft the pattern, I used Christmas wrapping paper...how's that for improvising! :) I took a couple of photo of what the pattern pieces look like, if you look closely you can see the red poinsettias of the back of the paper.

I labeled all the drafted pattern pieces. After making certain I had every piece necessary for the dress, I made a muslin. A 'muslin' is when you make your chosen design with less expensive fabric (usually muslin fabric), to make sure you have a good fit before you actually cut into your more expensive fabric.

I took a trip to Jo Ann's for samples of the fabric and as usual, I was lucky enough to get there when Jo Ann's was having one of their awesome sales. The fabric that was purchased was from the Casa Collection, fashion fabric in red stretch satin, the regular price was $12.99 per yard, but it was on sale for 30% off at $9.09 per yard. About 4 to 5 yards of fabric was needed for this dress, I also took into consideration the length of train she wanted. I also purchased a zipper, hook & eyes,  thread, boning, and gold sequin elastic trim. The total material cost to make this dress was slightly under $100.00; while using Jo Ann's awesome sales and great coupons, of course.

I consider this beautiful young lady as my second daughter because I have known her since she was six years old, my monetary labor was not considered while making this dress. This was clearly a labor of love, and by letting her know how proud I am with her and her life's decisions, I did not charge her any labor. It was a complete pleasure to collaborate with her on this project. 

However, under different circumstances I would have charged my hourly wage rate of $20.00 per hour. My labor includes, but not limited to, the documented time it takes to take full body measurements, draft the pattern, cut out the pattern, create a muslin, cut and construct the final project, and make necessary changes if any. If you are interested in learning further of how to price your sewing projects, leave me a comment or send an email. I digress, let's continue with the custom prom dress.

We had our first dress fitting, of several, as shown in the pictures below. Of course, at this point, I did not do any final stitching; although I did insert the zipper in the back seam. Because this design is unique in what is required in the fit, I did just enough to fit the dress to her body and make any necessary alterations.

After completing the alterations and adjustments that were needed, we had another fitting. At this fitting most of my seams are permanent, if any other alterations were required, it would have been changed at this point, the only things left to do is hand stitch the gold sequins trim and the bottom hem on the dress. On the back view of the dress (picture on the right), I adjusted the back bodice straps to line up with the centered zipper. I also added a couple of darts in the bodice area to avoid gaping in the underarm area.

Once everything was completed with the alterations it was time to do some hand sewing. I attached the gold sequin trim around the top part of the skirt, down the front center band, and around the high waist. After our final fitting, we had a slight design change whereas we added the gold sequin trim around the halter bodice near the underarms. It took me 16.5 hours to hand stitch the sequins around the dress, attach the hook & eyes for the back closure of the dress, and hand stitch the hem of the dress.

We did a final fitting to check for any minor issues to which I am glad to report, there were very little to no issues to repair. The following pictures you will see the completed dress. She did a great job with her accessories, hair and make-up coordination; she was flawless.

The beautiful prom girl and her mother.

Pictured taken before she revealed her beautiful dress.

Once again, I had a pleasure working on this design and dress with her. We have plans to shorten the dress for other special occasion events she may have in the future. By the way, she had a blast at her prom. she wanted to be unique in her overall look and that look was certainly accomplished.

I hope you enjoyed reading. If you have any questions for me, feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Sewing!