A Dressmaker for Samantha’s Communion Dress

Trying to think of someone who could sew this dress and make it exactly how Samantha designed it was not a very fun task.  I worked with a seamstress during my college years but I know that my friend had moved away and traveling an hour for a fitting seemed like a torturous task and a last resort.  After asking a couple of my artsy friends if they knew of a dressmaker my friend suggested using a woman named Robin Agnew from Designs on You.  Robin’s workroom was close to home and would be amazing if it all worked out…..the Chichi Petal fabric is not the easiest to work with.

So, off Samantha and I went to meet with Robin and she was Perfect!  Robin understood what we wanted to do, you could tell that she was very talented and she agreed to take on our project, thank goodness.

Samantha’s first fitting with Robin was exciting, probably more for me than anyone.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the designing process!!!  Robin made a prototype of the dress out of muslin so that she would have a pattern to cut the real dress.  During that fitting Samantha decided on the fullness of the skirt, making sure that the dress was not too tight when walking, where the waist band would be placed,

the cut of the neckline and the length of the sleeve.  Robin also showed Samantha what the petal would look like on the bottom of the dress.

It really was so thrilling…… seeing something go from idea, to paper to implementation is awesome and this wasn’t even the real dress yet.

So, while Robin started to cut the fabric for Samantha’s dress……Samantha and I took a trip into NYC to meet with the company that makes our Couture Dreams Fleurs….we need Samantha’s bouquet and headpiece.  So….exciting!!!

Dress Making Step 1:

So, Samantha’s  Communion dress designing process began…..

We looked through many children’s catalogs and websites to get an idea of how to make a dress out of the Couture Dreams Chichi fabric.

Samantha and I knew right off the bat that the petal would be on the bottom of the dress.  Samantha wanted an a-line skirt, which did not surprise me because she is not the crinoline type.  Working with the petal fabric so much in designing window panels, pillows, throws, tablecloths and bed skirts I knew how the fabric would work for the skirt…..the question was the top????  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our New Couture Dreams Whisper Window Curtains and since the dress was being made out of the same nylon fabric I wanted to try to replicate that gathered, designer richness on the top of the dress.

Couture Dreams Whisper Window Curtains

So, both Samantha and I sat down and started sketching and before we knew it we had a dress design. 

I have to say I am so….impressed with my little princess.  Samantha is very opinionated, she  knows what she likes and what she doesn’t.  She had this idea of what she wanted her dress to look like in her head and was able to sketch it out ….I am so proud of her!  Now, we just need to find someone to sew it.  Who????

Deciding to Create a Dress

Our girls Communion is coming up and it is such a special day to us….it is a day in your life that you always seem to remember no matter how old you are.  Since Jeanette only has one daughter she knew that she wanted to make it a special day for her.  Jodi’s daughter that is receiving is her oldest, so again a very special day.  We thought that it would be adorable if the girls designed their own dresses out of our Chichi fabric.  Samantha, Jeanette’s daughter has very simple and elegant taste; she is all about being comfortable.

Jeanette & Samantha

Jodi’s daughter, Ella loves glitz and glam so if they each were to design their own dresses they would be extremely different.

Jodi & Ella

So the project started…….Samantha embraced the idea of designing her own dress and was excited in her own calm way.

Ella……LOVES to shop and the idea of not shopping for a dress was not appealing to her.  So, so much for our vision of each of our girls having Chichi Communion dresses, one will have one and one will not but that is okay because they meet up again with flowers, which we will explain later.