Off the rack dress

Here's a dress that I made as an off the rack dress using some new and some leftover fabrics and an embroidery motif from an older dress. It is a semi-custom dress, in that I posted it on Dance-Again with the parts embroidered but not actually cut out, and pinned to my dressmaker's dummy. This let me show the basic look of the dress, but at the same time allowed me to make the dress a custom fit for the dancer. As you can see, we added black underpanels instead of the tulle petticoat and a lace ruffle under the skirt front.

Off the rack dresses are nice in that I can use fabrics and ideas as I like but still adapt them to the customer's preferences, and the customer can see what the dress will look like right off the bat, instead of having to visualize the dress from sketches and swatches.

Using the awesome skills of my tailor, Marina Zhivetin, we can have customers communicate with her via emailed pictures and directions to measure for and adjust a muslin bodice. This allows a custom fit for long distance customers.