Trish's Place

Long time no write…

2010-09-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

When last I posted, I envisioned posting every month or so, keeping you all updated on my latest dress or two. What I didn’t know in August of 2008 was that I was at a pivotal time in my life.

My own daughter, who had recalled at World’s in April, and placed 11^th at the North American Championships in July, was injured during preparation for Nationals, and was in increasing pain. She was also preparing to leave home, and would soon be very busy with her new life as a college freshman. She had hoped to compete at Worlds again in 2009, but between a long recovery from her injury and the time constraints of her coursework, within a few months she knew that she would not be able to regain her conditioning to dance as well as she needed to be competitive at Worlds, so made the decision to retire.

My niece, “my” other dancer—she’s always been a small part mine as much as her mom’s—was also making the transition to college and retirement.

After 10 years of sweat, lifelong friendships, sweat, fun, pain, stress, failure and frustration, more sweat, joy and exultation, life lessons, and AMAZING success, we were no longer at class or competitions regularly.

In the meantime, knowing there would be fewer demands on my time due to dance, I took on more at my “day job”, moving from a per diem teaching position of a couple of days a week to become a more-than-half-time university professor.

Despite these changes, I knew I still wanted to be a dressmaker. I enjoy the creativity, working with dancers to bring to life their “perfect dress.” There is nothing like the look on a dancer’s face when you succeed! In these financially challenging times, I knew I also needed to keep this source of additional income to keep our paying-off-Worlds-and-college-tuition budget in the black. I continued to design and sew, working with my tailor, Marina, to bring these dreams to life.

Until January of 2009.

I knew that my friend and tailor, Marina, was going to have surgery to replace a heart valve in late December. She was calm and positive when we spoke about it a few days beforehand. I knew it was serious, but she had come through so many other health challenges, and was going to have her surgery in a well-respected hospital. I thought I’d visit her there after I returned from a family vacation, and that she’d be back in front of her sewing machine in several weeks, as she had been after her previous surgeries. I’m not sure she even told her family how dire her condition was.

As many of you know, Marina didn’t survive the surgery. In one fell swoop, I’d lost the highly trained expert half of my business, the one who could take my scattered parts and make them a functional whole, could look at a sketch and draft a pattern from it, who pulled my just-in-time act together in time so often.

But most of all, I’d lost a friend. And I couldn’t even fathom how her family would go on without her.

We all picked up the pieces as best we could, going through her cluttered shop layer by layer, laughing and crying at bits of memory told in scraps of fabric.

I knew I had to go on; I had dress orders. I took a deep breath, looked over her supplies and machines, and started to review all the things she’d taught me over the six years we’d worked together. I started the first dress when the embroidery machine was still at Marina’s, and with the help of Marina’s mom, who coached me through the embroidery with her few words of broken English and pantomime, and a dressmaker friend and angel named Diane Archer to assemble the dress, we got it done. It’s still one of my favorites.

With less time to work, and having to do so much on my own, my dressmaking career has slowed; I’ve only done a few dresses in the last year and a half. But I’ve learned so much, bringing together my own skill areas of color and design with the things Marina and her mom were able to teach me about embroidery and tailoring, intensive tailoring coaching from Diane, and of course, the wonderful folks at the Celtic Flame costumer’s message board.

I’ll be posting pictures and memories from those dresses, and more of my cherished Irish dance memories in the days to come—stay tuned!

Trish

Life of a dress

2008-08-31T15:30:00.001-07:00

Here's a dress made early 2008 for a dancer at the beginning of her growth spurt. Here you can see that I'm able to use my embroidery digitizing software to print and color a quite accurate sketch of a planned dress, which helps me in designing the dress, and allows the customer to have a good idea of what the finished dress will look like before we begin.

As with all my dresses, I try to build in as much let out and let down room, both so that the dress can accomodate the owner's growth and for flexibility at resale. In this case, the dress as originally sewn had the bodice design extending right down to the waist seam. Here, my tailor Marina has taken the skirt off, opened up the back pleats and let down the bodice 1 1/2", and reassembled the dress so it will be long enough and sit down correctly on the dancer's hips to accomodate her changing height and shape. This dress still has an additional 1 1/2" to let down, and enough room in the pleats and bodice seams to let out the dropped waist another 2".

Off the rack dress

2008-08-31T15:11:00.001-07:00

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.

One more 2006 dress

2008-08-31T14:48:00.000-07:00

Finally solved some technical difficulties to upload this great dress from 2006. I love the skirt design and the look of the colors on this dancer, which are created with overlays, especially a really lovely lavender and turquoise tiedye embroidered and sequinned chiffon. I used the edge detail of the white chiffon to edge the front panel, which was challenging, but was a great delicate finish to the skirt.

Oireachtas 07 page 4

2008-08-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of very happy campers with their World Qualifier medals. Another really great day!

The dancer in green is one of the world's biggest Harry Potter fans, so as I did for some of her previous dresses, I incorporated the snitch, which I used as her panel shape, and then added a modification of the deathly hallows on the body of the snitch.

Oireachtas 07 page 3

2008-08-23T22:15:00.000-07:00

Another contrast in dancer styles. This blue dress was made for a young dancer who wanted a very ruffly, girly dress. The final look was created in large part by the dancer's mother, upon whom we have bestowed the title "The Bedazzler."

The dancer in the burgundy and gold dress wanted very sophisticated and clean lines, and we worked closely over several days to edit and simplify the design until we were all satisfied.

Incidentally, the champagne and blue dress was made by that dancer's mother, and is a really great dress, especially for her very first effort!

Oireachtas 07 page 2

2008-08-23T02:44:00.001-07:00

Two more dresses done for the 07 Oireachtas. These girls chose pieces of jewelry as inspiration for their dress panel designs.

Oireachtas 07 page 1

2008-08-23T02:13:00.000-07:00

This dress was inspired by a stained glass window in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. The colors shown in the view of the back are more accurate. I love this lace, and the femininity of this style.

More 2007 dresses

2008-07-29T02:10:00.000-07:00

I like being able to adapt the style of the dress to the personality and style of the dancer.

These two girls are similar ages, but while the one loves the femininity of her dress, the other would possibly (let's be real--absolutely!) never speak to me again if I tried to put her into pink and ruffles.

I enjoy the process of finding the colors that make a dancer's face light up, both because the color is flattering to the dancer, and because the dancer loves that particular color.

The same holds true for dress style and design. I love to work with the dancer to create the image in their imagination, while complimenting their personality and dancing style.

This black, red and white dress was based, believe it or not, on a soccer ball design, incorporating both the dancer's other beloved sport, and the trinity knot as a symbol of the dancer's personal beliefs.

2007 dresses

2008-07-29T01:40:00.000-07:00

Now for some 2007 dresses.

This fuschia, black, white and silver dress was my first multipanel, and the first for which I did extensive digitizing for a large format hoop.

This little orange split panel is the second smallest dress I've ever made. This is the second dress I made for this tiny but mighty dancer once her turquoise dress was let out and down as far as it would go. Many thanks to Diane Archer for assembling the dress, correcting my measuring mistakes (A good rule of thumb is to never measure anyone for a dress when you have a concussion--don't ask...), and adding the hand stitched yo-yos that make this dress complete!

p.s. if you look carefully in the far left background of the picture of the front of the little orange dress, you'll catch a glimpse of a very simple turquoise OTR I made several years ago.

2006 dresses

2008-07-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

Recalling at Great Britains!

What a great day!

Orange tie-dye satin with gold sequins; this dress is light as a feather. The dancer's favorite by far until her current dress.

This purple velvet with holo sequins is also a sentimental favorite, as, like previous and current dresses for this dancer, it incorporates the snitch from Harry Potter.

Australian dress

2008-07-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

This is one of my most well-travelled dresses, having been sold to a lovely young lady in Australia, and then resold to another lovely young lady in one of the local classes my dancer attends.

This was a semi-custom OTR, reusing design components from one of my dancer's previous dresses.

Dragonfly dress

2008-07-29T01:12:00.000-07:00

This is a little off the rack (OTR) dress I made in 2005. Unfortunately, I never took a picture of it when it was finished. If anyone has a picture, I'd love to have one!

More dresses from 2005

2008-07-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some more from 2005, still geometric designs.

A very happy dancer, qualified for Worlds!

More Early Dresses

2008-07-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some dresses from a few years ago when designs were repeated geometric motifs.

This little turquoise dress is still one of my favorites. It's holographic lycra, and I love the simplicity of the colors and design that show off the sparkle of the fabrics. This is the smallest dress I've ever made; the skirt is 9 inches long!

More Lindsey Caluza designs

2008-07-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more of Lindsey's designs.

This blue dress is a Lindsey Caluza design I modified to add the Mackintosh roses to commemorate the dancer's competing at the first Glasgow Worlds in 2002.

The lavender and lime green dress just to the left was made for a World qualifier, and appeared in the Belfast newspaper when the dancer was photographed onstage.

Early dresses

2008-07-28T23:48:00.000-07:00

Here are a few early dresses. The turquoise is my design, and is still one of my favorites. The yellow lightening bolts were for this dancer's dad's love of the San Diego Chargers--inspiration comes from everywhere!

This little black dress was made for a dancer whose family heritage is part Blackfoot, and depicts mountain and spirit designs connected with that heritage.

This flame dress was a purchased design, copyright Lindsey Caluza of Corona, CA. She produced several wonderful designs for me during this period.

First and last...

2008-07-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

This is the first solo dress I ever made. My sister and I, having more time than money, decided to take a stab at making a dress for my niece. Amazingly, this little dress is still dancing!

The other dress is my latest off the rack dress that's on Dance Again waiting for a home. http://www.dance-again.com/X808.html

Welcome to my blog!

2008-07-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

My name is Trish, and I've been an Irish dance dressmaker for about eight years. I started as most of us in this business do, making dresses for my own daughter and niece, then for dancers in our local class, and now I'm making off the rack and custom dresses for dancers across the country, even one as far away as Australia.

My purpose in creating this blog is to have a web presence without having to learn website design or tend to a website, and to share some pictures of my dresses with potential customers and my dressmaker friends.

Thanks for visiting!

Contracts for Local and Long Distance Customers

2008-07-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

These are my contracts, one for local customers and another for out of area customers. The formatting is lost here, but I can send .pdf copies to interested dancers.

Contract for Local Customers

This contract is an agreement for the design and construction of an
Irish dance solo dress.

Dancer ____________________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian_____________________________________________________________

Phone # ________________________________ Email ______________________________

The customer will have an initial appointment with me to discuss design ideas and select colors and fabric which will be most flattering to the dancer, considering hair and skin color, age, and level of competition for which the dress is intended. This design consultation usually takes between 1 and 2 hours.
This process includes taking measurements, agreeing on a design or a developing a design concept, as well as initial fabric selection. Initial measurements may also be done by me or at the place of business of the tailor with whom I contract. Customers may choose a design created by me, or by a designer with whom I have contracted, or a design may be provided by the customer. If you have a concept or design of your own, please have it available for this appointment. Pictures, sketches, and fabric or color swatches are very helpful. While examples of a general style of design are welcomed as useful input to the design process, each dress I produce is one-of-a-kind; I will not copy designs of another designer or dress maker, and will not use a copied design produced by any other person. If you are providing your own design, please remember that changes or adaptations of your design may be necessary in order to produce an attractive and well-fitting costume. If the customer provides her own design, the customer will warrant that the design is not protected by copyright or other intellectual property protection. The customer also agrees to indemnify and hold me harmless against any claim for infringement of intellectual property rights resulting from a design provided by the customer.

While considering the personal preferences of the customer, and the customer’s dance teacher, the final costume design is solely within my discretion and artistic judgment. The customer understands and agrees that design changes may need to be made during construction of the costume, at my sole discretion. If a customer provides her own design, she understands that changes to or adaptations of her design may be necessary, and are at my sole discretion.

Dresses will take between 8 and 12 weeks to complete, depending on size, material used, and complexity of the design. Several fittings will be required during the construction process to insure the proper fit of the finished costume. These fittings will usually be done at the place of business of the tailor with whom I contract, at a time mutually agreed upon. Failing to appear for fittings in a timely manner will delay completion of the dress, and if delays are excessive, will result in extension of your completion date or cancellation of this contract at my option.

The usual schedule of fittings will include:
Fitting of a muslin bodice.
Fitting of the dress after the skirt is attached
Final fitting, including headpiece, cape and bloomers.

Terms of payment are as follows:

1. Payments may be made by certified check in U.S. funds. Personal checks will only be accepted if there is ample time for the check to clear before each step in the design and construction of the dress, with the final payment to be cleared before delivery of the completed dress.

2. The base price for design and construction of an Irish dance solo dress is $1750, excluding the $50 design consultation fee and the $200 materials fee. The fee for any costume will be determined at my discretion, considering size, materials, complexity of design, etc. Some factors that may influence the price of a costume include:
Use of more expensive or difficult to handle fabrics such as sequined or beaded fabric….$100 to $500
Very complex design, extensive embroidered knotwork, extensive appliqué ……………..$200 to $500
Application of special trims or rhinestones …………………………….Cost of materials + $50 to $200

3. A deposit of $50, and a contract with design consultation reservation signature and customer information completed, is required to reserve a space in my work schedule. If for any reason this reservation needs to be canceled by either party before the design consultation appointment, this reservation deposit will be refunded in full. This deposit will be applied to the cost of the design consultation fee, and is therefore no longer refundable once the design consultation appointment is completed. If the dress reservation is canceled after the design consultation appointment, I reserve all rights to any notes, swatches, sketches, and any partial or complete designs produced or supplied by me for the process of producing an Irish dance solo dress. All designs produced by me, or by a designer I have contracted with to produce a design, will remain my exclusive property. Any materials used in the design of the costume, including but not limited to sketches, fabric swatches, color renderings or photos, supplied or produced by me or by a designer with whom I have contracted, may not be reproduced in any form, and if this contract is canceled by either party, these materials must be returned to me immediately.

4. Once the design and fabrics have been agreed upon between the customer and me, and approved by the customer’s dance teacher, a $200 non-refundable materials fee and return of the completed contract with signature approving final dress design and price is required before the purchase of materials to begin construction of the costume.

5. A payment of $500 is due at the fitting of the muslin bodice.

6. The final balance is due in time to clear before delivery or shipment of the costume, no exceptions.

7. The customer understands that she is purchasing a customized garment that is not refundable. All sales are final, and no adjustments, alterations or additions will be made after delivery of the costume. Accepting delivery of the completed costume will constitute the customer’s approval of the satisfactory condition of the costume. Due to the nature of the fabrics used, I cannot warrant the washability of the costume, nor can it be safely dry cleaned. Also due to the nature of the fabrics used, normal wear can vary greatly; no warranty is made as to the durability of the costume. Repairs due to damage, whether due to normal wear and tear, accident, or abuse of the costume, are not covered by the fees quoted in this contract.

8. If delivery of a costume is refused, the customer understands that she will forfeit the $50 design consultation fee and the $200 materials fee. Any refused costume, and any associated materials and designs, remain my property, and will be disposed of at my sole discretion. Customers providing their own designs agree that any refused costume shall become my sole property, including the incorporated design, and may be disposed of at my sole discretion.

9. The customer understands that, unless specifically noted otherwise below in the Opt Out paragraph, by signing this contract the customer gives consent to the use of photos or other images of the dancer and her costume in promotional media, etc. The customer also understands that she reserves the right to request in the future that I no longer use pictures of the customer in future promotional material, and that I am only responsible for the removal of the pictures from future material, but not any pre-existing material that may already have been used.

Opt Out: (please initial on the line if you choose to use your Opt Out option as defined in the above paragraph)
___________Please do not use pictures of me or my child.

$50 refundable reservation deposit paid Date_______________________

Estimated time until design consultation __________________________

Customer understands that this reservation deposit is refundable until the design consultation appointment, at which time it will be applied to the $50 consultation fee. A reservation may be canceled by either party, for any reason, at any time before the design consultation.

Customer signature for design
consultation reservation _________________________________________Date_____________

The completion date for this costume is ____________________________________________.

The fee for this costume is $__________________________.

I have read the above information and agree to all the terms and conditions:

Dancer or Parent/Guardian___________________________________ Date_________________

Patricia Lennan _____________________________________Date_________________

I approve the sale of this costume to my student:

Dance Teacher _____________________________________ Date_________________

Payment Record

Fees: Date paid:

Design Consultation Fee
(non-refundable)

Materials Fee
(non-refundable)

First Dress Payment

Final Dress Payment

Total

$ 50

$200

$500

$___________

$___________
________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

Additions to finished dress: Date paid:

Rhinestones/trim $____________ ____________________

Extra options $____________ ____________________
(Headpiece, tutu, cape, etc.)

Contract for Long Distance Customers

This contract is an agreement for the design and construction of an
Irish dance solo dress.

Dancer ____________________________________________________________________

Parent/Guardian_____________________________________________________________

Phone # ________________________________ Email ______________________________

The customer will have an initial consultation with me to discuss design ideas and select colors and fabric which will be most flattering to the dancer, considering hair and skin color, age, and level of competition for which the dress is intended. This design consultation will typically take place via email.
This process includes agreeing on a design or a developing a design concept, as well as initial fabric selection. Customers may choose a design created by me, or by a designer with whom I have contracted, or a design may be provided by the customer. If you have a concept or design of your own, please have it available in a format which can be emailed. Pictures, scanned sketches, and scans or regular mail samples of fabric or color swatches are very helpful. While examples of a general style of design are welcomed as useful input to the design process, each dress I produce is one-of-a-kind; I will not copy designs of another designer or dress maker, and will not use a copied design produced by any other person. If you are providing your own design, please remember that changes or adaptations of your design may be necessary in order to produce an attractive and well-fitting costume. If the customer provides her own design, the customer will warrant that the design is not protected by copyright or other intellectual property protection. The customer also agrees to indemnify and hold me harmless against any claim for infringement of intellectual property rights resulting from a design provided by the customer.

While considering the personal preferences of the customer, and the customer’s dance teacher, the final costume design is solely within my discretion and artistic judgment. The customer understands and agrees that design changes may need to be made during construction of the costume, at my sole discretion. If a customer provides her own design, she understands that changes to or adaptations of her design may be necessary, and are at my sole discretion.

Dresses will take between 8 and 12 weeks to complete, depending on size, material used, and complexity of the design. Initial measurements, taken according to the directions of the tailor with whom I contract, may be done by the customer or by a local tailor or dressmaker, and emailed to me. A muslin bodice will be made according to the measurements provided to me by the customer, and sent to the customer to have marked and adjusted by a local tailor or dressmaker in consultation with the tailor with whom I contract. The tailor with whom I contract will use specific emailed pictures of the bodice on the dancer as the basis for determining accurate fit of the muslin bodice.

As the final measurements of the dress will be made with reliance on the accuracy of the fit of this bodice, it is the responsibility of the customer to obtain accurate initial measurements, to communicate with me and/or the tailor with whom I contract in a timely manner, to comply with all directions from me or the tailor with whom I contract regarding adjustments to and marking of the bodice, and to resolve any issues with fit in the muslin bodice before finalization of the dress design. I will not begin embroidery or construction of a dress until I receive the appropriately adjusted and marked bodice. Dresses made relying on a muslin bodice for fit will not be adjusted or altered without charge when made to the measurements of the muslin bodice as returned by the customer. It is the responsibility of the customer to return the muslin bodice in a timely manner; delays in returning the bodice will result in extension of your completion date or cancellation of this contract at my option.

Pictures of the completed dress will be emailed to the customer for approval before shipping. Any concerns or questions regarding design or construction of the dress must be addressed before shipping of the completed dress.

Terms of payment are as follows:

1. Payments may be made by certified check in U.S. funds.

2. The base price for design and construction of an Irish dance solo dress is $1750, excluding the $50 design consultation fee and the $200 materials fee. The price for any costume will be determined at my discretion, considering size, materials, complexity of design, etc. Some factors that may influence the price of a costume include:
Use of more expensive or difficult to handle fabrics such as sequined or beaded fabric …..$100 to $500
Very complex design, extensive embroidered knotwork, extensive appliqué ………….......$200 to $500
Application of special trims or rhinestones ……………………………..Cost of materials + $50 to $200

3. A deposit of $50, and a contract with design consultation reservation signature and customer information completed, is required to reserve a space in my work schedule. If for any reason this reservation needs to be canceled by either party before the design consultation, this reservation deposit will be refunded in full. This deposit will be applied to the cost of the design consultation fee, and is therefore no longer be refundable once a design concept and initial fabric selections have been received by the customer via email or regular mail. If the dress reservation is canceled after the design consultation appointment, I reserve all rights to any notes, swatches, sketches, and any partial or complete designs produced or supplied by me for the process of producing an Irish dance solo dress. All designs produced by me, or by a designer I have contracted with to produce a design, will remain my exclusive property. Any materials used in the design of the costume, including but not limited to sketches, fabric swatches, color renderings or photos, supplied or produced by me or by a designer with whom I have contracted, may not be reproduced in any form, and if this contract is canceled by either party, these materials must be returned to me immediately.

4. Once the design and fabrics have been agreed upon between the customer and me, and approved by the customer’s dance teacher, a $200 non-refundable materials fee and return of the completed contract with signature approving final dress design and price is required before the purchase of materials to begin construction of the costume.

5. The customer is responsible for all shipping fees, including fees to ship any contracts, swatches, delivery and return of the muslin bodice, and shipment of the completed dress. These fees are separate from the price quoted for the dress, and will be added to the final total to be paid before the completed dress is shipped.

6. A payment of $500 is due when returning the marked muslin bodice.

7. The final balance, including all shipping fees, is due in time to clear before shipment of the costume, no exceptions.

8. The customer understands that she is purchasing a customized garment that is not refundable. All sales are final, and no adjustments, alterations or additions will be made after shipping of the costume. Approval of shipment of the dress will constitute the customer’s approval of the satisfactory condition of the costume. Due to the nature of the fabrics used, I cannot warrant the washability of the costume, nor can it be safely dry cleaned. Also due to the nature of the fabrics used, normal wear can vary greatly; no warranty is made as to the durability of the costume. Repairs due to damage, whether due to normal wear and tear, accident, or abuse of the costume, are not covered by the fees quoted in this contract.

9. If shipment of a costume is refused, the customer understands that she will forfeit the $50 design consultation fee and the $200 materials fee. Any refused costume, and any associated materials and designs, remain my property, and will be disposed of at my sole discretion. Customers providing their own designs agree that any refused costume shall become my sole property, including the incorporated design, and may be disposed of at my sole discretion.

10. The customer understands that, unless specifically noted otherwise below in the Opt Out paragraph, by signing this contract the customer gives consent to the use of photos or other images of the dancer and her costume in promotional media, etc. The customer also understands that she reserves the right to request in the future that I no longer use pictures of the customer in future promotional material, and that I am only responsible for the removal of the pictures from future material, but not any pre-existing material that may already have been used.

Opt Out: (please initial on the line if you choose to use your Opt Out option as defined in the above paragraph)
___________Please do not use pictures of me or my child.

$50 refundable reservation deposit paid Date_______________________

Estimated time until design consultation __________________________

Customer signature for design
consultation reservation _________________________________________Date_____________

The completion date for this costume is ____________________________________________.

The fee for this costume is $__________________________.

I have read the above information and agree to all the terms and conditions:

Dancer or Parent/Guardian___________________________________ Date_________________

Patricia Lennan _____________________________________Date_________________

I approve the sale of this costume to my student:

Dance Teacher _____________________________________ Date_________________
Payment Record

Fees: Date paid:

Design Consultation Fee
(non-refundable)

Materials Fee
(non-refundable)

First Dress Payment

Final Dress Payment

Total Dress Fees

$ 50

$200

$500

$___________

$___________
________________________

________________________

________________________

________________________

Shipping fees: Date paid:

Swatches/design $____________ ____________________

Muslin bodice $____________ ____________________

Completed dress $____________ ____________________

Additions to finished dress: Date paid:

Rhinestones/trim $____________ ____________________

Extra options $____________ ____________________
(Headpiece, tutu, cape, etc.)

Taking measurements for a solo dress
All measurements should be taken with the dancer wearing undergarments usually worn under dress, and recorded as actual body measurements, without adding ease. Before taking measurements, tie one elastic cord or ribbon around the dancer's natural waist, and another one around the dancer's waist/top of the hips at the level where you would like the dress's waistline to fall, insuring that each is parallel to the floor. For all horizontal measurements, be sure to place measuring tape parallel to the floor. Comparing measurements to a current school or team dress may be helpful.

1. NECK - place measuring tape around the base of the neck.
2. CHEST - place measuring tape around widest part of the chest, under the arms, and parallel to the floor on front and back.
3. NATURAL WAIST - place measuring tape around the narrowest part of the waist, parallel to the floor, where you placed elastic or ribbon.
4. DROPPED WAIST - place measuring tape at the level of the second elastic or ribbon you placed to determine the level of the dress waist seam.
5. HIPS - place measuring tape around widest part of the hips, parallel to the floor.
6. SHOULDER - measure from joint point of neck and shoulder to joint point of shoulder and arm. (With dancer in a snug-fitting T shirt, measure along the shoulder seam from the base of the neck to the sleeve seam.)
7. ACROSS CHEST FRONT - measure across the narrowest point on the chest, from armhole seam to armhole seam, parallel to the floor.
8. ACROSS BACK - measure across the narrowest point on the back, between armhole seams, parallel to the floor.
9. FRONT LENGTH 1 - measure on the front from joint point of the neck and shoulder to the elastic or ribbon marking the natural waist line, keeping measuring tape perpendicular to the floor.
10. FRONT LENGTH 2 - measure on the front from joint point of the neck and shoulder to the elastic or ribbon marking the dropped waist line, keeping measuring tape perpendicular to the floor.
11. BUST HEIGHT - measure from the joint point of the neck and shoulder to the highest point of the bust. You can skip this measurement in girls who have not started to develop.
12. BACK LENGTH 1 - measure on the back from joint point of neck and shoulder to elastic ribbon at the natural waist, perpendicular to the floor.
13. BACK LENGTH 2 - measure on the back from joint point of the neck and shoulder to elastic or ribbon at the dropped waist, perpendicular to the floor.
14. SLEEVE LENGTH - measure from the joint point of shoulder and arm down the outside of the arm to the desired sleeve length.
15. SKIRT - measure from elastic cord at the dropped waist level to the desired length of the skirt, keeping the measuring tape perpendicular to the floor.
16. THIGH - measure around the top of the leg at the widest part of the leg.
17. ARM - measure around the widest part of the upper arm.