DIY Prom Dress!

Hey guys! Check out this interview with Diana, who made her own dress for senior prom!

Q: Did you have any particular inspiration for your prom dress?
A: Unfortunately, I cannot be really cool and say that I designed the dress myself. I actually used a pattern made by Simplicity; however, I did modify a few aspects of the pattern that I found kinda ugly. Since I'm taking "Advanced Clothing A/B" at school, it's just easier for me and Ms. Marshall (the sewing teacher) to use a pattern. Yet, by the end of the dress, we weren't following it. So...my inspiration? The pattern was on sale :)


Q: How long did the design process take? What materials did you use?
A: Finding the materials took a long time. There's this great fabric store in Belleville called Fabric Warehouse, where they have tons of inexpensive fabrics and families of twenty milling about. That's where I went first to get the main materials of the dress (the gold, the lace overlay). I ended up getting the lining and boning in a Joann's Fabric store in Delaware. The tulle (the blue stuff at the bottom of the dress), ribbons, and zipper were found in a fantastic little fabric store in Patterson (I don't know what it's called, but it was on the fringe of the Spanish and Arabic neighborhoods on the main drag). All of the little things, like thread and the hook and eye, were provided by Ms. Marshall. It took so long because I would go out and buy something, and Ms. Marshall would look at it and tell me I bought the wrong thing. Then I would have to go searching for something else. Fun.


Q: How did you learn how to make clothes?
A: Even though my Great-Grandmother was a seamstress and one of my grandmas sews on the side, they were never able to teach me. Mainly, I learned by taking classes offered in middle and high school. I did buy a few books, like T-Shirt Generation (big inspiration) and another sewing guide book, as well as checking stuff out of the library (did you know that they have books there?! ;) ). Can't forget mom though, she was my first teacher in how to sew tags to clothing and other small sewing basics.


Q: Do you make any of your other clothing?
A: In 5th grade, I doodled models and dresses. My notebooks are filled with disproportionate female, and sometimes male figures wearing what I thought at the time, really high-end, runway fashions. (Flipping through them now, they are rather terrible). In middle school, I took the next step by trying to modify clothing through various means, in order to create something different out of a basic t-shirt. It helps that my family likes to buy those big, beefy, Hanes t-shirts as souvenirs, because they may have a really cool design, but not fit. At all. Thus, we have a bunch of cut-up t-shirts that were supposed to come out as tank tops, dresses, or skirts. I never made anything quite so ambitious like a fully lined, zippered dress, but I did make a cute Pink Power Ranger tunic for Halloween! :D I was very proud. I've made my share of pj pants, a bag, but usually, I'll take something already existing, and modify it so I'll actually wear it.


Q: Any advice for beginners who want to make their own clothing?
A: Don't get discouraged because your first attempt at a shirt came out like a Lindsey Lohan stunt. Fabric is fun to play with, but also very frustrating. It really is an art that has to be practiced and manipulated over time in order for you to fully be able to control it. 


Q: Do you plan to do this professionally or is it just a hobby?
A: I would like to be in the fashion design field, maybe not so much as a designer, but as a manufacturer of fabric. Nothing is certain, but as of right now, I want to further look into the green side of fashion of organic clothing, production, and manufacturing. This is an emerging field that I find more important and of value than just another pretty black dress walking down the runway. If I work in fashion seriously, then I want my designs and clothing to go further than Bryant Park, and into places of the world that could be really beneficial.