Unhappy with the way the dress originally fit, it was recut to ride lower on the hips. Additionally, the proportion of bodice to skirt length was altered. I will post photos of the original version in the next response.

This is the original version of the dress. I think this is a good example of working with a design until both the proprotions are correct and it "dances well." That is an important difference between dance dressmaking and streetwear construction.

My personal opinion, the trim along the blue "side shrug" looks off to me. I think nice black embroidery, just outlining the light blue would look neater, and tie in the black belt at the bottom.

otherwise- it looks amazing! The skirt looks beautiful! and white part of the bodice with the blue embroidery looks awesome! beautiful! Love the colors too

saoirse3473 wrote:

My personal opinion, the trim along the blue "side shrug" looks off to me. I think nice black embroidery, just outlining the light blue would look neater, and tie in the black belt at the bottom.

otherwise- it looks amazing! The skirt looks beautiful! and white part of the bodice with the blue embroidery looks awesome! beautiful! Love the colors too

This dancer sent me a photo of a sari as the basis and inspiration for her design. The trim is part of the follow through on that inspiration.

Strange how such a small change in proportion balance can make a difference, but it certainly does! The before picture looks much more 'blocky' than the after. There's an aesthetic direction of the eye towards the bodice now, whereas before I wasn't sure what to look at first - the unique shrug detail, the bodice, or the skirt. Now the eye is drawn upwards first, at least in my opinion. Good adjustment!

I gotta admit though, I didn't see the sari inspiration until you pointed it out. I thought it was just a really unique risk you took with the bodice design that paid off well! But I LOVE the inspiration!

Realtreble wrote:

saoirse3473 wrote:

My personal opinion, the trim along the blue "side shrug" looks off to me. I think nice black embroidery, just outlining the light blue would look neater, and tie in the black belt at the bottom.

otherwise- it looks amazing! The skirt looks beautiful! and white part of the bodice with the blue embroidery looks awesome! beautiful! Love the colors too

This dancer sent me a photo of a sari as the basis and inspiration for her design. The trim is part of the follow through on that inspiration.

having seen those photos, I totally take back what I said! It totally makes sense now, and is a great story added to the design of the dress.

and the proportions of the before and after are incredible. It's amazing what that does to a dress!

saoirse3473 wrote:

My personal opinion, the trim along the blue "side shrug" looks off to me. I think nice black embroidery, just outlining the light blue would look neater, and tie in the black belt at the bottom.

otherwise- it looks amazing! The skirt looks beautiful! and white part of the bodice with the blue embroidery looks awesome! beautiful! Love the colors too

The back of the dress is black, which ties in the black portion of the belt, as does the black layer of the skirt.

And thank you, Realtreble!!!!! I absolutely love my new dress--it's everything I wanted! You were great to work with, as always!

This is the back of the dress before alterations were made. The colors are the same, but the skirt proportion is changed in this view, too.

Thanks for reminding me to get additional photos of the dress.

I really, really love the changed proportions and the story behind the redesign, but it does appear the skirt rides higher on one side? Though that could be an optical illusion or the way the dancer is standing. Nice overall redesign... and love the traditional Celtic pattern!

The shurg needs to fit tighter to the rest of the bodice - maybe a couple of extra press studs or something around the bottom? It looks very loose at the moment and kind of like an afterthought even though it's an integral part of the design. Looks like it would move around while dancing as well, which would seriously highlight any carriage flaws. Other than that I love the colours, the skirt and the pinwheel/Manx motif thing. The sash is really sweet!

The dress fits much better now. Fantastic job!

I agree that the shrug bit looks like an afterthought, but I don't know that there's any way you could avoid this. It already looks quite tightly fitted from the back view.

However, this is just my personal preference. If the dancer is happy, that's the main thing.

You should be very proud of your dressmaking (and alteration!) skills

It's amazing what the little bit of extra length in the bodice does for the overall look of the dress. Before it was divided up into even thirds and the eye didn't know where to go. I agree with a previous poster that it looked blocky. It's a great Improvement and makes the dress more visually appealing. Nice work!

I think it personally looks so much better!
Great Job!

GraciesMAID wrote:

I really, really love the changed proportions and the story behind the redesign, but it does appear the skirt rides higher on one side? Though that could be an optical illusion or the way the dancer is standing. Nice overall redesign... and love the traditional Celtic pattern!

The skirt appears to be riding higher on the left side (white sash side) because, as you can see in the photo, the dancer has her right knee flexed, which brings down the right hip. Good catch, though. Thanks.

Louise wrote:

The shurg needs to fit tighter to the rest of the bodice - maybe a couple of extra press studs or something around the bottom? It looks very loose at the moment and kind of like an afterthought even though it's an integral part of the design. Looks like it would move around while dancing as well, which would seriously highlight any carriage flaws. Other than that I love the colours, the skirt and the pinwheel/Manx motif thing. The sash is really sweet!

The sari drape is already fit quite tightly to the dancer. What you may be seeing is the impact of the weight of the Swarovski trim on the fabric. The dancer competed in the dress this weekend; no movement was noted. The drape is on top of white velvet. The nap of the velvet also minimizes the appearance of movement.

The motif is triskel-goes-to-India.

It's a very pretty dress - good job on the alterations - I love the fact that the inspiration came from outside Irish dance - Saris. When I go to my local "Little India" area there are gorgeous fabric shops and saris for sale. I never thought of incorporating them into Irish dance.

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newdancingmom wrote:

It's a very pretty dress - good job on the alterations - I love the fact that the inspiration came from outside Irish dance - Saris. When I go to my local "Little India" area there are gorgeous fabric shops and saris for sale. I never thought of incorporating them into Irish dance.

The dancer also wanted to include one of those coin belts that belly dancers wear. I had to draw the line somewhere!