In the Studio: the first made-to-order dress

So about six months ago, I introduced my line of made-to-order dresses and three months ago, I made a concerted effort to offer them to customers. My first order, in true Birmingham small-town fashion, was placed by the daughter of my father's landlord and amazing photographer, Marc Bondarenko. Of course, Alea didn't come to me through that channel. Rather, she is a regular at Molly Green (in Homewood, if you haven't yet been - go!) and saw the dresses through their online postings of me.

After a few fittings, I placed the order for Swimming in Flowers fabric from Spoonflower. Then, my father and I went to the Fearrington Folk Art Festival near Chapel Hill, NC and while driving up, realized that Spoonflower was quite close by. As I was scheduling a tour with them, I even thought about asking them to hold my order (if it were ready) and I'd pick it up myself. Amazingly the order was ready sooner than expected and shipped before we even made it to North Carolina.

In the above little video, you can see what one yard of fabric looks like when I receive it. This particular yard of fabric is the skirt front and back of the Swimming with Flowers dress. Don't need to see the fabric swaying back and forth (or me smelling it?) Here's a still image of the same thing:

I am recording this moment - perhaps in excessive detail - because this is a milestone. Up until this point, I have been making clothing for myself (and the women in my life who will allow me to dress them) and this represents the first time that someone not me or related to me ordered one of my designs. What I have learned from this process so far is that getting that first order might take a long time, but once you get it, the joy of making a dress for someone else from a design that you love...well...it's just honey on top of an already glorious day. And within the last few weeks a second order has come in - this time for the Wild Horse of Chaos dress - and I find myself swimming in honey.

Studio shot: bodice and lining sewn together, zipper in,
last step- cutting front skirt piece out and sewing it all together.