Steven Helmer Publications

She likes to dress up for the annual skating banquet (the same one I got stuck organizing this year) but didn't really have a lot of money for a new dress so she purchased the fabric and made it herself. I'm very proud of her. As someone who has no artistic ability at all, I can appreciate how much work was involved with this. And, even though she had a pattern, since it came with no instructions, she was largely figuring it out on her own as she progressed with it and even made a few personalized alterations. On top of it, she is making a matching clutch to go with it. To give credit where credit is due, she took the photos.

My daughter is competing at the Pettit Center in Milwaukee this upcoming weekend and needed a new skating dress because she is outgrowing the one she already has. We looked at buying her a dress. But, since they can run in excess of $300, my wife decided to buy the material and just attempt to make her one instead (something she's done in the past but it had been a while). She started it last week and, despite a variety of issues, including her sewing machine not working (forcing her to use her new serger instead), finished it yesterday. Total cost for materials was about $35, making it much less expensive than most of the pre-made dresses we were looking at. She eventually wants to attempt something a little more complicated, and has even sketched out the design, but that will have to wait until summer, when she has more time.  In the meantime, this one will work just fine, both for this weekend and another competition the first weekend in March. The only thing that...