New Dance Outfit

For a long time I've wanted to make Megan skating outfits. She's been resistant. I had an idea of making a basic bodysuit and then various skirts, for the different dances. Now that she's getting towards the end of her dance tests LOL, she agreed.  What really helped was that I got an offer of fabric from https://fabric-online.com/. I thought making her a skating dress would be a great way to show their fabric and make something new.

We went to www.jalie.com and browsed. I liked the long sleeve Tessa  but she actually wanted sleeveless so I felt it better to go with a sleeveless pattern to start with. We settled on the Tank Skating Dress. I opted to get the PDF version since I didn't want to wait for the mail. Well.

I ordered the pattern on January 17. I order the black fabric (Dream Performance Athletic Knit) from Halo Fabric Addicts . Some awesome fabrics there!! This black is thick, squat-proof and feels great. That was ordered on January 3.

I went to Staples on Feb 1 to print. It wouldn't print the right size. I thought maybe I had saved it wrong. Went home, made sure to save it through Adobe. Went back, and it was still wrong. Went to the Facebook Sewing with Jalie page to inquire. Turns out that you can't print Jalie patterns at the self service at Staples. Now what? My printer wasn't working. I googled for copyshops that did A0/drafting prints and found a franchise shop (not UPS). I sent in a request for an estimate through their website. Got an automated response saying they'd send it within 24 hours. I waited a few days and sent an email. Got a response quickly with an estimate. Not bad, I thought, so I went ahead and sent in the files (I had bought two patterns). After a few days I sent an email asking how long it would take. It was ready the next day.  That was Feb 19. When I picked up, they were a little more than the quote had said. They came to $15 and change and the quote said $13. I didn't have it with me, so I just sucked it up.

I had to trace her sizes. Cut that out. I wanted to do a thong since the skirts would have panties attached and I didn't want her to have to worry about conflicting panty lines. The leotard was pretty easy to actually sew, and fit her well.  I did have an issue with the thong and elastic. I forgot that the thong pattern I was using was intended for a tiny band added. I was doing elastic, which gets sewn on, then flipped to the inside and topstitched. If I had done that, the elastic would have ended up over lapping on the  thong part. So I just sewed it down and didn't flip it in. Also makes it a bit smoother if she wears it under leggings.

On to the skirt. Oh my gosh. We went to Fabricland on February 22. We were also looking for her solo dance custome fabric and it was overwhelming. She told me her next dance was "tango-ish", so we were looking at red and black. She liked the idea of red chiffon with a black lay overlap. An assymetrical skirt. And the lace had a nice scalloped edge. Okay.

Well. OMG. The skirt was killing me. My first attempt, the long side just sagged inwards and there wasn't much "fullness". I tried another version, using a flouncy border piece so the scalloped edge was still usable. She didn't really like that either. I was out of the lace.  I have pictures, but for some reason they're not in my Google photos.

Then she played me the music. Ummmm. Not tango-ish at all. Apparently they had been practicing to the "Series 8" option which is the instrumental, old-timey version that Skate Canada offer, and the vocal "Contemporary" song is much different. The first thing that came to mind when I heard it was "1970s Canadian Disco". Turns out it's an American song from the '2000s?! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5I6y1Qvz0   I dare you. Go listen/watch.
I texted her coach for suggestions. I thought a bell bottomed pantsuit would be fun but yeah, I knew it wouldn't go over LOL. Next option was a full skirt, and the coach recommended a bright colour. Back to the store we went, March 3. She picked out this nice bright ....magenta? It's not really bright, but it's not dull either.

I found a pattern in my stash from my mother-in-law that was a full skirt. Got all set up, and found out that although the size chart went large enough (up to 18), the pattern in the envelop only went up to size 12. Argh. Thankfully, I didn't have to add much. And in the end, I think I had to take out most of that because she didn't need so much ease.

The skirt pattern calls for a side zipper. I was doing a knit band for the waist, so could I get away with no zipper? Well, no. Not exactly. But how is this going to work with attached panties? Much thinking, and ripping, and I got it done.

Hemming was a nightmare. Well, not the actual stitching, but chiffon! It grows! It does all kinds of weird things! It ended up being way too long and not even!  And Megan kept saying she wanted it shorter. Usually dance skirts are on the longer side. I hung it and trimmed, I laid it out on the floor and marked it and trimmed. In the end, the chiffon matches up pretty close, but I think her right side is a bit longer. The actual stitching was easy. I was going  to do a rolled hem, but didn't really like it, so I went with a narrow, 3 needle hem.

See how it's a bit longer on her right?

It swished so nicely when she skated though! She said it kept going between her legs and bugging her. I wish she had been able to have a test run before the test day. The first go round of the dance was a bit rough but the judge had them go around again and she was able to pass!

I also made her a skinny tie for her hair.

Megan felt the need to add crystals. This was also new territory. She wanted to glue them on, but I did some research and decided we needed to "Hot Fix" crystals. We got our coupon and went to Michaels. There was a cheap Hot Fix "gun" (?) in the crafting section but we weren't keen on it. We looked at the Swarovski  one and liked it better. It is a lot more, but with the coupon (a rare 40% one!), it brought it to about the same price and seemed like a much better device. The cheap crystals were also not suitable so she picked out some Swarovski crystals. However, once she got them out of the package, she realized they had a pink tint to them. Fine for this outfit, and really, I'm sure no one else will notice if there's a pink tint to the crystals when she's wearing, say, a green skirt.

She tested on March 11 and I was finishing up the tie that morning. It ended up being way more rushed that we originally thought, but the end result is much better than the original plan.
I wish I could attach a video of her test. I have posted it on my FB page but not sure if it's public. Maybe it's time to update YouTube LOL.

EDIT---Added on YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-jfNGgAFjs