Designing a new dress 2!

Background

After having a dress for a little over a year you will need to replace it, whether or not it still fits!

As a SOLO dancer in the Open grade your dress needs to have an impact, so if you have danced a full season in it, it is likely that the adjudicators have become familiar with it and will no longer notice it, and therefore you, as much as you would like.

My daughters original Solo dress has become too short for her and needs replacing. It was made by Celtic Image, using basic designs created between us - see Designing a Dress - and had a theme that was very personal to Siobhán. By doing this we have severely limited the chance of selling the dress on to another dancer, so you will need to consider this factor when designing a dress.

We are now looking at designs for the new dress, but want to try and follow the theme of the original. Again this means less chance of selling it later, a factor that is worth considering!

Choosing the design

The original dress design was linked to the Rose of Tralee, and the O'Mahony family name. Both of these links were because Siobháns mum originally comes from Tralee, and was an O'Mahony. This meant that the dress involved a fantastic amount of very intricate embroidery, and this can result in a more expensive dress overall. Obviously once you have your basic ideas in place you need to consult with the dressmaker as they will want to have a level of creative input, and of course, have more experience of materials, colours, and designs.

The following are the initial ideas. As they evolve into the final dress we will add details so that the full process can be followed. (Where our design ideas change due to discussions with our dress maker Jill, or for any other reason, they will be highlighted with asterisks** so that you can see what we were doing, and why)

We have decided to continue with the Rose of Tralee theme, but have re-done the whole design.

The only part of the original design to survive is that of the Red Roses, and the Bráth (or Cape), which is from the design on the memorial to the Rose of Tralee in Tralee itself. (*although even this was later modified by Jill to truly stunning effect!*)

The Main design (A)

On any dress the main design is the one on the front of the skirt, and all the rest should use this as a basis. It is a good idea to look at other dresses to get a "feel" for the style that is right. Be careful that your design doesn't look completely different from a distance. What might look really fancy close up might become a Moose Head on the stage! (I recently saw a "witch on a broomstick")

For Siobháns dress we decided to use the cameo picture that has traditionally been the design for the Rose of Tralee festival (until 1999, when it changed!) I have taken this and replaced the Rose with one of a better quality. (* Rose later simplified on advice from Jill*)

For the face we are considering either embroidery, or possibly, a Silk Painting. (* Jill advised that a Silk painting may have been difficult to fix to dress in the way required to give the effect we wanted. And we would have to find someone to do the painting, of course, so we went for Applicqué and embroidery*)

We then thought that Unicorns supporting the Cameo from either side would not only look good but capture the Mythical quality of Celtic legends.

This also creates a basic Pyramid shape to fit the panel.

*We then decided to drop the Unicorns, in favour of Tigers. This is to represent the current trend in Ireland to refer to their economy as the "Celtic Tiger". This followed a trip to Ireland by Siobháns mum and she kept seeing and hearing this reference whilst there.*

I have coloured the tiger in 'Gold' with Green stripes. Not only does this make it a Celtic tiger but Green & Gold are the colours of Co.Kerry, where you will find Tralee of course! (* Jill felt that this would not look very good, and we were in danger of using too many colours, so we stuck to normal tiger stripes instead*)

In another strange twist, the Song "The Rose of Tralee" has a verse that is not often used. This extra verse was written by William Pembroke not long before he died. The verse is about the period when he was exiled in India, away from his love, Mary O'Connor, the Rose of Tralee.

No doubt he saw many Tigers whilst there!

In the finished design the picture will be surrounded by knotwork etc. in the usual manner.

The Chest Design (B)

I have combined two Celtic tigers with the Red Rose to create a design that is basically a "V" shape so that it follows the shape of the chest panel. Again this will need to be embellished with knotwork etc. to complete the design.

Panel B . . . . . . . . . . .Panel C

The side panels are placed on the left and right of the skirt and need to be mirror images of each other pointing into the centre. Again a tiger and rose combination achieves the desired effect.

The Border (D)

The dress is finished off by surrounding the bottom edge of the skirt with a border design. We have gone for alternating Red Roses and knotwork.

Cuffs (E)

The cuffs carry another Red Rose and knotwork design, at present. This might change if the dressmaker feels there is a better alternative available. (*After deciding on the sleeve material it was agreed that the cuffs would have a simple knotwork design to avoid overcrowding them*)

So that was our initial idea! Click here to see what we ended up with!