Frozen Couture started with a dress. I am just a skate mum that just so happened to have some great design, sewing and manufacturing skills. My daughter Montana-Jane decide to take up the most expensive sport known to man when she was just 6. Lucky for me my background was sewing Las Vagus costumes and steal boned corsets so adding crystals to Lycra was going to be a breeze.
Her first ever program was of cause Elsa from Frozen. I spent weeks on this dress whilst siting at the rink watching her skate and adding all the Swarovski crystals.
I had much to learn but i was very happy at the time with how this project turned out. I had know idea this dress was going to take over my life.
I have never been a fan of Chiffon and still to this day I cant stand it. I melted the edges with a flame so it wouldn't fray as I didn't want to sew the edges down as it would of looked bulky and maybe twist.
I found these rectangle aqua and silver sequin's at a shop closing down which was perfect for what I wanted. I painstakingly sewed each one on by hand. This was my first lesson to learn. Do not use a thread to sew on crystals, sequin's or anything with a shape edge that could rub and cut the thread. My advice is to use a clear thin fishing wire thread. I also didn't have a crystal Body Board that this point LOL. If I had stitched the sequins on whilst on a body board it would of made my life 100 times easier. No pulling with it stretched etc. I also will never use such a lace. For the price paid for this i was very disappointed. I had to crystal all the edges as the elastic pinged out of the seams even before my child had worn it once. Looking back on this I would of also made the skin around the neck and shoulders all one pieces.
Montana-Jane loved her dress and was the happiest I had seen her in months so every stitch was worth every minute, as we had only just found figure skating and it just so happened to be in my daughters most darkest time. I had a little girl who was very broken mentally. It was very hard to see my 6 years old angle so sad everyday so I was willing to do anything to make her happy again. We found skating just in time. For me watching my daughter skate was liking watching a dried up rose slowly come back to life opening each petal till she fully bloomed again into the most beautiful flower on the tree. Skating fixed my daughter and I will always be forever grateful.
I still have lots to learn but I have come along way. I am 100% self taught so I do do thing much differently to other designs but my way works for me and this is how I make magic happen.
This blog is going to take you on the Frozen Couture journey from the beginning till present, with all the back stories, lessons learnt, mistakes i have made with all the wonderful dresses I have designed.