Colleen's Column

I've been turning this idea around for a while now, but I wanted to ask some opinions.  What would you all think if I posted a few items to sell right here on the blog?  You could notify me by email or blog post or phone call that you wanted the item, then payment could be made via either PayPal or personal check.  I would then mark the item sold. The only problems I can predict are: Two or more people both respond that they want an item.  In that case, I would have to do a "first come, first serve" basis and offer to make either a matching or slightly different item for the other people who wanted it. Since I don't have email at home, it might take me a while to mark which ones are sold and which ones aren't.  This could further aggravate the first problem. On the whole, though, it would be easier than setting up an online store in another format....I think.  Especially since I won't have a lot of stuff to sell at first, because I'm going to coll

Somebody just asked me about "dream dresses" the other day, so I thought I'd share the process with you. Okay.  You just got engaged, or you're graduating, or going to a Rennaissance Festival, or you have some other special occasion that you really need an awesome dress for.  Great!  (However, I'm going to talk about this as if it's a wedding dress, simply because I just did one over the winter so it's fairly fresh in my mind.  Some steps will not apply for other outfits.) Step 1:  Collect ideas.  These may be drawings you did when you were little of your ideal dress, a picture of Cinderella, a copy of a painting, a Bridal magazine, a picture of your grandmother's dress, of a flower, etc., etc.  All well and good.  You may like the skirt of one dress, the sleeves from another, the neckline from somewhere else, and that is fine.  I can work with that! The other thing to do at this point is to go to a bridal salon (bring a white T-shirt or blouse

On June 10 graduated from Baker College of Port Huron with my Associate of Business degree.  Yippee!!!  Graduation was at McMorran Auditorium in downtown Port Huron - there were about 400 graduates, so the ceremony took about 2 hours.  It was really nice. Now I'm going on for my Bachelor's degree in Marketing. Isn't the cake cute?  My sister Catherine made it for me.  The cap, diploma, and flip-flops were not edible, everything else was.

Because the show was down in Wayne, MI, which is about a 2-hour drive from my house, I took my Mom and my two sisters down on Saturday afternoon and we stayed at a Days Inn in Canton.  The room had air-conditioning, for which we were very grateful.  We went to the early Mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church at 7:30 am, then headed over to the school to set up.  Father Radecki even announced before his sermon that the Fashion Show was after the second Mass, at 11:00 - it was definitely a new experience for me to have that kind of notice given for one of my events!  After Mass we went across the street to the new parish school, and Father took us on a tour.  Everything is brand new and it is really beautiful.  It brought back good memories of attending Catholic school myself - complete with the Sisters teaching. We still needed to check out of our hotel room, so my sisters helped me unload the van, then Mom took them back to collect our stuff while I started setting up. I was act

I'm really excited!!!!  This is my first fashion show, and it will just be my designs/creations.  It's hopefully going to be a big success. Place:  St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Wayne, MI Time:  After 2nd Mass So far the girls from the Sodality are interested in being models, so once I get there we'll have to pass around the dresses and outfits and see who can where what.  I've already got a list of everything I need to bring - quite a lot!  Nine outfits total - and a bunch of paraphernalia:  Flyers, display board, a stool in case a dress is too long for a model...etc.  Sounds like fun! The theme is Spring and Summer outfits, so I have a mix:  Blouses and skirts, a few lightweight dresses, and a couple more formal items.

Meet Angela, the first wedding gown in my collection!  I'm also posting the design sketch, so you can see how designs go from paper to fabric. Dress:  $770 Veil:  $50 (including small tiara) This rather simple gown is made of heavyweight satin and is embellished with pearl and glass beads and ribbon flowers.  It has a square neckline, elbow-length sleeves, and a chapel-length train that bustles up under the swagged overskirt.  There is some crinoline in the skirt, but there is plenty of room for an additional slip if a more ballroom look is desired. Unless the bride asks otherwise, I line my formal gowns in a polyester/cotton blend to ensure comfort.  Sticky, sweaty acetate linings are one of my pet peeves!  The soft cotton lets your skin breathe and feels cooler longer for optimal comfort.  A technological advance that I've been appreciating recently is the advent of washable satins.  I use them as much as possible to reduce stress for my brides - if the dress gets a s

This blog serves two purposes - I am a mainly self-taught fashion designer committed to modest, conservative fashions, and I would like to get to know you.  Second, it can be scary communicating with business people you do not know online, so I would like to be up here where you can see me and ask questions about my services, my designs, my ideas. Clothing today is mostly so sickening, revealing, and poorly made that I decided someone needed to do something about it.  My Mom taught me how to sew with a machine when I was nine, and I've worked my way up since then - I've made two wedding dresses to date. I offer a custom dressmaking service in the following areas:  Bridal gowns Women's formalwear Costumes (period and fantasy) Casual (long skirts, modest blouses) Part of the problem with clothing today, especially bridal wear, is that it it not modest at all.  It seems the idea is to flaunt young women as much as possible, and I do not agree with that at all.  These are