Friday, May 27, 2011

A Retraction and a Prom Dress (JoAnn Prom Dress Contest 2011)

So, I freaked you all out with my last post. =( Sorry. After about a week of experimenting with Wordpress, and then doing a new website for my Dad’s new book, I’ve decided NOT to go with Wordpress. *Cue cheers*
Frankly, I’ve just decided that knowing Blogger templates like I do, it would be pretty silly to try and learn all about Wordpress, pay a host, and spend ten times more time on one website. I just don’t have the resources for that right now. (And of course, I’m much more comfortable with Blogger. ;)  ) So that’s my retraction. Hannahrosephotography.com is now waiting to be designed, and this blog is back to normal with its usual url.
Now, on to more interesting subjects. =D I just finished the prom dress I’m entering in JoAnn’s 2011 prom dress contest this week, and I got photos last night! =D Here they are…my sister Maria is modeling the dress.carrie_underwood_purple_one_shoulder_taffeta_gown_2010_cma
First off, here’s my inspiration for the dress – (that’s Carrie Underwood, by the way.) Unfortuantely, JoAnn had a very limited supply of purple, fancy materials. (In order to enter the contest, you have to buy your supplies from JoAnn) So I had to go with a darker dress and lighter skirt – the opposite of Carrie’s. I do think it works, though…at least I hope so! =D
There’s obviously not a pattern you can buy to duplicate the dress, so I took a whole day to study that picture, come up with my own pattern, and cut the dress and skirt out. It was very hard and intense (especially when I thought about the fact that I spent over fifty dollars on the materials!) but I was so relieved with how things turned out.
The beading took forever. I spent three whole days on it, and used almost two large bags of glass beads and quite a few sequins. But, as Maria and I have been collecting Little House seasons, I had plenty of episodes to watch while working on it. ;) So here are photos of the finished product…
front-view


Prom...or not 378back-viewProm...or not 381


Prom...or not 048Prom...or not 346Prom...or not 483



Prom...or not 431



Prom...or not 533Prom...or not 342



Prom...or not 044

15 comments:

Katie said...

Beautiful, beautiful dress, Hannah! Just lovely! You did a fabulous job! :)

Katie

Mary Catherine said...

Oh. My. Word. That is ridiculously gorgeous. I have only a minuscule amount of skill with a sewing machine (read: tote bag) and could never make something that gorgeous!! I hope that you win!!
--Love MCat
{glitteringcompositions.blogspot.com}

Jess said...

The brick wall picture is my favorite, and the dress looks amazing. (So does Maria!) Are you actually going to wear it? We could have a formal wear dress up adventure when I return and all wear formal dresses and go take pictures in Reynolda Gardens and then go to Starbucks or something equally ridiculous!

Hannah Rose Beasley said...

Haha thanks Jess! =D Oooh, that would be so fun!!! We should totally do that! =D

Mattea said...

oh - my - goodness. that's insanely, amazingly FABULOUS!!!!! i CAN'T believe you made that, it just made me awestruck!! how do u do it so well?? how long have you been sewing exactly? I really liked Carrie Underwood's dress, but I think that (since both are so amazing) yours will have to rank as #1. Because I really like the different purple shades you picked. Are you going to sell it or something? I'd sell it for $300. ;) just thought I'd add my opinion in there :P
love you and keep up the good work and if you don't win...then the judge is being ridiculous. OR...there are some more very talented girls like yourself in this world.
<3you!!

Hannah Rose Beasley said...

Hahaha thanks Mattea!! =D I've been sewing for about nine years. I'm going to sell it if I can...though for some reason it hasn't been easy to advertise my dresses down here. =P Oh well, I'll keep trying! =D

<3 you too! =D

Melody said...

Oh wow, that is insanely gorgeous! I'm especially impressed that you made up the pattern for it... I only have pretty basic sewing skills, and the thought of even deviating from a pattern scares me. The dress is so beautiful, though - you did a fantastic job! :)

Blessings,
~Melody

Emily Grace said...

Stunning, absolutely stunning! Hannah, you are so talented! =D
I've been sewing for quite a while(quilts, dresses, bags, etc) but I've never even thought of making up my own pattern--I'd be so scared that it would completely flop! =P I am very impressed. =)

p.s. your posts aren't showing up on my dashboard. ???

Hannah Rose Beasley said...

Thanks, you guys! =D Emily, I think the posts aren't showing up because I changed the url of the blog...re-following should fix it. It's so annoying, though. =P Oh well! =D

Emily said...

Hi Hannah! I just found your blog and I must say...it's awesome! I love this dress! It's so beautiful. Seriously, very cool :)

Hannah Rose Beasley said...

Aw, thanks Emily!! =D

Hannah Phillips said...

amazing! I wish i could do that!

Unknown said...

That dress is lovely Hannah. You did a fantastic job on it!

By the way, I love your new design - it's so pretty! :)

Naomi said...

I posted the dress but haven't heard any from JoAnn yet. Did you hear from them? Did they pick Top 20 already?

Hannah Rose Beasley said...

Hey Naruto!

No, I didn't hear from them, unfortunately. =( They called the finalists on July 8th.