rachel's birthday dress

my daughter and i bought this vintage gold sequin dress in a consignment shop a couple of years ago. we thought it was a great dress, and it was a fabulous price, so we brought it home...and no one ever wore it. then, my daughter decided this year she wanted to have her birthday be sequins and sparkle and she asked me for a suggestion, and i remembered this dress still hanging, never worn!

we made a few changes to it, though. we shortened it up in front, took it in at the back and under the arms, and under the front bustline. then, we ruched up the back fabric that remained into a sort of tail thing. we were thinking of another dress i had sewed several years ago, for the designer i worked for at the time. it was a terrifically beautiful red dress, here is a shot of it...

this shot of the red dress got into a magazine, i was pretty thrilled at the time, since it was literally the first dress i had sewn for the designer. and i think the red dress sold in something like two days! the sequin fabric on rachel's dress is really heavy, so the effect was very different, but i think it still looks pretty good...especially on my daughter!