Do you remember Morticia Addams from The Addams Family?
The original television showed played for only two seasons beginning in 1964. Despite a short television life, the show inspired a loyal following for decades including several movies and a live musical version on Broadway that won multiple Tony awards, halloween costumes and everything in between!
Gianna, our model today, loves the Addams Family musical and, of course, needed a figure skating dress to go with her routine
Her dress was designed and created by Tammy Jimenez, dressmaker and coach at Ice Den Chandler in Arizona, USA. (Updated February, 2024: Please do not contact Tammy about making you a dress. She no longer sews.)
Gianna says this Morticia Addams inspired dress is her favorite competition figure skating dress because it is stretchy and comfortable. The dress is also flattering on Gianna’s figure. Read on to find out why it look great on her.
Getting into the Character of Morticia Addams
If you read my other blog featuring Gianna, you know she loves movies and musicals!
When she picks her music for a new skating routine she normally chooses a song from a movie. She is very theatrical, so she also chooses a character to imitate in her routine.
Click here to read my other blog featuring Gianna, where she wore a quick-change dress to play the character of Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray.
In the case of the black lace figure skating dress, Gianna chose the character of Morticia Addams. She and her skating coach Tammy designed a dress that is perfect for her character and routine.
Morticia Addams always wore black dresses.
She also liked rose stems with no flowers.
These details were incorporated into Gianna’s skate dress design with black lace on both the front and the back…. And yes, Gianna wears a black rose in her hair when she competes in this dress.
Lastly, Morticia Addams’ dress had narrow handkerchiefs at the bottom of her sleeves. But long dangling points can get in the way. So rather than have a lot of extra fabric hanging from the sleeve, the point idea was transferred from the sleeve idea to the front of the skirt. I think this is a clever design detail. It helps achieve the look Gianna wanted, while keeping the arms more streamlined.
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Black Lace is the Main Design Element
When I asked Gianna what her favorite part of the dress was, she said—you guessed it—the black lace! The black lace on the front of the dress is over flesh color lycra, which makes the lace look almost sheer.
I really like how the black lace on the front follows a V shape, nips in at the tummy, then flares back out at the skirt. The V shape looks good on Gianna and keeps the viewer’s eye moving up. The hourglass shape is also slimming and flatters Gianna's natural curves.
The black lace on the back of Gianna’s dress closely mimics the front in shape, forming a slightly shallower V. However, it has a slightly different appearance because there is no flesh color lycra underneath the lace.
SEW LIKE A PRO™ DRESSMAKER TIP #1:
If you have a sturdy accent fabric, such as Gianna's black lace, you do not need to line it with flesh color mesh or lycra because the fabric is durable enough to maintain the shape. However, if you have a soft fabric that stretches out of shape, or if you want to be warmer, you can line the accent fabric with that matches your skin tone, or creates an accent background color. Be sure to use a similar stretch fabric so the sewing is easier for you.
P.S. The dressmaker used unfoiled crystal AB rhinestones with a greenish tint to decorate the black lace. I thought I knew all the rhinestone colors, but had no idea there was an unfoiled crystal AB.
SEW LIKE A PRO™ DRESSMAKER TIP #2:
When using dark color stones such as jet or hematite, use unfoiled rhinestones whenever possible. Why? Because if you lose a stone and the silver backing is still on the dress it looks obnoxious. If you use an unfoiled stone, there will be no shiny dot left on the dress with the rhinestone falls off.
Maintaining the Sheer Black Lace In the Skirt
Gianna’s skirt is two layers but three fabrics.
Most of the skirt is black lycra over flesh color lycra, but the front is black lace over flesh color lycra.
Why so many fabrics and colors?
The dressmaker needed to make the underskirt flesh color to maintain the sheer look of the black lace created on the bodice. However, having a flesh color underskirt creates a problem in that the under skirt does not match the trunks.
Normally I like it when the skirt layer closest to the trunks match in color. That way, whenever you do a spin and the skirt flies up, the trunks and skirt look the same color. (Click here to learn more and read about the purple dress to the right.)
With Gianna's current skirt. that means her trunks would be flesh color if they were to match the underskirt. I absolutely advise against wearing flesh color trunks!
What color should the trunks be?
Black. Absolutely black trunks, especially since the primary color of the ice skating costume is black.
How can you remedy the dilemma of Gianna's skirt so the black lace looks like it is over flesh color and still have black trunks?
SEW LIKE A PRO™ DRESSMAKER TIP #3:
My personal opinion is that the beige color skirt only needs to be in the front. After all, the beige lining is only there because of the lace, right? And the lace is only on the front so why continue the beige lycra all the way around?
The solution: add a third layer of skirt just to the front, accent section. The fabrics on the front section will be lace, flesh color lycra, black closest to the trunks. The rest of the skirt can be two layers of black. Nice and easy!
Designing Complex Skate Dresses
You have probably noticed by now that Gianna’s figure skating dress is much more complex than the average skate dress. It is a very clever design, and the dressmaker did a beautiful job modeling this dress after Morticia Addams’ dresses, while still making the design unique.
Watch the video for more details. Be sure to leave a comment below sharing your favorite design elements of Gianna's dress, or your favorite Sew Like A Pro™ dressmaker tip.
(Sorry, this video is temporarily offline. We are working to re-edit it and get it back online for you.)
(Updated February, 2024: Please do not contact Tammy about making you a dress. She no longer sews.)
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