Caitlins new dress for Oireachtas "08

Here are the Murray Academy new dresses made for the 2008 new england oireachtas.

top photos are the revised two tiered look-just in time for nashville 2009

Most recent dress made to date. Made for the 2007 oireachtas for my 8 yr old. She picked out the fun polkadot underskirt.

This dress is from colleens of canberra website-fabrics picked by my then 14 yr old. made for her first oireachtas solo dance. It is a two piece dress made with a wick away tank. the underskirt is zebra stripe

This is my favorite. All the pieces are handcut and machine appliqued. It is a full zip off dress with pink and black checkerboard underskirt and pink pleats. worn by my 12yr old until she retired this year at age 14.

Two piece center wrap dress with black feather fringe and faux fur sleeves. the black and white designs are interwoven celtic stars (hard to see the detail on my fuzzy pictures). The underskirt is white with red polkadots.

An experiment that failed. Very cute dress, but just doesn't have the stage presence necessary to wow judges.



An Oldie but Goodie. Hot pink pleats and underskirt

This chocolate colored dress with pink, peach and bronze accents was my first attempt at sculpted pleats and edge stiched bottoms. I has a very shiny firework type peach underskirt with a small stiff cape in back. It was sold at a feis in new england to a very happy dancer.

This costume was made for otr sale, but ended up being my daughters dress, as she quickly outgrew her first solo costume. This was originally a shorter dress-made when the waist sat at or above the waist, not dropped. After wearing it for a few months, I changed the style a bit-adding design and length to the bodice and making new sleeves. It is currently up for resale, but is very long, so it needs a really tall and thin dancer.

Big smile in her first solo dress at the new england oireachtas this year-2006.

welcome to magic threads

Hello irish step dancers. I have been dabbling in the art of irish step dancing dress making for eight years now-almost totally for my own three girls and their friends. I've made eleven costumes so far, and find that I am now addicted. Four of my last dresses have been made in the last 6 months. While it is difficult to follow all the fast paced changes in the costume world, what I find most important is that the dancer love her dress. Nothing can replace the smile on their face when they wear it for the first time. I am very appreciative of Colleens of Canberra. They are truly a remarkable site for learning the ins and outs of costume making. I have used their site for three of my dresses. Previous to that, I worked with an artist friend who designed two dresses for her daughter and three more for me. Look for pictures of my work soon, and thanks for reading my first ever blog!!