Prom Time (circa 1989)

It's prom time, isn't it? I am starting to see prom stories in the news, and folks on the various sewing lists I'm on are starting to post their war stories of sewing dresses for their daughters ... so I thought I'd dig up the photo of the great dress my mom made for me.

My mom has actually made me two prom dresses; the first was for the freshman prom. Not my freshman prom—a guy named David Goldman's freshman prom. I was just a very flattered eighth grader. (So thanks again, David, wherever you are!) Luckily no pictures of that dress survive; the dress was fine—but let's just say eighth grade wasn't an especially high point for me (aside from being asked to that prom).

The other dress my mom made was for my Senior Prom. See that picture up above? That's me, on the right. On the left (and isn't he dapper!) is Dave Hampton, who is now an architect right here in Chicago (and he's single, so area ladies, if you want an intro, drop me an email). We went As Friends, as my boyfriend at the time was a College Man and couldn't be bothered about a rinky-dink high-school prom. (That is, until the last minute, when he crashed our pre-prom dinner. Which was Chinese takeout in my folks' dining room, but still.)

I don't know how my mom did it, but she took my vague instructions about a square-necked full-skirted dress and made it real. (Well, she wouldn't cut the neckline any lower, or take the waist in any tighter, but moms have to hold the line where they can ... and anyway, constructing something like this was way way beyond my capabilities at the time. )

Dave and I had a great time. After the prom our whole group had a sedate and lovely moonlight picnic in Reynolda Gardens, which I think was (and is) against their posted rules, but the local police were much more interested our harder-partying classmates, so we got away with it.

The dress was dark green polished cotton, and I still have it -- it's in a box somewhere upstairs with a few other things I can't imagine ever wearing again but couldn't possibly get rid of. I wish I still had those shoes; they were even cuter in person. (Of course, with Dave, I probably could have worn four-inch heels; he's a bit on the tall side ... )

I *really* want to hear about y'all's prom dresses -- that's what the comments are for ...

Comments

[Shauna]

THIS is my junior year prom dress.My mom made it. I had wanted a renaissance themed dress, and this is what she came up with. :) I loved it!Unfortunately my date was a bit of a meanie, and I didn't have a good time. I didn't go to my senior prom. ;)

[sdn]

i have never been to a prom. i am told that they are overrated.

[zannestar]

I can't seem to find my pictures from either prom, I'm sure they will turn up. But I still have both dresses. To my junior prom, I wore a dress I made, a safety pin dress. I knew it was the dress I wanted, I was grocery shopping with my mom, and as we were standing in line at the grocery store, I saw it, calling my name from the cover of a 1988 or 87 Cosmpopolitan magazine. It was a dress designed by Stephen Sprouse. I HAD TO HAVE IT!!!! I made a base dress out of black jersey (what did I know then? I was only 16 or 17 and hadn't spent 4 years studying fashion design...How could that jersey hold all the weight from the pins? Well - it did!) I drove an hour to South Street in Philadelphia to buy bulk sewing pins. It must have taken me a month or so to put all the pins on. I placed them in rows. It wasn't a short dress, and it got longer with the weight of the pins. I found a vintage bolero at a thrift store.Prom night it rained. And it was cold. I WAS FREEZING. But hey - suffer for the fashion right? I still have the dress. Saving it for my 2 year old. Maybe the punk will surface in her too and she'll wear it/modify it for her prom.oh - and senior prom dress - from the 40's. I didn't make it, but it was to die for. Black with a black lace bust. The bust was lined with nude satin and a ribbon runs across the bust hiding anything that might be seen. Total illusion - I was fully covered. I'll never forget the expression on the faces when we sat at our table, they thought I was so risk. ha! oh the fun.I think the most fun for me was finding and making and buying the dresses. Both proms, we stayed only long enough to have our pictures taken - then spent the rest of the night in the arcade. guys. jeez.

[Jenny]

I didn't go to my prom either, sdn, so don't feel bad.However, I am delighted to see that Erin wore flats to her prom, just like I did to other dances in high school. Anyone else wear formal flats to dances and such?

[Allison]

I wore a dress my mom had made for herself for some formal occasion in the 70's to my prom (in 1995). It's cream, orange and brown paisley satin. It's sleeveless, with a slit up TO THERE and a brown satin cummerbund. My date was my best friend - he had red hair and had to have a cummerbund and bow tie made - the tux rental place didn't have any orange ones in stock. Everyone at prom was horrified but we thought we looked awesome!

[Anonymous]

Hi! Long time reader, 1st time poster. I work in a wholesale photo lab and have been up to my ears in prom/dance photos for the last week or so. I have just been floored by the cheapness of the fabric in prom dresses these days! Sad. Also sad that in hundreds and hundreds of photos and I have yet to see a vintage dress. My prom dress (1988) I had to have made because even then I couldn't find clothes to suit my odd taste. It was pink satin with long sleeves and a drop waist. What was I thinking? Toodles

[Julie K. Rose]

Oh dear lord. My prom was also in 1989, and my mom also made my dress. Black satiny material, full skirt (but mine was just-above-the-knee), sleeves and neckline just like yours. A strand of fake pearls and one very bored college-age boyfriend, and my prom was destined for...about an hour. Then we went out for fries and chocolate malts, which was actually much more fun.

[Anonymous]

Alas, I wasn't sewing yet, and my mom stopped sewing for me in 8th grade. So here is me in a store-bought dress at my 1988 senior prom. To answer Jenny, yes. My BF was exactly my height. Not only did I wear flats, I slouched a little for the photo. Ah, young love.You can't tell, but the dress had a hot pink crinoline to match the bow and piping. Tres 80s. --Lydia

[La BellaDonna]

You went to the prom in 1989? I. Am. So. Old.And also? You need to follow up on "...he crashed our pre-prom dinner." And then what???My sister went to four proms. I didn't go to any.

[jessicajlee]

My parents, inept at all thing domestic, thought they'd tide me over with a really expensive store-bought dress. I will say, it looked nice, except my date put his hands on my stomach in all the pictures, making me look pregnant! The Dress.The prom was a bust, also, what with their forgetting to order all of the vegetarian meals for the dinner portion. I left after twenty minutes.

[Beth]

I made my prom dress out of dorky looking light blue chiffon with big flowers on it. I hope no pictures survive. Granted, it was 1977, but poor taste is timeless. I did an excellent job constructing that dress, but the unflattering, weird, matronly style(square neck, princess seams, puffy short sleeves) combined with the poor fabric choice sort of canceled the bragging rights. Did much better in 2003 on my wedding dress/jacket ensemble (vogue 4202, pinkish cream wool twill), which I'm very proud of. Sometimes, I'm tempted to wear it to work. Thank goodness high school ends before real life begins!!

[becky f.]

I didn't make my dress, but my mom did -- it was a simple two-piece number with a corset-like top and silver skirt that made me feel like I was walking through water. (When we shopped for fabric, my number one requirement was that the skirt be "flowy" -- luckily my mom figured out what I meant.) I loved the dress (and wore it with flat sandals, since my skirt went to the floor anyway).This was only 2001, but my little sister (whose dress my mom also made -- she's working on the youngest's right now) lent the dress to a friend, and it seems to have disappeared into the ether. Ah well, it was lovely when I wore it, and I have both pictures and fabric remnants to remember it by. :-)

[Jen]

I was such a dork in HS I never got to go to the prom, but I went to tons of dances in college :)

[Chiara]

I made my prom dress (my prom was only last year) using the Vogue pattern V2239. I had actually bought a pattern and fabric for my dress when I saw this pattern and I had to go out to get new fabric and a new pattern, but it was definitely worth it. This was one of my first full sewing projects (the first was a poodle skirt) and I had minimal help from my mother so I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b123/careme777/DSCN1362.jpgFurthermore along the lines of flats, I didn't wear flats, but I wore comfortable shoes. http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b123/careme777/DSCN1321.jpgYou have to ignore the mess of my room in the second picture, and my bra showing in the first one (oops, I know, tacky tacky).

[Beth]

For my senior prom I had my dress made and it was a full length empire with a square neck and cap sleeves. It was a pale apple green satin with an overlay of tulle in the same colour from the empire waist but split down the front to show the satin. So pretty. I loved that dress and was sad I only got to wear it for a few hours. My mother sewed me a marvelous clutch of the same green fabric, lined with a taupe silk.I just had a fitting last night for my wedding dress, with the same seamstress who made that prom dress, and it is destined to be very much like the picture of your dress! Square neck but without sleeves, full skirt, tea-length, and a little silk bolero over top. I love that silhouette. Simple and beautiful.

[sara jane]

For my senior prom in 1982, I wore a storebought faux Jessica McClintock Gunne Sax dress - pale lavendar, floor length, leg of mutton sleeves, lots of ivory lace, with ivory metallic flats. Went with my now husband - had a pretty good time, until he spun me out on the dance floor and I slipped on my new shoes, landing in a heap at the feet of the star basketball player. For the (now) husband's senior prom in 1983, I wore an ivory taffetta dress with full, floor length skirt, big puff sleeves. Looked a lot like Lady Di's wedding dress. Probably same shoes, though no dancing accidents this time. Dress did double duty for sorority initiations. I wonder if its stil in my Mom's attic?

[bonnie-ann black]

i never went to a high school prom, but went to several junior high school dances. i never liked shopping for dresses and my mom was not the domestic type at all (i'm very proud of her though, she has a real intellect). my dad had great taste in clothes, often bought dresses for me. my favorite was a russian style white shirtwaist, where the skirt was a deap blue and had a red sash. i *loved* that dress. another was a deep kelly green with navy blue and white collar and cuffs. i always loved deep greens. for my jr. high graduation, my dad picked out a forest green dress with cream lace edging. the school made me bring it back -- turns out the rule was girls had to wear pastels. i look dreadful in pastels. i wound up with a pale blue dress that i hated. i never went to a high school dance, but that was okay by me. and i don't wear dresses anymore either. but i loved all your clothes -- especially chiara's!

[layzbugs]

Oh dear. Mine was a floor length, red sequined halter dress with a "mermaid" bottom that flared out. I was at the height of fashion in 1993.I took pictures with my date at the prom and once the pictures arrived in my mother's hands she had my date photoshopped out of the pictures.

[Anonymous]

two formal high school dances and two designed by me-sewn by mom dresses. ;) I don't know what I was thinking with either one. the one I had most hope for had a dropped waist on an angle (but fitted through the torso) a full skirt and horror of all horrors: puffed elbow sleeves. Anne Shirley would have been proud to wear them. She may however have been embarrased by the sheer fabric I wraped over the whole thing, winding it around so it started at the shoulder, went across the front, around the back and then came back to the front. it was so strange. I don't know what I was thinking.

[Shannon]

I'm afraid to hunt up pictures of the prom because I remember my dress as being very classic and elegant -- floor-length, full skirted black velvet with bare shoulders -- and I'm not sure I want to see what a dork I really was!The prom itself was, yeah, very underwhelming. My boyfriend and I did the white folk's shuffle for a few dances and then drove around aimlessly with our friends. We ended up at somebody's house where other people cooler than us were drinking and making out. We just kind of sat there awkwardly until we could get a ride home... I remember I was disappointed because I was hoping to lose my virginity that night! The boyfriend clearly had a much stricter sense of propriety -- which, in retrospect, good on him.

[Shannon]

Chiara, your dress totally rocks! *Love* the shoes.

[India]

Great dress!To my junior high school prom, I wore my mom's black cotton Suzy Perette dress from her high school prom: full skirt, wide v-neck front and back, matching bolero jacket with a velvet collar. I don't remember whether I wore white gloves or black, but I do remember that I played Ping-Pong in this rig. I wore that dress for years, and it's still in my closet though I can no longer get even my pinky into it.I didn't go to my high school prom but instead had a counterprom at a friend's apartment. For that, I made a cutaway jacket with detachable tails, from a Burda pattern, and matching miniskirt. Out of heavy, slate-gray denim, hand-painted with black fabric paint in a totally random, scrawly sort of way--not unlike the doodles that were all over my notebooks at the time. The jacket was the first thing I ever made that was fully lined, and it was as tailored as I could manage. I don't remember how the skirt was made, but I do recall that it was Too Short--probably eked out of whatever was left over. I think I wore the jacket again once or twice. It's probably in a closet at my mom's apartment.

[Kristen]

My school was so small that juniors and seniors got to go to prom together. Junior year I had my mom make a red brocade asian style knee-length dress. Not sure if it was cut on the bias or what, though, because when I sat down that sucker went ALL the way up my legs! My prom date was a happy boy. Senior year I had a two-piece; corset style tank top (but not tight really) in a fabulous brocade that had leaves on it and was burgundy with teal and orange.... sigh. And then the floor-length full skirt was teal satin covered in burgundy (organza? sheer, slightly stiff...) (I am ashamed to be a sewer who knows very little about fabric!) Anyway, that dress rocked. There is a YA author's book signing in AZ in May, and they are turning the whole thing into a prom. 7 of us are actually going, making vintage dresses, and hoping there are other fans over the age of 25 there, who aren't with their teenagers! It's a sewing frenzy! And it'll be a fun roadtrip from LA.

[LoriIKC]

My first reaction on seeing this dress was "Lucky! She got a black dress." I really wanted a black prom dress but my mother refused on the grounds that, "black is not a good color for a young girl." I think this may explain the amount of black in my wardrobe now.Since black was not allowed, my first prom dress was a yellow green crepe with silver sequin trim. A terrible color on me. My skin takes on that shade so I'm sure I looked ill all night. The dress itself was simple: empire waist, slightly gathered long skirt, V-neckline & short sleeves. All good choices, except for the color. It still amazes me that my mother let me choose that color. But, this was also the mother who always told us that green goes with everything. "Every flower has green leaves." Notice, there's no distinction about what shade of green... just green.I made both of my prom dresses. By that time, I was making most of my clothing since I had more time than my mom. She's gone now, but she did give me her love of sewing & all things fabric.

[Kate in England]

We don't have proms here in England, or at least we didn't in the 80s. So instead I am going to point to two new 50s Vogue patterns that both have midriff bands and would make lovely prom dresses. There's this one and then there's this one. Apologies if they've been mentioned already, but I hadn't spotted them and I'm a fairly obsessive Dress-A-Day-er!