Dresses by Melinde Kantor, MK Design?

[ibreakhearts66]

Hey, I was wondering if any of you have ever used her as a dressmaker. I came across her website, Custom Skatewear (http://www.customskatewear.com/index.html), and she really seems too good to be true! She said last year her price range was from $65-$200, which is awesome for custom. She has studied design at the graduate level, and seems like a genuinely nice woman. I need a dress for my new artistic program and have only found $210+ dollar dresses (unstoned), which I just can't afford.

So yeah, anyone have any experience with her?

[sk8lady]

From looking through the website, it looks as though some of the designs are really terrific, but the quality of the sewing doesn't always match up to the quality of the design (mostly I'm looking at the backs of the dresses, including the fit along the middle back and neck)--and I note that she's careful to say that she "studied design at the graduate level" rather than specifying a degree in fashion design at a particular school such as FIT or RISD, which would include requirements such as patternmaking. I would be inclined to ask about that--her degree may be in fine arts rather than the sewing side of things, in which case it might be better to have her design the dress and make the pattern, which she indicates she will do, and then have a professional seamstress make the dress.

It may be that the dresses I'm looking at that have problems were done this way--someone bought a pattern and then sewed it themselves.

[slusher]

As someone who has sewed for a living I dislike dressmakers who underprice. I know that they're trying to give value but unless you're living in China (that other dress thread) there's no way that a person can make minimum wage at some of the prices. Now that I've said that, having looked through her gallery, I like that her dresses do not have all the same "look". Locally there's a few dressmakers that have their own style and you can pick their dresses out on the ice. If you want a dip dyed/spray dye costume, I know who to send you to. It's nice to see a dressmaker who will do all sorts of things, although maybe not all of them work.

Since we're wrapping up the Olympics, I like this dress (http://www.customskatewear.com/38.html) although I think I've seen it somewhere else before, maybe a competition site.

[twokidsskatemom]

Hey, I was wondering if any of you have ever used her as a dressmaker. I came across her website, Custom Skatewear (http://www.customskatewear.com/index.html), and she really seems too good to be true! She said last year her price range was from $65-$200, which is awesome for custom. She has studied design at the graduate level, and seems like a genuinely nice woman. I need a dress for my new artistic program and have only found $210+ dollar dresses (unstoned), which I just can't afford.

So yeah, anyone have any experience with her?
We have used her and if you look you will see both kids pics on her website. Never had any issues, worked with ideas, dresses all very nice. She has done dresses for us for 3 or 4 seasons.She is a nice lady:)We always get people asking where we get their dresses from. She will work with music and make sure the dress goes with the music.
hth