Where do you usually get your dresses for competitions ?

http://www.customskatewear.com/about.html

She has made two dresses for us so far, check out dress 50.Great work, nice, works with what you need for music or budget.

Also a ton of stuff on ebay!!!!

Before you spend too much money, ask around at your rink. If there are skaters a little older than yours, they may well have outgrown dresses their parents would sell very cheaply, or even lend, if they have another skater waiting to grow into one. I know at our rink, half the kids who test and compete are wearing dresses that belong, or belonged, to one girl who seems to have a lending-library of them! Wish they fitted me.....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

We often found great bargains here.

http://www.dancefactoryoutlet.com/ca...ome.php?cat=36

http://www.imperialsportswear.com

Love them!

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- Ashley

Try Six0 Skatewear, Jerry's Skatewear, Sharene Skatewear. Or try doing a search for "figure skating apparel". There are many sites out there. I however am a die hard e-bay shopper. Especially during the years when my dd was growing so fast.

Good Luck!!

Since I can't wear anything off the rack yet, I make my dresses. It's relatively easy, and fairly inexpensive.

Strange? but why cant you wear anything off the rack?They make dresses in all sizes, shapes ect.

Nope, not for adults with HIPS.

opps sorry
I have hips but dont skate well enough to buy a dress lol.My boy skater is easy to buy for and my girl skater so far seems to have a no hips and not much of a waist either

Lots of adult skaters here wear dresses off the rack! I certainly have hips and I do!

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- Ashley

Plenty of companies make up to Adult Extra Large these days. Frieda B for example, makes dresses that large, and they size generously. I usually wear mediums in my dresses and the small Frieda b dresses were too large for me. She sizes them really big, and they are very pretty (she did manage to alter the small to fit me, too, so you could have an XL altered bigger IF you needed it, I'm sure). She's in the New England area but I know she does ship to other places. I'm sure there's others like her. I think the only company that sizes small/true to size is GK elite. The others are pretty generous, I think you should check some out. Oooh and Danskin has some too, they size pretty generously as well.

I have hips and don't have any problems wearing off the rack dresses. Try Twizzle or Jerrys.

Nicki

I have a Twizzle dress that I looked good in when I had a great deal more hips than Nicki does! I would recommend them, too, for the "larger lady".

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Awww....I don't know! When we measured up for our custom made dresses for last year's artistic, I was by far the biggest in the hip department!!!!

Nicki

I've found that the six0 dresses run fairly large as well... i have a dress that i love from them and it's not skin tight in the waist, which makes me feel more comfortable.

First of all, Ashbugg, I've seen pictures of you. I bought one of your old dresses. (Which didn't fit my hips, by they way.) You are not a full grown woman with hips! Check back in a few years.

Adult skating dresses in XL are not really XL. I currently wear a size 6 in street clothes. I'm 5'6" tall, and I weigh 129 pounds. My hips are on the largish size, relative to the rest of my body. Depending on the manufacturer, I wear either a L or XL skating dress. I'm sorry, but 129 pounds is NOT LARGE. A couple of years ago, I weighed 10 pounds more. XL skating dresses just BARELY fit! At 140 pounds, I hardly classified myself as a heifer, but I wore size XL. What do you think female skaters who are bigger than that have to do? Depending on their shape, maybe they can squeeze into XL (and look not-so-good, quite frankly), but many of them have to make their own, or wear plus size leotards and skirt, or simply not wear real skating attire. I know a lot of adult female skaters who are forced to make their own dresses. It depends on how your weight is distributed, but until I lost the 10 pounds, there were many brands I couldn't wear with a clear conscience.

Okay, that was a little rambly, but I guess my point is this. Many skatewear manufacturers are still deluded about adult skaters. You can't take a child's pattern and just cut it bigger. And they obviously never got the memo that said there are adult skaters larger than 140 pounds!

THANK YOU, Skaternum. So very true, and might I add that the cut & length of the skirts on these dresses, more often than not, is totally UNflattering to the adult-shaped thighs extending from the adult-shaped hips.

FriedaB does a very nice job of fitting adult figures. I have custom dresses from her, but have not tried one of her stock dresses off the rack. The biggest plus in her dresses is the cut of the skirt & the way she gets the seam attaching the skirt to lay flat. Every dress I've tried off the rack just puckers & rolls at the skirt seam. Thank goodness I have found a wonderful dress designer to keep me looking good on the ice.

For competition and practice, we get our dresses from Pat Pearsall. She makes beautiful custom dresses in the Houston area. However, she has clients all over the country and world for that matter.



I know everyone has seen her dresses at nationals...



I have a few children’s sizes 8-10 I would not mind selling... if interested pm me.

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Laugh often it is good for your soul.

I've lost a fair amount of weight, and have gone down a couple of sizes. I wear size 12 jeans now, and that's great for me.

As far as skating dresses, and their measurements, go, I have to have at least an XL. My chest and hip measurements are usually within one size, but my waist isn't. Most standard measurements have a 10" difference between hips and waist--I have a 4" difference. I have no definable waist and a belly (which I'm still working on losing) The best pattern I've found to fit me is a Kwik-Sew, and I've made it in many variations. I'm going to try Jalie next (when I'm back on the ice) Has anybody tried them before?


I checked out the Frieda B website. The dresses are sized by regular clothing sizes, not measurements. Since I can fit into several sizes, I wouldn't know where to begin there.

I think that for a child skater, the ideal is to borrow or buy from another skater! But most kids will fit dresses "off the peg", unless they are hefty. For adults, it's either make your own or get them specially made! I've had all mine made for me, except the Twizzle dress I mentioned, which was a lucky accident - it was included by mistake in an order one of the coaches at our rink had sent off, and she reckoned it would fit me, so I tried it on and everybody went "ooh, ahhh" so I bought it.... it does, actually, look great, but I don't have too many occasions to wear a free-skating dress!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Oh, what do you say to a 5 foot 8 inch women who is 175 lbs last I looked at the sale two days ago who wears size 14 street clothes but X-large off the rack dresses and size large skating pants (they are a skin tight fit and pull in my kangaroo pouch, 3 C-sections)? I am an adult freeskater and interpretive FSer. I'm hoping to lose a few more fatty inches off of my butt, kangaroo pouch and love handles so that I can wear size 12 street clothes (I'll need to shop in the teen area of the store so I can get long enough pants for my legs then.) and off the rack Large skating dresses because there is so much more choice in skating dresses in Adult Large as to Adult X-Large. Plus you're more likely to find more and better eBay specials on dresses. I do the Buy It Now option when buying through eBay for my dresses.

I just checked online at some of the links you guys posted here and one place had my current FS dress for $165 US and I only paid $45 US through eBay. But then some of the links you guys gave were great but their Adult sizes didn't offer much.

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

If you have a small skater, dresses dont look well either.Hard to find small stuf as it is larger

If you wear a size twelve but have an undefined waist (and you are tall) then I would think the Large would be perfect for you, especially if you have a chest. If you're flat chested or aren't all that tall, a medium should fit you fine. Either way you can email her your measurements and she will recommend a size for you, I'm sure of it.

Hi:

I got into the skating dress "business" because I, as an adult skater, had a very difficult time finding dresses which fit properly. I am 5'8" in height and weigh around 135 (give or take). I have small hips, small buns and a reasonably generous bust and, being on the tall side, require a longer girth than some. Commercially manufactured dresses simply do not fit .... I find for the most part that these are simply larger versions of dresses with child and/or adolescent proportions.

Insofar as one poster's question regarding Jalie patterns .... they are really straightforward, each envelope contains around 18-20 different sizes, and the instructions are okay .... I find that these patterns have no defined waistline ... the skirts tend positioned lower than is flattering to most people, and the briefs have what might be problems for some .... they are very high cut in the leg, and the brief back is all one piece ..... which results in nasty wedgies.

The Kwik-sew patterns are also fairly straight-forward, but have few stylistic variations. The Adorn patterns are excellent, but their adult large is not large at all .... more like an in-real-life small.

-- sheilagh