already. My 9 yo dd is going to make her debut in Juvenile skating to The Matrix music. We (her coaches and I) thought a unitard would be really great- she has the right kind of body and lines to pull it off. So I found this one dressmaker and I spoke with her about it.

She was extremely fixated on 'age appropriate'- and I in no way disagree, but she was really like more concerned about THAT than anything it seemed. So I talked to dds coaches and they had some ideas about the look they are going for, so I told that to the dressmaker and she kind of went off on me telling me she isn't a seamstress but a dressmaker and again going on and on about age appropriateness.

I am not too sure now about this woman, but don't know where the heck else to go!

Ignoring the thought that nobody who wants customers would just go off on you like that, simply ask her if she's going to do it or not. Yes or no answer. Very firmly.

(Not seeing what's wrong with a unitard for a 9 year old.. is this the type of woman that thinks calf length skirts, high, ruffled collars and long sleeves are appropriate for 9 year olds?)

You can get custom costumes from afar if you employ a dress company, such as Del Arbour.

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Actually, Del Arbour isn't even far for us, nor is Frieda B, but my impression was they were terribly expensive.

They're not cheap but for "custom-made" they're reasonable. Of course, the dresses aren't really "custom-made" - they're pieced together from existing mix-and-match style patterns adjusted to your size.

For a unitard, have you tried eBay? I've gotten ones for show numbers there and then trimmed them myself. It's way cheaper than a custom made black unitard would be.

Maybe this dressmaker doesn't know how to make a unitard and doesn't want to admit it. . . Have you tried looking for unitards at online dancewear stores? Here's a unitard search at an online store I've ordered from before: http://search.store.yahoo.net/cgi-bi...log=riversedge

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You can look around your area for local dance supply stores and see what they have. They might be having sales and clearing out before the new fall merchandise comes out. Perhaps someone working there knows of a seamstress/costumer? Or perhaps even look for companies that supply gymnasts? (I have no idea what they wear now but maybe they do custom work)

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

If you are not comfortable, I would look elsewhere. That's just my opinion, but considering what I am currently experiencing with the dressmaker we are using, I think you should try and find someone else.

Age appropriate is a good thing, but I also agree that I can't imagine what is wrong with a 9 y/o wearing a unitard! ODD.

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

I fail to see what's wrong with an unitard as well.


That being said, just order the matrix lycra off the internet together with the kwiksew unitard pattern and make it maybe? family member to make it?

I've worked with both and find them to be reasonably priced compared to other dress makers, but I don't go full-on custom, I mainly do stock dresses with some various tweaks (skirt style/length, color, material, adding lining, splitting the size between the top/bottom, etc). Without stones, I paid $150-180.

A lot of us are friends with an excellent, very reasonably priced dress maker. Here is her site: http://www.flowerdaze.com/public_html/catalog/

She's out of Grand Rapids but she's done work based on measurements before. Beautiful work, I wish she had her site updated with more of her custom stuff from this past year. Adult competitions are basically starting to become a fashion show of her work. (She does all ages/sizes, but she's an adult skater so her friends go to her.)

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Leslie (owner of Flowerdaze) is very good, reasonably priced and has done custom work long-distance. She makes all of my dresses as well as most of the other adult skaters in Grand Rapids, MI and a few of the kid skaters.

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I've got mad salchow disease!

I did try ebay but no luck. I think I will go to Del...her coach was pretty sure she saw some unitard styles in her catalog when she was there with another student.

Thanks, I will check her out too

The woman was like obsessed with the idea that we were going to dress her like a tart or something and went on and on about a dispute she had with a student of Oksana Baul and Galina someone from Simsbury when they were there...oye..she seemed nuts.

Oh good grief! IMO, A unitard covers a lot more then some dresses do! Did she even explain WHY she thought a unitard was not ok for your child? Odd!

Try searching for unitards under "dance" or "gymnastics".

I found this... I am sure it is not what you are loooking for, but an idea of where to search maybe??

http://www.spiritcorner.com/store/Ws...t.asp?One=2987

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

It wasn't so much the unitard itself, but that I mentioned we might want to do long sleeves, but one black and the other mesh- for an angular type look (she skates to music from The Matrix). But my first conversation she went on and on about inappropriate (before I said the coach was considering the one sleeve option) and then when I mentioned that, she just went all out on me about how this 7 yo had this bare plunging back and that they found another seamstress as she refused and that even the judges said they never wanted to see the child in it again....it was just like I touched her off somehow..she seemed crazy

Strange! Check out this Jalie pattern. If you know someone who sews, you could do something like this... there are some cute styles here. http://www.jalie.com/jalie2916-unita...g-pattern.html

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skating mom to 3 angels on earth and 1 in heaven

Check our Riversedge.com - they have quite a selection at reasonable prices:

http://www.riversedgedancewear.com/unitards.html

Kwiksew options too: http://www.kwiksew.com/catalog/cat_detail.cfm?pid=3444
http://www.kwiksew.com/catalog/cat_detail.cfm?pid=2722
http://www.kwiksew.com/catalog/cat_detail.cfm?pid=3273
http://www.kwiksew.com/catalog/cat_detail.cfm?pid=3052 (I have this one, the back needs to be made more hollow tbh)
http://www.kwiksew.com/catalog/cat_detail.cfm?pid=3104

I just did a search on eBay for "unitard +child +black" and found over 50 hits, none more than $50. For that price you could take it to a regular dressmaker and have one sleeve replaced, or get a sleeveless one and have sleeves added.

Also Discount Dance Supply has a good selection of basic unitards that could be trimmed out.

The original dressmaker does sound a bit off. I'd find someone else pronto.

WOW!! Thanks, great link