#1
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Dance dress skirt length
I'm doing ice dance, hoping to test the Elementary dances later this year (if I work really hard and improve enough), and will need a dress when the time comes.
I love making my own skating dresses (which is just as well as I am so fat that there really isn't much choice for off the rack costumes). I figure that a dance dress is pretty much the same as a free skating dress, only with a longer skirt, so I should be okay using one of the patterns I already have. I plan to make mine shorter and higher at the left hip, curving to lower and longer at the right hip, but with a mesh underskirt to make it the same all the way around, if you can work out what I mean. But what length should the skirt of a dance dress be? Mid-thigh, or closer to the knee? Is there anything else I should know about them, like is the skirt pretty much a double circle like a free skating skirt, with a dip in front & back, longer at the back though?
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Katz Saved by Synchro! I was over it, now I'm into it again ! |
#2
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My dance/synchro dresses (same thing) range from just past mid thigh to just past knee length (some skirts are asymmetrical, I have one that's mid-thigh in the front but past my knees in the back, a few are the same length all the way around). As far as where they're sewn on, you can seam it on just like a normal skating dress or, depending on the style of the body, you can play around with that. I have two that are designed to look more like cocktail/party dresses, with a skirt that starts just below the bust and is very fitted through the body and then flairs out at the hips.
Avoid any heavy fabrics for the skirt. Velvet can be way too heavy to haul around and just looks heavy, skirts that flow on dance dresses are always much more flattering--power meshes, glisenettes, chiffon. The lycra with mesh over it look is very in right now. A lot of skaters are actually finding cheap cocktail dresses at the department stores, etc since lycra and other stretchy materials with short meshy and tulle skirts are so in right now, and just wearing those with a bodysuit, usually with clear straps, underneath. Some of them even come in sparkly materials with little embellishments (beading, rhinestones) already on them. You'd never guess that they were not made to be skating dresses. One of my synchro dresses was actually designed after a cocktail dress we liked at Macy's, and the next year when I wore it to compete dance, someone in my group was wearing the actual dress. Other than the fact that mine had a nude mesh insert in the front so it didn't feel as low cut as it looked and mine had rhinestones on it, they were basically the same (and I guarantee she didn't spend $300 on hers). That's always a cheap alternative.
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2010-2011 goals: Pass Junior MIF test Don't break anything Last edited by RachelSk8er; 08-05-2008 at 07:14 AM. |
#3
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Quote:
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-Jessi What I need is a montage... Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009) |
#4
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I prefer the shorter skirt, both to skate in and as a look. But that is just my opinion.
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Mrs Redboots ~~~~~~~~ I love my computer because my friends live in it! Ice dancers have lovely big curves! |
#5
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My two favorite dance dresses are about knee length in the front, mid-calf in the back, double layer chiffon skirts.
Try Jalie or ballroom dance patterns (you can find some on ebay), switching out a leotard bottom for the body of the dress. Or make a matching panty.
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You miss 100% of the shots you never take.--Wayne Gretzky |
#6
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Katz Saved by Synchro! I was over it, now I'm into it again ! |
#7
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Why not use that fabric for the bodice and a matching chiffon for the skirt?
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-Jessi What I need is a montage... Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009) |
#8
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Well, yes, I could. I do have a lighter weight glitter velvet that might be suitable though.
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Katz Saved by Synchro! I was over it, now I'm into it again ! |
#9
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I have to chime in with my vote against velvet skirts as well. A heavy material will make you look sloooow, which is the absolute last thing you want in skating, ever. You want a material and cut that moves nicely with you, isn't distracting, and enhances your skating as opposed to hindering it. Layered Chiffon is usually a safe bet.
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~No thinking, breathing, or hesitation!~ |
#10
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Ok, I get the message, velvet is a bad idea, chiffon or similar is better.
Any suggestions then, for a pear-shaped, overweight lady, in terms of style and skirt length? I need to emphasise my upper half rather than my heavy hips & thighs.
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Katz Saved by Synchro! I was over it, now I'm into it again ! |
#11
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A good place to get ideas would be to google/youtube and look at adult synchro costumes- since they are often dance length, and you could see what they look like on a variety of adult bodies. (Browsing dance costumes you'd just usually see one person in them)
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-Jessi What I need is a montage... Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009) |
#12
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#13
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I am not a small woman, and my absolute facorite dress of all times that has been retired (versus my current dress which is my absolute favorite) that my dress maker made (aka coach extraordinaire) is made of gltter velvet, which includes the skirt. Not dance length, but a little longer than a typical FS skirt that was assymetrically cut with slits on either side. The velvet flips up if it's cut properly as you skate and you actually look fast. I will find a picture of me in the dress and PM you with it...
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#14
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2010-2011 goals: Pass Junior MIF test Don't break anything |
#15
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It also depends on how much fullness the velvet skirt has. I've seen quite straight asymmetric velvet skirts that worked very well. They had enough fullness to allow movement yet at the same time, the weight of the velvet kept the line of the skirt as desired.
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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ... Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems A: 5 and counting... |
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