Julie, if you go to my facebook page and look at the skating photos you will see a beautiful blue dance dress that is Del Arbour, they made it for me, a custom fit in 2 weeks. The dress and the sizeable amount of beading were actually very well priced considering the skirt is silk and there are easily 2k beads/crystals on the dress. It is also a perfect fit, I wear and 8-10 in Del Arbour. I also use US icewear, the green dress in the photos and almost all the other dresses.

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Thank you! The Del Arbour dress is amazing. I, too, wear an 8-10 in Del Arbour; I was able to try one on the other day. What size are you in US Icewear? I've never tried their dresses, but I'm guessing I will be an adult medium.

I have two US Icewear dresses, and I believe they actually cut the dresses to my measurements. I'm not certain, but I know she said she wanted my specific measurements before cutting the patterns for the dresses--and this was just for two of their 2007 collection practice dresses! I love love LOVE my US Icewear dresses. The dresses I received say Ladies Small, which also leads me to believe they were cut for me. My measurements are all size small except for the girth, which is actually Medium-Large, so I think if the dress were ACTUALLY a size small, based on the size chart, it would be too short in the torso.

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Del also did my freestyle dress--for those of you who know me, it's my black velvet dress with the long sheer sleeves and a zillion red/clear/black crystals. They also did all the dresses for the last two synchro teams I skated for. For the most part, I've always been very pleased with them (they kind of goofed on our synchro dresses last year--which are gorgeous, but they didn't fit right and we sent them back to all be fixed). When I started freestyle last year, 3 weeks before ANs, I realized I didn't own a single dress with a skirt short enough for freestyle...I called them on a Monday and they had the dress made, shipped and delivered by Friday of that week (I stoned it myself). It was just one of their normal stock dresses, but they had to add 2" to the torso (which they do with all my dresses from them) and lengthen the skirt 2" because I hate skirts that are too short, so they couldn't just pull it out of their stock and ship it. The dresses are maybe a little pricey for some, but in my opinion, they hold up very well and are worth it. Actually my free dress was only $160 or $180 (before the $100+ of stones I added myself). Our synchro competition dresses (no stones) were usually in the $250-$275 range. If I change my free program next year, I'm def going back to them just because I know they will fit and hold up. I have two music ideas and two slightly altered versions of their stock dresses I would want (depending on which music I choose).

FreidaB (out of Boston) did another dress for me last year, it's a dance dress but I've been wearing it for interp (again, those of you who know me, it's the red halter, I always get tons of compliments on it). I was pleased with them. I tried a dress on at synchro nationals last year, loved the fit and style, but not the color. They made it for me in a different color, different skirt, but for some reason when the one they made me came it was WAY too big and where it didn't fit right, the whole dress had to be taken apart to fix it. Their customer service was really good, I took photos of myself in the dress so they could see what needed fixed, shipped it back to them, and they fixed and returned it in about a week. They're good with adults, last year at AN they had a lot of dresses in sizes many of us need with slightly longer skirts, they'll double-line nude material so normal bras can be worn and not show, etc. They also have a halter style that is not too low cut, which if you're busty and somewhat self-conscious about it in skating dresses like I am, it actually covers everything and is very comfortable. I think I paid $216 for it, no stones, and added about $80 worth of stones myself.

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2010-2011 goals:
Pass Junior MIF test
Don't break anything