Why can't I find Adult XL dresses?

[Mainemom]

Okay, getting desperate here. I need to find a new dress for my DD who is "blessed" with a girth of 67 inches! She is almost 5'8" and very long waisted. It seems that the only size she can't fit in to is an AXL (which made her cry since she is only 13) but every dress that we find that she likes is AL at most. Sooo frustrating. Does anyone have any suggestions?

She needs a dress ASAP for MIF testing and can get away with something very plain so we are thinking of just buying a velvet leotard with matching skirt but for FS she needs a new dress. This summer I'm going to start buying some patterns and making dresses to see how hard it is (I've sewn all my life, just never skating dresses because we can't find fabric) but for now - any ideas? I wish I could sort the dresses online by available size because you could spend hours clicking on each one only to find that it's not available or worse (which we just did) is order one only to find out that they don't really have it in AXL, despite what the website says. Oh the joys of figure skating...

[SynchroSk8r114]

You should consider having someone make her a custom-made dress. Perhaps a new freestyle dress and a more basic dress that she can use for her MIF tests. They'll take her measurements and create a dress that will fit her perfectly!

Although it can be pricey, custom dresses are a worthwhile investment, especially if she's done growing. I've had dresses custom-made (fully stoned, etc.) for as little as $150.00. I think that's about the most I've ever spent on one. You don't have to go over the top, but if she's seriously competing and planning on test regularly, you'll definitely get your money's worth out of it.

[phoenix]

I had very good luck w/ this seller on ebay:

http://stores.ebay.com/bichengjie2008_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQ QtZkm

The nice thing is you find/buy the dress you like & then she makes it in your size. Very inexpensive, the dress arrived fast, very good quality, & it fits!! I'm 6' tall so I also have a very long girth. I ordered the XL size from her.

[Mainemom]

I have often wondered about those dresses on Ebay - the prices just seemed to good to be true, especially all the way from China. I'll go through these with her tonight and see if we can agree on something.

[lskater]

I ordered a few of these dresses...I also have to order XL...I have a high waistline, but long girth.....the dresses were very inexpensive, but very good quality....all lined and the seams were strong.

[Skittl1321]

www.mainstreetdancewear.com sells dresses up to XL. I was very pleased with the quality (though I don't get that size). I didn't check the size chart to see if it's "really" an XL though- but the dress I have doesn't seem to run small. They are unadorned so perfect for tests.

They sell them through rainbosports too if you don't want to order from a company you haven't heard of- but they are cheaper direct from them. I ordered with no problems.

[Mainemom]

I tried Main Street Dancewear and ordered a dress that DD liked but it wasn't until I emailed several times that they got back to me to tell me that although it said on the website that the dress was available in her size, it actually wasn't... so I have tried the EBay Chinese website that was recommended in a previous post. Found a dress that DD loves and got it for an absolute steal - if it is half as nice as it looks in the picture, it will be soooo worth it. If not, back to the drawing board. It's hard not being built like the majority of ittybitty skaters!

[happysk8tes]

If you ever want to go the custom dress route, I can highly recommend Freida B in Framingham, Ma. Expensive but well worth it for my one and only dance dress that's passed 6 tests so far!

Pat, formerly a Mainer : )

[Skittl1321]

I tried Main Street Dancewear and ordered a dress that DD liked but it wasn't until I emailed several times that they got back to me to tell me that although it said on the website that the dress was available in her size, it actually wasn't... so I have tried the EBay Chinese website that was recommended in a previous post. Found a dress that DD loves and got it for an absolute steal - if it is half as nice as it looks in the picture, it will be soooo worth it. If not, back to the drawing board. It's hard not being built like the majority of ittybitty skaters!

Well thats disappointing- sorry for the wild goose chase.

Please post a review of the ebay china dresses- they are gorgeous, and even with the very high shipping, inexpensive as skating dresses go.

[quarkiki2]

If you do decide to sew a dress, I've just made my first Jalie skating dress and got really cool fabric from "Spandex House, Inc." They have 2 and 4 way stretch in every style and color imaginable -- really. I found brown with copper glitter and loved how it looked on the ice! Priced reasonably, too -- most of their fabrics were $8-12 a yard.

[climbsk8]

I've had a lot of luck with Sharene dresses, even though I have a long girth too. I just order the size for my measurements and then ask them to add inches to the girth. It's about $30 to alter the pattern, but it's worked beautifully every time.

[CaraSkates]

Try GK Elite. They make a fair number of their dresses in AXL for reasonable prices (there are even some in the sale section right now on their website!). The size chart says 64-66" girth but I find the dresses to fit a little bigger then the chart says - I am borderline measurements between AM & AL (62" girth) and I fit into 90% of their AM and they fit me better then AL. The velvet dresses have more vertical stretch then the lycra. The dresses also hold up and wash well! Only downside for me at least is that they are fairly local so every skater around here owns their dresses - still good for testing and compulsory though.

If she is done growing, I would suggest getting a custom or semi custom dress for her freestyle at least. If she can keep the music for a least one season and then retire the dress for testing/compulsory moves/spin events it's worth the money. I make the majority of my competition dresses but can't be bothered to make custom for each event. Both Sharene and Del Arbour do semi custom and custom work.
I hope you find something that works! I know how important it is to feel beautiful when you skate!

[KiZa_32]

so I have tried the EBay Chinese website that was recommended in a previous post. Found a dress that DD loves and got it for an absolute steal - if it is half as nice as it looks in the picture, it will be soooo worth it. If not, back to the drawing board. It's hard not being built like the majority of ittybitty skaters!



all of my dresses bar 2 i think have come from ebay and they are really good cheap easy and already beaded for you.
i've had alot of trouble finding dresses in my size as well but ebay solved it for me :)

[isakswings]

I had very good luck w/ this seller on ebay:

http://stores.ebay.com/bichengjie2008_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQ QtZkm

The nice thing is you find/buy the dress you like & then she makes it in your size. Very inexpensive, the dress arrived fast, very good quality, & it fits!! I'm 6' tall so I also have a very long girth. I ordered the XL size from her.

How long did it take for your dress to arrive?

[phoenix]

How long did it take for your dress to arrive?

About 2 weeks! Don't know if that's typical, I was really surprised.

[isakswings]

About 2 weeks! Don't know if that's typical, I was really surprised.

That's not bad! I may try them for the next dress we need.

[aussieskater]

Just chiming in - I've just bought 2 dresses from Ebay (sellers were Subinur and Lucktao), and I'm pleased with them, and will certainly use both sellers again. I'm pretty sure they use the same factory to make the garments as the dresses carry the same label and the shipping papers for each were the same. They were $36 each delivered to the door. I was able to select the colour as well as the size. The dresses took less than 2 weeks to arrive from China to my doorstep in Australia.

Both dresses are fairly well made, and came beaded exactly as per the picture. The fabric is not of spectacular quality, but for that price it is better than I expected. Both dresses are made with most of the stretch running vertically rather than horizontally around the body.

Rather than nominating a size for my daughter, I sent her measurements (foolishly adding a couple of inches to each one, as I suspected that the dresses might run small because they are so cheap). Her dress was made exactly to the measurements I had sent.

(Again foolishly) I ordered mine XL when normally I'd be a Med or Large, in the expectation that for that price they'd run small. When it arrived, I was surprised to find that it is a true XL. (So guess who spent the weekend running the sides of both dresses in, plus taking the briefs off mine and recutting them to fit?? Lucky I know how to sew! The reason I was trying the Ebay dresses is that I can't buy the fabric, let alone the stones, for what I paid.)

One suggestion I'd make: take your time and keep an eye out to buy the dress when it's on auction rather than "buy it now". The "buy it now" prices were $69 and $59 plus shipping respectively - I got them for $10 each at auction. It was my experience that if I missed out on one auction, the same dress was re-auctioned within a couple of days. I think it took 3 or 4 auctions to win my dress.

[LilJen]

I second the recommendation for Spandex World www.spandexworld.com. They will send you free samples of any fabric you think might work, and their prices are really reasonable. I've also used two of the Jalie patterns for dresses/skirts and they seem to work well. You can get them at sewing.patternreview.com if you're in the US; www.jalie.com if you're in Canada.

[Mainemom]

So we ordered a dress from
http://stores.ebay.com/bichengjie200...Q3amesstQQtZkm
and I can't believe the quality! It's absolutely stunning, the bodice is fully lined and it all looks very solid. It's too big in the waist because we had to go with the AXL but the girth fits very nicely and that was the concern. I can take it in at the waist myself, NBD. I paid $35 plus $25 shipping and it was worth every penny. We're definitely doing this again. The hardest part was waiting to get the dress, to see if it was as nice in person - and it was actually better! I highly recommend this seller.

[aussieskater]

Mainemom, I agree! I can't work out how they do it for the price. I know they don't pay their workers very much but even the materials would cost more than the completed garment if I tried to buy them down here!

[tidesong]

My friend went back to china to look for some cloth and said that the cloth on average is about 5 times cheaper than in Singapore. So I wouldn't be surprised if material cost is lower for them too? She didn't check out stretch fabric though, so I may be wrong.
Also don't forget that $35 USD is about 350 yuan. If the material cost them about 100 yuan and the workmanship cost 100 yuan then they still make money.

[TiggerTooSkates]

Mainemom - I'm so glad you posted on this dress. I too have been looking at that seller on eBay and wondering...

I used to live in Saudi Arabia, and I used to take dresses to the Korean and Indian tailors downtown in the souks - you could pick amazing fabric direct from China and India for next to nothing, take in a favorite dress, make design changes, and they'd create a new dress using your own as a pattern. (The fabric was amazing quality - you could get genuine rough silk for something like four bucks a yard - it was so cheap that you'd go, "that's expensive!" if you picked up fabric that was ten or fifteen bucks a yard, when that same stuff would be about three to four times more a yard over here. And the shops in Riyadh were still making tons of money. I knew a girl who had her wedding dress made in Saudi before she left - she was a British nurse - and it cost her less than two hundred dollars.) I had an amazing evening-type dress that was created from a casual sundress - just because of the fabric and overlay I picked. I have no idea how they do it - you'd get your other dress back, unharmed, and this fabulous copy that looked completely different. I know there are probably crafty folks on this board who can do that, but I surely can't - and I find the ones who can to be amazing.

So when I saw this seller on eBay, and I saw they are in China, I had this feeling the product would be fantastic - even though I was a bit nervous about taking the plunge. And trust me - they're making money doing it. Hats off to them for seeing a market niche and grabbing it.

So I'm off to eBay. ;) Thanks for the tip - and post a photo of the dress if you can!

[Gina10179202]

I am also very "long" and I fit into an AXL length-wise, but it is always baggy because I don't have much fat on me. I can fit into a range from Adult Small-Adult Extra large, and I am 13. I buy my dresses from Love 2 Ice Skate, (http://www.love2iceskate.com/) mainly because their shop is based in the same town as my rink, but also because the dresses actually fit me:D I'm not sure where you live, but this is in England so if you don't want to buy from there then it isn't very helpful.

[TiggerTooSkates]

I took a look at this site and I really like some of the dresses. It would be neat to have dresses I've not seen anywhere over here (around here, anyway). Where is their shop? My husband is British and we go to the UK about twice a year.