A Northumberland teenager has wowed classmates by turning up to her prom in a dress she designed and made herself.
Sixteen-year-old Poppy Harris-Jones, of Lowick in north Northumberland, turned up to her high school prom in a white sparkly dress that she based on a dress she'd picked up from a charity shop and sewed herself. A student of the Duchess's Community High School in Alnwick, Poppy worked on the garment whilst she had Coronavirus.
Passionate about sustainable fashion, Poppy loved the shape of a dress she found at the Salvation Army charity shop and snapped it up at a bargain price, though never intended to wear it as there were some marks on it. She instead used the dress as inspiration to create her own pattern, having developed a passion for dressmaking whilst home-schooling during the pandemic, and after watching the film Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale.
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Aware of sweatshop labour and the consequences that fast fashion has on those who make it, Poppy said: "I don't really buy anything brand new anymore because charity shops are a lot more sustainable and they tend to recycle fashion, and because fashion works in a look half of the stuff in the shop is in fashion anyway! Buying a used one from a charity shop meant I didn't have something hanging over my head saying you've just bought something you're only going to wear once, because someone's already worn it."
Making her own dress also eliminated the possibility of a classmate turning up in the exact same outfit, a complication she was happy to avoid! Basing her design off a handwoven silk dress that she estimates to have got at 10% of its true value, Poppy used YouTube videos to help her with sewing the dress, using satin and a stocking-type material for the overlay to give a silver sparkly layer on the surface.
Speaking of making the dress while having Covid, Poppy said: "It wasn't too bad because it gave me something to do after the main symptoms had passed and I could walk about a little bit. Because I was locked in a massive room in the house, I just got everything out and decided to get on with it and make it."
In total it took Poppy around seven hours overall to make the dress, with a few final touches on the day including the zip, which a friend's mum helped her with. Wearing it to her prom at Linden Hall in Longhorsley, near Morpeth, brought a lot of admiration from classmates.
She continued: "Someone came over and whispered to me that I looked really nice which probably made my night. People were quite shocked that I made it I suppose, no-one was really expecting it.
Despite Poppy's creative design and obvious talents as a dressmaker, it will remain firmly as a hobby while she studies for her A-levels, which she'll continue at the same school. She'll study biology, chemistry and geography - though she does already have her next design planned.
She finished: "I've already started to design my next dress, I'm going to wear it for the Holly Ball in winter."
Have you ever made your own clothes for a big event? Let us know!
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