Thiese dazzles with homemade prom dress

By Willis Patenaude | Times-Register

Prom season has descended upon area schools—time for students to find the perfect date, perfect suit or, above all, the perfect dress. While most search stores for a dress that captivates their imagination, Central senior Alexis Thiese was sitting at home, surrounded by fabric, thread and needles and a Pinterest page of ideas. 

For the last two proms, Thiese has spent several months designing, sewing and performing last-minute repairs to create one-of-a-kind dresses that show off her grunge- and indie-inspired style and elegance. They’re images that show the result of stitching a childhood hobby into a reality. 

Sewing is part of Thiese’s personality. She enjoys crafting, crocheting, knitting and embroidery. Mom Elizabeth taught her how to hand sew when she was younger, and Thiese took what she learned to make dresses for her My Life Dolls because she wanted them to have different clothes. 

The experiment “didn’t exactly turn out great,” Thiese admitted, but she kept at it. By the time she reached seventh grade, she was able to hand sew “cute little overall” dresses. 

As time went on, Thiese dabbled at making her own homecoming outfits since ninth grade, refashioning one of her mom’s old dresses and patching it up for sophomore year. She made a two-piece skirt corset top for homecoming in 2023, actually finishing the dress the day of the event. That was the same year Thiese made her first prom dress. 

Inspired by the skills she possessed, the creative control over the elements and designs and the ability to “tweak” the dress during the process, as well as it being more cost-effective, Thiese set out to make a prom dress. The process included “a lot of trial and error,” she said, because making a prom dress isn’t as simple as grabbing a needle and fabric. It requires time, equipment and materials. 

The time commitment emphasizes the dedication Thiese has to the creative process. She’s still a student and actively involved in school activities and sports such as cross country, track and field, theater, speech and art. She also works at Subway. Whenever Thiese has an opportunity, she works on it, but “it’s definitely a process,” she said. 

Thiese used her mom’s Brother sewing machine to create last year’s dress after repairing it by removing a blockage she jokingly said, “may or may not have been caused” by her younger brother. This year, she used a heavy duty Singer sewing machine her mom bought her due to the brand’s “great reputation.” 

“I like the idea of having a working sewing machine after dealing with the one I had before, which I had purchased at a pawn shop. The only other equipment I really use is my mom’s iron that’s probably older than I am,” Thiese added. 

She is partial to corduroy and denim—corduroy because it’s easy to work with, comes in fun colors and is softer to use with great texture. Denim is what Thiese uses to make pants, but corduroy is her “favorite.” She also has a lot of simple cotton fabric lying around, thanks to a gift from her uncle’s friend’s mom.

What Thiese doesn’t have on-hand, she searches for online because of the variety available and because, if you can’t find it, the only time you wasted was searching through a website. Last year, she bought fabric from Kiki’s Textiles because they had what she wanted, and this year she bought from Fabric Wholesale Direct for the same reason and because it was the most affordable. 

“The amount of fabric I buy is a guessing game because I’m never sure what alterations I’ll need to do or if I’ll make mistakes and need more, so I try to buy more than I think I need,” she explained. 

It’s during the search for material when inspiration starts kicking in for the pattern and design of the dress. Thiese said this process is “actually the most challenging part of sewing.” Because she does it all by hand, it also requires “the most thinking.” 

“Most of the time, the item I want to make is in a picture, with the pattern unavailable. I have to try and judge how it was made, make the pattern myself and execute it. This involves a lot of trial and error and making sure I use that mock up first,” she explained.

A self-described “big fan” of Pinterest, Thiese browses pages, taking inspiration from this dress and that design, plotting how to make it a reality. As she’s browsing, she drafts shapes she might need for the dress and puts it all together on a laptop with a touchscreen, which is “less messy” and makes changes easier to accomplish. Thiese then goes about putting in colors, making more changes and piecing it all together. 

“It’s almost like a puzzle that you have to get together just right,” she said.

With the mock-up or rough draft ready and the fabrics arrived, it’s time for cutting, sewing and altering, a process Thiese said typically goes “pretty smoothly” due to the background work she puts in beforehand. Work that created last year’s dress of polyester chiffon. The dress was a jade green color, chosen because Thiese just wanted a green dress. 

“I love green. It’s one of my favorite colors,” she said.

The bodice of the dress was a halter style with a secure deep “V” and normal circle skirt with fabric draped to make the “poofed tiers.” There was also an under layer to the skirt, which had eight or nine different layers total.

This year’s dress was crafted from organza, a sheer fabric traditionally made from silk, as well as polyester charmeuse satin. The satin is silver and so is the under layer of the dress, while the organza is burgundy. The dress bodice has a sweetheart neckline and is a halter with an open back. The skirt is several layers of circle skirts, with the upper layers taking an asymmetrical shape with the right side being higher.

“Part of why I did the bodice differently this year was because I didn’t like the deep ‘V’ design as much from last year. Otherwise, the dresses are pretty different,” Thiese said. 

Arriving at prom in a homemade dress was an unthinkable premise four or five years ago, when Thiese was wearing more basic clothing items and didn’t understand sewing techniques or how patterns work. 

Now, she is altering pieces of clothing for friends, hemming, fixing waistbands and the seats of pants and even making little jean pouches for rambunctious children. Thiese can even make last-second repairs to her own dresses, which she had to do last year about 30 minutes before prom photos, when her zipper accidently broke. 

“My nails were about three-fourths of an inch long, and it was incredibly difficult putting a new zipper on. The panic I felt then is something I laugh at now because of course something like that would happen to me,” Thiese said. 

Thiese has enjoyed making her own prom dresses because of the satisfaction in seeing the creative process come together and knowing she made a “pretty dress.” The thoughtful process and progress sometimes outweighs the final product, but sewing is also a personal passion and something she genuinely enjoys. 

Thiese also enjoys “busting it down on the dance floor” in her own dress, and the compliments—but “mostly the dancing.”