Since, the beginning of the year, senior Abby Day has been working on a project: creating her own prom dress. Day began drafting the dress when the year started and has been making progress on it all year.

Day grew up sewing with her grandma, but really only started making clothing as of last year. Day enjoys making clothing because of the sense of fulfillment it provides.

“I really like it, it makes me feel accomplished especially when it fits really nice and it looks well done,” Day said. “It’s a cool feeling because you know you made it yourself.”

So far, she has made a variety of things such as shirts, dresses, pillowcases, and even crocheted stuffed animals for her cousins, however this is the first time she has made something formal. She got the idea to make her prom dress when she realized it would be the perfect way to ensure her dress was exactly what she wanted it to be, as well as being a fun project.

“I’ve always liked making my own things and it’s kind of something I’ve always wanted to do,” Day said. “I really like prom dress shopping and finding stuff but I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted and so I think it’ll be cool to put everything together myself so it’ll fit right and it’ll be what I want.”

One of Day’s friends and classmates, Rachel Elder has witnessed all of Day’s work and has been supporting her along the way.

“She’s put a lot of effort into it,” Elder said. “Almost every class period she works on it and I think she did some over fall break too. There was a lot of prepping before she could even start, like buying the materials.”

Creating clothing can be quite challenging as it requires strict following of instructions. According to Elder, this is no problem for Day and that’s part of what makes her so good at creating clothing.

“Making clothing is a lot about following instructions and she’s good about being detailed with that,” Elder said.

Day had help from teacher Marissa Cohen, in putting together the design and advice on fixing any problems she encounters along the way.

“Cohen’s been helping me along the whole way,” Day said. “If I have any problems she tries to figure out what I should do. She’s definitely been a big help.”

Day works on the dress primarily in Cohen’s Advanced Clothing class and the dress is being stored there as she works. She uses the class’s sewing machine, but she has brought in all of her own fabrics and beading. She bought most of her materials from JoAnn’s Fabrics, though some had to be ordered online.

So far, the body of the dress is complete but the detailing is not yet finished. Elder and Cohen both agree the dress is beautiful and are proud of Day’s hard work.

“I’m really proud of her for taking the initiative to make her own prom dress,” Cohen said. “That’s not something you see all the time.”