One shoulder dresses

Skirts

Everytime Jodi sent me on an errand in New York I would look for elastic that was a different color than black and white. I have wanted this for so long and I still don’t understand why it is not carried in more stores. But on one of my last errands as an intern they finally sent me to a place that had every color. I couldn’t think at the time what colors I really wanted, or even how much I wanted. I should have gotten every color. I’m sure I would eventually use it! So far I have only used the yellow and purple for these skirts.

Tie Strap Dress

I have to thank my friends for helping me with the straps of this dress. I made 3 dresses and there are 4 straps per dress, 2 in the front and 2 in the back. I had to turn 12 straps from the inside out, which takes forever. I took all the straps with me to work on during the Super Bowl. My guy friends even helped and I had them all done before half time!

U-neck Dress

I love the vintage look of this fabric. I feel like all my New York fabric this season is floral.

2 more

I am putting 2 dresses up today because I put all of them on facebook yesterday. The fabric for both of these came from New York. Most of the fabric I used for these new dresses is from NYC. I am definitely missing having the fabric/notion stores at my fingertips, but I can usually find what I need at House of Fabrics on Main Street. I am very lucky to have such a unique fabric store right in Columbia. The satin ribbon used on the first dress is from House of Fabrics.

2nd Dress

I changed the design for this dress at the last moment. I had something completely different in mind for this fabric. This dress came to me while I was working out at the gym, as do a lot of my designs. I get bored while I run, so it is a great time to think about the dresses. The strap can be moved to any position on the shoulder and can be spread out to whatever width you want.

New Spring Dresses!

I have been working for 3 weeks on these dresses. I put all of them in M Saturday. I can’t decide if I should put the pictures up one a day or put them up all at once. For today I am just putting this dress up.

There were so many things I learned from Jodi that were obvious, but making these dresses showed me how much I learned that I didn’t even realize. I took a lot of time with each dress to make it exactly how I wanted it to look. Jodi doesn’t stop until she has everything perfect. She checks every detail to make sure it is what she wants. So these dresses are the best I have ever made!

The 1st dress:

Happy Valentine's Day

I have officially been selling my dresses for 1 year. I put the first dresses in M February 14th, 2009 and sold the first one that day too. This is a picture of the first dress I sold. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Last Jodi Arnold Event at the store

This was my last event at Jodi’s store. We had a girl come for the event that makes jewelry out of coins from all over the world. My favorite was a gold bracelet with a penny on it. Lincoln’s eye was a diamond. I will definitely miss the parties at the store after work on Thursdays, but not the cold walk back to the subway.

At this event Jodi asked me what was the best and worst part of the whole experience. There is no way to have a best there was just too much that was so great. I can't even remember what I said was the best. I know it was a list of things though. The worst was easy to answer. The absolute worst part was being away from my family for so long.

Hannah, Jodi, me and Danielle

Hannah and Danielle