Proms have long passed us this year in this small corner of the world, but for the night they were magical. The memories stick with us, the feeling of music in our chests, the smell of late nights, and the promise of summer. Happiness seems to effortlessly float down around us. Proms, weddings, formals, etc. all are wrapped with magic, a veil of anticipation? The date is scheduled long in advance. The dress is hemmed to perfection with each seam sitting in its uniformed row. The event is pulled off flawlessly. But what about the woman behind the scenes, the force of nature who quietly hems for hours, The Dress Lady? Where would the magic be without a dress?

For years her mother hemmed dresses for each and every occasion. No task was impossible. Stitches and seams sitting at the center of each prom season, wedding day, or formal dance. Growing up amidst the life of a seamstress The Dress Lady learned the little things, the technique, and truly how much care must go into a single dress. There were large shoes to fill, but she effortlessly slipped into the spot her mother once held domain over. For two generations, an endless number of dresses have been mended, hemmed, and even created by, once her mother’s, and now her hands. Proms, formals, and weddings simply couldn’t go on without her. After all, a magical night can never happen without a magical dress. An endless supply of energy seems to stem from The Dress Lady. Orders flood her in the early spring, but no job seems too impossible nor too time consuming.

A dress is not something we wear, but a feeling to cherish. A dress is anticipation, love, beauty, confidence.. There is so much more in all of that fabric. The love sewn into a dress, into the pleats, the bodice, the sequins is all a little bit more than anyone could know. A dress is only a dress without an occasion to wear it, a memory to create. The Dress Lady is a force of nature. She is humble, kind, and magic with a needle and thread. It’s not about having the dress altered, it’s about the love behind it, the hours, the care put into each stitch. An experience you can’t find in a designer shop waits for you in the home of The Dress Lady. And for all these years I thank you and your teacher. Thank you for countless hours, thousands of spools of thread, and most of all, the care in each piece you alter. Thank you for all of the magic you have given the girls of this community.