Update on the lovely Kaitlyn AdDress Fashion Show Challenge

Where has Kaitlyn been?! I'm sure you longer readers have missed updates on the college freshman whom I mentored last year for her senior project. I taught her how to sew last year and I was her mentor. We would sew together for about 20 hours a week for her repurposed clothing line and fashion show she presented in downtown Augusta.

Now a freshman at University of Georgia, she is studying fashion merchandising and recently took place in an event called "AdDress a Need", a fashion show and challenge from Advance Development in Athens. They provide young ladies prom dresses that cannot afford one. Kaitlyn repurposed a hideous dress into something fun and fresh. 

All designers were to repurpose one dress with no more than two yards of additional material and couldn't spend more than $20. Kaitlyn went to Goodwill, purchased a tan skirt and blue tulle to change the skirt of the dress. Being that the rules were NO outsourcing the sewing, I helped her with the process but didn't get on the machine.

Sketching her ideas.

Kait and I.

Being goofballs. Kaitlyn is so much fun to hang out with. 

Using flaps from the original skirt for sleeves on the finished product.

Sewing in the corner of my workroom.

Almost done! She used my chalk hem marker on each layer, five total, to mark the exact distance from the ground all the way around the skirt. And my job was done. She completed the rolled hems by herself at home and added beading to the bodice. What a champ! Yay Kaitlyn!!

Kaitlyn explaining her project to the crowd.

Miss UGA modeling her finished dress.

She won the Audience Choice Award! I'm so proud of my girl! She is going to be a star and accomplish so many things. I can't wait for her to graduate college and get into the fashion industry so we can be colleagues someday. 

Last year, when I took Kaitlyn on as a student, I had never been a mentor or teacher. Being that she was only 17, and myself 25 at the time, there was quite a difference in our lives. But I treated her like an adult, was honest and caring, teaching her the best I could. She spoiled me with oreos and McDonald's, and I taught her how to sew and how to love cats (that wasn't as successful as the sewing) She was a trooper and an amazing student! 

And her show was so great! All her ticket sales went to the Alzheimer's Association. She raised a ton of money and became the coolest girl in school. It was so amazing to watch her learn and grow and become more of a grown woman in the process. 

Congrats Kaitlyn and I hope to have more posts with her in the future. She is coming back to Augusta for a quick visit this weekend and I'm forcing her to hang out with me.