How to Make a Señorita Dress for Photography

by | Sep 4, 2019 | Backdrops, Child Photography, Christchurch, Fine Art Child Portraits, Fine Art Portraiture, Fujifilm, Fujifilm X-T2, Photography props, Portraits, Sewing, XF56mm F1.2 | 0 comments

Make Your Own Photography Props

Using up Old Curtains

One day I was up at Kaikoura in the garage when my husband Stu and I found a box, high up on a shelf left by the previous owners. Stu took it down and we found some old curtains inside. They were dark glossy purple and full of spiders and other creepy crawlies. I was not impressed. I said to Stu let’s throw these in the dump.

A Spark of Inspiration

Then a sudden spark of inspiration came over me and I decided to save the curtains and make a dress out of them. I had several ideas of what I might do.   One idea was a Victorian dress and another idea was a señorita type dress. I decided to go with a señorita address and I made it in about a size 10 for my daughter Arielle. She is actually probably more like a size 8. I should’ve used a pattern but instead I tried to make it from scratch.

Could have Been Made Better

When I look at it now I think I could’ve made it better. The ruffles were the hard part. It took a lot of fabric and I randomly  sewed them all over the outfit and I don’t really think I did it very well. Also the back of the dress is a little bit saggy baggy. However when the dresses and photos you can’t tell and it comes out very well.  I have to remember that it is just a photography prop.

Beautiful Purple Fabric

The purple fabric is very luscious and deep in colour and it has a shine to it. I really really love it. Now I can see the potential in a lot of old curtains and other old fabrics for making amazing outfits for my photography. Here are some pictures I took with a señorita dress.  I used a very dark blue background and had Arielle hang onto my Italian/French chair.

Christchurch portrait fine art child photographer photography señorita dress purple

Need to use it again

I need to use this dress again for another shoot very soon. I really really love it and I think there are lots of possibilities for it.

Here is a step-by-step guide to how I made the dress.

  1. measure your child
  2. make a tube of material and sew the sides
  3. create ruffles of about 10 cm wide by cutting huge Strips of material from the curtains. Ensure sure you hem these neatly.
  4. sew the strips together to make a huge strip and sew two running stitches to pull them into ruffles.
  5. sew these ruffles onto the dress in the pattern that you require.
  6. make sure you have a nice big ruffle around the top of the tube of material to create the señorita ruffle around the shoulders.
  7. put a zip on the back so that the child can get in an out of the dress, or use ties or some other type of fastenings.
  8. Have fun with it!