It’s that time of year again when department stores become flooded with formal dresses all for the most important event of every highschooler’s career–the prom. Limos, boys, and corsages aside, the event is mainly about the dress. It’s the one time of year students get to dress up like they’re at the Oscars down to their dyed-to-match shoes.

Prom season is one of the best fabric selling seasons of the year (aside from Halloween), and as more and more younger people are picking up a needle and thread, this next generation of sewers is becoming their own set of formalwear designers. Instead of being content with looking like anyone else at her prom, young sewer and designer Ashley Bass from Michigan has decided to design and sew her own dress from scratch. Ashley is proud of being a 2009 Scholastics Art and Writing National American Vision Award Winner for Apparel Design. For the competition, she made a gown out of coffee filters that could convert to a cocktail dress. For that accomplishment, Ashley was honored at Carnegie Hall.

The wonderful staff at Haberman Fabrics was so impressed with the aspiring fashionista’s talent that they gave her $200 to cover materials, trims, and notions from the store to complete her look. They’re also blogging about her progress at the Sewing Dish. Follow along with us and the gals at the Sewing Dish through Ashley’s journey from the original design to the completed look once she finishes her dress.

Pictured above with fabrics at Haberman’s, Ashley plans to create the asymmetrical design she sketched above in pink.

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