Photo provided by Shaira Patel

Three days. That’s how long it took for senior Alexa Gassensmith to customize and revamp senior Shaira Patel’s prom dress.

On Friday April 21st, over a thousand students attended Noblesville High School’s annual prom at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis. Gassensmith and Patel both attended the dance, where Patel wore the dress that was made for her by Gassensmith.

For Gassensmith, the biggest obstacle in completing the project was the time constraint.

“Shaira asked me to recreate her prom dress before spring break, but I actually didn’t get her dress until the Saturday before prom,” Gassensmith said. “It took me three days to complete her dress. I spent every day from the time I got home from school until about 1AM working on it.”

The opportunity for the project came through Don Wettrick’s innovations workshop, a class both Gassensmith and Patel attend.

“I am in innovations, and my project in the class was to revamp clothes,” Gassensmith said. “I would be constantly sewing in class, and showing everyone what I was making. Shaira was also in my class. Before spring break, she asked me if I would be willing to help her do something to her prom dress—remake the whole top.”

After acquiring the materials needed for the new dress, Gassensmith began customizing the dress for Patel. Already tight on time, Gassensmith said she came across many problems in the dress-making process.

“The biggest issue I had was that I couldn’t use my sewing machine to sew,” Gassensmith said. “When I tried to, my machine would eat up the fabric, and bunch it up. I ended up having to hand sew every single part of the dress. Hand sewing is very tedious, and after awhile, hurts your fingers. After I found out I had to hand sew everything, my time crunch became even more prevalent.”

Despite the obstacles, Gassensmith completed the dress in only three days. Patel wore Gassensmith’s creation to prom and sported the homemade dress with a choker and a pair of heels. Gassensmith said that both she and Patel received lots of positive feedback on the dress following the event.

“Since I have made Shaira’s prom dress, I have had a lot of people approach me about revamping clothes for them, and I now have a good client base,” Gassensmith said. “In the fall, I am attending Indiana University to major in Apparel Merchandising with a minor in business and fashion design. I am hoping to continue making clothes, as well as learning more about the business side of fashion.”