Has anything ever reminded you of The Hunger Games, but in a good way? When main character Katniss Everdeen goes on stage for her “girl on fire” interview, she spins around in her beautiful dress, which shows off its secret firey design.
Ivy Thompson’s dress didn’t throw off sparks, but certainly sparked the imagination of gown-lovers and seamstresses everywhere when she showed off her amazing creation in a video she shared with Insider. Even more impressive is that she made her own awe-inspiring dress without any formal costume-making skills!
If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, she managed to turn this dress…
…into this, with just a few twirls!
Amazing, right?!
Upon learning that she’d be attending a masquerade ball in Seattle, she decided to flex her creative muscles instead of renting or buying a gown. The result was something so unique that we’re guessing that guests were asking all night where they could get their own.
Growing up, Thompson saw both her mother and grandmother sewing but hadn’t picked up much in the way of formal training. But she was clearly bitten by the creativity bug because her informal skills are really something to behold.
At one point, she maintained an Instagram account full of her inspiring creations, but sadly it’s been deactivated. Now you can find her whimsical creations via Pintaram where she goes by the handle @the_sewlo_artist.
Take a look at just a few:
After attending a production of “Cinderella,” Thompson wanted to do something reminiscent of the scene in which the future princess simply whips up her arms as her fairy godmother turns her rags into riches.
So Thompson got to work on her own little piece of magic.
She said in her video (which you can see below):
“The most difficult part about getting this gown from concept to reality was figuring out how to do the transformation in one smooth motion.”
In order to make it work, she put a snap panel at the front of the dress and a series of laces at the back.
By connecting the laces to the panel, she could pull one cord to release the top of the dress and expose the butterfly design hidden underneath.
Then comes some grace and elegance since the wearer has to maneuver out of the sleeves without struggling. But this proves to be no trouble for Thompson.
As she spins, the silvery silk gown slowly becomes a giant monarch butterfly.
The video is truly mesmerizing as Thompson demonstrates the dresses ability multiple times and pokes around a lovely park in her fairy tale creation.
Calling herself an “English teacher by day and seamstress by night,” Thompson has answered questions all over the Internet about her butterfly dress as people have attempted to replicate it for proms and other special occasions.
Despite what looks like a flawless execution, Thompson claims:
“…I’d like to acknowledge that it is straight up amateur hour on the construction of this garment. I was running short on time, and I had to keep changing the design because stuff I thought would work kept not working, so a lot of things are an afterthought. Tons of raw edges and just yuck sewing in general.”
More technical details can be found on Reddit, but needless to say, there was a lot of folding, packing, and snapping the bulk of the dress into the silver bodice.
Even more impressive is the fact that the butterfly material is actually 8 sets of butterfly scarf wings purchased from eBay, since “there is absolutely no monarch butterfly fabric to be found anywhere.” And the satin? “… Just Joann’s bargain bin,” says Thompson.
Since she already had the hoop skirt, the rest of the dress cost her just $100 to make.
Here she is at the masquerade ball with her date.
Make sure you check out the amazing transformation video below and watch as Thompson spins herself into a butterfly!
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