How much do you spend on a competition dress?

[Adultsk8r509]

Hi everyone.  I am looking for a dress for my first competition.  I have one in the closet that will work, but I am thinking I should start shopping for something to take to Nationals next year or Sectionals.  I find it really hard to find Adult sizes.  When I started I was an AXL or AL and now I think I am more an AM or AL depending on the cut.  Still there are not as many choices out there for us...nor styles that suit my age, program, etc.  I currently have 3 dresses in my closet, none of which are truly appropriate for my program.  Wondering what everyone does for dresses.  I know we aren't supposed to plug any vendors here, but short of that, I would love to know how you all find your dresses.

[Skittl1321]

Both of my dresses cost about $75.  But they were not previously used, just off the rack.

(I don't think they are available anymore though...)
http://www.figureskatewear.com/nv74983/
http://www.figureskatewear.com/j92/

They were both ornate enough to wear without stones, but I bought 10 gross of stones from BeadsFactory.com for $75 (including shipping and currency surcharge to Euros).  I used 6 gross of stones for both dresses, so I have 4 gross that I sold to a friend.  So this added about $20 to the price of each dress, which leaves them both still under $100.

[Adultsk8r509]

Both of my dresses cost about $75.  But they were not previously used, just off the rack.

(I don't think they are available anymore though...)
http://www.figureskatewear.com/nv74983/
http://www.figureskatewear.com/j92/

They were both ornate enough to wear without stones, but I bought 10 gross of stones from BeadsFactory.com for $75 (including shipping and currency surcharge to Euros).  I used 5 gross of stones for both dresses, so I have 10 gross that I sold to a friend.  So this added a little less than $20 to the price of each dress, which leaves them both still under $100.

I just bought this dress!!!!
http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=1299881&image=563032064&images=563031519,563031555,563031629,563031600,563031677,563031696,563031495,563031780,563031750,563032064,563031827&formats=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0&format=0

[Skittl1321]

That is gorgeous!

[Adultsk8r509]

That is gorgeous!

I hope it fits..I was looking for something a little darker, but it will do. 

[Kim to the Max]

I like my dresses glitzy but some dresses came from figureskatewear.com and I got stones from dreamtimecreations.com. I just fell in love with Del Arbour, which are more expensive (my last 2 were $150 each) but they are really well made. My next one from Del is an airbrushed one that will be $300 unstoned but that is because of the airbrushing. Coach wants a red dress for my next moves test.

[Live2Sk8]

My first competition dress was from this same vendor - I am sure of it as the style is so similar.  I was thrilled with it when it arrived and my coach couldn't believe how well-made it was, especially when I told her how much I paid for it. All of the beading was hand-sewn. It fit really well - I still have it even though I retired the program.  I didn't add any crystals to it - it was pretty enough without.  Hope you like it!  I think that will work nicely with your music.  One of the things I really liked as an adult skater is that the skirt wasn't embarrassingly short, especially with the double layers of georgette (or whatever that fabric is called, I get confused with chiffon versus georgette, etc.) Mine had velvet sleeves with double georgette ruffles.  I love the sleeves on your dress with all the embellishments. 

[FigureSpins]

I love the beading, especially the little sequin flower at the finger loop.  Nice little detail.

[Sk8tmum]

We're easily over $150, but, the sky is definitely NOT the limit.  I won't total over $250 for a dress - any more than that, and I'm not doing it.  HOWEVER:  we get our dresses custom made and unstoned and I stone them. If I were to pay the cost of what results after I do the dress, I would be easily $650 + due to the labour and stone cost of what we add to the basic dress. 

[karne]

I bought my first one for $140, decided that was WAY too much and got Grandma to teach me to sew.

My current one probably pushes around $80 - $100, mostly because of the stones that I added after I made it.

[JSM]

I have a couple stock dresses that I decorated myself, but they were in the low $100-$150 range.  They are well made and will last a very long time (they'd better, for how much I spent on them!).

[Landing~Lutzes]

I spend about $200 I go through Tina's Skate Wear (tinaskating.com) and I have had GREAT success! Her dresses are typically $150, however I always seem to need a rush (+$30), and I always add more stones and such ;-) I used to use her for performance dance dresses as well!

[isakswings]

Do you sew at all? There are some excellent patterns out there. I have started making dd's dresses. I am currently working on one for Jurassic Park and I am happy with the result so far. This picture does not do it justice though! The only "bad" thing is that I started crystalling the green design and I have already used over a gross(144) crystals on ONE design! I have 2 more to go. This dress will have many more crystals on it then I planned. I meant to space them farther apart, but my sweet daughter wanted to help crystal and started putting the crystals a little closer then I had wanted them. Oh well! Good thing I did not pay a lot for the fabric. Even after I buy 2 more gross of crystals, this dress will come in at around 100 or just under. This dress will likely have around 700 crystals on it! YIKES BTW, I love the dress you bought! My daughter had a dress made by that same seller. It was very well made and she received quite a few compliments on it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79456510@N08/7391021360/

[Live2Sk8]

I love the Jurassic Park dress - you are so creative!

[Icicle]

I bought mine on ebay for $28 only. It's a plain navy blue dress. But it was for a moves test. For a competition, I would get something more sparkly, I think. But getting the right dress would be quite a chore. Ordering it online would be the best thing because there are more choices and the prices are more decent. My concern is always the size. I bought an XL for the test, thinking that it would be too big, but it fit just right. How weird! I'm a medium or a large if I shop in junior stores. But an XL?