Sprout Therapeutic Gallop Gala Evening Gown, 2023

A casual phone call with Brooke Waldron a few weeks before the Sprout Therapeutic Fundraiser Gallop Gala in 2023 started Gail's ambition to make a long coveted dream of fashion design industry into a blossoming reality. With little time to spare, Brooke picked out a stunning white dress and Gail shopped the best options of fabric paint. All fabrics have specific requirements to taking and holding color.

"As an oil painter I know my pigments well and how they will behave in mixes. Fabric paint uses the same pigments except they are not listed on the bottles. The pure colors were pretty easy to distinguish but the mixed are nearly impossible to replicate. Any matches I mix are truly not possible to match either. So this first dress varying mixed colors were encorporated into the design right from the start. One does not move from one side to the other in such a situation but instead work colors randomly around the dress in order to keep a unified look. I usualy only use pure pigments but in thsi case I rellied on some of the mixes while I got used to the paint."

"It was obvious from the first brush stroke that I was going to have to let go a bit. Fabric paint is very watery and my drawing pen dripped grey paint on the skirt. I decided to adapt drips into the design as if part of the plan from the start. It's important to always thing forward and allow happy accidents along the way."

These dresses take longer to plan than actually paint. It is wise to check in with Gail months ahead and purchase two white dresses. Pleats make painting very difficult to impossible so look for very flat designs. Please have the dress altered ahead of dropping off so that the painting can wrap the dress perfectly. That is one of the very best benefits of painting directly. Large drawings will not have abrubt changes at the side deams.

"This dress makes a very special memory for me and engaged many ideas for gowns in the future!"