Connell stitches her way to gold
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Anna Connell is pictured with a prom dress she designed as a 4-H project. She plans to wear the dress at the 2008 Chi-Hi prom. Photo by Jeffrey Hage.
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By JEFFREY HAGE jeff.hage@lee.net
Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:57 AM CDT
Before the first piece of material was cut or sewn, Anna Connell could image her dress coming alive on the dance floor of her high school prom.
And even though the prom is nearly a year away, it will be an event where dreams and visions come alive for Anna, a 16-year-old seamstress from rural Chippewa Falls.
That’s because the prom will be the final stop on an artistic journey that began in a pattern book at a 4-H organizational meeting, takes Anna to the Chippewa Falls fair and the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis before ending at the 2008 Chi-Hi prom.
Anna, who’s mother Karen was once a professional seamstress, did the unimaginable this week at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair.
She took black and blue material and turned it into gold — as in the coveted 4-H Award of Excellence.
Anna’s dress and performance at the fair’s annual dress review earned her the top award. In addition, her design earned the blue ribbon in the dress/party dress category.
And while Anna says she had no expectations when she entered her dress in this year’s fair, she was happy with the results.
“I was really personally impressed with how it turned out,” said Anna, who is a member of the Wissota Raptors 4-H Club and had previously won awards for pajama designs and a costume for Oktoberfest.
This was the first year she ventured out and entered a really big project. But she was hooked when she saw the dress in a pattern book.
“We were at a project meeting, I saw the pattern, and loved it. I then bought some fabric that I liked,” Anna said.
And the rest is history. Almost.
Anna may have turned some heads when people saw the color pattern for her dress — black with aqua blue.
“I usually do things in black and pink, but I switched it up this year,” she said.
Sewing has become second nature for Anna. She could have had the dress finished in about two days if not for the sequins that proposed a challenge for her.
“I spent 15 hours sewing each one on by hand,” she said of the shiny disks that accent the bottom of her award-winning dress.
While making the dress was a fun project and spending time at the fair and winning ribbons is an experience Anna wouldn’t want to miss, the real reward for her hard work still lies ahead.
“The real fun about making clothes is getting to wear them,” Anna said.
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