My Mom Made Her Prom Dress… I Upcycled His Suit

My daughter is going to prom and for something this big it had to be a three generation project. Of course, she and my mom designed her dress together and my mom brought it to life using fabric from Mood Fabrics. The very same place I used to watch on Project Runway except in Houston. And you will never guess how much it cost. While they were creating something from scratch, I was turning an Amazon suit into something that actually felt more like him. At the same time, I was figuring out how to install a door, cleaning the house, making my first balloon art and getting ready to host a full house of family and friends. And in the middle of all that, it hit me. My kids are growing up. One headed to prom, one going a year early, and both one step closer to the next chapter. Come along and honestly just hold my hand because this is all happening too

fast. — starts day one of getting ready for prom. Yes, I have two kids going to prom this year, a senior and a junior. I know. Yes, time flies. Um when you're having fun and I'm excited for them. But this is going to be getting ready from a mom's perspective. So, today on the agenda is to take my son to get his hair cut, braided. Well, to get his to wash his hair, to get it cut and then braided. And then tomorrow is all going to be all about my daughter. Uh nails, she already did her hair, she did her own hair. — I have a son what is what's the plan for this? I don't know. Okay. — She is doing her own makeup. Um so, we went and got pallets yesterday. My mom is making her bouquet cuz she's not doing a corsage, she's doing a whole bouquet. Y'all, when I say this is going to be extra, buckle up. We're going for a ride.

— Um see how long it is to me? And see how long you are skinny. See I never liked the noise anymore. — See how weird it comes? — Yeah, it's long. — That's what I was telling you. — Fabric shopping at Mood. — I thought we was going to look for the bottom first. — No, I just like it caught my eye. — I know. I said she veered off. — This is pretty much perfect. — Well, I'll tell you what. — Let's take it. — Because you going to have to match the bottom with it. — Yeah. Keeping her focused. — Now while she's looking for the fabric for the bottom of the dress, let me tell you guys how much this beaded fabric cost. I was expecting probably about $90 a yard, but when we got to the front to cut it, we found out it was a whopping $275 a yard. My mom was about to lay that pattern right on the fabric right then and cut it out so that we wouldn't have to buy extra, but we only got 3/4 of a yard and it was the perfect amount. Have no regrets. So after getting the fabric, my mom took it back to Chicago to carefully work on it so that it would be perfect for her granddaughter. For context, my mom has made every formal dress I've ever worn. Cotillion, prom, wedding, balls, and she's done the same for Gabrielle. So in Chicago, she finished each piece separately and then brought them to Houston to put them together because Gabrielle just had to be snatched. — You got to have room to sit and all that. You going to be — No, like this part is fine. I can't do much here, but I don't really — Oh, okay. — All right, Shakira. All right, today is the day before prom and this is her day today. We went and got nails done just now, but before she was when she was at school, I had a whole I had a suit to alter.

alter. — Now it's become pretty popular for guys to want wide leg pants and fitted jackets for prom, but they're still kind of hard to find. So of course, that's an easy fix for me. I open up both seams on the pants and added a triangle from the fabric of another pair of pants, an identical pair of pants. If you are in doing this yourself, I do have a full tutorial on it. I'll link it in the description box below. And then um after doing the suit, I had to uh install a whole door to get it out of the way. So, we turned this room, which used to be my dining room back in the day, into a guest room and it doesn't have a door, it just has curtains. So, I bought a door for it and it's sitting in my foyer. So, we're doing a prom send-off and I want that to be gone by Friday. It's Wednesday. So, I'm going to do my best to install it myself today and we'll see how that goes. All right, we're moving things around for the party. Mom is doing my favorite part of sewing. My favorite part not to do. Um hand sewing. She's hands-on the hem. And then I just need to press them real good. Um we're cleaning and doing all that kind of stuff. You still see our sewing machines are in place and all that good stuff, but I'm going to use this room for um food. We're mopping and all that kind of stuff. And now we've got to go home, clean. We've already ordered food. Decorations should be there. So, tomorrow is all decorating and yeah. So, yeah, it's almost time. You ready? — Yeah. Yay! — She's been waiting her whole life for this and when y'all see this dress, oh my gosh. All right, then you know why. It's so her. We can't drive. — why of everything.

— Yes. So, how did this whole transformation come about? — Um so, I think it's going to come about by — So, the backstory on this is we were playing around during her last fitting and she put the train over her head like a cape and absolutely fell in love with that look. So, she was saying that she's going to go into prom with it over her head and then throw it back for dramatic effect. This dress included a bow, a train, a split, a corset, and my amazing mother made it all happen. It's gosh, she's amazing. Oh my god. — That's yourself. — Yeah, it's pins all over it. — I'm sorry. — Why are you going to be bleeding on there? — No, yeah. Honestly, I did that. — Did you? — bit. — On the beads? — Are you going to bleed on my dress? — The dress. — Blood sweat and tears. — I was doing something and I went to go zip the dress up and like and I said there was a little spot. I said, "What is it? " Oh my god. I bled and I had I went and got a sample cuz I bled on it and it came right out. — Yeah, it's the poles. Okay. I don't know whose towel that is. — Claim it, Molly. — I just love her anyway. — Good morning. It is the morning of prom. And we had an issue yesterday because I ordered her boyfriend shoes because I have Amazon Prime and it was supposed to come yesterday. But, however, um it did not because everybody knows the thing that you really need to come on time with Amazon, that's the thing that's not going to come in time. So, I called them last night. I called them again this morning. Called them again and we're hoping that the shoes will arrive by noon, but his mom is going to take him to get a backup pair. Um yeah. So, but he wanted something very specific so that they weren't seeing in stores. So, we'll see. We have a ton of work to do today.

— Prom day. — 2026. Tuesday to Tuesday. — Why are you going back and forth? I can't keep up with your mood swings. What is troubling your mind? — my mind? — Are you doing miss to — So, maybe your real dreams come true. — I'm not handling this type of thing. Well, I don't get it. You say it's a mess. — It's a mess. Like a wedding. — No, I said I'm like getting married. Didn't talk about a wedding. In the face. I'm making a face. — I just want to make your heart sing. But, you're not letting me. — I thrifted Christian Dior robe. I like that dress. — Thank you. But, not today. I really sat there and I was like Yes. That's the only way it'll be done. — I would love you. I would love you like a queen. I would love to take you to a place you've never been. Love you. I would love What is troubling your mind? Baby, why can't you just tell me? I just want to be your one, want to be I want to give our love away. You're not letting me, yeah, get through to you. — At this point, she was ready to go downstairs for the big reveal, and at the very last minute, his shoes did come. Oh, we were so grateful, but he also needed a good press on his pants, so I was doing that at the last minute. And you can see my mom did hand sew some of her lace onto his tie and handkerchief, so he looked so nice. So, now we're finally ready for her to come downstairs, and of course, she wants her favorite artist playing Rihanna for her big reveal. — Oh lord, I'm coming, guys. — Okay. — I got TO LOVE IT. THANK YOU GUYS FOR COMING. I REALLY — I WILL LOVE YOU. I WILL love you like a queen. I'm going to take you to a place — I'm literally so amazed at how my mom was able to pinpoint and execute exactly what my daughter wanted. I am incredibly grateful for her. Look how happy my daughter is, and that makes all of this worth it. I know there's a lot of discourse online right now criticizing how my culture does prom, but this is the equivalent of any culture's coming of age event. We do prom send-offs like others do bar mitzvah or cotillions, or quinceañeras. I'm very, very proud of my daughter. She's on her way to the Paul University in Chicago on scholarship next year, and she's a self-published author, which I am so, so proud of her. So, look out world, here she comes.