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Girls Design Dresses With Help from Miss Scarlett Boutique

SARATOGA SPRINGS – There’s no question little girls love playing dress up and they have their own opinions when it comes to style. When you mix the two together, you get Miss Scarlett Boutique’s Girls Design a Dress event.

A handful of young girls showed up at the boutique, located at 19 Fila Street in Saratoga Springs, to play fashion designer for the day. The girls were able to pick from more than 50 fabrics and trims to create a custom dress that is their very own. 

“It has owls, flowers and zigzags,” said 8-year-old Eliza of her dress. “I wanted to have a dress of my own design. I picked this fabric because I like animals and the zigzags went with it.” 

Snacking on cupcakes and lemonade, the girls designed their dresses and got a taste of what Miss Scarlett Boutique owner, Jennifer Marcellus, does every day. 

Marcellus opened up Miss Scarlett Boutique in Saratoga Springs five months ago and designs children’s clothing for wholesale retailers. 

“We started doing dress parties because it seemed like a fun and different thing for kids to do,” said Marcellus. “We’ve done about six parties here so far and then I’ve done a couple of private parties also.”

How it works is the girls are given a paper doll for a model; using mock patterns, they design a dress, cut it out and glue it onto the doll. Marcellus then takes the designs and the dresses are made and ready for the girls to wear in two weeks. Girls anywhere from six months to 12-years-old can create a dress for $38.  

“It’s neat for the girls to do something that’s a do-it-yourself project,” said Marcellus. “I think every little girl wants to be a fashion designer. “ 

Marcellus said the best part about the event is seeing how creative the girls are when it comes to designing their dresses. 

“There was one design I absolutely loved,” said Marcellus. “A girl used a sample fabric that I never used in my collection because I didn’t know what to do with it and she used it and made this fantastic dress out of it and I thought it was so cool!” 

Visit www.Facebook.com/MissScarlettBoutique for future Design a Dress events or to schedule a private party, email Jennifer Marcellus at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..