FeisDress designer Susan Gowin has been designing and creating Irish dance dresses since 1995. Located in Northern Virginia, FeisDress specializes in creating unique designs, patterns and providing embroidery and appliqué services for Irish dance dresses.

• Read the Colleens' of Canberra interview with Susan Gowin
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Susan is joined by a talented team of dressmakers in FeisDress Design™:

Ann Donahue lives in Manassas, Virginia. Ann had a long career as a professional dancer, choreographer and university professor but was forced into a life change after a serious illness. She entered the world of Irish Dance dresses the way many people do via her dancing daughters. Sewing and knitting have always been Ann’s passions as a solitary creative endeavor, but now having Susan as a partner and friend has made sewing a real joy. Ann creates custom solo Irish Dance dresses with Susan using FeisDress designs and patterns. She also uses the FeisDress pattern for her two school accounts.

Ann maintains a weblog on Irish Dance Dressmaking where she regularly offers tips, techniques and critiques to help other dressmakers. Visit the blog here.

Gina (Sheridan) Foster lives just north of Tampa, Florida and got involved in Irish Dance and dresses in 1996. Initially only making beginner costumes for "little ones," as her daughter Shaylah progressed, Gina got roped into making solo costumes. Her original plan was to only make dresses for Shaylah and friends, but that blossomed into making dresses for customers at a distance. In this progression, Gina discovered that she needed professional designs and a better way to measure and fit the dancers. Enter Susan and FeisDress Design™. Working with Susan continues to be a fruitful endeavor, where the creativity of Susan's designs and methodology are given fresh input from Gina, a frequent feis-goer and the primary distributor of FeisDress Design™ products. "Someone has to do the production end of things to free the artist to create," Gina says.

On this site, you'll find information about our Irish dance dress pattern, as well as our designs, embroidery and appliqué services, off-the rack-dresses for sale and the FeisDress gallery, with dresses and designs by Susan Gowin and other select dressmakers.