ALANAYA ON THE RUNWAY!!

Hi beautiful people!First of all, if you don't follow me on social media, you're missing all of the fun. @Urbahnbeauty or @AlanayaBrown (shameless plug!)

Second and most importantly, this past Sunday I put on my first ALANAYA fashion show EVER! The process was a combination of the hardest yet most exhilarating thing I've ever done. I learned so much about myself, hard work, and re-discovered my ability to accomplish great things under maximum pressure and within a limited time period.

About a month ago, I was asked to participate in my church's "Women of Purpose" event, where a major attraction would be a fashion show consisting of three scenes. After some deliberation and "well how hard could it be" thoughts, I agreed to design 8 all-white garments for the first scene of the show.Little did I really understand how much work I would put in,and how much patience it would take to complete the line. It was a grueling process, and mostly because this was my first time making my own patterns solely off of the measurements of each model.Fifty-three patterns and a week later, I was ready to sew. In between many mistakes (thank God for seam rippers), long nights and 30 yards of silk cotton I finished 13 pieces for 8 models.But the fun part was just beginning! One of the important things I learned throughout the fashion show was that no matter what happens, as Tim Gunn would say, you have to "Make it Work!"  Showtime was 30 minutes away, and one of my models' outfits wouldn't fit. After trying many workarounds, I finally resorted to cutting the zipper completely out and sewing her into the outfit!  It wasn't what I had expected, but it worked, and turned out great![wpvideo Mx7WoLOE ]The sense of accomplishment and elation I experienced walking with those models down the runway was unlike anything else I've ever felt before--partly because for whatever reason prior to that day there was a small voice that lived inside of me telling me I couldn't do it.But I could.  And that small decision to work through the negative voices and nay-sayers allowed me to not only have a successful show but also re-launch my business.It was one of my proudest moments.Want to see some of the end results?  Visit my Etsy shop and wear your very own fashion show collection item at www.etsy.com/shop/alanayabrown.Thank you for joining me on this journey.  This is just the beginning!Happy Thursday!-AB