Debbie Scheu has handmade over 150 Azalea Belle Dresses
WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) - The Cape Fear Garden Club Azalea Belles have been a staple to the North Carolina Azalea festival since 1969.
This year 132 high school girls will be dressed in antebellum style dresses. The one-of-a-kind dresses are not something you can find on a department store rack, instead all of the dresses are handmade by three different dressmakers.
Debbie Scheu has been making Azalea Belle dresses for the past 24 years.
She's also made costumes for different theater shows in town since the '90s, but knew she wanted to make belle dresses after seeing them during her first Azalea Festival experience.
"The Wilmington Azalea Belle is in a class by herself it," Scheu said. "She is not exactly 1860 and she is not a prom dress, she is something in between."
Each year about 40-50 belle's dig through her collection looking for their special dress for the big festival.
The colorful hoop skirted dresses are intertwined with delicate lace and intricate details. Scheu said it takes 10 yards of fabric mixed with at least 20 hours of designing, cutting, sewing and embellishing to create just one dress. And after it's made, she is still making adjustments.
Scheu makes sure the dresses fit each belle perfectly.
"The way a piece of clothing fits a person, if it fits you correctly, it creates just an attitude," she said.
An Azalea Belle is not complete without her accessories, so Scheu said each of her girls also get a parasol, bloomers, bonnets, shawls, gloves, and a handmade purse.
To Scheu, and all the past present and future Azalea Belles, the dresses are more than just a weekend "costume." They represent old Wilmington, being an ambassador for the festival, but most importantly the confidence the teenage girls gain from being a part of the big show.
"I mean, how do you say you give someone self-esteem," Scheu said with a pause. "You do that by embellishing what is already there so that she looks her best."
Each year she retires four dresses from her collection and reuses them for different theater performances around town.
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