O.C.’s Sanchez Has It Made--Herself

It’s a safe bet that no one in Washington is preparing for Monday’s presidential inaugural ball the way Loretta Sanchez is.

The freshman member of the House of Representatives from Orange County is making her ball gown.

“It’s not that big a deal,� says Sanchez as she takes a break from pinning, sewing and ironing at her condominium in Garden Grove. “I fell in love with the material,� a copper-gold raw silk. “I’m sure somebody has sewn her own gown before.�

Maybe, maybe not, says Polly Willman, senior conservator of costumes for the Smithsonian Institutions’ National Museum of American History.

“Certainly the closest a first lady came was Jackie Kennedy. She came up with the design, then it was executed by the custom salon at Bergdorf Goodman [a New York City department store]. Believe me, she did not sew it herself. All the dresses I know about, they all have labels in them.�

Making your own ball gown “is rather unique, I would think,� Willman says. “Probably more unique to the 20th century than the 19th. But there were not that many women congressmen in the 19th century.� None, in fact. This year, there are 53 women in the House, nine in the Senate.

“It’s not like I set out to do it,� says Sanchez, 37, who sews on the Singer machine that used to be her grandmother’s. “I went to the stores, but I didn’t find something I truly liked. I saw a lot of things that were nice--with big price tags.� She will attend four different balls, she says, and buying several expensive gowns “just didn’t make sense.�

To three of the events she will wear gowns she bought previously.

But for the main event, she bought a simple, size-8 McCall dress pattern (No. 7590), fabric and notions. The long, close-fitting gown with a slit up one side and spaghetti straps will cost about $60 to make, she says.

“I sew because it relaxes me, and it brings out the creative side. You see the results of your efforts quickly, as opposed to, say, government.�

She was taught to sew by her mother. “She was a homemaker; she cooked and sewed. That’s what moms did then.�

As a child in Anaheim, Sanchez sewed for her younger sister and did it well enough that the sister was named best dressed upon graduation from sixth grade. But there was a selfish motive, Sanchez concedes. “I sewed my sister’s clothes so my mom would have more time to sew clothes for me. She was a great seamstress.�

Sanchez says what she really wanted was a blue gown. She has one she’d made previously--a full, layered, satin-and-organza gown in midnight blue. But she was advised that it would be impractical because of the crowds.

“There’s so much body heat, you don’t wear anything big,� she says. “There was a joke about the last inaugural ball. It didn’t matter what you wore on the bottom; you were so packed in, you just saw the top.�

Doesn’t making your own gown put you out of the inaugural ball one-up competition?

“Who cares?� Sanchez asks. “There’s 5,000 people at these things. Who am I to try to outdo somebody else? You just wear what you like. And I’m not going to go broke trying to compete.�