Dress designing damsel

Katie Werrett designed her award-winning gown at age six. She won first prize in the "Design a Dress Contest," sponsored by Bonnie Jean, a children's dress company, and C.M. Rubin, author of the children's book, "Ellie: The Perfect Dress for Me." Katie's entry was one of more than 2,500 entries.

In Rubin's book, Ellie cannot find the right dress to wear to a wedding, so she designs her own. The contest provided girls ages 5 to 12 an opportunity to design their own dream dress for a wedding.

Amy Werrett, Katie's mother, read about the contest in their local newspaper. Mrs. Werrett thought it would be a good project to keep Katie busy. Katie thought about it and put her crayons and markers to the paper. Thirty minutes later, Katie returned with her drawing of a pink gown with rows of red roses and a matching headdress.

Katie has entered other coloring contests, but this was the first time that she won. Katie says that she enjoys drawing dresses, princesses, swans and castles.

Mrs. Werrett states that she received a phone call on December 19th informing her of Katie's winning entry. Since then, Katie was consulted by the designer for decisions on the selection of the fabric and the size of the roses. Katie had determined the roses should be "biggish-smallish." The dress was made of pink shantung silk.

Katie also received autographed copies of C.M. Rubin's books.

To see Katie's and other award winning entries go to www.BonnieJean.com