Soap Opera Digest
March 23, 1999
Written By Kristin Gallagher
GH's Rebecca Herbst Shows Off Her Fashion Sense By Making A Dress For The Soap Opera Digest Awards.
When it came to finding that perfect dress for the 15th Annual Soap Opera Digest Awards, GENERAL HOSPITAL's Rebecca Herbst had her work cut out for her - literally. We caught up with the Outstanding Younger Lead Actress nominee as she was creating her sartorial stunner for this year's gala.
"I remember that last year at the SODA, I was freezing," laughs Herbst, who had, in the past designed and sewn her own dresses for the Digest awards and the Daytime Emmys. "So I thought that since this awards show happens in February, which is still considered winter (in L.A.), I may as well do something that had a jacket."
Next came finding the right material. "Well, the first layer is a simple, black tube dress," Herbst explains. "But the jacket is olive-gold with a little, black flowers on it. I was looking got something that had some color, and this material has a nice shimmer to it. Also, it's kind of thick, so it's more approproate for a jacket."
For the "flowy" jacket's design, Herbst used a sewing pattern as her starting point. "It's actually a pattern for lingerie," she grins. "But it's the same sort of style I wanted. I had to alter the pattern though, because I wanted the sleeves shorter and I wanted to put a collar on the jacket."
Helping the actress achieve her vision were two essential components: her high-tech sewing machine (a high-school graduation gift) and her mother. "My mom and I worked on it for two hours the other night," reports Herbist. "The rest will probably only take us about maybe, three, four hours from start to finish. The sewing machine I have - a Quantum Singer - had a little computer in it. It has about 40 different stitches. You can just flick a little button and decide which stick you want it has a description of what the stick is used for. Then you just hit the button that adjusts the sewing machine and you're ready to sew." Jokes the actress, "It takes a brilliant person to operate one of these things, let me tell you."
What Herbist is also happy to tell you is how much cents, er , sense it made to sew her own ensemble. "For the dress and coat, it wound up coting me about $100," she notes. :If I tried to buy something like this in a store, the dress probably would have been $150 - just that little tube thing, which cost me like, $30. And the jacket could have been anywhere from $200-800, depending on where it was (bought). Not bad, huh?"
a simple, black tube dress," Herbst explains. "But the jacket is olive-gold with a little, black flowers on it. I was looking got something that had some color, and this material has a nice shimmer to it. Also, it's kind of thick, so it's more approproate for a jacket."