Teen sews stunning dress for his prom date who couldn't afford her dream outfit

Editor's note: This article was originally published on January 16, 2020. It has since been updated.

Like every girl her age, Pendleton Heights senior Addi Rust dreamed of finding the perfect dress to wear to her high school prom. However, when she found her dream dress, she realized it was outrageously expensive and unaffordable. It was everything she'd envisioned, with the right amount of princess flair and fairy dust. Little did she know she was in for her very own Cinderella story—thanks to her best friend and prom date Parker Smith. The Pendleton Heights junior put on his fairy godmother wings and got right to work to make sure Addi would have the most magical prom experience.

According to FOX59, Addi's fairytale began in February 2019 when she found her dream dress and realized she wouldn't be able to afford it. "Parker, why don’t you just make my prom dress!" she jokingly told her best friend and the two laughed about it for a while. However, Addi's little joke got Parker thinking. "You know what, I think I could actually make your prom dress," he said. Here's the thing though, had never sewn anything before in his life.

His lack of experience wasn't about to deter Parker and he immediately got to work. He sketched up a design for the dress all by himself and taught himself how to cut and sew, with his grandmother helping him along the way. Although he'd initially planned to have the outfit ready well before the big day, he ended up redoing several parts of the dress a couple of times to make sure everything was just perfect for Addi. "I’m such a perfectionist that I was up adding more stones to the dress even the night before prom," he said.

As for Addi, even though she got to see the dress through all the stages of its creation, she says she teared up when she saw the final outfit on prom night. She looked right out of a Disney movie in her blue princess prom dress and Parker took to Twitter to show off his beautiful prom date and his stunning creation. "Quite a journey, but the first thing I’ve ever sewn (a prom dress) has been finished, just in time for the ball! Not only did I get the honor of being the Prince Charming to the beautiful @AddiRust, but her fairy godmother as well, haha! I’m so thankful for her. (From scratch)," he tweeted.

"Feelin like a princess. thx best friend," Addi tweeted, sharing more magical prom date photos of herself and Parker. Having realized his incredible skill, Parker now says this won't be the last dress he makes. He's already planning to study costume design and musical theatre in college and dreams of becoming a Broadway costume designer one day. Thanks to the power of the internet and his talent, his dream isn't too far out of reach— a couple of months after prom, Parker landed a job with Footlite Musicals in Indianapolis.

Speaking to FOX59 of the media coverage, Parker said, "It was a totally bizarre never expected. I had only sewed two stitches before I did it. Every big moment out of it, we were just having fun." The same media coverage brought him to the attention of Bob Harbin who was set to direct a Cinderella show for Footlite Musicals in December. Lucky for Parker, one of his teachers is a friend of Harbin. "He was looking for a maker of a dress. My teacher said I might know a kid," Parker revealed.

"She said, 'Oh you know that kid, that kid, who did that prom dress thing?' When you see the work, his sketches, the guy's got it or the guy doesn’t, and he’s definitely talented," Harbin praised the teen. Parker proved his talent once again as he created two dresses for Harbin of which one is a peasant's dress that morphs into Cinderella's ball gown on stage. "Through a series of tabs, spinning, and a magical actress, this can turn into this," the teen revealed.