Viral designer creates custom dress for ‘Dancing with the Stars’ (Exclusive)

Kelsey Swarthout has created hundreds of dresses. Only one of them appeared on prime time television.

On the evening of Oct. 7, Swarthout invited a few friends to watch the latest episode of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” which celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Disneyland Resort, for a night filled with Disney-themed performances. She was overjoyed when one of her handmade creations, a brightly colored Jungle Book-themed dress made from two sewn bedsheets, debuted on the silver screen and was worn by contestant and Boy Meets World actress Danielle Fishel.

“It was so cool to see it on TV,” Swarthaw tells PEOPLE. And some of her more than 300,000 Instagram followers, who watch videos of her upcycling children’s bed sheets into custom clothing, agree.

“The best part was when people who had been following me for a while or knew my work said to me, ‘I saw that and immediately knew it was yours,’” she says. “It felt really good to know that just by watching it on the show.”

Swarthout’s success took years.

She has loved sewing as a hobby since middle school. During her university years, she studied architecture, a slightly less specialized field, and after graduating, she got a job at an architecture firm, but she never liked the job.

Swarthout returned to sewing after losing her job during the pandemic. She was planning a trip to Disneyland in Southern California – Disney is her second love after sewing – and happened to find a vintage Mickey Mouse bed sheet on eBay. At the time, Swarthout was making Mickey Mouse ears by hand and thought this sheet might be the perfect pattern for new ears.

“I had made very small ears, and I had a lot of leftover fabric, so I decided to make a dress to fit them,” she says. Once she shared the finished dress on Instagram, her page started to explode and she hasn’t stopped making dresses ever since.

Now, she’s completely cornered her niche, which she describes as “bright, colorful, quirky adult clothing.” Swarthout’s Instagram page pops with bold colors of Disney’s most iconic characters, adorned with custom-made dresses, bags, crewnecks, and jackets made primarily from vintage children’s bed sheets and blankets.

On her account, she shares a combination of commissioned work (clients have their childhood bedsheets mailed to her and sewn them into wearable items) and projects she creates herself to keep her love of art alive.

Swarthot runs her account and business almost alone, and sometimes spends her days “sewing from the moment I wake up until I go to bed,” she laughs, while others shoot and edit content, answer emails and respond to customer messages.

So when she received an Instagram DM from Fishel requesting a custom dress for a DWTS Disney episode in two weeks, she wasn’t even sure if she’d be able to complete the piece in time.

“When I saw her message, I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ I knew Daniel from Boy Meets World, so I was really excited,” she says. “I didn’t even know if it would be possible because the deadline was so tight and I was also planning to travel at the same time. But just the fact that she was thinking of me and messaged me and wanted me to be a part of the process was really sweet and genuine.”

The two exchanged several more messages. Fishel told Swarthout that she was planning a dance to the songs from The Jungle Book and wanted a dress that paid homage to the 1967 classic, sent her measurements and selected some of Swarthout’s dress designs that she particularly liked. Swarthot began sewing as soon as she returned home from her trip.

“It arrived in time for her and she ended up wearing it at the show,” she says. “So everything fell into place.”

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After the dress was delivered, the creator received an invitation, which made this wonderful occasion even more wonderful. Mr. Fishel asked if we wanted to stop by Disneyland on the day of the shoot.

“I said, ‘Of course, I’d love to come and see you,'” she tells PEOPLE. “It was really cool to see the whole set up for the shoot. I had never done or seen anything like that.”

Ms. Fishel even asked Ms. Swarthout if she would like to appear in an interview with her and dance partner Pasha Pashkov about their dresses and their design process. But the most appealing part was actually getting to see Fischel wearing this piece.

“First of all, she looked great,” Swarthout says. “But once the clothes are shipped, I often never see them again. Of course, I’ll see them in photos or someone will tag me, but I rarely see them wearing them. So to be able to see it and have it happen to her, that was a really special moment.”

While she’s obsessed with designing wardrobes for Fichel’s cameras, Swarthaw is also preparing to publish her first book, Sew Nostalgic!, a guide to upcycling bed sheets with 12 unique patterns and step-by-step instructions. She started writing the book about a year and a half ago, a process she described as “very difficult,” but now it’s finished and she’s “excited” to share it with the world.

And while she eagerly awaits the book’s Feb. 24 release date, she plans to continue watching this DWTS season religiously (she told PEOPLE that she watched the emotional Commitment Night episode on Oct. 14 in tears). And of course, Mr. Swarthout urges everyone to “vote for Danielle because she’s the best.”