These Irish dresses are in step

By Zoe Francis, CONTRIBUTOR

MARY ANN DONNELLY makes some of the most elaborate andintricate dresses you'll ever see, but you won't see her creations on the runways in Milan or Paris. The Pleasanton woman's designs are strictly for the Irish step dancing in which her daughters specialize. "It's awesome," says 17-year-old Colleen Donnelly of her mom's one-of-a-kind creations. "I feel really lucky. Whenever I went to competitions, I received a lot of compliments on my dresses." Donnelly, who teaches embroidery classes at the Dublin Sewing Center, didn't plan on making the complicated Irish dance dresses when her oldest daughter, Marie, now 20, first took up dancing in middle school.