Catriona's Dress

Last summer I had the opportunity to make Catriona's beautiful dress and also design the lace bolero that was to be created from the vintage lace of her Grandmother Wedding dress, below is the result.

1950's Style Dress

100% Silk Taffeta for the dress main fabric
100% Silk Habotai for the dress lining fabric
100% Silk Habotai for the underskirt upper fabric
100% Silk Organza for the underskirt lower fabric
 Vintage Ivory Lace for the Bolero
Handmade Freshwater Pearl & Sterling Silver Buttons

All the above materials challenging yet blissful to work with :-) 

1950's Style Wedding Dress

Handmade Buttons

Vintage Lace Balero

Button Detail

1950's Style Under Slip

Catriona looking lovely :-)

 Thank you Catriona for the opportunity to create something beautiful for your very special day you were an Angel to work for :-)

Winter Wedding Coat

As promised the Wedding Coat I designed for Tracey who got married 28th December 2011

Idea for Design Brief

The brief was a Victorian Riding Jacket with a hood and that would also keep her warm. We were not sure what the weather would be like on the day, December isn't known for it's scorching sunshine up north in the UK :-), after 3 design developments here is my creation,

Photography by Picture U, Carlisle

Back Pleat

Back

Side with Hood Up

Side View

I used diamonte shell clasps on the rear pleat detail and for the side closure which were purchased from Josy Rose Haberdashery, they are beautiful and really work with the deep Bordeuax Red Velvet,

The fur trim used were purchased scarf's and though not ideal I had great difficulty sourcing the right colour fur trim and these worked really well for colour match.

I am so happy how the overall design worked and very proud of the finished garment.

Creations like this are what makes all the hard work worth while :-

Happy 2013

2012 has been quite a busy year all round.

 
I've spent more time on my blog,
I hope to publish more of my achievements during 2013

I've been a very busy grandma, spending time with my very cute grand-daughter Ella, she's now 15 months old and coming along in leaps & bounds,
 and spent time with my wonderful family, Danielle my beautiful daughter & Scott my wonderful hubby, pictured below at Ella's 1st Birthday

Ella , Danielle & Scott, on Ella's 1st Birthday

I've began to put more thought into my creative idea's & skills,
I'm learning new skills constantly
while simultaneously nurturing and perfecting the skills I already possess,

Yes 2012 has been a wonderful year filled with achievements, happiness and Bliss
I hope to continue my Bliss in 2013

I would like to wish everyone a Blissfully Happy 2013 

filled with Happiness and Success 

Atonement Green Silk Dress Inspired Pattern

Original Green Silk Dress

Jacqueline Durran Sketch

Here are my dress creations (pictured below) that were inspired by Keira Knightley's Green Silk Skirt & Top (pictured above) that she wore for the film Atonement. 

Suzannah's Dress

Lyndsey's Dress

I intend to take the pattern pieces for both versions of the dress that I have created inspired by the Green Silk Skirt & Top from the film Atonement and draft up different size pattern pieces for both creations so I can then re-create these dresses in a selection of sizes & styles. 

As I have further developed the dress I feel the pattern pieces and construction methods are now unique to each dress.

So even though, and this is the confusing bit :-), the 1st toile which I created on my original teal version of the dress, I used some of the pattern pieces from Vogue pattern 7365 to create the gore panel on the back and the bust/neckline. Once the 1st toile had been created it was then dissected to create the 2nd Toile, which in turn was altered and finally adjusted to construct the 3rd toile. 

It was from the 3rd toile I made actual pattern pieces to cut and construct the finished version of the silk dress in teal.

For the 2nd corset top version of the dress I used my own pattern pieces that I had created from the 1st dress and a basic corset top and re-sized them to developed this version of the dress, I created 2 toiles for this version before finally cutting the dress from the silk.

Atonement Inspired Dress with Corset Top

My next creation for the Atonement inspired dress was the garment I designed for bridesmaid Lyndsey for her Sister's wedding last Christmas.

Front & Back

Back Detail

I designed the corset top, that was laced at the back with satin ribbon, to be attached to the adapted the lower dress, a side slit was added to the front on the left with the hip wrap knotted on the left above the slit, again the dress is made using 100% silk, Habotai Silk for the lining and 16 mommy Crepe De Chine for the main fabric.

The silk was purchased from Beckford Silk as always, who are absolutely wonderful. On this occasion the fabric I ordered had to be specially dyed to match a velvet fabric I was using for the Jacket I was designing for the Bride. The match was wonderful.

I would now say this garment and the Brides Velvet Jacket are currently my signature pieces,I am very proud of them.