Cocktail Hour - The Little Black Dress

Embellishment - lace & leather, positioned for maximum effect & to flatter

A perfect fit & still comfortable

I have just had my works Christmas party and as I was the new girl, i was unsure of what to wear. (I work for an accountancy practice part time as well as my own label clothes making). I wanted to show what I do outside the office so decided to make my own little black dress.

This is the finished result, A duchesse satin black dress with a boned bustier style top & side sweeping wiggle skirt complete with split back. As you can see, I am on the "curvy' side so I used boning to scaffold a few curves into place. The bustier is finished with lace & leather embelishment as well as just a few crystals to keep the detailing subdued.

Sewing web award goes to....Me!!!

Time seems to have hurtled along at the design studio here & with the busyness has come a lack of blogging so here is a little peak as to what has been happening recently.

First and foremost, I have been awarded this accreditation for my factual blogging about sewing by SnippetFact.Com which is a real honour. I show my work in all its undone glory as I believe every process I take leads to the end product, it shows my dedication to the skill of sewing and how I pull my expertese together to make a HAND MADE item, not industrially processed.

It is a hard one to call what I do, I can never compete with the high street mass production market however to be fair, lets face it, how many people do buy a high street item and it fits 100% perfectly? The process I use may be lengthly and I can not always account for that in cost, however what they will get from me is an item of clothing that the shade of fabric has been chosen to flatter, the fit has been sculpted to emphasise the wearers best parts and hide the not so best. The length again is to suit the wearer so who wants to compete when you look at it that way? xx

Nycky - 1950's vintage vogue cotton day dress

This 1950's cotton dress was commissioned by a client, whereby we chose the dress fabric whilst at Liberty of London's.

The pattern is based on an original vintage vogue design and features princess pleats and a V neck to both front and back bodice. As you can see, 2 versions have been created, one with sleaved and  higher yoke neckline, the other sleevless

Vetrate - Silk Satin off the shoulder dress

Vetrate is a design I created back in Octobe 2011 whilst studying for my Degree in Textile design.

I recently had a commission to make a vintage vixen/mad men wiggle style dress from this fabric so a client knew they would be unique at a wedding they were attending.

The dress is truly tailored to fit and flatter the wearer & took a lot of tweaking to ensure the perfect coverage over the Decollete

Arya - Summer Garden Print Dress

Dress made from self deigned Summer Garden Print as shown previously. This classic style is cut to flatter and sewn for a perfect fir

Humming Bird Meadow Dress

As you can see, Humming Bird Meadow dress is finally complete. The attention to detail is apparent, with crisp pattern matched seams, a flash of scarlet for lining to add the extra bit of specialness and finished with my own design label

Vintage Photographs post war 1940's - 1960's

Nan in her 1950's New Look Dior style dress

flying was such a glamourous affair! No hen/stag parties via easy jet! 

Being smart, even on the day away from the factories meant 3 piece suits on the beach!

as well as full jewellery!

post war fashion, nan and her friend taking a stroll
 

Pure -White Leather Embelished Collar

Pure - White leather & lace collar with applique flowers from my self designed fabric finished with crystal buttons and opal beads £45 to purchase

Front detail

Left Collar Detail

right collar detail

Whilst at Gawthorpe I was able to work on a new leather collar design, carrying on from the Venician Renaisanse inspired collars I produced for my degree work. I stripped the leather colour back, opting for a pure white leather then embelished with white lace (hence the Pure name) and finally with the laser cut petals from my self designed fabric. Rather than laser cutting the collar, this was all worked by hand, therefore making the collar much more cost effective.

Gawthorpe Hall Day

What a marvelous day I had at Gawthorpe Hall! I was honoured to be asked to display some of my degree collection at Gawthorpe for one of their pop up costume events where the lovely curators work like honey bee's to bring out a selection on vintage dresses and paraphernalia to display for 1 day only.  The point was to show contemporary textiles nestled next to the traditional, giving an insight into the changes within the textile industry.

The visitors were absolutely lovely and it was a rare chance to speak to people who were genuinely interested in your work.

The Hall is simply stunning and the tea rooms leak and potato soup simply gorgeous so next time any one is in the Padiham area, Gawthorpe is definately worth a visit! 

leather studded collars

Following the success of my laser cut leather collars and chokers as part of my degree collection, I was commissioned to add a studded leather collar to a dress which would match her Jeffrey Campbell Lita spiked ankle boots