Category Archives: Prom

Dresses made for Proms

Prom 2016

Posted on by
Reply

It’s been a little hectic since I got back from holiday.  It was countdown to Prom which meant final fitting time for the dress I have been making.  It has been an absolute pleasure working with Jess and her mum.  I particularly love that Jess always gives good feedback, what can I say, I like a client that knows what she wants ❤

This journey started in February when Jess sent some pictures and asked if I could make “this”.   “Sure” I said, “why don’t you come in and we’ll have a chat”.  It is of course never that simple, before the appointment I found some patterns that were as close as possible so we could talk details.

M7320 MISSES’/MISS PETITE | MERMAID HEM & HIGH-LOW DRESS

At the meeting we agreed how the dress would look; style details, colour, materials, length……  But more importantly I got to know Jess and her mum.  I feel when making a custom outfit it’s important to know who I am making it for and that they get to know me because they are trusting me with something really special.  In February it seemed a very long time until June, Ha!

Normally if I’m making for fairs or for me I buy fabric quite happily online but this time it seemed more prudent to get some samples.  While I waited for the sample to arrive I got busy customising the pattern (I did say it’s never that simple didn’t I).  I could use the pattern for under-layer of the dress, however, to create the top layer I need to graft the sheer panel onto the main body, yup that’s as confusing as it sounds!   Still it wouldn’t be fun if it was easy 🙂

The next few months were a blur of cutting, tacking, over-locking, sewing, fittings, discussions.  And for Jess, shoes, underwear, jewellery and unfortunately exams 😦

I will admit I am very very proud of the end result and Dot is still sulking that she can’t wear the dress anymore!  In fact she’s sulking so much I’ve included her in the gallery below but undoubtedly Jess is the star of the show.  Thank you for asking me to make your dress for such an important day.

received_10207813279627874-1received_10207813281827929-1

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Emma’s Festive Frock

Posted on by
Reply

IMG-20151104-WA0000Do you have one person in your life who thinks you can do anything? The consequences are amazing and oh so challenging. My person is Emma my sister-in-law. We’d been talking about her Christmas dress for about four months, yup she’s that Christmas loving person that starts in September! When this magazine popped through my door

We both agreed that neckline was stunning but a fuller floaty skirt would look better. This meant I could split the top and bottom and we could have fun with fabric contrasts. Many screenshots and much debate later I found this….IMG-20151110-WA0001

It’s glitter stuck on a backing with fish-scale lace over the top (in case you were wondering) and I had slight misgivings when I realised I was ordering from a craft supplier not a fabric supplier (!) I waited for it to arrive before trying to match a fabric for the skirt. It was certainly worth the wait but yep it was meant for card making not for sewing……

We had a client meeting (this is business after all) and I’m fairly sure she dared me to try to make a dress out of it anyway. Or perhaps that’s just what I heard 🙂

On with the search for the skirt fabric, welcome to my life a beautiful midnight blue moss crepe, yum. At the client meeting we agreed the full dress would be made from the skirt fabric and the sparkles as an over top. That meant if it all went disastrously wrong we could simply add jewels to the top of the under dress. I like to have a backup plan when I’m at the crazy end of the creativity scale.

There was no doubt the fabrics looked 20151126_150910awesome together so time to cut and stitch. Except it’s NEVER that easy with anything for Emma, did I mention she’s tall, slim and not in a million years a standard size. So first job was to lengthen the pattern, remove the skirt, find a suitable transplant. Done! Well not quite that quickly I’m using artistic license.

Things quickly took shape for the underdress. And after some wrestling and persuasion for the bodice too.

20151130_153505 IMG-20151204-WA0001 IMG-20151204-WA0003

So how did it turn out? It was stunning, the structured bodice really contrasted with the floaty skirt and the whole thing was perfect for Em’s figure and personality. RESULT! Worth every risk, worry and broken nail 🙂

IMG-20151210-WA0000

Busy busy busy

Posted on by
Reply

Unusually for me this is a post without pictures.  Please don’t think I haven’t been busy, or that there isn’t some thing to show for it there is.  Here are my excuses….

  • I’ve been doing some alterations and I won’t post someone else’s work on here even if I’ve tweaked it slightly.
  • We had a great Appliqué workshop on Sunday but nobody finished anything!  There was a lot of progress and I can’t wait to show you what’s been created but you’ll have to be patient, just like me 🙂
  • I made some gifts and I can’t show you till they’ve been opened because that would spoil the surprise. Because we all wait till our birthdays to open our presents, don’t we…….
  • I’ve been setting up my company (accounting records, yaaawn) and sorting out some training (yay).  And I’ve now got an online shop, no stock yet but one step at a time.

OK I fibbed about the pictures here’s my shop, if you click on the picture you can see it for real.  Why not put it in your favourites it won’t be empty for long…….