Now that you’ve been privy to my little black book it will probably be no surprise that I really enjoy phase two of my commission work. Fabric sourcing. Many of my clients have very specific ideas and know exactly what colour they would like for their outfit, but don’t necessarily understand about different fabrics and their qualities. As mentioned in part one, I keep a wide selection of short lengths of various fabrics in my studio so that clients can get a feel for the weave and fibre content of a fabric and how it will behave as a garment. Once favourites are chosen we then get down to the tricky business of colour matching. There are so many shades of ivory, cream, oyster, champagne and white, if a wedding dress is to have more than one type of fabric in the design then it’s really important to get a good match... read more
This is a really exciting time of year in the studio as February tends to be my busiest month for taking commissions. Most people tend to over-indulge in December and so are fairly unwilling to be measured up for a dress until they’ve regained their pre-Christmas physique. The new year also brings the scary reality of “OMG I’m getting married THIS year!!” This year has been no exception and the phone has been red hot with both dress enquiries and new dressmaking students. I’ve got some stunning projects to get my teeth into this wedding season and I’m desperate to share them with you, but alas, I cannot. Wedding dress commissions have to be very secretive and I would never be the one to let the cat out of the bag, so instead of telling you what I’ll be doing this year I thought I’d share with you how the process... read more
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of creating a dress for this stunning bride, Katie. I wanted to share the dress with you the moment it was finished by obviously that isn’t possible with wedding dresses as it would be a disaster to let anyone see the dress too soon. I’m glad I waited until now as last week a handful of pictures from the actual wedding day arrived in my inbox! I was on a skiing holiday with friends back in January when Katie first got in touch… “I’m getting married in July (this year) and am just not finding THE dress out there, despite my searching many, many bridal shops. I’m keen to go down the route of having my dress made from scratch to make it totally my own. I have an idea of my perfect dress in mind…” Our journey started with an initial consultation when we talked... read more
Over the years I have been lucky enough to make many dresses for really fantastic clients. In 2011 on a very rainy February day, Angelina wed Jo, wearing a bespoke gown and jacket that I made for her. The process of having a bespoke dress made is very special and I often become good friends with my clients during this important journey. Since Angelina’s wedding dress, I have made her a very special maternity party dress for her Birthday… and now a dress in fabulous red silk to wear to the wedding of one of her bridesmaids. And there is another commission in the pipeline, a green silk flapper style party dress. Watch this space… Here is a mini-tutorial about how to make rouleau loop fastenings: I just wanted to show you this before it is lost forever, I am using Louis Feraud haute couture fabric, feeling a bit posh! Lay... read more
