Never Really Left But .......I am Back

So, with a new website going live soon, I have looked into all of the social media things I have and have decided that I shall put my main content in this blog . You could go on for ever with it all , and really , who has the time.....I would never be able to make beautiful dresses if I spent all day on the internet xx

I am Paula Goldstraw, and I am Inspired Brides . I am a home-based business in Wiltshire , UK . Beautiful part of the world , three miles from Lacock, where a lot of television/filming is done. Also five miles from Bradford-on-Avon, another beautiful place, and fourteen miles from the City of Bath.

I am a designer/dressmaker helping people create their ideas, of their dream dress.

On this blog I shall be discussing all things wedding, dressmaking, design related . Showing some of my work and sharing some tips . Would love for you to ask if there is anything specific I can help with , or if you would like to work with me to create your dream dress .

The website will be www.inspired-brides.co.uk
There is a fb page if you would like to have a little look at some of my work InspiredBrides-Wiltshire , eventually I will be putting things up in more detail on this page , but it all takes time xx

I look forward to writing , sharing and getting to know you.

Yours,

Paula Goldstraw

#Dressmaking   #Handmade   #wedding  #Inspired  #Wiltshire #Bride 

Extra Special Prom Dress

LOVE it when I get  some pics back.

I was not even sure this dress was going to get worn to a prom at all. 
This beautiful girl is the daughter of a friend of a friend. I was approached about making the dress, but before I got started, she was to be sent for emergency surgery, regarding cancer.
The operation was due 2 weeks before her prom, so they asked me to wait . However, I had already got everything prepared for it, because I had decided I would make it for her anyway.

She has a scar on the front of her neck, about 4 inches long, but my goodness, the surgeon has done such a fantastic job, I am sure it will hardly be noticeable in time.  She is doing extremely well, although a little tired at times, but decided she was going to her prom anyway.  She has taken it all in her stride and has to be thoroughly commended on her attitude.

Here she is .

I also made a matching tie for her date.

 She continues to go from strength to strength,  she seems to be on the mend, all is good xx

She had a thoroughly good time at her prom and loved her dress.

LONDON xx

I am not going to post too much about this, as I am sure most people who want to hear about the Jubilee, have already watched and read enough.

But, I was in London at the same time as it all.  I have family in London and I had not really intended to participate in any festivities, just visit my Aunt and Uncle.  I have nothing against the Royal Family, but coming from a small town, they do not really feature in my life.

However, whilest there, we walked along the Mall on the Saturday and saw them preparing everything, we went to Somerset House and wow, that is lovely , has a balcony that you can get drinks or bring your own. We sat and had a drink and basically soaked up the atmosphere, saw the tents of people along the riverside and enjoyed the sun, yes , I did say sun !!
My Aunty has lived in London for over 30 yrs and she said that the atmosphere in London had never felt so good.
Saturday night the weather turned, I was safely ensconced in my Auntys flat, but all I could think about was those poor people in their tents !!!!!

Sunday though, we decided to try and see if we might get by the Thames to see the boats, we managed to be in front of Somerset House, they had a large screen because in truth, we could see nothing, there were so many people.  We watched loads and what a fabulous surprise, we were opposite the building that the Warhorse was on, so actually got to see that.

We were lucky, yes the heavens opened, but we had seen most of it and so we left.

The next day we ended up in Hyde Park, watching the concert on the big screen, with thousands of people.  It was fantastic, and again the weather was great.  To say it was a washout, is a great big lie.  To say lots of people had a great time, is so true. 

Considering we had planned none of what we did that weekend, it was brilliant and a weekend I will never forget. 

LONDON is an amazing city and The British sure know how to party xxxxx

Prom Time

Well, bit like buses, you don't hear from me for ages , then two come along  !!! .

I have been being a Mum and visiting family.  Managed to do both at the same time. 

It is my Sons prom this year and we have family down in Devon.  My Nan and Grandad are both in very good health and it was lovely to see them , not many 40yr olds can say they have Grandparents and I feel very blessed. 
Whilest there, my Son and I went shopping for his prom suit in Exeter.  He tried on a couple, but fell in love with one from Moss Bros.  Funny, but we got it half price but it did not have anything on to say it was .
He wanted a 3-piece, its charcoal, and has purple lining .  We got a shirt and tie set in purple, to match, from Next
I know I am biased, but here is a picture of my gorgeous, grown-up boy.

I cant believe where the time has gone xxx

Upcycled Wedding Dress

I don't know where the time has gone !!!! I have not blogged  for so long. 
I have been working, being a Mum, taking trips to visit family, trying to sort out my son with a college and generally just busy .


I had a bride, who had bought her dress 2 years ago, at a charity shop.  However, when she got it out again, had changed her mind about the bodice design.  The bodice had lace and beads along the bodice top and around the bottom edge too.  I removed the lace and beads and we sent it off to be dry cleaned. 

My bride wanted a more traditional floral design so I used organza  and pearls  and created this design instead

This is the dress afterwards, although  we did pull the centre flower down a bit lower before she took it away. As an older bride she was a bit conscious of showing any cleavage, but was happy that the design was fine as I had said it would be.

Luckily the dress did not need any other alterations.  It was perfect and she was more than happy .

Just what I like to hear xx

Butterick 4657

(reference previous post )

I found a picture of the original dress I made, unfortunately I am rather annoyed that I did not taken one when she had it on.  It looked absolutely stunning on her with her tanned skin and dark hair.  It fitted her beautifully, unlike the model :(

The pattern needed a lot of alteration .  The lady came to me with the pattern and fabric from a shop.  Unfortunately, I do not think the shop employs someone who is a dressmaker and the lining was not suitable for the design, also, because of the pale colour of the chiffon, everything needed to be doubled so that it did not look washed out.  It took me a long time to work out how to alter the pieces and cut out the fabric so that it would all be able to come out of what she had bought !!!! 

I would always suggest someone speaks to a dressmaker first before they purchase anything, could save time and money .

It really is a beautiful dress, but if you are tempted to get the pattern, make a sample one first.

One of the things I did was to use a skirt size 2x bigger than was suggested so that the skirt folds were nicer.

I still struggle to look at this picture as I know how nice it looked on her.

  She brought the brooch with her, a friend of hers makes jewellry, nice to have friends like that :)

It finishes the dress off lovely.

If anyone does buy the pattern and needs advice, feel free to get in touch.

For the Wedding Dress I had to downsize a 14,16,18,20 pattern, down to a size 10.  Instead of a brooch I decided to put on lace and beading.  I also made the skirt long, with a slight train on the back and one day will take a picture properly :)  I am very pleased with it .

Happy Sewing x

Wedding Fayre

Uploaded some photos of the dresses , jacket and bag I took to the wedding fayre.

I made this dress before , in a pale peach chiffon and really liked the style of it, so I decided to do my own take on the original and create it in ivory, as a wedding dress.

However I did have to alter the original pattern by a considerable amount, to get it like this.  I also lengthened it from the original .  I added some lace, with beading and sequins.

The full length photo is a bit hazy as I left my camera in the car, where it was cold, and in Leigh park Hotel, it was humid, so that is actually mist on the photo and no amount of editing will sort that out !!

I also took some items I have shown before , except I have now made a clutch bag to go with the red jacket .  It really was a lovely day, even though outside it was a different story.  I don't think the rain stopped the whole time we were there. There were no cars or horses and carriages at this one !!!

Oooh, Wedding Fayre Cakes

I have been to another Wedding Fayre.  This time it was at the lovely Leigh Park Hotel, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire.
The weather was absolutely horrendous on the day, but luckily it meant that the turnout was quite good.

I do have some photos of some of my work but have not uploaded them yet, so I will share with you some delicious cakes.

There seems to be a bit of a habit forming here !!!! My previous post was about cakes.

This time I got to take some of the cupcakes home, now that does not normally happen, but I happen to know the lady making the cakes, although when I met her she was not doing it.
I met her when I made her Wedding Dress. 
It was lovely meeting up and her cakes are lovely, so light and tasty.  Not only did I get to take cupcakes, but I also tried the carrot cake and fruit cake.  All just scrummy .

leahqueenofcakes.wordpress.com/

Take a peak xx

Wedding Fayre

On Sunday I went to a wedding fayre, as an exhibitor.  I have not done one for ages . 

It was at the newly refurbished Civic Hall, Trowbridge. And what a transformation it has had , its lovely.  There were 20 +  exhibitors .

I met some lovely people , I am based in Melksham and it seems that I was surrounded by others from Melksham too.  The lady on the stall next to mine was Helen , her stall was so pretty.  She hires Vintage China and makes cakes.  Which I can confirm, are delicious, because I got to sample one. Somebody else came to my stall and told me they were the best tasting ones she had tried out of all the other cake stalls , so it really would have been rude not to see for myself :)  www.cottagegardencakes.co.uk

See, good enough to eat.

I made a wedding dress for my stand but I cant believe I forgot my camera on the day, so I have not got a photograph of it yet.  I did take the jacket I had made, and had some very complimentary comments about it.

 One of the compliments was from Trowbridges' very own Town Crier, mind you, I think he has a thing for red  :)

It was a great day.  I talked the hind legs off a donkey that day, so hopefully it will lead to some work.  It always takes a bit of time. People visit these wedding fayres quite early.  A fair few people are not gettting married until 2013.  Now thats preparation for you.

Finally Photographed !!

Well, I finished this jacket the other day and got around to photos eventually !!!

 I have still been trying to get better at them, which is why it has taken a while to do them .  I seem to be getting there.

 I am pleased with the jacket and was considering opening my Etsy or Folksy shop again, but can't decide which one.  !! .   The jacket would look great for weddings, prom or evening wear and personally I love this colour , so warming and its nearly Valentines Day so I guess there has been a lot of it about .
TIP ;-     I love the ruffles but have not really done them in the past,I found them difficult to get neat. I found a great way to easily do them is to have 2 rows of gathering stitches. It makes a much nicer ruffle and also found this makes sleeve heads ( different project) easier to fit by using the same method.

 Any comments about photography would be gratefully received , or the jacket, obviously :)  Its made in a lovely burgundy satin, with diamante centred flowers.  Gotta love a bit of bling :)
There are also two bags I have designed to go with the jacket, one of them is now finished, but again, slow photographer , didn't catch the best light .

Have a good day :)

Eat, Love, Pray - Elizabeth Gilbert

Well, not normally something I write about on my blog, as I tend to keep to my sewing subject.  But I really had to share this book that I have just read.

I haven't read a book in quite a while, even though it is usually something I love to do, nothing seems to have piqued my interest. However, my friend gave me this to borrow and I read it in a week .

Its about a thirty something woman whose life goes awry and she decides to go off and 'find herself'', I suppose thats what you would call it.

It really is a great read and very uplifting.

I am not a religious person and was a bit concerned at the title, but it encompasses all religion in the nicest of ways , although not overly much.

She travels to Italy, India and Indonesia and tells the story of the people and places that she meets along the way who help and share her life and is written, in such a way, you feel like you are travelling with her.

Like I said, I really enjoyed this book and just wanted to share that fact :)

Love Getting Pictures x

I love getting pictures of dresses I have created.

 I have just received some lovely photos. The photographer, whom I  do not know, seems to have captured the group really well.

The bride came to me because, although they had found some lovely childrens dresses, there was not an adult dress in the same colour and also one of the young bridesmaids had measurements that were not standard for her age.
She wanted all three to match in colour, but have their own choice of style.

The bridesmaid, pictured next to the bride, wanted a long dress with a swag front and, at the time of the visit, I had a small dress out that had a ruffle on the strap and she liked it and wanted it on her dress.

The next bridesmaid wanted thicker straps and a shorter style with the swag front.

I did not meet with the adult bridesmaid until a later date and she was thinking of not having the swag front, just a princess line dress with a band under the bust and spaghetti straps, however, when I showed her how slimming the swag would be if it were added, she decided to have the swag too.

And to finish off I made three stoles , because the wedding was in October.  I think it was actually the hottest day I have ever known in Britain in October !! It was perfect.

It is lovely to get emails with pics xx

My Fave, so far

Well, havent looked at too many photos of The Golden Globes, but some of what I have seen didn't really impress, except this one.  Angelina looks stunning , mind you, bit of a fan of Brads too :)

Just my opinion mind, will have a better look when I am not supposed to be busy altering wedding dresses.

Have a good day x

Fate and a ' Posh Frock '

I have a friend, who always thought she would never need me to do any sewing for her, as she just did not get invited to an occasion where she would need a 'posh frock' .

This year however, quite by accident, she met a new man.  You cant help but believe in fate sometimes !!  She rang a phone number, twice, left messages, thinking it was someone that she knew.  What are the odds on typing in a wrong number TWICE, the person  rang her back to inform her of the mistake, not only does he live in the same town as her, but he was single . They started texting each other, met up and fell in love.  How amazing is that !! 

So, his boss had arranged an evening of fine dining and a casino, hence the need for the 'posh frock'  .

I have not made the dress, it was ordered over the internet and although they ask you to measure for the sizes, this dress arrived 1-2 sizes bigger than we ordered, so extensive alterations were needed and the train was taken off the back.

The other thing I did was to make a black satin bolero and a matching clutch bag to finish off the outfit.  The picture is a bit fuzzy because we were laughing :) But she was so pleased, and so was I.  It is a lovely story and I am so pleased that she finally gets her very own 'posh frock ' x

Beautiful Bride xx

Today I received an email with these gorgeous pictures. This is my bride that I have written about in two previous posts and I couldn't be prouder of the how lovely she looks when all dressed up . 

Poppy Dress, For A Different Remembrance x

Earlier in the year I met a Mother of the Bride and made three purple bridesmaids dressses, which are on a previous post.  Whilest I was making the dresses, her sister, who had been ill for a short time, sadly passed away before the wedding took place.

On one occassion, whilest bringing a bridesmaid for a fitting she mentioned that there might be another project that she may want me to do.
Before her sister got ill, she had made up the lining for a dress which she had picked out this fabric for but unfortunately had been unable to finish it .

The fabric is just lovely with embroidery and some poppys are attached

She tried on the lining, I did a few alterations , used the lining as the pattern and made up the dress for her . 

It was picked up today, and she loves it. It is obviously very special to her for her own reasons of

remembrance.I felt quite honoured to be asked to be asked to finish it for her  

Transformation

Well, I seem to be up really early, so rather than trying to get some more sleep , figured I would do something useful .LOL Have not blogged for a bit but thought I would show you what I have just completed.
I have a lady who I do alterations for , she raises money for a charity involved in helping people in the Air Force who have become injured through their work. Something she knows about personally.
 Well, she sent her Mum to me because she too  needed some work doing, as she is to receive an award in London for her fundraising. Fabulous, and well deserved. It always amazes me how much of a positive person she is when she visits too, even though she is no doubt, in constant discomfort.

Basically the job to do was to change a stole, into something easier to wear, now that the weather has taken a bit of a dip.

 

Luckily the stole was nice and wide, so it was no problem.  Here is what the stole is now , along with the top of the dress it is to go with.  She was very pleased, and a very proud Mum.
Here's wishing the family the best of luck on their trip to London and congratulations on a well deserved award xxx

Buyer Beware

When making a dress in ivory only, you do always need to make sure that you use good quality fabrics, or you run the risk of being able to see through the dress !!!

However, I had a lady ring me up with a bit of an emegency. The bride had bought a bridesmaids dress from Debenhams and considered that it was rather indecent for the bridesmaid as you could see right through !!. The dress itself is lovely, however the skirt was made up of 2 layers of low cost lining fabric and 1 layer of tulle.

So I took the skirt away from the bodice, removed the tulle layer, inserted another lining and added 2 more layers of tulle , just to add a bit more body to the skirt.

I had a look on the Debenhams website and it has actually had nothing but good reviews.  One of them even said the quality of the fabric was good !!  Still, managed to improve it for my customer

Proper Bust Measuring, so easily explained !

Recently , whilest working with a patterns I had given to make a dress from, I decided to look on the internet for information about measuring .

Obviously I have been measuring people for quite a while and one of the areas I always have to remark about is getting the underwear right . This is actually a very important area because it needs to be the correct fit, and you do not want anything showing if you are having, for example, a strapless dress.

Whilest, browsing/wasting time !!! on the internet, I came across a site that explains the bust and cup size measurements with such ease .

In google search, type in www.amplebosom.com   and go to the section underneath which says MEASURING GUIDE.

It really does explain very easily the size of bra you should be wearing and the cup size of it.

BTW, I am nothing to do with the Amplebosom website , just thought I would pass on the information

Paula x
                                                      

Cant Wait Any Longer !!

This post is connected to the previous post, which shows ideas and information I was given.

I do not have any official photographs because Emily only got married yesterday, but I do have some that we took on completion. I look forward to seeing some when she is all dressed up properly.

After our first talk, I knew she did not want anything too fussy. The main focus was to be the lace.
I ordered this from www.bridallaceandfabric.co.uk  They very kindly sent me a sample and , after looking at several different types of laces we decided on the best one.

Here is the final dress.

I love this dress, and most importantly, the Bride and her Mum do too .

It was a pleasure to create Emily her dream dress .

The main body of the skirt is Satin, with a Chiffon overlay.

The buttons down the back are covered in the lace, because, for me , the back of a wedding dress is just as important as the front as this is what people are looking at throughout the ceremony.