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.

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

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

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 . 

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

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.

  

Happy Birthday :)

Woo Hoo !! Tis my birthday today.
I hope the brides I have worked with have a great day and the weather is kind, its not  been too bad where I am .

I love my birthday because you get random emails and texts from allsorts of people wishing you a Happy Birthday.
 This year Next have been in touch with the offer of £5.00 off my next order of £25.00. Lovely, one of my favourite shops
Snow Patrol sent me an email and a text !!! Makes me feel VERY special LOL. They are one of my favourite bands, even before they were texting me.
Also, I had Best Wishes from a community I have slightly neglected of late. It is a fabulous craft forum and highly recommended . There are lots of lovely people on there.

www.thesewingforum.co.uk

If you sew, knit, crochet, craft, or like to chat, have a craft -related problem and need advice, thinking of starting in business etc . People are there to listen and try and help if you have any queries.
The people range from complete beginners to very competent and experienced. Most of all, this site is just lovely and very friendly, and anyone who cant be , is removed.

There are so many useful tips etc, and although its UK based, there are people from all over the world on there. 
Ok , enough waffle, I think  I have said enough !!! LOL But even as someone who has been sewing for quite a while, I still learn new tips/ techniques and I have passed on my own tips too. 

Basically wanted to say www.thesewingforum.co.uk is a site worth looking at XX

Ooooh Excited !!

Cant wait !! Cant show you the proper dress yet, the bride is getting married tomorrow but I love the dress I have recently finished.  As a bit of a pre-lim to the actual pictures I thought I would write a post on the ideas that she came to me with. 
I often get people come to me with some pictures of dresses which the person likes a bit of one and some of another but has had no luck finding the RIGHT one .
My bride to be came to me with some pictures, and she had also been to see another dressmaker too, who had created a drawing for her based on what she thought the dress would look like. Our 2 ideas were totally different even though we had been told the same things.
So, the Bride to be went off and considered, and came back to me because she liked my idea.  Which I consider very lucky, because my drawing is not especially good !!!! Something I really need to work on .
Here are some of the comments and pictures that I had to work with

I dont know if the writing might be a bit small to read, but it basically says everything I needed to know about the style she wanted. Top part of lace, with an asymmetrical ruched part, Aline skirt with a bit of volume and train.  Quite simple but elegant , no jewels or crystals .

I just hope the weather is kind tomorrow !! I have been telling her it is always nice in September , its my birthday tomorrow and it usually is a nice day !!!  I have a new rule now, never talk about the English weather !! Really, nothing is a given anymore !! The weather forecast is not too great !!

I just hope she has a lovely day.

Anything is possible , well , probably

I quite often get asked about changing a zipped back dress into a laced up dress.  There are several reasons, mainly because a dress doesnt fit anymore !!!
 However, this time it was because a bride had bought her special dress but had always wanted a laced up wedding dress.
 I normally forget to take a photograph !! However, I thought I would take one for my collection.
The dress is beautiful , and by Amanda Wyatt.
This is the before............

I removed part of the zip, leaving it in place up to the waist.
 I had to remove some of the back of the bodice too, giving it the V shaped back, which meant I also had to take out the boning  from the lining and move it over.  I inserted loops, made the tie and a modesty panel for the underneath
And here is the after ......

Luckily, for this dress, I had a perfect match in my fabric stash to do this.   The bride is very pleased, which is always the main thing xx

I love Purple x

This year my sewing has been slightly different in that I have had some people bring me patterns that they have bought.  Normally, I just get some magazine pictures which people like bits of different dresses !!

One of the patterns I have used and found to be a really nice dress was New Look 6699.

Unfortunately, I dont have a good picture of the three bridesmaid dresses, but I made the style on the model, in purple satin.

In fact, I liked the pattern so much, and the purple satin, that I made a dress for myself !  I had an 80th surprise birthday party and a wedding to go to this year, so thought it would be ideal.  I changed the top part of the dress though and here is an actual picture of me wearing it

I have since read some reviews on the pattern, and they seem to be all good.

All Dressed Up for Prom Night

Here is my prom girl, in her dress, she looks gorgeous, her hair is fabulous and make up too.  She lives across the road from me and so she popped over so that I could see everything together.  Her belt and shoes are from Next.  She hugged me again, and considering her age and the fact that she does not really know me, I thought that was lovely.  I am so pleased to have made this, although, I do hope she doesnt cry in it , as she keeps saying she loves it so much she wants to cry !! LOL   It would spoil her gorgeous makeup.

Grecian style Prom Dress

Grecian style Prom Dress, a photo by Paula Goldstraw on Flickr.    Aaah , there is usually a way around these things.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   I wouldnt be able to wear it myself !!! LOL  But for the 16 yr old , slim, lovely girl !!! Its perfect . Hopefully will actually get some pictures of her in it.

Taking Photos !!!! Tips to try !!!

Well, I put my evening bag into my Folksy shop . I asked for some opinions and got feedback to say that (as usual ) the photography could be better so I have been reading and reading about tips on how to take a good photo !!! In fact my eyes hurt looking so long at the laptop !!! So, I am starting off with my original photo and I am on a mission to make it better.

First thing to do, weather permitting is go outside !!!!! It better be warm(ish !!), thats all I can say, I dont think frost is good for me LOL

The sources I have read from suggest natural light, early morning in the shade, or second best is a cloudy day. Both of which are very likely tomorrow ( Sources are previous tips saved from Etsy and some from Folksy x)

Another tip was to have a simple background, your item should be the star !!! Ok, so I think I can manage those two no problem.

The next tip was to make sure the photo is crisp and clear. Sometimes , if you go to close its going to blur your item so may be better to take from a little distance . This one I struggle with !!!

Anyway, I am going to try these tomorrow, and sign off now because, as I said , my eyes hurt and are a little bit tired !!!

Wish me luck !!!

Happy New Year - bit late, I know x

Happy New Year everybody.

I know its a bit late but now that son has gone back to school and normality has resumed after the festive season its sort of like a new year again.

I was unfortunately caught off guard by a bug the day before New Years Eve so had to cancel plans for NYE. My bestest friend has found 'love' and has decided that I now need to do the same !!! She had plans for me anad keeps trying to suggest a certain someone !!! She said that I " would do anything to get out of kissing ....... " LOL . It was a real illness , I promise !

Soz, I digress.

I dont make New Year resolutions, I hate to disappoint myself when I fail !

Last year I joined a Getting Things Done website and did not get to grips with the theory of it properly, although I initially did get things done !!

I have just bought the book and started reading. You are supposed to collate all information on anything that you would like to Get Done, then you have to process that information in different ways for future working towards any goals that you have.

Trouble is, you are not supposed to work on the wrong things at the wrong time. One of my items on my GTD list was to tidy my wardrobe !! Actually, just realised, it didnt even make it to the list. I just went ahead and did it !!!

That is not how its supposed to work !!! But I do now have a tidy wardrobe. However, I now have loads of things in my room that I have no idea what to do with !!!! LOL

This year I hope to stock a FOLKSY shop that I have just opened, with some of my own creations. Unfortunately I am a great procrastinator, and work better under pressure, which is why I generally have deadlines ie wedding dates, prom dates etc . ( My day job www.inspired-brides.co.uk ) . So we shall see how well I manage with GTD and FOLKSY.

Love to you all for the New Year xx

Back View

Hi, hope everyone who reads this is well. Just thought I would show the back of the wedding dress sash from a previous blog showing the front of it.

I like to do my bows in seperate pieces, because I like them to stay in place exactly as I make them, I do not think a sash that you tie into a bow looks as nice on a wedding dress.

First I made the pieces that hang down the back. I used chiffon and bound the top edge with some satin because its firmer, and I was stitching this to the dress on one side of the zip. Then I put a popper on the dress and the bound edge. This means it will not hang off anywhere.

Then I made my bow pieces in chiffon, with a satin in the middle bit. I did start to bead this but found that because of the design on the front being wavy, it did not look right with similar beads on the bow. I had to unpick all my hard work !!!!!!

Being a perfectionist is a blessing and a curse xxx

(he he he )

So I opted for the gorgeous sew on Swarovski and used the philosophy , less is more.

The dress is gone now, I am working on other projects at the moment . I hope you have enjoyed looking at my creation x

Wedding Dress Sash

Amongst other things, I have been working on creating a new sash for a wedding dress.

The dress started off fairly plain and my customer wanted something with a bit of sparkle.

This is what I started off with.

I had a bit of muslim, cut in a strip, so that she could give me the correct width of what she wanted. She also wanted a bow at the back.

I started off with a piece of organza that was the correct width ( + small top seam) and used some chiffon behind and over the top of it and pinned it into place (as picture).

There was a small strip of fabric on the dress and a bow that needed removing so I had to undo the stitching that held this in place, cut and remove it. I had to undo an area along the zip edge and open up the sides to put the sash into it!!!!

I find it difficult to 'create' beaded areas, purely on a design level. What one person would like is not necessarily the same as you might create and because it takes a long time to hand sew beads into place, I must admit to being a little nervous !! I showed her some beads that I was going to consider and she liked them, Swarovski crystals, whats not to like, truly my favourites, plus a few others. Bit too extravagant a budget would have been needed for it all to be Swarovski .

I also got sew on ones (because I like them and did not want to risk burning the chiffon with some hotfix ones) which I got from http://www.cheapfabrics.co.uk/

She came around the other day to check out the beading, just to make sure she was happy before I continued with the back and the bow, and she was really pleased.

So, thought I would show you it so far.

On my twitter I have been writing about one of my sewing projects.
It is a Christening Gown.
The customer came to me with a pattern (McCalls M4865) and her wedding dress. She asked if it would be possible to make the Gown from the train of her dress. The wedding dress fabric was too thick for this, so I suggested a thinner satin.
I took the lace and beads from the train of the wedding dress, had to also make the wedding dress train shorter and finish the hem.

I positioned the lace onto the christening gown skirt, tried it in 3 different patterns before I decided that I liked this way best.

I have hand sewn it into place, added the beads, then attached a lining so that it hid all stitching.

I made up the gown, although, I sort of followed the instructions. I had lined the skirt, which was not in the instructions. I attached the skirt lining and skirt together, then continued, as one piece. I also made the sleeves longer, I needed to add elastic around the 'cuff ' part because they were quite wide. I found fiting the sleeves a bit tricky because they were so small. But got there in the end.

The little baby is beautiful, I cant wait to see the pictures . Valentines Day, what a lovely day for a Christening

Well, its been quite a while since my last posting. I have been working on a couple of my own designs, trying to get people to send me pictures of some of the dresses I have made, and I actually knitted myself a cardigan.

My own designs are not quite completed but as soon as they are I will post some pictures. The customers pictures I have requested still have not materialised. My cardigan is lovely and I will also take a picture of that .

I had a stall at a prom fair in Devizes at the beginning of November, it was not very busy, but I handed out plenty of information and had quite a bit of interest. It was nice to meet some lovely stall holders. One was from Devizes, she has a shop and she sources her items from Italy. Gorgeous bags. Another lady was from Pewsey, tiaras and hair decoration was her forte. I have tried to encourage her to visit www.misi.co.uk and get herself a shop.

I went to The Paintworks, Bristol , to visit the Misi Craft fair. Some lovely items on sale. I went to try and get some Xmas pressies, but came out with a bracelet for myself from Tollykit (on Misi) she also has a website on http://www.elainehillson.co.uk . I have not dared look at that yet, there is bound to be something else I want !!!

Finally, I am pleased to say, I have got around to having a new website done . I am so pleased with it. Feel free to look and leave me any comments that you might have, I love to hear what other people think. www.inspired-brides.co.uk It has taken me a while, and will hopefully be available on search engines soon, its only just gone live.

Photo of Bridesmaids

I did some alterations on the bridal gown and older bridesmaids. The 4 young bridesmaid dresses are made completely by me.

The wedding dress was white and gold, so we had a gold satin bodice and white tulle skirt.
The older bridesmaid dresses came with stoles, I used these to make the sashes for the little dresses.

I think they look very complimentary.

INSPIRED BRIDES

Evening, hope everyone is not suffering tooo much with the weather.

My son tried to blag another day off school. Its only been raining !!!! But it has been continual, all day in fact, so there has been flooding in the area.

Still, I have retired to my blissful world of weddings and proms. No real world business for me. Weather , what weather !!!

Thought I would share with you some more photos of projects that I have done before.

I decided to call my business INSPIRED BRIDES .I wanted to work with people who wanted that something a little bit different. This one certainly fitted the bill. Although I do love all wedding related things, everyone is just so happy.

The lady in question had found her fabric in a curtain/cushion type fabric shop. She bought some and came to me with one metre of it, enough to make a bodice. Then wanted to know how we could incorporate this into her wedding. She just loved the colours.

After leaving it with me for a while, my brain ticked over , then I got back to her with some ideas.

We ended up putting a bronze silk with it , the colour was in the fabric, used it as a skirt colour.

The bridesmaids were all in different colours of silk, but they were all contained in the fabric also.

The young girl was lucky. She was a Liverpool supporter so I was told that red was a definate must for her. Thank goodness that it was the right red !!!!