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

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 !!!

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 . 

Mirrors x

I have been a bit naughty and spent some money, but couldn't resist !!!

I have a bit of a thing for butterflies , love their shapes and colours and having had the hallway re-decorated, I thought I would treat myself.

Took a bit of a while to put them up because I could not decide what sort of pattern to do with them .

Plenty of blue tack and the camera to take some photos , so that I could remember how I had put them up before !!

Have done it plenty of times, been working on a design, quite liked it the first time I did it, then start to mess around with it and can't remmeber how it was in the first place when I liked it best !! So, having learn't from that mistake I TRY not to make it again !!! Placed the mirrors in three different designs and, yes, went back to the first idea !!!!

I got them from http://www.sendmeamirror.com/ They had sooooo much choice. As a dressmaker I was tempted to get the bodice mirror !!! But did not have anywhere to put it !!

BTW, I am in no way connected to this company and I am sure you could probably get them elsewhere too. This is just where I got mine

Wedding Dress pictures

I have not written for a while, I just don't know where the time goes.


Although , these days I have a job to get my hands on the laptop !!!

Earlier on in the year I was working on a wedding dress that meant I had to keep moving the furniture round. The skirt part was so long.

My customer based her idea on the Wedding Dress worn by Princess Margaret, designed by Norman Hartnell, in 1960.

However, she wanted tulle to be used , instead of organza. We had to change the style of the collar because the fabric was just too flimsy to stand up as high. It was quite a challenge but this is the result.

The tulle jacket was edged in ribbon , as was the skirt. I also had to make a cathedral length veil which was again, edged in ribbon. I bought some diamante buttons which were sewn on the front, the cuff and there were six at the back of the neck ( three on each side for decoration, it had hooks and eyes to fasten at the top)

The bodice underneath was ivory satin.

I still hope to receive some official photos, I dont know why I dont take more myself , but I just can't take good photos. I hope you like it xx

Bridesmaids

Over the summer I have met and worked with some lovely people.

I met Caroline, she wanted 3 bridesmaid dresses and could not find the colour that she wanted in the shops.

Also, there was one little problem, one of the bridesmaids was in America and would not get her dress until a day or so before the wedding. Caroline was getting married abroad so there would have been no way to alter her dress if it did not fit properly.

Did not think of it before, but maybe I should have said that if she paid for me to go over with her I could have done the alterations abroad with them !!!! Ah, missed opportunity there !!

To overcome the American problem, we got her mum to measure her and we sent a sample dress over for her to try, just made in a lining fabric, her mum emailed me to say that it fit perfectly. Great, so I could just get on with making the dress.

Also, a couple of weeks later, Caroline rang me and asked if I could do another 2 bridesmaid dresses !!! Ofcourse, you can't say no can you, so I ended up making 5. I hand beaded all of the dresses and had to make them all look the same even though they were different sizes but it all looked very nice. I hope to receive some of the actual wedding photos when things have settled down for the newly weds but for now here is a picture of one.

The dress is in orchid satin with organza overlay and these pictures are takaen before the final press. I hope you like x

See , I have done some work, just been a bit lax in my blog posts, and I always wait until after the events have happened so that no-ones secrets are out the bag !!

Do you think its too soon to show pics from another break I had ??!! I went to Glastonbury too xx LOL

Last Day at Milan

The final installment of my break :(

We only had the morning to spend in Milan, we had to be at the airport in the afternoon.

On the Saturday we were going to climb the roof of the Duomo but, due to security for the parade, it was closed off.

However, even though there were people inside for a service, we found out that we were allowed to go up on the Sunday so our disappointment was over. So worth the visit !! Beware, even though we used the lift, there were still lots of steps to go up.. Leg muscles !!! And so not the time to have worn a short skirt !!! But it was not planned.

The views were amazing . Apparantly every statue, of which there are loads, is different. It was lovely. Have I mentioned about the lovely weather !! (not in this post, ha ha ) Well worth the trip. Although the view from certain points, over the city, was not too spectacular. Unfortunately there seems to be lots of development going on, I am glad I got to visit when I did, I fear that they are spoiling bits of the city which is a great shame as there is some truly beautiful architecture.


After our Cathedral visit, we went for a last drink in a cafe beside the square. Watching the people go by and already missing the place. I had the biggest Mojito on the menu , full of crushed ice and absolutely gorgeous on that hot day.

Thank you Milan for a lovely time x

Just to finish, here is a pic of me, terrified at the airport. I hate flying, but I force myself to do it because I like to get to somewhere else x