Milan Trip

Continuing on from my previous post x

On the Saturday the weather was glorious again. We had found the Tourist Information and bought tickets to go on a bus tour which you can hop on and off whenever you like. It was lovely to hear a bit about the different places, we saw The Castello Sforzesco, which we had a look around .

Then, got back on the bus and were dropped off at the shops with a more reasonble price tag ! This was, for me, a bit disappointing, a lot of the shops are the same as ours and I was hoping for more special boutiques.

However, we did come across a couple of nice shops off the main drag which (unfortunately can't remember the road) were a little more individual. One shop inparticular stood out for me. Penny Black , feminine, beautiful , affordable clothing . Loved it and I understand its quite a new brand, doesn't have an internet base yet.

In amongst all the bus trip we had popped back to the main square
LOOK !!

A special parade was going on. How nice of them to treat us on our trip LOL

There were dignitaries . Lots of Police !! Definately the safest time to have visited Milan. Everyone was stood there for hours in absolutely baking heat. Old soldiers, forensics, firemen, etc. They really did look fine in all their uniforms. People were being called up to receive awards. Because it was hot, we went to a cafe for a drink. Next thing we know, the parade has finished and some of the people walked right past where we were sat.

Was very nice to see, Men in uniform !!! Lovely .

As promised, here is me in my new shoes, with my handbag, outside The Duomo. For some reason, this gentleman wanted to get in on my picture !!!

Catch Up

Well, life has been so hectic that I have neglected my blog, in fact, at one stage I was on a limit of half an hour per day on the computer !!!! Just because time can wizz by on the darn thing .

I have been busy working on a wedding dress which caused me a few design issues and took rather longer than it should have. Also had several other jobs to do .

However, the last time I posted was back in May !!! That was to show you my new shoes which were going to be travelling to Milan with me.

I thought I would share some of it with you, but will have to do it in stages as there are so many nice pics . It was absolutely gorgeous weather. We stayed at Hotel De La Ville which turned out to be just a street away from the main square. Very Old English gentlemans Club type feel to the place. More English than a lot of our places in fact. Was great, would highly recommend it and the breakfast was gorgeous . Top Marks x

Well, of course, the first thing any self respecting woman would do on arrival in Milan on a Friday lunchtime, is to head to the shopping mall. Bit out of my price range !!! But was nice to look at the Prada, personally I am not a Louis Vuitton girl so was not too bothered about that. Gorgeous building thoughAnd here is the Italian Mr Bean, our lovely waiter that Friday evening . LOL . A street away from our hotel and next to the Ferrari showroom !! was a lovely restaurant, very reasonble prices, gorgeous food and wine, fantastic service. And here is a pic of my lovely Auntie who took me away for my birthday treat. Cant quite believe I am nearly 40, its creeping up very quickly now !!!! I have more pics but will leave it there for now. But it is certainly a lovely place to be and the fantastic weather certainly helped. I think the European lifestyle, eating and drinking out in the sunshine, certainly suits me xx LOL

Couldnt resist !!!

I am just loving this year, becoming 40 is not as dull as I thought it might be and I still have a while to go yet !!!!

A couple of weeks ago I went to London for the weekend. I have family there and it was a pre-Milan shopping trip. I cant possibly turn up to one of the fashion capitals looking rubbish now, could I ???

Went to Westfield shopping centre and found some irresistible shoes, which 3 people commented on and I had not even left the shop !! They look sooo sexy on, but the picture only shows you how they look off. I think I will get a picture done with them when I am in Milan so that you can see where they get to.

I have even been getting them out of the box just to look at them. Who said shopping does not make you happy !!! I know they are lying xx

I also bought myself a Jasper Conran handbag. I do like it, but somehow it does not have the same effect as the shoes !!

I very rarely go shopping, and even more rarely , enjoy it. Me and my son had a lovely time with my Auntie and Uncle and I should really do it more often, but I am not sure if the purse strings can handle it !!!! Westfield shopping centre has soooooo much stuff.

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

Is it just me ???

Well, is is just me or does anyone else do this?

When I get flowers, on that rare occasion, I like to keep them for longer than most people would.

They are dying in fact. I still think they look beautiful, even in this state.

This is my last flowers I got and they were beatiful when I first got them.

But they are still beatiful when they look like this, dont you agree ????

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.

Re-styling a dress

One project I have just done is a little unusual, and not at all easy.

A young lady comes to me every now and then with unusual requests, and this was no different, she brought me a dress

The problem was, she did not like the top of the dress, wanted it taken off and a new one put on.

I told you it was unusual.

Problem one; she wanted a top with floaty sleeves.

Problem two; dress has a side zip . A top with sleeves can not have a side zip !!!!

Oh yes, and there was no centre back seam on the skirt.!!!

I love problem solving and a challenge, just as well in my job.

I made a muslin top with floaty sleeves with a centre back seam. I found the centre back of the skirt, marked it and stitched a V shape around it because it was made of chiffon and would have frayed !!!

We had a fitting, just to make sure everything was to her liking and it was fine.

There was no way to find a matching colour, so we picked a contrasting one for the top.

Made the top and attached it to the skirt.

For the centre back I used the sash that had been around the waist, to surround the raw edges before inserting the zip.

I made a little flower, using a technique I found on a blog, to bring both colours together. Unfortunately I can't remember the blog, otherwise I would happily tell you where I got it from. I changed the technique because I could not find the blog again and repeat it !!!!! I was quite happy with the result though. Here is the finished dress