Tuesday 25 September 2012

Anne's Dress




 Anne's dress was made earlier this year for her May wedding all the way in Australia. This is the version 2.0 of the Betty in a silk taffeta with Anne's choice of the gorgeously green silk sash tied into a big bow.

I love this combination of ivory and emerald, this style sash with the dress is a great balance and the emerald silk, as always is an eye catcher.


Images by White Tulip Photography, Australia.

Images by White Tulip Photography, Australia.

Images by White Tulip Photography, Australia.

Images by White Tulip Photography, Australia.

Anne kindly send me her wedding snaps of her looking beautiful and oh so chic on the day, such a magical looking backyard marriage, it looks like a perfect setting to get wed. Beautiful images by White Tulip Photography, Australia.

Thursday 6 September 2012

Katy's Pretty Things ....

The Betty Dress in Fushia Silk with Blue Trim. Photography by Sally Thurrell

Thimble and Bobbin padded heart, Photography by Sally Thurrell

The Betty dress, made to order Photography by Sally Thurrell

 This gorgeous shoot was taken in May and styled by the wonderful Katy Howieson of What Katy Did Next.
I always love to see how Katy styles our dresses and her attention to detail is always second to none.
I love the way Sally Thurrell, the photographer has captured the shape and colour or our Betty dress and Katy's sequin shoes clips and blush blue bow work brilliantly to finish the look. The padded heart from Thimble and Bobbin is gorgeous!

Elsie Hairband by What Katy Did Next.

Elsie Hairband byWhat Katy Did Next. Photography by Sally Thurrell
 Katy always gets lots of people involved in her shoots so that everyone can share their wares. Sending the dresses up to Cumbria is really exciting as I never quite know what the photos will look like even though Katy goes to great lengths planning her shoots with moodboards carefully selecting what will compliment each other.
The dress above is our Tropical floral dress teamed with a bright turquoise cardigan and Katy's blue pearl hairband.

Our Pink Elephant Dress
The 'Red Dog' print dress

Our elephant and dog printed dresses available in the online shop with new bright prints coming soon.

Our Soft Tulle prom dress and Dorothy Hairband by What Katy Did Next

Our tulle prom dress

 And our dove grey tulle prom dress studded with rose swarovski crystals and tied with a ribbon belt. I love the use of the scarlet red with the grey, a great team together.

The Grey Stripe dress and prom dress worn with the Betty and Dorothy headpieces by What Katy Did Next

The Grey Stripe dress and Betty headpiece by What Katy Did Next

Last but not least our charcoal grey stripe dress, this was a dress made from vintage shirt fabrics and the mustard yellow of Katy's hairband and ribbon make it really pop.
A HUGE thank you to Katy and her team for producing these fabulous images.

Credits:
Styling: Katy Howieson
Photography: Sally Thurrell
Hair Accessories: What Katy Did Next
Models:  Beth Dooley & Pippa Welch
Cushions and treats: Thimble and Bobbin
Venue: Bousdale Farm
Make Up: Make Up By Jo
Hair: Vintage Tinsel


Wednesday 5 September 2012

Oppulent Gypsy Dress

Image copyright to My Fabulous Life
Image copyright to My Fabulous Life
Image copyright to My Fabulous Life
Image copyright to My Fabulous Life

 This dress came about for the Gypsy Luxe shoot with My Fabulous Life recently. I am a huge fan of Frida Kahlo and her gorgeous use of colour and the romantic tales of old Gypsies with their rustling skirts.

The gypsy theme is something I have wanted to workon for a long time. Every year since I was younger my Mum and me went to a horse fair on the Mendips in Priddy. It was originally a sheep fair but became a yearly meeting place for Gypsies and Travellers to trade horses and get together.
It was always exciting to see the families all dressed up, babies laden in gold bangles and so many ruffles you could barely find them in their Victorian style prams,  girls with the most incredible lengths of Rapunzel hair and boys in crisp smart shirts and polished shoes.  Beautiful young men and women would leap, bare back  atop spotted shire horses and parade them around the bustling field complete with donkey's, chickens, puppies and all sorts of animals. It was inspiring and romantic and so far away from how people see Gypsies and Travellers today.
I'm not saying there weren't the dodgy goings on (who knows if the 'jack russel' puppies really grew into Great Danes) with trap racing, bare knuckle fighting, all sorts, but it was alive and it was very safe.
Sadly some of the sights and outfits have become toned down, the gold is lacking and the genuine culture has been replaced with dealers, traders and lots of rules. These pictures were taken a couple years ago and hopefully capture some of the mood of the day.








The romantic side is always how I have seen the Gypsy and this is what I wanted the dress reflect, the Gypsy and Frida Kahlo combined for one beautifully independent and fiery woman.

The dress has a square neckline that frames the collarbone and is trimmed in a fine black floral tapestry ribbon. Fitted at the waist with a scarlet red velvet ribbon and bow at the back, picking up the red of the hand printed floral silk. And the skirt, very full, rustling in silk taffeta and ruffled at the hem making this quite the dramatic dress for dancing in.
I initially thought this dress should just be worn with a killer pair of heels and lots of details in your hair but this would also work dressed down with brogues, a silk hair scarf and a heritage tweed coat for Winter. I do love rustling taffeta.






Available in the online boutique from today. Click here for more info.


Tuesday 4 September 2012

Polly, Anna and a Wow Factor Dress


Copyright to Latitude Photography

Anna has had the most fabulous Summer of weddings dotted all over Europe and this Summer came something very special for her.  A wedding dress all of her own. 

It can be quite daunting working independently on your first wedding dress, it becomes yours as much as the brides. Anna has worked on all of our wedding dresses (she's responsible for them being so beautifully made and constructed) and was more than qualified to go it alone for this job. 
Watching Polly's dress unfold at the studio was wonderful to see and the outcome is proper WOW factor all the way. I love Polly's plait on the day too, such a stunningly gorgeous bride!

We will be able to take on a few more wedding dress orders in the future and dependent on your style either myself or Anna or both of us will be working on your dress :) 

Over to Anna to tell you all about it .............................

Hi there, Anna here – as you may have gathered it's been a very, very busy year for me when it comes to weddings, both with dressmaking work and socially within my friendship group.

It's always exciting when a friend announces their engagement and hearing about peoples wedding plans – ok, so maybe it's a girl thing – but I do love talking weddings. You can probably guess what the biggest question I'm always itching to ask is.......what about the dress?? It's actually quite difficult to bring this subject up with friends, I would never want to be pushy and am more than aware I can't do them all, but secretly I always hope to be asked to help.

So, back at the end of march this year I was sat in a steam room on my friend Holly's spa hen party, when my friend and neighbour Polly bought up the dress subject :) Polly was getting married this summer and I'm sure she wouldn't mind me saying I had no idea what she would be looking for in a wedding dress. Luckily for me Polly's sister Emma was already on the case and made my job easy.

We all met up a few days later in our local pub – well, why not? - and Alexandra came along too. Polly and Emma had already visited bridal boutiques and Emma had sketched what they envisaged having made based on things Polly liked. We looked at fabric swatches and decided on an elegant fishtail shape with sporty cut away shoulders in a fine corded lace and french crepe, with lots of buttons down the back and extra length to accommodate Polly's VERY high shoes.

The whole making/fitting process went smoothly, we had super relaxed fittings in Polly and Emma's Mums dining room, where the only problem was various people walking through, as the dining room is next to the back door!

Polly and Simon had a small wedding ceremony and meal in Wells and then a big party at our new favourite pub/restaurant The Swan in Wedmore a few weeks after. Two sunny days and two chances to wear the dress, what more could I ask for?

The wedding photographer Polly and Simon used was also a friend of mine, Aran Jefferies of Latitude Photography. You may recognise him from last years blog posts, we made his wife Em's wedding dress too! It's really great to finally be able to share some of his wonderful pictures on our blog and we hope to be able to work with him again soon (there's talk of a children's wear photo shoot, when we all get time....)

For now I'll leave you with some stunning photos – congratulations Polly and Simon.

Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography
Copyright to Latitude Photography

Saturday 1 September 2012

Coming Soon ....

We've been so busy over the past few months that I haven't had a chance to share all of the beautiful dresses we have made. Here's a sneak peek of what's to come soon.

Anna's stunning dress for Polly ............

Photography by Latitude
 The most wonderful lady Caroline and my favourite dresses ...... this is how the glitter bags came about!

Photography by Assassynation

Photography by Assassynation

An eye poppingly fabulous and colourful wedding for Vanessa, the details in her day are just incredible and she organised and made everything with toddler in tow :)

Photography by Dan Jones

And a little something fabulously feline that isn't for a wedding but equally brilliant with a great story that will hopefully have you thinking a little more openly when it comes to the D word.