1. the 'Princess' tower
2. the entrace hall stand complete with his hat, coat and hangers
3. a parcel in the library, I love the basic wrapping
4. silk brocade covers in the library to protect the shattered silk underneath
5. Liberty print sofa in Mrs Gibbs lounge
6. the mint painted kitchens still full or bottles, crockery and general stuff
7. The matching walk in safe
8. The many bells for the many staff in the kitchen hall way
9. An early Mrs Gibbs, I think Matilda who died early
10. The sunflower wallpaper in the dining room. All the cream is hand painted.
11. Lord Wraxalls bedroom, the old curtains and toy soldiers
12. The incredible gleeming alter in the chapel
13. The pink, darkened drawing room with grand chandeliers
14. Mrs Gibbs room of her own with worn chair


We recently took a trip to one of our local country houses for a little research for the Princess collection. This is Tyntesfield house near Bristol and quite an incredible place. The National Trust managed to buy the house and the contents a few years ago and it is just how it was left. The house was owned by a Lord Wraxall, a bachelor and the Gibbs family had a very interesting rise and decline story until his death in 2001.
The place is a magnificent Gothic country house, very grand with so many rooms still not opened.

What was really fascinating was the fact that everything was a little worn, this once incredibly wealthy household was last decorated in the 1920s. The beautiful Liberty covered sofas had holes in, the TV that was left was a big 80s wood veneer model, the owner slept in a single bed, in the bedroom he had used since a child still with drawings of toy soldiers on the walls. Towards the end, Lord Wraxall (an eccentric, interesting character according to my father who had met with him a few times to discuss farm machinery) lived on his own in the house with no live in staff.
This massive house must have been so empty and maybe lonely? Little details like the hand written card telephone number list is still in the kitchens next to the phone he used, there's also a microwave which looks so out of place in these vast ground floor kitchens and pantries and large walk in safe the size of a banks . He still ate breakfast in the ginormous dining room, alone, which in contrast has sunflower wallpaper that his predecessors ordered to have all the red background hand painted cream. The house was the first in the area to get electricity and the whole house has wired bells and this fabulous billiard table that was wired to a score board all carved in wood with pipe heating underneath to make the balls run smoothly.
It's excessive luxury in it's decline, very honest and real and quite lovely but a little bit sad. The reality of what it costs to maintain these high Royal like standards and how this old money way is also frugal and has the same struggles at many 'normal' lives.
My photos are mainly of details of fabrics and images, but the whole house and huge grounds are well worth a day trip with a picnic. The gardens are stunning, the High Church Chapel is beautiful with its glistening mosaics and gold crosses and the kitchen gardens with the soon to open Orangery is a gorgeous retreat. For more information on Tyntesfield go the to National Trust Here

Winter Muse - The Princess

Princess Margaret in the Bath by Lord  Snowdon

I love this photo, it reminds me of my bath time growing up for some reason, I think my parents had a similar bath and mirror set up and the tiny things like the soap on the side reminds me of my Aunts house which was huge and gorgeously unfancy. I love the normality with that crown. 

Our Muse for the winter season is the Princess. After the Royal wedding of the summer it made me think (along with the rest of the world) about what it would be like to live as a Princess and how much of a fairytale it really would be?

I chose to research three specific 20th Century Princesses, Princess Marina, Princess Alexandra and Princess Margaret. (my mothers name, mine and the most gorgeous of all Princesses)  There are some amazingly lovely times for these women, in childhood particular which is full or parties, playing and running round large houses but there are other moments where there are restrictions, conformity's and a life that isn't entirely free.
Reading the biographies, viewing their clothing and visiting some stunning country piles has shown me that this is such an interesting life. Lots of extravagance and wonderful experiences but with strict boundries, it's old money and tradition with a little bit of loneliness and tired edges which I like. 

This is not the pale pink, fluffy wand twirling, butter wouldn't melt, virginal Princess us girls get force fed but women, who by the luck of the draw happen to be born (or wed) Royal. We look up to these women in awe as children and adults with a clouded fantasy of dreams and a little bit of greed for their lovely things and privileges, but, I personally wouldn't now want to swap the freedom of my 'general public' life for that of a Princess.

So this Winter collection is about Princesses, dresses, occasions, some wonderful indulgence with a little bit of caging in. Our Princess is a woman who breaks free and runs away with her dresses ...................   to be a show girl? or a checkout girl or anything she likes.

P.S I haven't mentioned Kate as we live in a different time now where things thankfully are a little bit easier for our Princesses. (however much our 'celeb magazines' would like us to think she is sad and lonely!) x

Look Magazine Velvet Bow

Our bow has been featured in Look Magazine this week, the green velvet bow is available for £15 in our online shop here, in our asos boutique and in our Etsy shop. Pick one up and wear it how you like adding a little vintage glam to your wardrobe.

In our Spare Time ....

In our spare time we do lots of other things and sometimes find a way to still sew, like there isn't enough to do each day! Anna has just finished working on this amazing tapestry I know it sounds like early stages of retirement, but this is seriously well designed, gorgeous looking needlework by Emilly Peacock. Anna chose the 'HUG' and eventually after a few months has framed her stitched words with a heavy wooden frame ready to put on the wall. 

Emily has recently collaborated with Rob Ryan and has some stunning tattoo flash designs and goodies to keep your fingers pumped. Enjoy the tapestry here.

Start Wearing Purple

Nicole, a super gorgeous friend (above) asked me to make her a dress recently for a wedding she was going to in her home town Canada. I was really flattered to have been asked, it's a strange thing with friends, you try not to ask too much of them I suppose, the offer of a dress is always there but you don't want to push your nearest and dearest into feeling awkward about a having to wear a dress that may not be quite their style.

Luckily Nicole knew exactly what she wanted and it was one of my dresses and when she put it on, with me more nervous than usual (another reason making for friends is awkward) it couldn't have been more perfect. She has this luminous bronze skin that made the purple pop like I've never seen before, like it was radiating purple violet beams and fitted her like a glove. 

She was very kind and brave to model for me, she photographs amazingly well as you can see and it's only the clenched fists that give her away from being a pro. I will be pestering her to model from now on x

The Making of the Prom Dress

I thought I'd share a few pictures taken whilst working on the blue hemmed prom dress, I always find it really exciting to see how dresses develop during the making process. This is even more interesting as it's made mainly by hand stitching all of the pleats into place and draping the skirts. Enjoy x

The Black lace Prom Dress

Here is the customer photo from one of my all time favourite dresses the black lace cocktail dress. The lace was an amazing find and had the most gorgeous vintage texture to it with hand corded detailing. 

I love the way she has styled her whole look complete with Vivienne Westwood Melissa shoes, Audrey bun and pearl earrings. Super gorgeous and glam and again I am really amazed by the styling talents of school leavers to look so incredibly chic.This was a custom order with added lace to our classic little black silk cocktail dress. 

The prom photos

Just as I published the last post I received the official prom photos and not only did I squeal with excitement of just how AMAZING our prom girl looks at the prom but her gentleman friend looks suitably gorgeous too in his vintage tuxedo.
Adorable and incredibly beautiful, with the cutest Alice in Wonderland Mary Janes and cream tights. Just stunning and this is exactly why I love to make dresses, because it's my job to be rewarded with lovely looking pictures like these.  

Check out the beautiful vintage Morris Minor they used to transport them which matches the dress perfectly.   (ignore the seethingly jealous girls in background) :) x

Prom Dress

Firstly I'm sorry for not posting for three weeks now. Things have been very busy in the studio with weekends of weddings and festivals and a huge private commission which has taken all my time away. 

This dress was one of my favourites recently and I have been dying to show this for a while. A really quite perfect, a gorgeous customer wanted a proper 1950s debutant prom dress for her end of school prom and I was very, very happy to accept. 

I've been lucky to have intelligent, individual prom girls who are wonderful to work with and I am even even more grateful after I read an article on 'Promzillas' and saw what most girls don for their end of school prom. It sure must give the boys a fright being escorted by brightly coloured, full length polyester and hot fix gems complete with tiara and curls.

My prom girls have been amazing with their own sense of style and have had  ideas for their dresses. 

This is the latest..........................

The dress was made just like our other classic fifties prom with the hand pleated and stitched bodice, gathered bust and its layered full skirt. The difference here was the blue hem which needed to be layered to an uneven graduated hem which required pinning and stitching in place ribbons of the blue tulle to each layer of the skirt and adding a gathered hem to the underskirt to ensure is was vibrant at the base.

You can see our classic prom dress here which is made to order

 And here is our debutant in her dress.

Annas Campervan Adventure

It's Anna's turn to do a blog post today and this is a fantastic idea for a holiday or honeymoon. Over to her, campervans here we come!

A few weeks ago my husband James and I had our early summer holiday in sunny Cornwall. We've done lots of camping/ festivals in the past and have always admired beautiful VW campervans on our travels. Alexi (Alexandra) had a classic VW beetle when we were at uni together - so we decided it was time to give it a go.................

  

We found O'Connors Campers online and loved the fact you can hire a fully equipped camper from their individual profiles. We chose an amazing 1965 split screen called Barbarossa. 

The week was so much fun, we stayed at a different campsite each night and covered over 300 miles of windy country roads. The English weather was kind to us,  we enjoyed long beach walks with Scrumpy (our Parsons Jack Russell who loved the van too) and great food and drinks in the evenings.

Barbarossa was full of 60s charm and character, his interior was just up my street, a perfect mix of original features and sympathetic modern touches - just like our dresses some would say :)

We were particularly taken with his quirky little windows (imagine making curtains for them) and the full length roll back sun roof. I'm told he is a popular wedding car - now that's an idea ladies, no worries about fitting your dress in a gorgeous van like this!

What more can I say, but, I WANT ONE!!!!! Here's some pics xxx To hire check out O'Connors Campers