Making someones wedding dress is always a little nerve wrecking. The pressure to get it right and everything else that goes with it.
But I loved the challenge of making this dress for my very stylish friend Chani.
We chose a 1940’s Vogue pattern and used the reverse matt side of this amazing (but very slippery) silk fabric.
She looked stunning!
For the summer I wanted to create a collection that was vibrant and casual but using some more traditional fabrics. The lovely Chloe is my model and the award winning Naomi from Namnam’s did the face painting.
This was a table runner that became this easy fit dress.
This lovely piece of fabric was used as a curtain by my ex housemate Rebecca. When she moved out I re-purposed it into an A-line dress. Apparently the print is for a women’s vote campaign.
This fabric was salvaged from a pair of trousers that I unpicked. I love the vibrant colours of this print.
This piece of cloth just came to me, like most bits of fabric do. Not sure if it used to be anything in a previous life. There was just enough to make this cheeky number out of it.
This was an Indian cotton bed throw that I cut in half and made two dresses from. Boned for extra support.
Kim works for the sustainability team at the Council. She wanted me to make her a striking stage outfit. We decided on a blue-purple colour palette. I think I got a little carried away with the beading. Hours and days later I stopped. She was very pleased with the outcome and had great comments from the crowd. Yay!
What to do with plain jacket lacking character? Embellish them of course!
The floral print fabric on these jackets were cut out from old curtains. I then used the zigzag setting on the machine to do as satin stitch around the motif. Simple but effective!
Why follow trends? They are only made up for you to shop more. Break the cycle! Take a pledge, buy secondhand or upcycled only for a year. (Ok underwear is allowed). But other than that we probably don’t really need to top up our wardrobe. Organise a clothes swap, or have some retail therapy in a charity shop if you really have to. Join one of our classes and learn how to customise. The devil is in the detail, so dig out all your old scarves hats and necklaces and get accessorising.
Who wants to look like everyone else anyway. Like Coco Chanel said; “In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different”
