Something old,something new, something borrowed something blue.

Something Old but very in fashion at present is lace.

Lace on dresses and on veils and as 3 dimensional adorment or emblishment. I love taking lace to a new level and giving it an up to date even new look to give it life and added interest. It is associated with flowers and femineity but it can be modern and different too. Lace can be any colour, as well as light and delicate which gives it romance and elegance.

This is a photo of a veil I worked with a deep scalloped lace edge.
The headdress was made of french corded lace worked to look like flowers in a garland for one of my brides.


Also the 1940's and 1950's seem to be having an influence on our fashion trends at the moment.

Something new, a dress for one of my brides this summer.

Something borrowed, the petticoat to make the bottom of the dress sit out more.

And something Blue!

To make sure all my brides have something blue I add a blue bow to my label.

Designing with detail

For me it is all about the detail. The detail of cut  how  you make the dress flatter the client and the detail on the dress , knowing what  detail to  use and where to put it to make the client look and feel good. Smaller detail for a tiny  bride and larger detail if the bride is able to carry it. The detail of the embroidery is for me what gives a dress personality and makes the dress especially personal to the bride. It can be traditional and classic or modern and wacky.

The detail of the design is that it flatters the wearer. The neckline is so important as it is in 99% of the brides photos. Alot of brides are opting for sleeves, there is an unlady like bit where are arms join our body and it is nice to hide it with a sleeve.

Lace has stayed a really strong feature of alot of outfits this season and will probably for another season. I make my own lace when it is needed which means I am not bond by what is on offer from the tradional lace suppliers. I can make my lace any width or shape and also modern and orginal so that it is not nesseccarily a repeat pattern. My lace is embroidery and embroidery is anything that you can do with a neddle and thread, should it be that you sew two biscuits together.

This is the detail of one of my dresses that went out this year.

Buttons are part of the detail. I love to embroidery buttons or in this case they are made from tiny pearls. Alot of clients love buttons and can't have too many. It is funny but the smaller the detail the more people seem to remember it. If there is something to draw the eye in and then they are amased and really appreciate all the work. I love that when someone comes up to a bride and they say they like her dress that she can then talk about it as she knows every detail and makes sure they don't miss what she wants them to see.

Design your own detail and have it embroidered on your dress.

This again is a photo  of one of my dresses that went out in the summer. This is a close up of the neckline to show you some of my embroidery. You probably see it as lace, but lace that you would buy to trim a dress has a repeat pattern and can't always shape round what you want it too. Here I have cut out areas to make it more varied,  quirky and unconventional.

Back view of the same dress showing the embroidery getting wider as it comes round spilling oveer the edges.

Update on the latest

I have been busy with summer weddings and brides calling for next year, time just seems to fly.
We have had a fabulous year for celebrity weddings  which has inspired brides to be and created a buzz with weddings. Glady brides are thinking of something different coming to me for something special. Clients seem to be really enjoying working together to get that personal touch.

 One of my favourite weddings this year was Monaco Royal wedding.
The detail was spectacular, the embroidery and the cut of the Armani dress just were brilliant. If you love weddings, wedding flowers, wedding cakes and everything about them then this is one worth looking at.
For me it is all about the detail. The embroidery and beadwork in this dress are incredable. Everything about the dress impressed me. The flowing line, in off-white silk duchesse, with the long train. The crossover detail on the front and back forming a second "à l'andrienne" train. Ramage embroidery depicting flowers, crafted with stones in gold shades, and Swarovski crystals and mother of pearl teardrops in white and gold hues, the embellish the front of the dress, the trim and the central main section of the train, I just loved it all.
  Long veil made from off-white silk tulle, with front tier and subtle embroidery.
UNIQUE FEATURES about the dress:
 it took  2,500 hours of work
  had 40,000 Swarovski crystals and 20,000 mother of pearl teardrops
and 30,000 stones in gold shades. Charlene travelled 3,000 kilometres for fittings in Montecarlo!
The embroidery work on the dress took 700 hours. The embroidery thread was coated in platinum. The dress used 50 meters of silk duchesse satin and 80 meters of silk organza. The veil used  
20 meters of silk tulle, and had 100 hours of work for the embroidery on it.

Fabulous, just what I would love to do.