If in doubt, make it bigger and add more sparkle

I am always thrilled to hear that the truly divine Jonathan Mayor wants to talk to me about a design, so was there like a shot when, back in June he sent me a message asking to chat about something "fabulously Roman-esque" for his part in the Manchester Pride Parade.

Original sketch

Jonathan wanted to incorporate some red sequinned fabric into his dress, and true to form, wanted an absolute show stopper. "Think big, and then think bigger." With a reference image of Celine Dion in a Stephane Rolland gown for sleeve inspiration we sat down together and drew up a design with a huge, full skirt and kimono drop sleeves with massive shoulders. During his on-stage performances, Jonathan is very expressive with his arms so there needed to be lots of room to move.

As the dress was destined to be big and heavy, Jonathan chose a breathable silk fabric for the bodice part, lined with cotton, with a faux silk habutai for the billowing inserts and faux silk dupion sleeves. 

Sewing with sequinned fabric is always somewhat of an experience, and creating the size and shape of the sleeves was quite a challenge involving a large amount of crinoline and coils of boning all hand-stitched in.

Sparkly heart-shaped buttons were added all the way down the front, and the chest area was left intentionally empty to accommodate Jonathan's wide variety of spectacular jewellery. He also wanted the sleeves to not come higher than shoulder height to avoid crowding his head/headpiece.

To create even more fullness to the skirt part of the dress, a ready-made hooped petticoat was bought online, which also helps to ensure it doesn't get wrapped in his legs when moving around.

Seeing Jonathan parading down Deansgate for Manchester's Pride Parade leading the rugby Spartans, I was incredibly proud too! I can't wait for Jonathan's next vision! 

Back detail

Featured in the Manchester Evening News 

 

Hustling the bustle

The Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre's Costume Hire Department recently commissioned me to create this Victorian style corseted bustle dress in green duchesse satin. It is based on a costume that had been on their rails for 17 years was a very popular plus-sized pattern.

The dustle and draped apron front of this dress take up a lot of fabric, and the Victorians really liked all their trimmings and decorative touches and this dress is full of them. There is a velvet trim bordered with fringe as well as ribbon, and several feature buttons. The corseted bodice has satin covered piping at the seams and edges, and the sleeves have lace inserts and more buttons.

The lace-up back to the bodice means that it can be worn by people of a wide variety of sizes, which is very useful for Costume Hire as you never know who you'll be dressing.

The Costume Hire Department were thrilled with this revamped version of a favourite and have put in an order for another one in purple already!

Never outdress the bride... but get close!

This is Sue, and she wanted a stunning dress for her best friend's wedding in Manchester. I have to say, getting a bespoke dress for these kind of events is THE best way to not only get a gorgeous dress that fits perfectly and is comfortable for a long day, but to also make sure you never have to deal with the often-dreaded scenario of someone else wearing the exact same thing!

Work in progress

We started by looking at vintage-style dress patterns. Sue (like many ladies) wanted sleeves and a tea-length hem. She chose a Vintage Vogue style with a faux wrap bodice which gives a gorgeous neckline, and short sleeves that I lengthened for her.

I created a mock-up of the bodice part of the dress so that I could make all the adjustments needed to ensure a perfect fit, and Sue choose this beautiful cotton fabric with printed gold highlights.

And doesn't she look divine? Swamped with compliments on the day, she now has a unique and personalised frock in her wardrobe on hand for any event.

Gingham drapery

It's festival season, and my client wanted me to create her something drapey and easy to wear that is also unique and eye-catching.

I love working with gingham - it's such a fun weave and looks so bold and shows off the drapes in this shirt perfectly.

It's wrap-style means it's held together with just two buttons (the third is decorative!) so can be worn untied for a floaty, loose look. When it is tied it adds even more interest as the gingham weave shows off the drape and tied bow beautifully.

Having the yoke only connected to the shirt and the shoulders makes it perfect for hot weather too, and stops the shirt feeling like it swamps you :)

This client had also won one of my Instagram competitions for a free bento bag so I was able to make it a matching bag! Quite a coordinated festival outfit!

Ruby's birthday frock

I was approached by Ruby to create her vision to knock 'em dead on the dancefloor for her 18th birthday. You only get one of those, so we sat down together and talked over her initial sketch to
work out the perfect design.

Ruby had already bought some red duchess satin and some gold oriental brocade from the local fabric shop, so I was able to get straight on with creating the perfect pattern.

The finished dress has thigh splits either side of the brocade panel, which is self-lined, and the flared sleeves are trimmed with a thin strip of the brocade also.

I had to be very careful when drafting the neckline, (there's a fine line between plunge and indecent!) and with some carefully placed darts in the bodice we made sure that there would be no scandalous 'wardrobe malfunctions'.

The finished dress really reflected Ruby's personality - bright and run and ready for a night of birthday fun, and there was definitely to be no mistaking who the birthday girl was!

An unflappable Flapper dress

Every other Saturday I head over to the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre Costume Hire Department to volunteer my time helping people choose the perfect theatrical outfit, and to work on plus-size costumes to expand their existing stock. It was a Saturday such as this, and I had arranged to meet my parents for lunch afterwards when I managed to pour my breakfast all down my front! (Yes, I know - can't take me anywhere!)

Luckily, while I popped my dress in the wash, I tried on a dress from our rails that I'd not tried on before - a red & black 1920's number made by another volunteer. I was really impressed with the fit and the flare in the skirt of the dress and insisted on borrowing the pattern immediately!

The original had been made in a crepe though I was uncertain if I would make mine from the same, and as I needed to have a browse of some sparkly trims for a separate customer's commission anyway, I headed to the Indian and Asian fabric shops. 

As I was only really experimenting with the pattern, I didn't want to spend a great deal on the fabric, but I lucked out with what I found. One of the shops was selling a set of fabrics for making a complete outfit - trousers in plain, tunic in patterned, and sheer fabric for a scarf - all colour co-ordinated and only £5 for a 7 yard bundle! I'll be going there again.

It's quite a light fabric, so my overlocker was needed for every seam to prevent a fraying nightmare. The pattern itself was nicely written out - though I had to be careful with my labelling so as not to get confused by all the skirt gores - good old post-its! 

The red & black version was sleeveless, but with the sheer scarf fabric in my bundle I thought it'd be nice to make the bishop sleeves view that were included in the pattern. I think it makes it a bit more wearable too.

Finally, I couldn't bear not to add a bit of glitter after all the bling-hunting I'd been doing for my sparkly client, so I added just a little trim to the dropped forward shoulder seam above the gathers.

It twirls fantastically on the dance floor and even matches my hair!

Set sail on a summer breeze

There is a whiff of summer in the air - the weather hasn't fully committed as yet, but over the Easter holidays I decided to try and be (optimistically) prepared! The bank holidays seemed like a perfect time to indulge myself and stitch one of those projects that have been in the 'would like to do' pile for longer than I care to consider :)

Burda 7775 & nautical print dress cotton.

While the Burda 7775 does not contain anything overly tricky or fiddly, it is definitely more complex than my first glance had taken account for. Burda patterns are not exactly generous with their instructions and instead of notches, they give points that need to be tailor tacked then numbered which is much more time-consuming! (I didn't bother with most of them except for those around the collar, and just referred to the pattern pieces as I went along.) Also, ALL the seams are top-stitched, so sewing time is nearly doubled.

The doughnut is a pin-cushion - not a mid-cutting snack!

I began to realise that this was going to be a bit more than the quick one-day sew as soon as I unfolded the pattern and saw how many pieces were actually involved! As I'm 6 foot tall, I added an extra 2" to the hemline. I opted not to make the matching belt or belt loops as mine is not a figure that appreciates a dropped waist. I toyed with the idea of cutting the top and skirt panels as one piece to avoid any definition at the low-waist at all, but the busyness of the fabric pattern meant it would be quite forgiving in this respect, and I always like my first make of a pattern to be as true to original designer's intention as possible before I start to experiment with my own adaptions. I find I learn more that way.

Sewing gauge to the rescue!

Part of the pattern prep is to mark your own button placements on both the bodice and skirt front panels (unless you're making the size 10, which they have kindly done for you). This was my sewing gauge's time to shine! Without it I would surely have gotten tetchy quite quickly.

Button hole placement for sizes other than 10 were not marked on the pattern, and the instructions to place your own looked like they made sense upon first reading, but I found that it took a while to get placements I was sure of. 

Assembling the collar was nice and easy, though I did complicate it for myself a little by adding piping. (I felt like the busy pattern needed breaking up a little.) Luckily I had some white piping that I had made left over from a previous project a while ago, hurrah for hoarding! I used a medium-thick iron-on interfacing, and didn't skip any of the steps involving rolling the collar and basting - my experience with coats has taught me how valuable these steps are.

A cording foot for your sewing machine is so useful for details like this.

The pockets on this pattern are an adorable (if time-consuming) addition to this dress. While too small to hold much more than a lip-balm, the pleats make them cute, and a perfect spot to add a couple of cute buttons that would be overwhelming if used for the main opening of the dress. 

Of course I chose anchor buttons for this detail!

Again, I used piping to make the design detail stand out, and my overlocker was essential for the pocket edges - trying to finish all the raw edges on this unlined dress without it would have made it even more time-consuming! I also added white rik-rak trim to the sleeve bands, because who doesn't love a bit of kitsch rik-rak?

Buttons for days!

The choice of buttons for the centre front was much more difficult. I was very torn between choosing buttons that stood out (such as white, or red), or making them almost invisible against the main fabric. I also wanted to somehow stick with my nautical theme without making the 'novelty' aspect overbearing. In the end I was drawn to some wooden buttons which were neither outrageous nor subtle, and had (in my mind at least) some tenuous connection to boats. I'm really pleased with how they looked in the end, but again - 15 buttonholes and buttons are frustrating slow to do when you're so close to the finish line (as you can tell, I can be a smidge impatient!)

Under-arm extension to sleeves and rik-rak.

My final tweak to the pattern was to give myself a little more room in the sleeves. The dress is a little snug all over but as I'm trying to lose weight at the moment, this was desirable. The sleeves were a bit uncomfortably tight though, so I opened up the underarm sleeve seam and inserted some elastic. It's invisible when worn, and means I can go for a long-armed swing-out on the Lindy-Hop dancefloor without worrying about popped stitches.

The design of the dress means that the collar stands quite high and wide on the neck, which feels odd at first, but is quite feminine and flattering as it exposes more neck and collar-bone. It didn't sit well under my close-collared coat though - I'll be bearing that in mind for its next outing. 

A wide and prominent collar.

I made a quick belt from wide red elastic for this dress, to draw attention to my waist and to draw it in should I wear this with a corset in future. Also it seems like a handy thing to own. Overall I'm really  pleased with how it has come out and although I spent more time on it than I had planned, I would make it again, and it's always good to make something for my own wardrobe.

Piping and rik-rak details.

The finished article on an (almost) sunny day!

Pinstripe prettiness

The 1957 Clare McCardell dress pattern has been sitting with my patterns for far too long. When I heard about the competition from Evadress I knew it was the perfect time to stop procrastinating and make myself a fab dress. It takes a fair heft of fabric to make and sadly the bold monochrome print jersey I originally planned for it was short by about a metre! I ummed and ahhed over the pinstripe but I'm really glad I went with it. The grain in the raglan sleeves works beautifully and there's something very pleasing/potentially slimming about the diagonals meeting centre front and back.

It was all a bit of a dream to put together to be honest, the zip was probably the fiddliest part, as zips are wont to be, and I learned an interesting new technique inside the underarms or protecting the clipped curves with a small bias covering. It makes sense when you think about it, with no armscye seam allowance to protect it, that's an area of high stress to have just a clipped seam on.

The dress itself is wonderfully comfortable (I've been wearing it at work all day today - and I got so many compliments!) and the fabric is quite an easy-care and resists creasing quite well. The front of the skirt is a fairly straight pencil skirt look, it's the back where all that fabric went! A mass of pleats at the back give it a brilliant swish when walking and pulls the whole thing into a really flattering shape. I would have liked the sash a bit longer for the bow at the back but that's easily fixed for the next incarnation, which will almost certainly be in jersey this time!

More tailoring, this time for the patriarch.

So my Dad asked me a little while back if I could make him some vintage style trousers. Gee'ed up by the sucess of my golfing knicker attempt I agreed to give it my best shot. He'd been watching a lot of The Hour, he told me, and wanted an outfit similar to one of the stars. I had a couple of (untouched) vintage men's trouser patterns in my arsenal and after some umming and ahhing and concluding that front pleats might not be the most flattering for anyone with more meat on them than a rake, I chose a flat-fronted, 1934 wide legged style.

After a lot of confusion around the fly-area (which was solved by borrowing a pair of similar style trousers and retro-engineering in my head) we had a partially successful mock-up pair. I had extended the length in the body as well as in the leg as my Dad is a very tall man, and as the waistband was just a little bit snug after a big dinner we agreed that a V shaped cut out at the back would work well for flexibility and fit in with the style very well.

The V shape left me scratching my head a little when it came to the belt loops, and whether they were even needed as it was obviously a style for button braces. Bit In the end I thought that it's better to at least give him the options, and the do add a little bit of visual detail.

The fabric for the final trousers was an absolutely lovely grey/green in pure English Wool with a very subtly herringbone weave. It was exactly the right weight for what was needed and it was an absolute bargain! (always helps.) It was unfortunately just a smidge to short, but I hid a seam in the turn ups and get creative with the cutting. It worked brilliantly, and I think he looks the bee's knees in the finished pair, pity you can't see the button-up tank top he convinced my Mother to knit for him at the same time!

Wedding season is upon us.

A regular client of mine wanted something special for the social whirlwind of summer weddings that is racing towards us all this season.

Having decided on a scarlet pencil dress with halter-neck tie and gathered sweetheart neckline I toddled off to the shops and bought some thick, rich duchesse satin. The weight means that the finished dress has such smooth lines when worn, and suited the fitted style very well.

For the bodice I used plastic boning over the princess seams on the bustier part, and at the back, just to keep everything in place. Metal boning would have been too stiff, and as the boning ends just above the waistline, we should be safe from the 'lampshade' effect that plastic boned corsets sadly encounter.

The finished dress was very beautiful, and after some very last-minute adjustments looked both elegant and glam.

Her favourite dress...

A lady came to me recently asking if I could make a twin sister of her favourite dress. The original was a monochrome polka dot number made entirely of stretch knit. Being as in love with my Brother overlocker as I am, I felt pretty ready for the task :-)

After spending a while studying her dress, tracing it and calculating, I had a pattern drafted and ready to go. My customer chose her own fabric of a sheer black lining (powernet) and a pretty purple floral pattern for the outer layer.

The fabric took some very careful pinning and cutting but stitched together beautifully with a 3-thread overlock. I was a bit worried about ruffling something that sheer and stretchy but it really didn't cause much extra pain at all. I did the hem on my overlocker too, with a roll-hem stitch which left a very neat and pleasing finish.

The wrap over style and all the gathering on the bodice section are both really flattering, I can see why it's her favourite!

Steampunking it up in Whitby

Recently I went to Whitby with some die-hard steampunk friends for the steampunk social. It's a beautiful place and there were some really outstanding outfits on show.

At first I didn't think I'd have anything to wear, but then I recalled my old Victorian pieces I made for Halloween a couple of years ago. Combined with an underbust corset from one of my burlesque outfits that's made from burgundy taffeta with black beading on the upper trim and my red satin bolero style jacket I really started to look the part.

The underskirt is a wine coloured satin with corded gathering behind the knee and a small train, and the overskirt is made from brocade with a layer of dance net at the back to form a bustle effect with the ties inside giving it shape.

I also had a black furry shrug that I'd lined with red satin and had a red satin tie for when it got colder and a matching burgundy facinator made by a friend of mine (Chapeau Carmine on Etsy). The whole look was finished with a necklace made of keys and a brown leather satchel.

Ice Cream Sundae

I managed to finish my latest 1950s style dress in time for my birthday celebrations! It's the same dress I mentioned in my previous 'Drafty' post. I was really pleased with the cute little cap sleeves - the printed polycotton was just the right stiffness for it and although I was right about the pattern matching being a bit of a nightmare (horizontal bands of pattern), it was just about possible.

The drafting process wasn't too hard, though it took a while to get the sections to be gathered just right, I was really pleased with the fit of the final piece.

I really didn't have a great deal of fabric to work with, and I used every spare inch that I could while keeping the stripes level.

The sweetheart neckline was created with a centre front gathering, and the whole of the upper front panel was faced with the same fabric. The back was faced with an interfaced crescent. I decided to insert a side zip rather than a centre back one in order to keep smooth lines.

Sadly for the blog photos my friends decided to cover me with tacky birthday badges and a sash at the very start of the evening! (Bless 'em!)