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!

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!