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!

Making a favourite coat

A lovely lady called Lisa approached me recently with a cashmere/wool mix coat that she wanted a brand new carbon copy of. It had been bought at a charity shop 20 years ago, and despite looking good for it's age, it definitely had seen better days. 

The first challenge was finding exactly the right fabric to make it out of. The cashmere in the original gives a lovely softness that a pure wool just wouldn't give, though we also needed to bear in mind the weight and warmth. There are a huge range of coatings available out there and we went through a lot of swatches before she went for a luxurious navy cashmere/wool/poly mix, with a rich lavender crepe-backed satin lining.

I created a pattern from the original coat without having to take the original part, so she still gets to keep the old one too! I really enjoy how smart a well tailored winter coat looks, and Lisa is thrilled to have a brand new coat in a style she has been enjoying for 20 years already. Here's to another 20 years at least! 

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!

Cherry blossom on latex

Experiments with painting latex continue here at the Nim Burgin Studio, with this being the latest result. This is a peplum to be worn over a dress or skirt in 0.4mm jade latex, painted with hand-blended colours to create a gorgeous cherry blossom pattern weaving all across. Watch this space for more developments!

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!