Lace and Layers

This week's feature is a bridal gown I made earlier in the year, for a friend, Rebecca, for her wedding to her partner Ruhsen. They were married in Edinburgh gardens, with a relaxed local reception afterwards. 

Rebecca is the designer behind Silver Addict, which sells beautiful sterling silver jewellery. She also hand-makes the awesome "Necktie Necklace", which have been a popular and unique fashion item in Lissom Yarn for several years now.

Rebecca wanted a relaxed, modern dress to suit her elegant style, but one with a hint of "vintage" about it. It had to suit an outdoor ceremony, and gastro-pub reception, so a full-length style was out of the question. 

I designed three quite distinct dresses for Bec: two of which were more of a waisted, 50's-inspired line, and the last of which was the most removed from her initial descriptions: a 1930's-inspired bias-cut design with French Guipure lace and georgette. I like to give my clients a design surprise where possible, and an option that they haven't considered. Very happily, Bec chose that last design!

Wedding Gown concept design, silk and georgette with guipure lace.

This dress features a raglan-sleeved bodice in georgette with open back and contrasting sleeve detail, and a high-waisted bias-cut skirt with lace overlay.

I have to say, I did slightly regret my suggestion, some way into the construction when I was doing french seams on bias georgette which intersected at acute angles: not fun. Like herding cats, or sewing smoke. Hard. But reeeeallly pretty in the end, thank heavens.

Georgette raglan bodice with pieced, guipure lace insert, and contrasting dark grey cuff on sleeve. 

The back was totally transparent, with an open keyhole design. Time for the stick-on bra to get a work-out.

I tied the skirt and bodice together visually, by adding the lace boarder to the seam line under the bust with hand-applique.

Guipure lace detail with grey pearl buttons.

The dress was made from silk crepe de chine, with the georgette overlay, both in "Platinum". The lace was a stunning lozenge-shaped guipure from France, in ivory, bought from Tessuti.

I textured the skirt by cutting out the lower third of the lace overlay, and piecing it together again in a staggered, layered method, like overlapping leaves, to create a more hand-crafted result, and to lend a more organic look to the bottom half of the dress. It also helped break up the block of lace and brought out the extremely beautiful textures and patterns within the lace.

There were a couple of fittings where I was almost in tears from cutting up this beautiful lace, but Bec's enthusiasm and trust were amazing, and she was supremely generous with her time and very excellent decision-making!

Guipure lace overlay, over silk crepe de chine and georgette skirt, cut and pieced by hand.

And here are the happy couple on their big day, with beautiful weather and everything!

Bec accessorised her dress with a sparkling textures, both in her blue-grey shoes and her beaded head-band.

Their photos are by My Wedding Photos.

Thanks to Bec for being a gorgeous, inspiring (and patient) client, and also to both of you for sharing your photos! 

Svenja and Seb

This week's bridal gown is a wonderfully unique one. Svenja and her husband Seb were married at King Parrot in the Otways this autumn.

They chose an intimate event, with everything from the food to the decorations made by them, and their family and friends, many of whom came over from germany for the celebration.

Svenja wanted an non-traditional wedding gown that was all about her personal style, not the "bridal look". I love this kind of client who knows themselves and allows me to go a bit wild designing them something exciting and unexpected.

Svenja had a strong idea of her references and had collected a good range of inspiration photos including:

Fabric look and movement...

Voluminous grey silk chiffon layered over another colour..

Dress style and lines...

A-line full skirt with Celtic references, off the shoulder bodice and low-waisted line.

Textures and decoration...

Organic, layered, high-contrast,

Bolero jacket....

cropped, cut-away, in strong colours/ textures...

 

I developed three very different styles of gown using these reference points, and Svenja chose a three-piece ensemble, because she really wanted to be able to wear parts of it again, and she also liked the "casual" element this bought to her look, in contrast to a highly constructed "gown".

We worked through a miriad of colour ways from greens and greys, to blacks, blues and finally warm flesh and pinks. 

Svenja had a preference for black, grey and red, high contrast combinations with maximum impact, but we worked away from that and into the world of shades of grey, with warmer highlights.

The important thing about choosing colours for such an event is that even if your preference for a colour in day-to-day life is strong, these may not be appropriate for your wedding day: you want to be the focus of your outfit, not the the clashing colours in your dress. 

Design and colour concept sketch, for Svenja's wedding dress..

In the end, Svenja's wedding outfit was made up of a full circle skirt, layered in grey chiffon shot with silver, over a "cameo" pink crepe underskirt. With this she also had a black lace bodice with dusky pink underneath the lace, and then also a cropped jacket. Made from a grey silk/linen blend, and lined with the dusky pink silk, this jacket also had a hood and black cornelli worked around the bottom hem.

All-in-all, the skirt used about 8m of fabric and was pretty heavy. The lace is a Leavers lace from France, very slightly stretchy, and quite flat texture. The grey chiffon was from Tessuti, as well as the silk/linen for the jacket.

I have previously posted some up-close shots of this ensemble, at Texture Texture, but here are some more.

And here are some shots form the Big Day. Their wedding photographer was Kate Smethurst, at
Ms Jane.

Thank you to Svenja for her beautiful and unusual commission, and to both Seb and Svenja for sharing  their goregous wedding day.

Spring Racing

So we are off and racing, literally at Lissom Yarn, to Oaks Day, after which I intend to collapse and sleep for about 4 days.

Earlier this month I did a spring-coloured merino dress for a client, in a very pretty pale sea green-blue. Very nice as there is still a chill in the air, and these are so good for layering.

Next was a bridesmaids dress for a wedding next weekend; it was a simple job from a vintage pattern, which was actually really enlightening. The plethora of innovative design features in '40's dress is amazing; you just dont see designs like this anymore. Its a 1948 Vogue pattern.

The bodice was constructed in two s-shaped parts with gathering along the curves, opposite to each other (shoulder and hip). This gave a delightful asymmetry to the volume in the skirt, set off by the strong padded shoulders and high neckline.

It has a side invisible zip and I just put one button and loop at the back of the neck to stop her looking too "stitched-up". I particularly like the long back darts and how plain it is compared to the front design.

The client chose the fabric, a polyester steel grey satin, which is always a challenge, but I think it turned out nicely.

The Client is very slim and quite tall, so it looks great on her.

Next week, how to make a box-pleat leather skirt. It takes five and half sheeps.