Finished prom dress pictures!!

...aaaaand here it is! The finished prom dress :)

My sister went to her prom this evening, wearing the dress that I made her.

Below are some pictures that I took using my lovely boy's fancy camera :)

Below is a close up of the bodice-

And here is a close up of the corset lacing up the back of the dress-

...and a full length picture of the dress. I think it really suits her! :)

Finally, a picture of both my sister and her prom date. (I decided to make a skinny tie out of the fabric instead for him to wear so that they could be matching!)

I'm very pleased with how it turned out! & I think she is too :)

What do you think?

:) x

I like this

p.s, the prom dress is so nearly finished!

:)

Prom dress in the making...

Hello!

I have been absent from the blog for quite a while now, but I have something to show you! I was going to wait until it was finished to share it on here, but I thought it may be interesting to show it in the process of making (as this is a rather long job!)

I have been summoned by my sister to make her a dress for her year 11 prom, and after getting half way through making her the first one, her friend had apparently gone and bought one in the same colour and style! So as you probably know, the worst prom nightmare is having the same dress as someone else- I started again with a different colour, style, and fabric :)

I have used a lovely red metallic-y fabric (which I am unaware of the fabric content, I bought it from a fabric market in Beijing, and the man whom I bought it from spoke no english!) and have mounted it on a corset base,which I had in my stash to originally be used as a pattern I could use- and was £1 from a Primark sale bin! I had to cut the corset to shape, and make it a little smaller on the back to fit her properly, and create more of a 'V' shape. I then added boning to the edge and covered it in the red fabric, and then added my own eyelets and black ribbon.

I have had my sister standing for hours on end, whilst I draped the fabric, pinning and unpinning, and getting the drapes and pleated perfectly symmetrical at the back and following the contours of her body shape.

Here it is, looking like something quite dangerous (the amount of pins in the dress at the moment is unreal...and it seems to be proving a slight stabby hazard)

but I have not actually started sewing it yet.

I plan to hand sew all the pleats in place, and hopefully have it ready by Sunday as her prom is on Monday. I hope my poor fingers will last the distance!

I am afraid to say that it looks abit of a mess at the moment... but I am sure you can imagine what I want it to look like when it's finished! The hem is also very wonky, but I will cut this and hem it properly when the top half is done. It will come to just above the knee.

I now plan to spend the next hundered billion hours hand sewing this, and I will show you final pictures when it is done!

I'm also making her prom date a little handkerchief out of the same material, so that he can match her perfectly from his suit pocket :)

Hopefully she'll let me put up a picture of them both together!

:) x

A few pictures from Paris!

Taken on my Grandad's old Olympus OM1 manual SLR :)

Unfortunately my roll of film with the best pictures on (Eiffel Tower at night!) got stuck in my camera and became detached from the film casing... I tried taking it out in a completely darkened room, but it is seeming tricky to get somewhere that will develop it! If only I had my own dark room...

Buy anyhow, here's Paris!

My sister & I wandering a Parisian street

...and yes, I bought the cat print dress! :)

The Sacre Coeur... It was such a sunny day!

Got to love a bit of the Paris Metro :)

A very busy street with lots of French shops!

Notre Dame in the sun!

One of the many lovely street stalls selling vintage and antique magazines, newspapers and artwork.

A very colourful flower stall,

and some VERY fluffy chickens at the animal market just down the road. They're so pretty and funny looking :)

Will share the rest if and when I manage to get them developed!

I made a dress for a wedding party last weekend that I have yet to put up on here, I just need to take some pictures of it first! But for now, I will get back to making my sister's prom dress :)

x

The finished bag!

Hello! Long time no blogging, but I have been enjoying my new found freedom after finally finishing university for the summer :)

To celebrate my parent's 25th wedding anniversary and my sister's 16th birthday, my family and I spent the weekend in Paris, the most beautiful city I have ever seen! I definitely didn't want to leave, and I need to go back to wandering the Parisian streets, munching on delicious macaroons, and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

I have many pictures, but I took them on my little Holga and my OM1 Olympus manual camera, and have yet to get the films developed! I'll share them soon if any come out successfully :)

But anyway, bag to my bag!

This is the finished product for my latest university Design and Realisation project, where we had to make a top, bag and accessory (pictures of bag and top will follow!)

I based my research and inspiration on Marie Antoinette & The Sex Pistols and had a running theme of 'pretty things and destruction'- where I would take something classically pretty and girly and destroy it to capture the essence of both.

Here is the clutch bag that I made, with cameo embroidery detailing (that I showed you in my previous post!). I made the metal frame in the workshop at uni, and spray painted it. I also lined it, and attached 3 ribbon roses which I had 'destroyed' using a blowtorch!

Below is an inside view- not the neatest job though!

Here's a close up of the snap clutch at the top:

I'll have the top and accessory to show you soon, along with Paris pictures!

I hope you're all enjoying the British sunshine :)

x

Up-cycle Project: Lining a Vintage Suitcase!

I managed to get this beauty (along with 3 other large vintage suitcases) on ebay for just £1!

I also got the red floral corduroy fabric from an offcut bin at my local fabric shop for free, because I bought so much fabric in there, = cost for this project, about 25p :)

Here's the before picture...

I measured the bottom square of the suitcase, and measured the area of each side panel

and then cut out a piece of fabric for each area with 1cm seam allowance added.

I then glued the fabric into the suitcase, using pegs all around the outside to allow the fabric to stick properly and to hold it in place.

Once dry, I took off the pegs and had a pretty inside to my suitcase!

I'm planning to do this to the other 3 suitcases that I bought oh so cheaply,

but that will have to wait until I have finished uni for the summer.

I only have a week left!

:D

My new friend

Hello little singer sewing machine, nice to meet you :)

Picked up this beauty at a car boot sale for just £10!

It's built into a table, so I have a little flap down area to work on beside. In perfect working condition, just needed a little bit of oiling due to her old age, aww.

I would have taken pictures of the whole thing, but my room's messy!

:)