Corey's Slinky Number

As you may have noticed by now, I love vintage fashions. Can't get enough of them. It was time to design a gown in the style of the 1930's. Hollywood at it's most glamorous. I came up with this....

I named it Ava. After the beautiful Ava Gardener.

Corey fell in love with the design right away and asked that I build one for her. My reply....."With pleasure!" 

Rich crepe back satin, slides on a bias cut over every curve. Hand dyed lace is richly beaded with Swarovski crystals and hand sculpted flowers.

She wanted a veil that went with it, so I worked one up for her. 

Now I have had one person say that the tiny flowers ruin it, that it's childish. I prefer whimsical, like Claire Pettibone's work. Still....because it's not for everyone, I did redesign it with more beading and crystals, and no flowers. With the redesign, it was given a new name.....Veronica, after Veronica Lake. I'll post that in a while.

Meanwhile, this dress is available in my shop.

Thank you to Pete Erickson Photography for the lovely wedding pictures!

Voila!!

The radiant Luisa. Actress, singer, and belly dancer extraordinaire!

Big THANKS to Babette Daniells Photography.

A Steampunk Soiree

   When Luisa said she was having a Steampunk wedding, my head filled with daydreams of  steam driven gadgets, curvy corsets and lofty airships. Right away I started a new board on Pinterest of Steampunk goodies and wedding ideas to get the juices flowing.

  Luisa knew exactly what she wanted, right from the beginning. Most of my brides are happy leaving the hours of slogging through the internet, looking for that perfect fabric, totally up to me. Nope, Luisa put as much time into the process as I did. And I am not ashamed to say, she is the one who found the fabrics we ultimately used.

When I told my sweetie that I needed sketches of bustled dresses with intricate brocade fabric designs, his poor face went pale. It was all I could do to coax him back out of the closet again. (Just kidding) The task did take several tries, and he eventually said that getting the brocade design on the sketches was on me. Okay....so it's a bit cheesy, but you can see the look I wanted to get.

 After a year of White and Ivory dresses, a bright period ensemble was just the thing to lift my spirits. I gave the base dress a slight train and bustling of it's own. That way it would look good by itself, and provide some lift for the over skirt.

The over skirt was quite heavy, so I built a small waist cincher at the top to support it. The style is called a Butterfly Bustle, very trendy for gals in the 1870's.  

 

 It wasn't going to be possible to match ready made frogs to the brocade, so I pulled out my trusty knot book and got to work.

I can't wait to get permission to use the pictures that were taken at the wedding. The outfit looked great on Luisa. 

Marrisa's Vintage Style Lace Dress

Marrisa fell in love with a dress she saw, but sadly is was vintage and therefore, not available in any stores. 

She sent me all the pictures she could find and asked if it could be duplicated. Hmmm. Did I duplicate it? I'll leave that up to you.

This design is now available in my shop.

Janna's African Nuptial

I was very excited when Janna asked me to make an atypical dress for her wedding day....at an elephant camp! Check it out....

She wanted a super soft modal
knit, long sleeves and no back.
This is how it turned out.

Personally, I think it looks way better on Janna.