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Floral Embroidered Silk Organza Halter-Neck Wedding Dress

black and white silk organza halter-neck wedding dress

Sue looking STUNNING in Greece getting married, wearing the dress she made using fabulous embroidered silk organza.  Sue slightly amended the Vogue Original pattern so she could make best use of the scalloped edge, removing part of the lining to allow for 180” of skirt material being gathered into 27” (few sleepless nights there) but all in all, it was the best possible fabric choice she could have made.

black and white silk organza halter-neck wedding dress

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Turquoise Mermaid Blue Sequinned Dress

Turquoise sequinned tulle dress

Jane made this sequinned tulle dress for her grandchildren Kitcat and Miaow (they share). The armholes are bound in lightweight satin bias binding, the hem is taken up with turquoise lycra binding and the neck has a plain mandarin collar made from cotton jersey so the scratchy sequin factor is minimised. This dress makes all the grown-ups exclaim “I WANT ONE!”.

Turquoise sequinned tulle dress detail Turquoise sequinned tulle dress

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Light Blue Broderie Anglaise Panelled Dress

Bess wearing her super summery light blue broderie anglaise cotton dress at the Pimm’s stall at the village fête. The dress is her same Jaeger dress pattern with the neck cut lower and lined in ivory cotton lawn. The neck is piped with red satin piping (made with a super lightweight bias binding and piping cord) and bias binding around the armholes.

Just to be extra fancy Bess used french seams on the lining (this has practical reasons as well as showing off -it is stronger and everything looks neater), and a heavy repp bias binding around the hem to give it a little structure. Despite the snug fit and no lycra Bess can still wiggle in without a zip.

Neon shoes are an optional extra 😉

 

 

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Embroidered and Embellished Cotton Piqué Coat

daisies and sequined grass embellished cotton piqué coat

Bess made this turquoise cotton piqué coat for a wedding, wanting something very plain that would go with all her dresses. All the best laid plans and all that – Bess HATED it plain (felt like a doctor’s coat), so cut up some daisy trim and sewed them all over, and couched some yellow vintage strung sequins and green jute string as grass. Bess is not ruling out the possibility that there won’t be more flowers and insects added at a later date.

daisy trim embellished piqué cotton with sequins and jute string
daisy trim embellished piqué cotton with sequins and jute string

The Peter Pan collar is accented with red satin (ready made) piping and the same piping is used between the printed cotton lawn lining and the front facings. The sleeves are lined in red Venezia as they are fairly slim and need to slip.

The pattern is a Vintage burda pattern no. 7041, it makes up beautifully with hardly any alterations.

floral cotton lawn used as lining
floral cotton lawn used as lining

 

Peter Pan collar on turquoise piqué embellished coat
Peter Pan collar on turquoise piqué embellished coat

Finally the buttons were added, these buttons were the originals intended for the plain jacket but Bess was determined to use them, whether they go or not. (I think she gets away with it – just).

Turquoise diamanté and oxidised metal asian inspired button
Turquoise diamanté and oxidised metal asian inspired button

She loves them. Every girl needs a bit of bling.

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Possibly the Poshest Embroidered Linen Dress in the World

embroidered and hand painted Italian linen dress

Jane’s amazing embroidered Italian Linen dress. This fabric is hand painted on top of the embroidery and doesn’t come cheap –it’s enlightening to discover what things cost when they are made properly and the artisans are paid a fair wage.

With such an amazing fabric you only need a very simple shift pattern, Jane used her block which just has bust darts, front darts and back darts so there was minimal chopping up of the pattern.

The fabric truly is stunning.

embroidered and hand painted Italian Linen
embroidered and hand painted Italian Linen

 

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Peacock Lace Shift Dress

peacock lace shift dress

Elwen in her peacock leaf design cotton mix lace shift dress with lime green Venezia lining.

Using Burda pattern 8213, she lengthened it a bit (Elwen says it’s quite short but it’s more that she’s quite tall). The lace is overlocked (by Bess because Elwen was being a proper wuss), the lining was cut 2 sizes bigger to accommodate the stretch of the lace, but it was a bit too big so 1 size would have been sufficient. Made on the 30th for New Years’ Eve so no time for alterations!

 

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Purple Embroidered Linen Shift Dress

embroidered linen shift dress

Dee wears this elegant purple embroidered linen mix shift dress
Fabrics and Notions:
String embroidered linen mix
Purple Venezia lining
Medium weight knitted iron-on interfacing
Invisible zip

It is a good idea to make a toile (a roughly made up dress in inexpensive fabric) when making a shift dress with this flattering wide neck style so that it doesn’t gape. A toile is ALWAYS a good idea when making up a pattern you haven’t tried before, but it is especially important for this neckline which has a tendency to gape. Dee made this up beautifully.

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Green Linen Skirt Embellished with Shell Buttons

shell embroidered linin skirt with spotty frill

Clair wearing her green linen skirt embellished with lots of shell buttons and a spotty frill

Fabrics and Notions:
Green heavy linen
Kaffe Fassett Green Spot print cotton
Approx 45 shell buttons
Fine piping cord and self made bias binding

Embellishing a plain cloth with buttons or beads can be a really effective way of dressing up a fabric, which would otherwise cost (if bought ready embellished) a small fortune. Pay attention to aesthetics and practicality when choosing the placement, you may wish to concentrate the beads in one area, thinning out elsewhere, or only embellish the front.

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Embroidered Denim Skirt

embroidered denim mini skirt

Bess with her ‘Credit Crunch’ free-embroidered denim skirt.
Fabric and Notions:
Dark blue dark wash cotton denim
Viscose interfacing
Gutermann silk thread (for embroidery)
Invisible zip
Pattern: Burda 8237 (modified pockets)

One of the back pockets is upside-down so she couldn’t stuff them full of rubbish, and so she didn’t have to line them up. Win:Win!