All posts tagged: commissions

The Cymbidium Orchid corset for Madame Ornata

I’ve been working on a corset based on the 1890s corded corset pattern for Madame Ornata. She asked me to make a BRIGHT green corset for a Victorian Poison Ivy costume. There were lots of complications (it’s complicated) and ended up going with an 18th century take on the idea for the costume party. The brief for the corset was BRIGHT green. Unfortunately we just couldn’t find anything in visits to every fabric store in Wellington. We did pick up a cute ivy-leaf patterned green quilting fabric for the lining. And then Madame O found the outer fabric on her own. And it was BRIGHT green. Did I tell you it was BRIGHT? Yeah. It made the lining fabric look dull and brown. So I had a mad rummage through my fabric stash. I found a flowered pink cotton that was rather sweet. Too sweet in fact. It just couldn’t stand up to the green silk. Finally, I found a mid-pink quilting cotton. I’m not even sure why I own this fabric. I have no …

Shell’s dress: a very meaningful fascinator

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s been a while since I have posted about Shell’s wedding dress, but I always meant to tell you about her fascinator. Shell’s fascinator was a combination of need and happy circumstances. First the need: Shell had always planned to make a fascinator to wear, but as the day approached we were all super busy and running out of time. Then the happy circumstances: Shell’s mother had sent lace motifs clipped from her own wedding dress, and satin from her Grandmother’s wedding dress, which we hoped to incorporate into Shell’s dress, but the dress was too far along by the time they arrived. Emily of Ever So Scrumptious had a collection of kereru feathers from her backyard (yes, she got permission from DOC to keep them) that she offered to Shell for her fascinator. Shell’s mother-in-law to be crocheted her a series of flowers for her fascinator and the bridesmaid’s fascinators. And of course, we had the gorgeous embroidered buttons that Madame Ornata had worked. And finally, I found a bluebird feather in my stash. …

A nautical playsuit

Published by The Dreamstress

Remember the darling little halter-neck playsuit from last week? Well, when I sent the toile for it to S. she noticed how much it looked like a sailor suit in white, and liked it so much that she asked me to make her a second playsuit, this one with a nautical theme. I suggested mixing things up a bit, and using a different bodice for the top half of the playsuit, specifically this little cutie from my pattern collection: We settled on blue fabric with a detachable white collar with red trim, and cute blue buttons with ‘X’es on them that remind me of compasses. The bodice top married to the shorts from the original playsuit well, all I had to do was adjust for a back fastening rather than a side fasteningso that she could get in and out of it. To play-up the nautical inspiration I added little white piping at the front pleats. Like the floral playsuit, this one has a skirt to button over it. I made this skirt a little …