All posts filed under: Admire

Fabulous hats of Spring 1940

Published by The Dreamstress

I just love this ad for hats that appeared in the Evening Post in September 1940.  Isn’t the little bowler with cherries just delicious?   Sadly, C Smiths has long since closed, and though the building still stands it now holds a prosaic collection of shoe stores and pharmacies and a gym, and renovators are gleefully stripping all its Art Deco charm from the interior and replacing it with the corporate colours of whatever the latest chain store to occupy the space are.  The romance of an old department store that once sold fabulous hats is long gone.

A wedding dress to die for

Published by The Dreamstress

Mrs C is doing the costuming for a new musical, ‘Lonely Hearts’, which is based on Raymond Fernandez & Martha Beck, the original Lonely Hearts serial killers from the late 1940s/early 50s. The costuming is all being designed and sewn with as much historical accuracy as you can aspire to within the confines of the theatre (quick changes, actors playing multiple rolls etc.).  I lent Mrs C all my 40s patterns and my mid-century fashion books and she’s been calling me up and asking about covered buckles and zips (yep, totally accurate for the 40s).  And she asked if I would be able to help with the sewing – so I said I would do the wedding dress. I’m using one of Grandma’s 1940s patterns: Isn’t it gorgeous?  Perfect early late 40s/early 50s styling with that sweetheart neckline and princess seamed front!  The pattern still has my Grandmother’s alterations, so I know she made it up. I’m making it with longish sleeves, and in waltz length. The actress who will be wearing it isn’t a …

Shell by sea

Published by The Dreamstress

The day before Shell’s wedding (and before the buttons were sewn on) we had a ‘trial run’ of the dress and a photoshoot by the sea.  Well, I say we, but it was supposed to be Sarah’s photoshoot, and my role was to carry the train, but I brought along my camera, just in case. It wasn’t the best photoshoot conditions: very late in the day, rainy, overcast, grey and glaring.  So I used this as an excuse to play “my photography sucks, but LOOK, I have cool filters!  And border thingees!” I may have gotten slightly carried away with that.  Ahem. Check out Sarah’s photos from the shoot, and the grocery trip afterwards, and the princess conversation.