It was my cousin's birthday yesterday and I had such a good idea for her birthday card. She loves it when our dog sits on the chair like a person so I took a photo of him and used it to create a card using Adobe Illustrator. I added some 'Happy Birthday!' text and put a little thumbnail on the back. My printer is kind of crazy and decided that it needed a huge green stripe down the side (all of the inks are full and it prints perfectly on the testing thing so I don't know what's up with that  ). Eventually I ran out of patience and paper so the green stripe prevails. I picked out a pair of the largest googley eyes that I could find and stuck them onto the card and tada!

Front


Back

I have been dressmaking for several years and have always wanted to make a bridal gown so I was absolutely delighted last July when I finally found my first wedding dress client. Over the past 8 months or so I have been working with her to create her dream gown. I have been so lucky to have such an amazing bride to work with; she has such a great sense of style and it has been an absolute pleasure to work with her and her ideas.
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The gown is made from silk dupion with a silk habutai lining and has a fishtail silhouette with a sweetheart neckline. I created an inner corset to give the bodice a more rigid structure. The entire dress was covered in a hand made Belgian lace which was embellished with sequins and beads to give it a subtle sparkle. The lace on the bodice was cut out from the tulle net that it came on and each flower was individually hand embroidered in place. The lace on the skirt was a separate overlay with carefully calculated applique seams to ensure that they were not visible. Only the best couture techniques to be used on this dress! The hem was finished with a scalloped lace trim. I also made the lace top but this was a last minute request finished the day before the wedding so I literally did not have time to take pictures of it! This has been the most involved and challenging project that I have undertaken to date but by far the most exciting and rewarding. I can't wait to find my next bride to do it all again!

Anyway, on to the pictures...

The bride and I

Drafting the pattern for the inner corset from block


Marking out lace overlay panels


Finished Dress


Bodice Front


Dress Back


Dress Front


Inner Corset Panel


Lace Embellishment
(Every single flower was cut out and stitched on by hand!)


Train


Train Bustled Up for Evening Festivities


Back of Lace Top


Thank you for looking!
If you'd like to see even more pictures and details of the dressmaking process head over to my website http://www.katywarland.com/#!blog---jackie/c64z