A special custom-made coat

Quite a picture heavy blog post today to showcase a coat that I recently finished. This coat was a special commission from a good friend who is also a loyal customer (and has been from the start). We had a vision of how it wanted to look, and finding the perfect fabric and buttons was as much of a challenge as getting the coat right!

In the end we decided on a black poly-blend Melton fabric for the outer layer, and a beautiful blue-black jacquard weave lining fabric with a rose motif on it. Buttons were sourced from Duttons after an extensive look round everywhere.

The coat design itself is fairly simple: full-length with a fitted waist and additional flare at the back to create dramatic movement when she's walking. And, as is only appropriate, a voluminous hood.

A lovely fabric choice on the part of a customer.

Just a quick post this week to show you a customer's lovely fabric choice. Upon hearing that I was off on maternity leave in the not too distant future one of my regulars went on a little shopping spree at one of the local fabric shops and brought me material to make her a number of dresses to tide her over until I return to work. The dresses themselves are all variations on a style I've made for her before, which we know suits her and she feels good in, but normally she chooses a plain fabric. Not this time though! She fell in love with this fabulous Rose & Hubble stamp print cotton, so I was set the challenge of turning it in to a dress.

I have to admit that lining up the pattern repeat of the stamps so that there was no visible break at the waist was a little bit of a challenge, but what a result...

 

Winter product highlight: fleece wraps

In this week's product highlight I'm going to take a look at my fleece wraps. The design for these came about because although I love wearing a pashmina as an extra layer it is sometimes frustrating that they don't stay further down your back when you have them wrapped round your shoulders, and sometimes they're just not warm enough. So the design for the wrap was born - long enough that it covers most of your back, wide enough that you can wrap it elegantly round your shoulders, and made from a soft, warm but practical fabric.

I have to admit that while I love them myself they have surprised me with their popularity, selling well both at fairs and in Fabrication and online - I've sent several to the US already this year!

I try to keep Fabrication stocked with a rotating range of colours, but I'm always happy to take orders for custom colours if you can't find what you'd like. The same applies to orders from my online shop.

Catching up after Christmas...

Blimey December was a busy month! I barely had time to catch my breath between sewing sessions to get all the orders done and keep my area in Fabrication in Leeds fully stocked. Rather than bore you with a post per cape/cloak, here's a round up of some of the beautiful custom pieces which left my workroom in December...

Black crushed velvet cape with a pointed hood:

Semi-circular boiled wool cloak a red lining, with 3 frog-clasps as closure:

Semi-circular pure wool cloak with a midnight blue satin lining and a beautiful celtic clasp - a surprise Christmas present for a very lucky lady!! The hood on this one is detachable, revealing a mandarin collar underneath:

Full-length boiled wool cloak with a jacquard weave lining. This was designed to go over a silk-velvet wedding dress in the same colour as the lining, which I also made but don't have any decent photographs of:

Child's red melton cloak with a white fur trim, after the cloak worn by the main character in the Goth Girl books. Also a Christmas present! 

This month already has a couple of cloaks and a wedding dress lined up, so I'm sure I'll be doing another round-up at some point!

The great reveal - beaded lace wedding dress!

I know I've been quiet for a little bit, but I've been squirreled away in my workroom completing this dress, and then I took a well deserved week's holiday! I'm back going full-steam ahead on various other projects now, but not before I share a few pictures of the finished dress with you (it's ok, the wedding was on Saturday, I'm not spoiling any surprises!)

This was a full-length wedding dress custom designed and made for this bride. Fully structured, it's made from a satin underlay covered with beautiful beaded lace. All the lace edging and the button detailing was applied by hand.

From the front...

 

 The back...

And close ups of some of the edging / the train...

The bride was delighted with it (phew!) and I have to agree, it's a lovely dress and the style she chose suited her to a T!

A trio of capes

A trio of capes to show you now, all made for a returning customer.

First up, charcoal fleece with a red/black jacquard weave lining:

Second, a lightweight linen/cotton blend cape for summer wear (they were dispatched to her in time for her holiday so she could take it with her!) with a pretty button closure:

Third, a cape made in the colours of her rugby team (Northampton Saints, in case you're wondering). I think this is a great idea, if I followed a team myself I'd definitely have one in their colours for me!

Bodycon dress

From loose and floaty to skin-tight now, with pictures of a custom made bodycon dress that I finished last week for a customer. Made from a lovely thick weight light charcoal jersey, this really a dress which hugs every curve and shows off the figure inside!

(you can see where my mannequin's 'hips' finish by when the ruching on the seam starts - if I'd time I'd have worked out something to add more structure to the lower half to show of the curves better, but c'est la vie, you'll just have to imagine it not doing that on the real person!)

The neckline is finished with a gathered flower made from the same material, with a few discreet black beads in the centre.

 

Custom made summer blouse

This blouse was part of a two garment commission but unfortunately I don't have good enough photos of the other item (a sequin catsuit) to share so you'll have to make do with just this one!

This was a drop-shoulder blouse with gathered sleeves and slight bust gathering, made from a cotton cheesecloth-esque material that the customer brought to me.

And finished with cute heart and flower shell buttons that the customer chose after a trip to Duttons! 

Struggling to find ties for the Groom's party?

I wanted to share these to show couples planning their wedding that if the place you're getting your suits from doesn't have the right colour ties you don't have to stress about it - get in touch and providing I can get hold of a fabric in the colour you're after I can make them up for you! The commission pictured below is a case in point - the bridesmaids dresses were a slightly unusual colour but the couple got in touch and I was able to find them an almost perfect match for the ties.

Problem solved, and five custom made ties for the Groom's party...

Sparkly sparkly sparkly

A belated post to show you one of the other prom dresses I made last month.

This one's a little bit different to the sequinned number I showed in my last post, being duchess satin and there being a lot less of it, but equally stunning in it's own right. A satin skirt and ruched satin bodice front were connected by a number of embellished straps to make a really eye-catching dress!

From the front:

And the back:

Despite its flimsy appearance it fit the girl it was made for like a glove and wasn't at all precariously positioned when it was on her, quite an achievement I feel!

Sequins!

A post today to show you a few pictures of one of the prom dresses that I've finished in the last week. It's a lovely dress, elegant in the simplicity of the shape (which works so well with her willowey figure) but also modern in the fact that the material is small matt sequins.

From the front the dress looks like a very modest number, with long sleeves and a reasonably high neckline.

But from the back? A diamond cut-out adds an extra bit of wow without revealing too much.

And as is inevitable with sequins I'm still finding them on the floor despite having vacuumed since the dress left my workshop, it seems like they hide and creep out when I'm not looking!

Photos from a happy customer

Following on from my previous post, I'm delighted to be able to share a few photos with you of a beautiful bride and her lovely bridesmaids on her wedding day.

Congratulations to Juliet and Alan, I hope you have a long and happy marriage. And thankyou to Juliet for choosing me to make your dresses and cloak, I think it was a fab combination and I'm so glad you were pleased with them!

A family of waistcoats

Not a long post today, or one with a lot of photos, but I just wanted to show you a picture of one of my finished commissions this week - a family of waistcoats for cousins of varying ages to wear for a wedding. 

These came about after chatting to the bride when she brought her dress in for alteration, as she was struggling to find anything that went across the three ages in a colour that she wanted them to wear. Fortunately she was able to find the perfect colour at Fletcher's (the back is a two-tone material with a blue 'flash' that matches the front) and I was able to do the rest for her...

 

A coat to make a goth happy!

This coat was finished just in time to be taken and worn to Whitby Goth Festival, and on the Friday they arrived I had a text from the customer informing me that he was the "only goth that's happy that it's misty and cold in Whitby". I think I can safely say that the coat was a success!!

This was a full-length coat made from black wool melton, with contrasting charcoal melton cuffs and pocket flap, and lined with a very lovely silver jacquard fabric lining. The buttons were from Duttons (of course, we're in York!) and chosen by the customer to match the lining.

First, a picture of the whole coat...

And now, some close up pictures...

I'm really quite proud of this, I'm not a traditionally trained tailor but I still think I did a pretty good job, and the customer was pleased with it which is the most important part after all!!