Spectacular Designer Corsetry & Accessories
Corset D41
17/02/2012 04:39 PM
I received in the post today some gorgeous white broche, and I am so tempted to make one of my favourite corsets from the Symington collection D41. And for the sake of simply copying information, here is the Museums own card on this corset:
This is a fascinating corset, it shares some of the classic characteristics of Edwardian era corsets:
My original notes:
Reading it back I can see that I originally thought this piece was stitched on top across all layers, but upon more study of my photo's I can see that it is not, and apart from aesthetic reasons there seems no other purpose to this neat bit of pattern cutting (unless it was economical in terms of laying it on the fabric). If I ever get a moment to myself I'm going to give this corset a go, it's so fascinating.
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- vertical inner bone casings
- longline
- suspenders
- single layer
Oddities of Fifties Bra's
16/02/2012 12:16 AM
Retro and vintage inspired lingerie is everywhere these days. Fabulous images of Hollywood starlets in their heyday all busty and glamorous on the outside needed some serious upholstery underneath. You'd be surprised at how understated 1950's undies actually were and I thought it would be nice to do a little compilation of some of the more interesting examples.
The bullet bra is perhaps one of the best well known style of bra to emerge in this era. Worn by such lovelies as Marilyn Monroe....the effect is, well, pointy...
The classic bullet bra, so much copied today, had no under wires (unlike the example above) but all were characterised by their conical shape and circular support stitching. Very similar was the whirlpool bra which had slightly more sophisticated pattern cutting and some nifty over wiring.
And then there was the cathedral bra, which had some glorious over wiring...but I'm not sure it would have been supportive in any way whatsoever. I have searched the internet for a picture but can only direct you to a link from the V&A http://www.vandaimages.com/results.asp?image=2010EE7998-01&itemw=4&itemf=0002&itemstep=1&itemx=3 as to post it here would probably land me in trouble.
...Click here to read more >
The bullet bra is perhaps one of the best well known style of bra to emerge in this era. Worn by such lovelies as Marilyn Monroe....the effect is, well, pointy...
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| one of the more interesting bullet bra styles |
The classic bullet bra, so much copied today, had no under wires (unlike the example above) but all were characterised by their conical shape and circular support stitching. Very similar was the whirlpool bra which had slightly more sophisticated pattern cutting and some nifty over wiring.
Classic lace wedding dress
14/02/2012 11:31 PM
Recently the most requested wedding dress style I have been asked for is with a lace overlay.
Lace has been trending (I hate that expression) in wedding dress design for the past few years but last years Royal Wedding really upped the ante...
Lace has such a wonderful finish, and it is the most feminine of all fabrics in my opinion. I remember lace being considered very old fashioned when I was young, but I always found it's delicacy lovely to behold. Back in my goth days as a teenager I remember donning all sorts of lace things that made me feel much more grown up and sexually alluring, I loved that it could cover and conceal all at the same time.
But enough of my reminiscences... more about lace.
There are perhaps as many different types of lace as there are types of wine, and similarly to wine different styles of lace are historically directly related to their place of origin. If you fancy a real in depth study of lace I can recommend a viewing of the Lace Guild website. Back in the day lace was painstakingly made by hand using some simple principles and equipment and a lot of patience. Luckily for the modern dressmaker most lace is made by machine...making it affordable and readily available. But like everything in life the better the quality the more expensive the product.
Here are a few of my favourite styles of lace that I use:
Chantilly : This style of lace is named after the region of it's inception, Chantilly in France (although, unlike wines, laces are no longer just made in the place they are named after)
Chantilly lace is characterised by it's light floral patterns and use of half and whole stitch fill to create area's of light and shadow within a solid outline. It usually has an 'eyelash' effect on the border pattern also, which I find quite endearing.
Guipure Lace : Guipure lace refers to a thick lace that has no background. The pattern is entirely self supporting and does not need the netting background of other lace styles.
Guipure lace has a solid kind of charm and I find very versatile for putting on corsets either as an overlay or a trim. Some of the more built up designs have a wonderful grandeur about them, remember Prada using loads of built up guipure laces in 2008?
...Click here to read more >
Lace has been trending (I hate that expression) in wedding dress design for the past few years but last years Royal Wedding really upped the ante...
But enough of my reminiscences... more about lace.
There are perhaps as many different types of lace as there are types of wine, and similarly to wine different styles of lace are historically directly related to their place of origin. If you fancy a real in depth study of lace I can recommend a viewing of the Lace Guild website. Back in the day lace was painstakingly made by hand using some simple principles and equipment and a lot of patience. Luckily for the modern dressmaker most lace is made by machine...making it affordable and readily available. But like everything in life the better the quality the more expensive the product.
Here are a few of my favourite styles of lace that I use:
Chantilly : This style of lace is named after the region of it's inception, Chantilly in France (although, unlike wines, laces are no longer just made in the place they are named after)
Guipure Lace : Guipure lace refers to a thick lace that has no background. The pattern is entirely self supporting and does not need the netting background of other lace styles.
Guipure lace has a solid kind of charm and I find very versatile for putting on corsets either as an overlay or a trim. Some of the more built up designs have a wonderful grandeur about them, remember Prada using loads of built up guipure laces in 2008?
Crystalization
08/02/2012 11:02 PM
Today I have been coming to the closing stages of a very cool costume work for the Sugar Beats, a vintage inspired tap dance duo. And for the last hour I have been getting the bling on the costume. Fab fun, and it looks great too.
I love the effect of crystals as a decoration, and I am so grateful for the invention of hot fix crystals because I once had to do an outit by glueing them on and it was very time consuming and messy and occassionaly nerve wracking. The first outfit I ever used crystals on was this:
It still looks awesome, but I think it took me two days to work out and execute the design. It's not very often that I get a wonderful client who lets me go wild with the crystals, but recently I did a pink dress which just got blinger and blinger, upon request! I can't show you the whole dress, as she hasn't worn it out yet, but check this out:
This outfit is a mix of both sew on and hotfix crystals, and I really enjoyed doing it...although all in all to do the back and front it took me about four hours. Worth it though! Can't wait to get piccies of this lady in her dress!
...Click here to read more >
Click here to visit 'Blog' >>>I love the effect of crystals as a decoration, and I am so grateful for the invention of hot fix crystals because I once had to do an outit by glueing them on and it was very time consuming and messy and occassionaly nerve wracking. The first outfit I ever used crystals on was this:
