Ready!

Susie's dress is finished just in time. She will come and pick it up tomorrow.
I love the green colors on this dress. It is so bright and fresh together! The cape is a sequinned tye-dye chiffon with 2 shades of green on it. You cannot really see the tye-dye pattern in the picture due to the flash, but it has more contrast with the base fabric in real life.

Susie's dress

Susie is going to the Oireachtas in Berlin and needs a new dress as her old one is sold! I am furiously working to meet the deadline...
Her teacher said that after the black and pink dress, she might need a different color. The green is very bright and cheerful. The base fabric has nice embroidered spirals and a slight two-tone effect.

Her panels (petal style) have been embroidered, stiffened and lined and are ready to receive the final satinstitching around the shaped edges. Then I can sew these panels together halfway and start on the back sections of the skirt.


**Please note that I am fully booked until january 2008 and can only accept new orders for delivery in february 2008**

How-to satinstitch straight

Sometimes people ask on the web how they can transfer their designs onto the fabric of the dress. There are many ways to do this of course, and here I show one: the paper tissue method.

This method is particularly good when you have to embroider onto fabric when you have no edges of the applique to follow. In this example I need to do straight lines of satinstitching onto a pink area.


Firstly I have the area drawn out onto tissue paper and have marked all the stitching lines. The paper is then pinned onto the fabric and I stitch the outline with a large running stitch to hold it in place.
When the paper is in place I stitch out the lines I need to embroider and then I remove the paper. The stitchlines are now marked clearly (if you use a contrasting thread of course :-)



Now it is time to satinstitch the marked lines... perfectly straight!

For Sale...Noreen's dress.

This lovely warm cerise dress is now for sale. The dress was made in 2005. The base is a metallic cotton with a red metallic warp and cobalt blue weft, creating a deep cerise that changes slightly in tone as it reflects the light. Applique is done in holographic glittersquare, yellow satin and emerald metallic cotton. The lining is silver satin.
The design is bright with nice contrasts that show up well on the stage. It would be very nice as a first solo dress for prizewinner/intermediate.





The dress is very well cared for and in good shape. No signs of wear, no make-up and no odor! The bodice is fully lined in cotton and dress shields have always been worn woth the dress. Owner is asking 400 euro plus shipping from the Netherlands.

This dress needs to be sold! REDUCED to 210 GBP or best offer!!!
Measurements (taken from the dress):

Chest 87 cm
Waist 78 cm
Collarbone to waist 34 cm
Skirt 41 cm
Full dress length 75 cm
Sleeve 54 cm
Back neck bone to waist 41 cm
Shoulder to shoulder across the back 35 cm
chest front (armpit to armpit) 44 cm
neck to shouldercap 12 cm

Please email for more information; or leave a comment at this post.

Lisa Lubbe Memorial Feis

Katy and I danced today at the Lisa Lubbe memorial feis in Wassenaar, the Netherlands. Katy was thrilled with her new dress and I have to say, did really well in all her dances. Just look at all those trophies... Well done Katy!

Danielle's dress

This OTR dress is now sold and will be for Danielle from the US. She is very excited about it. Hopefully it will be finished the end of december, ready for delivery in january.

As soon as there will be a new OTR dress I will place this info on my blog.

Finished!

Very poor picture taken very quickly before I put this dress in a bag and brought it over to Katy. She says she loves it and it fits her really nicely. I am sure that this weekend at the feis I will have more chances to actually make a nice picture of her in it. Hopefully with a nice trophy to show!

Pinned together

Katy's dress is now finally taking shape. The back sections still need to be done, but I could not resist pinning the bodice and front skirt panels together to see how it will look. Next I will finish the bodice and set in the sleeves, make a sweetheart neckline in turquoise embroidery and think about the cape. It should be finished before next week when our school is having our annual Open feis.

Main embroidery done

I still need to add the ruffle on the skirt panels and also attach some sequins and organza flowers. Then these panels are ready to be stiffened. I am waiting to receive the lining fabric from Whitelodge. It was sent last week so I am sure it will arrive either today or tomorrow. Once the skirt is in this stage it does not alter much in appearance (as only stiffener is added), but when the (shaped) pleats are put in it will again be quite a difference!

***
Well, whadd'ya know??...as I am writing this post the package from Whitelodge with the lining fabric was delivered! :-) Talk about nice timing!

Black feis results!

I had a great time dancing at the black feis in Killarney. It was really nice, but also kindof weird to see everyone so similarly dressed. I loved the straight hair that some of the girls had and I myself showed off my naturally curly hair :-) I danced the best I could and finally got second-last by one point. I don't think I could have done any better than I did. I really gave it all, made no mistakes and tried to enjoy myself and smile on stage....and the smile on the picture says it all: I had a great feis!