Saturday 9 November 2013

Its a Ball ! The jouney and the destination !



 The journey began for this extraordinary evening ball gown on a paper sketch done by my client. Took nearly 2 weeks of non stop work..some really sleepless nights ...some completely sleepless nights !!! and a lot and lots of swarovski bling :) !!!

It had the two of the most difficult fabrics to work with . Pure charmeuse silk and Pure silk crepe chiffon . Lots and lots of hand sewing involved as the fabrics are alive and kicking, with a mind of their own .. The dress had a stole that could be worn with the dress as a stole or with it as a halter by hooking it in with a loop in the corset . The scarf had 6 inches of fringing done on 50 cm each side 5mm apart... by loop method which takes longer to do as its a more finished look.. I used 4mm swarovski crystal beads for extra shine in AB cut in both coloured and clear cryatal 5328


Each panel in the dress had two layers sewn till a split separately doing a rolled hem to the split notch and then mounted the chiffon on the charmeuse silk by hand . It  took 3 hours in total of preparation work just to stitch two panels together!

The dress also had an inner corset (which unfortunately I just didn't have the time to take pictures of) was heavily boned on each seam as well as on individual panels. It was completely sculptured to the clients body! I had to have a calico for this one! :) !

I added swarovski bling in my own way as the client was quite happy to leave that part to me. The entire embroidery was done by hand using a special stitch to keep the ( crystals 3128 5mm AB and foiled) in a chain next to each other . The dress looks far more impressive in reality than in the pictures as I couldnt capture the bling in as photo ....when danced  in.. you can see the lighter cobalt blue fabric of the charmeuse silk peeking through the darker top chiffon layer ( my client gave me a lovely demo) .

The only fly in the ointment  was the zip .. I am not complaining about the clients request of having a chunky zip on the side seam, but really of my own work as I couldn't make it completely seamlesss. I wish I could have made it look completely seamless just like an invisible zip!  I will do it one day all seamless with the chunky zip which didn't particularly suit the fabrics ......(possibly I am being over critical as the client was really happy )


And last but not the least I must mention these special THANKS!!

The dress wouldn't have been completed had a dear friend Oxana not lent me a helping hand at all the embroidery and fringing. A special thanks to Micheal Wrench from  Crystal beads LLP http://www.crystal-beads.co.uk/wholesale-swarovski-beads/index.html for providing me the crystals at lightening speed delivery, at extremely shot notice.



Dr Anna Marie Brocklebank :)