Dressmaking

I have been dressmaking mostly rather than making quilts during the last couple of weeks.
I have made myself a traditional outfit (like the one I  made for my daughter's wedding here ..... scroll down to the last photos)  to wear to a wedding in a couple of weeks.

The skirt fabric and scarf come from Laos and were given to me by my sisters in law. The band at the bottom of the skirt comes separately from the skirt fabric. It is woven with metallic threads with the silk.

The scarf has a similar pattern to the band on the skirt.


The top is made from silk dupion I bought here in Melbourne. It is embellished with guipure lace and has covered buttons using fabric from the skirt. My daughter helped me get the pattern for the top right.

 (the colours don't show true, my photography isn't the best)

Now a bit of showing off about my daughter.  (I'm a proud Mum!!! :) )
My daughter has also been sewing for herself. Below is a dress she made to wear to a wedding. It is black lace over a pale pink satin.

Covered buttons finish the back.

She also has shoes to match! :)



Last week we went to a runway show that included 3 wedding gowns from the shop where my daughter works.

My daughter's job is sewing these gowns.


Photos below.
All 3 gowns are made from silk. All the draping is hand stitched and most are hand beaded. Every gown is made for each bride individually and there are several layers of construction in each gown.
My daughter worked on the 1st and 3rd gowns.

The first gown is finished with hand stitched prebeaded lace that has extra beads hand stitched on. It took a week to make this gown.

The draping on the 2nd gown is tulle. Three ladies worked on this gown.

The 3rd gown has over 150 meters of silk organza in the skirt. All those frills have  folded edges (no raw edges here!) and are stitched individually to the skirt. It took 3 ladies 2 months to make this gown.

These creations are a lot more than mere dressmaking! The amount of work that goes into creating gowns like these is amazing. I love the attention to detail and the finishing touches in each of these creations. The way the fabrics are draped and the lace placement complement the female form.


All photos below from Stonnington Fashion blog here. You can see many of the other clothes in the parade by scrolling through posts for August 24 2012.
My daughter works here.