Bess ready for winter wearing her superb black wool and mohair coat lined with spotty red and purple Laurent Garigue twill silk. The collar and facings are interfaced with silk organza which kept it really light.
Fabrics and Notions:
Black Wool and Mohair Coating #3329
Laurent Garigue Spotty Print Silk Twill (lining)
Silk Organza
Half Round Silver Metal Buttons
Bess wearing her cloud printed cotton elastane jersey mini skirt, with cobalt blue double jersey raglan sleeve top. Both the top and the skirt took less than half an hour to make (each) – more time was spent waiting for the iron to heat up, or choosing which side to do the top (the reverse of that fabric is a lovely teal colour.
Bess loves things that take less than half an hour to make 🙂
Fabrics and Notions:
Cotton Elastane cloud printed jersey #2846.
Cobalt Blue/Teal double sided jersey #3193. See more jersey here Elastic
Patterns:
Skirt: DKNY for Vogue (adapted from long skirt, pattern now discontinued)
Top: Marcy Tilton for Vogue. #8636 (collar, cuffs and hem adapted from pattern)
Anthea looking beautiful wearing the ivory Guipure lace dress that unbuttons to become a short dress for the evening. Backed in cream stretch cotton sateen to warm up the colour and give it a bit of structure, and lined in cream Venezia lining. Made by Bess
Once the sun went down Anthea took off the lower skirt. Nice shoes!
guipure lace wedding dress with lower skirt detached
Turquoise satin bias binding was used to pipe the neckline to add just a touch of colour
guipure lace wedding dress neckline detail
The skirt and the lower skirt were embroidered with a red heart so as to match up when putting together (there are seventeen buttons holding it together – you really don’t want to button them on cocky!
guipure lace wedding dress hearts detail
Bess embroidered a label with the date of the wedding plus a few spare buttons, and sewed it on only three sides so as to double as an emergency (inside) pocket
guipure lace wedding dress pocket detail
Fabrics and Notions:
Ivory Guipure Lace
Cream Stretch Cotton Sateen Cream Venezia Lining
Fine piping cord
Turquoise satin bias binding
Invisible zip
Shell Buttons
Embroidery thread
Remnant of shot turquoise Linen
Bess wearing her panelled pop-art print stretch cotton sateen lined dress, complete with the fimo wedding couple wire framed ‘hat’.
Despite Bess going to the bother of putting in an invisible zip, she just throws it over her head. (she doesn’t put zips in that pattern anymore) AND, much to her disdain (and wasted effort), the dress was originally going to have a panel of the fab glow in the dark cotton straight down the middle, but she scrapped that idea after it was making it hang funny. (and possibly there is enough going on with that dress with out a girt big glowey stripe down her 😉
Pattern: Adapted from an ancient Vogue Elements hooded top pattern.
To add a stand collar like this to a round neckline is easy as the pattern is cut straight, just cut a rectangle twice the height of the collar (plus seam allowances), and as wide as the circumference of the neckline (do not add seam allowances). Sew the collar into a tube, fold in half and then overlock or stitch the raw edges together at the neck.
Bess posing in her turquoise Italian Designer knit mini skirt and top.
Fabrics and Notions: Italian Designer chevron knit
Elastic
Stay tape
Italian Designer knits are super-stretchy and have a tendency to ‘grow’, as a guide, you are likely to be making up in a couple of sizes smaller than you usually are.
Bess wearing reversible coat made years and years ago using grosgrain polkadot and green Laurent Garigue worsted wool.
Also wearing a long a-line skirt using a Donna Karan Vogue pattern.
Fabrics and Notions: Coat:
Polka dot printed grosgrain viscose and cotton
Laurent Garigue green worsted wool
Cover buttons (wired together so as to be double sided)
Viscose iron-on interfacing
Skirt:
Red zero print stretch cotton drill
Viscose iron-on interfacing
Turquoise satin piping
Invisible zip
Turquoise narrow petersham (belt loops)
Black 25mm cotton petersham (tie)
Jessie wearing her red viscose and elastane polka dot t-shirt made by Bess, and Bess wearing her wool and silk tweed pinafore dress with Birdy pockets and circle jersey inserts.
(They were trying to move faster than the camera flash- clearly not fast enough)
Fabrics and Notions: Jessie wears:
Red polka dot printed viscose elastane jersey
Lightweight knitted iron-on interfacing
Stay tape
Reinforced iron-on stay tape
Bess wears:
Wool and silk tweed pinafore dress
Red polka dot viscose and elastane jersey (pockets and inserts)
Medium weight knitted iron-on interfacing
Dress made for Bess’s graduation made out of charcoal silk and wool lightweight English tweed with charcoal jersey back and red spotty jersey circle inserts and pockets.
Maddison modeling Bess’s proofed linen coat (quilted with wool wadding) with wiggly eye epaulettes. Zipping in the panels and sleeves undo to reveal white proofed linen pleats.
Fabric and Notions: Chartreuse proofed linen
White proofed linen
Wool wadding
Black continuous zipping
wiggly eye buttons
Black cotton grosgrain
Spot printed viscose acetate lining
Cover buttons
Pocket zips
Eyelets (umbrella pocket)
Viscose iron-on interfacing
Kyra modelling the wool tweed zippy dress remake designed by Bess
Fabrics and Notions: Laurent Garigue double sided wool tweed in charcoal and ivory
Big spot poly satin
Red continuous zipping with extra pullers
Black fold-over grosgrain binding
Self made wide bias binding
Iron-on reinforced stay tape
Iron-on stay tape
Kyra modelling the felted jersey cardigan designed by Bess with integral glove puppets.
Fabrics and Notions: Turquoise wool and polyamide felted jersey
Red viscose elastane jersey (binding and waist yoke lining)
Cover buttons
Wool wadding (collar interlining)
Viscose iron-on interfacing
Megan (spinning) and Bronte (triptych) modelling angora and wool mix jumper with red viscose jersey circle insert and monster gloves, and charcoal grey dogtooth worsted wool with zipped panels revealing printed silk habotai inserts.
Fabrics and Notions: Jumper:
Wool and angora stripe rib jersey
Red viscose and elastane jersey (circle insert, covered buttons and glove linings)
Wool wadding (Inside circle insert)
Covered buttons
Bias binding cut from jersey
Stay tape
Viscose iron-on interfacing
Maddison modelling reversible black and white polka dot dress (red on reverse) that Bess designed for her final degree collection.
Fabrics and Notions: Red viscose elastane jersey
Black and white polka dot print viscose elastane jersey
Lightweight knitted iron-on interfacing
Stay tape
Bess wearing her posh white grosgrain and sequinned zippy dress, with red cotton sateen inserts.
Bess has a bit of an obsession with zips
Fabrics and Notions: White cotton and acetate grosgrain
Black sequinned jersey
Red cotton and poly stretch sateen
Red continuous zipping
Red piping
Red bias binding (cut from sateen)
Iron-on reinforced stabilising tape
Iron on stabilising tape
Black fold-over grosgrain binding (hem)
Bess in her prototype tweed dress she made for her final collection with six zips opening up the panels (the zips have extra pullers so can be undone in a multitude of ways for different silhouettes).
Fabrics and Notions: Laurent Garigue double sided wool tweed in charcoal and ivory
Big spot poly satin
Black continuous zipping with extra pullers
Red grosgrain ribbon
Black fold-over grosgrain binding
Self made wide bias binding
Iron-on reinforced stay tape
Iron-on stay tape
Pattern: Bess’s own (but is a pretty basic panelled shift)
Bess made sleeves and lined her sequin dress in cotton jersey because she is fairly intolerant when it comes to suffering for fashion (and sequins are hot and scratchy).
This dress would have taken much less than an hour had she not taken the time to cut away the sequins along the seams (which makes sewing easier, reduces the risk of a sequin jabbing her in the thigh, and the seams lie nice and flat. It was unnecessary to sew any back on.
Due to the tulle backing the sequins are sewn on to no hemming was required (result!).
Bess made this hoody with ears for her father (modelled here by her husband, Rob) out of white cotton sweat shirting which she dyed blue with Dylon machine dye.
Fabrics and Notions: White cotton sweatshirting
Navy Dylon dye
Stay tape
Wool wadding (for ears)
Bess believed that EVERYONE should have a hoody with ears in the Christmas of 2010
Bess made this reversible jersey dress as a dummy run for her final collection. The plain side in a linen viscose jersey, and the spotty side is viscose elastane. The pattern was designed on the stand.
Fabrics and Notions: Linen Viscose jersey
Viscose elastane polka dot print jersey
Lightweight knitted iron-on interfacing
Stay tape
Bess testing the waterproofness of her strawberry print Marimekko proofed cotton, lined in Kaffe Fassett spotty print cotton and fastened with oversize green plastic buttons
Fabrics and Notions:
Proofed Cotton from Marimekko
Kaffe Fassett spotty cotton lining
50mm green textured plastic buttons
Viscose iron-on interfacing
By lining a proofed fabric with cotton you regulate the often ‘sticky’ feeling you get from a laminate. Depending on how skinny you want the sleeves, and whether you are likely to wear a jumper underneath, it’s sometimes a good idea to line them in a more slippery lining, whilst keeping the main body in a funky cotton.
Bess standing in strawberry print Marimekko raincoat
Bess dancing at her cousin, Gemma’s wedding, in her super-comfortable red linen cap sleeve jersey dress.
Fabrics and Notions:
Red linen single jersey
Stay tape (shoulder seams)
Pattern: Custom made
Bess in her black and white polka dot viscose jersey dress (So good she made it twice)
Fabrics and Notions:
Polka dot Viscose jersey
Stay tape (shoulder seams)
Polka dots are a great flattering print which withstand the fashion cycles. Bess wore this versatile dress to death and so made another one, it is so easy it can be made in less than an hour on the overlocker.
Bess wearing Navy Linen and Cotton Herringbone suiting jacket and skirt.
Fabric and Notions:
Linen/Cotton Herringbone Doublecloth Suiting
Venezia Lining
Large anorak snap fasteners
Invisible zip
Viscose iron-on interfacing
Pattern: Custom made (variation on a bought NafNaf suit)
Bess with her ‘Credit Crunch’ free-embroidered denim skirt.
Fabric and Notions:
Dark blue dark wash cotton denim
Viscose interfacing
Gutermann silk thread (for embroidery)
Invisible zip
Pattern: Burda 8237 (modified pockets)
One of the back pockets is upside-down so she couldn’t stuff them full of rubbish, and so she didn’t have to line them up. Win:Win!
Jo and Lulu sporting matching bridesmaid’s dresses for Bess’s wedding, made out of strecth cotton denim, net underskirts and covered belts. (Made by Jane)
Fabrics and Notions:
Stretch cotton denim
Cotton voil lining
Nylon dress net
Covered boning
Invisible zip
Petersham (waist stays)
Pattern: custom made
When using a ‘less posh’ type of fabric such as stretch denim and you want to make it look posh, make sure the pattern choice is structured and fits perfectly. Stretch denim is great to make tight bodices as it is strong and has just the right amount of ‘give’ (which means the poor suffering bridesmaids can breathe -usually a good thing)
Bess’s amazing quartz-crystal covered white linen cap-sleeve a-line dress. (made by Jane)
Fabrics and Notions:
White heavy washed linen.
4kg quartz crystal bead chips
Stretch silk satin (bodice lining)
Covered boning
Fine white Riviera cotton lawn (skirt lining)
Red satin bias and fine piping cord
Invisible zip
Lightweight knitted iron-on interfacing
Pattern: Custom made
The beading on this very special dress took three months by Jane (and her small army of helpers), the whole dress weighed so much Bess had to give in to Jane’s request that she be allowed to bone it (Bess doesn’t like being contained), as without boning the weight was pulling down and giving her a flat chest. The boning and the waist stays, although on a stretch satin foundation, were enough to support the dress.
Bess in quartz crystal beaded linen wedding dressBess in quartz crystal beaded linen wedding dress
Bess wearing her turquoise corduroy jacket with big 1960’s buttons and lined in Kaffe Fassett printed cotton.
Fabrics and Notions: Turquoise corduroy
Kaffe Fassett printed cotton
Big 1960’s period buttons
Jeans rivets
Bias binding
Black stayflex cotton iron on interlining
5 years on (not pictured) Red grosgrain foldover binding (around cuffs to cover fraying)
Jane with her superb Austrian border-embroidered long skirt with split.
Fabric and Notions:
Border-embroidered Wool Flannel
Silk Habotai Lining
Viscose iron-on interfacing
Invisible zip
Pattern: McCall’s 3341
Bess with her super-warm wool wadding quilted wool tweed coat
The hood unzips to flatten out as a collar, and the sleeves have big box pleats that get graunched in at the cuff. The Gucci coat that inspired it was made from proofed nylon and stuffed with down.
Fabrics and Notions:
Shetland Wool Tweed
100% Wool Batting (for the quilting)
Tactel Breathable Windproof lining
Viscose iron-on interfacing
Satin Bias Binding and piping cord
Open-end metal zips
Anorak Snap Fasteners
Pattern: Custom made
There is a fine pink window-pane check in this coat, that would completely disappear from view at night time, there was a certain amount of swearing done when trying to match the invisible checks, but (as of May 2012) this coat has survived Bess’s tom-boy antics for six winters, with little more than a biro-ink stain. This is the go-to-coat-of-choice as soon as the temperature drops, so it was definitely worth it
SAMPLES
To use our fast and efficient swatch service please read the guidelines HERE
Allow 10% shrinkage for all your washable natural fibres (including viscose). Wash before making up in the same manner as you would with subsequent washes (including drying methods).
Jerseys and fabrics liable to mis-shape should be dried flat, or in a cool tumble dryer.
Most fabrics should be pressed before cutting.
If in doubt about care instructions please CONTACT US
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