Have you ever seen a dress you loved in a movie, on the red carpet, or in some magazine, but been completely unable to find one you could purchase? One of my clients had fallen completely in love with the little black dress actress Kirstin Dunst wears in the movie Elizabethtown, but despite her best efforts my customer couldn’t find a similar dress anywhere. So she asked me to recreate the dress for her.
Here’s a few pictures of the original dress.
And here’s mine:
I used a polyester matte jersey fabric for the dress to have the dressy look and a comfortable feel my client wanted and to avoid the shiny look of a satin or taffeta.
I was able to use one of my favorite commercial patterns as the foundation for the pattern, altering as needed for my customer’s extra long torso, and the knee length she wanted for her dress. I made self-fabric ties for the neck, and used a simple satin ribbon to create the trim along the neckline from the original dress.
The end result was a very good replica of the inspiration, if I may say so!
My friend’s husband joined the army recently and he’s been away in Basic Training for the past couple of months. She hasn’t seen him at all, and has only gotten to speak to him a couple of times for brief intervals – about 15 minutes in the past two and a half months!
Today I’d like to share a rare non-sewing-related post with you all.
It’s an older home, nestled under the spreading branches of a half dozen mature oak trees. It is full of windows. In every room of the house, every single exterior wall has at least one window, and in many rooms the windows stretch nearly the full length of the wall. Furniture placement has always been a challenge. My mother has never minded. She loves the natural light, and loves the beautiful views of her ancient oak trees, her hibiscus and boganvilla, the curly leaf philadendron and king sago palms, the plumbago, and the two dozen other varieties of plants growing cheerfully in her Florida garden.
What she came up with is simply stunning! The blue and green are both brilliant shades. The hand cut sections of glass form waves of color. The patterns are irregular, asymmetrical – and yet beautifully balanced. The whole thing continues to be interesting even after gazing at it for quite some time. I was delighted to be able to present such a gift to my mother for her birthday this year, as she was to receive it! This newest piece, I’m told, was granted a space in a window sill in the living room, where the light shines through it all day.
Once upon a time, in a land not so very far away, a beautiful young maiden was preparing for her upcoming wedding day. The maiden had sent word to a tailor requesting a stunning non traditional gown, and paid her gold to him for the gown. When a time came only a fortnight before her wedding day and the tailor had neither sent her gown nor responded to the many messangers she’d sent to him, the maiden grew worried. With so little time remaining, what should she do? Would some hero come to her rescue?
Through the days and nights Sarah worked, cutting, shaping, stitching, draping. The maiden traveled many hours, and Sarah did as well, so the two could meet at an inn and test the gown to the maiden’s form, to be sure that Sarah’s pattern was good and true.
This turqoise and blue standard gown makes a stunning impression on the dance floor! The princess seamed bodice is made of teal stretch lace over turqoise Lycra. The double full circle skirt is formed by royal blue chiffon godets. the dress includes two royal blue chiffon floats that attach at the upper back and at the wrist end of the full length matching lace gauntlets.
The entire gown and the gauntlets are completely covered with over 25 gross of Swarovski 20ss rhinestones in Capris Blue and 16ss Ruby rhinestones. A matching lace and Lycra choker, adorned with rhinestones and strung with Swaroski Capris Blue cyrstal beads, makes the perfect accessory!
