Arga Arga Bridal Fashion Show

Hello everyone! 

I'm baacck after too long a time really! It's just the last uni shoes are keeping me very busy- I'm working 10am till 8pm every day at the moment :p

But today I bring you some pictures of the bridal fashion show I helped dress on a couple of weeks ago.

The company I was getting experience with was called 'Arga Arga Bridal' (they have a website so definitely give them a Google!)- I met the designers at Brides the show last year and amazingly they kept me in mind and got in contact with me to help out at one of their line launch bridal fashion shows!

It was very exciting as there were hair and makeup people behind the scenes too and the dresses are so beautiful (why they caught my eye at Brides the show!!!). They are different to the traditional white wedding dress as the cuts are often so interesting and Arga Arga are known for incorporating beautiful hand worked embroidery into their dresses also.

Now enough of my waffle here are a couple of shots from the day :) :

It was so great to get the experience I'm very grateful and will definitely be keeping in contact with the designers- hopefully they will have more events I can help out at In  the future!

My next post will be about the dress I have just finished for my recent uni show :)

Speak to you all again soon and I hope you are well,

Bye xxxXxxx

Sorry for the busyness!

Hello everyone,

Just a quick message from me to say new posts will be coming soon! I haven't forgotten just quite a lot is going on at uni at the moment with shows and things but I will find time to squeeze in some blogging as I have lots to tell you all about!

Hope you are all well and speak to you soon!

Bye :)

Half scale progress :)

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all well- time has really been flying and it's been quite while since I last posted. I have been working in my half scale :p which is now almost done (which Is a very good thing as my next show I am working on started today at uni so now I've got to get in with that!)

Here are the latest pictures:

It's just the buttons and buttonholes down the front of the jacket left really :)

I'm quite proud of it though at times when you are hand sewing a hem for hours it can get a bit tedious :p

I will return soon with a post about my upcoming uni show work and also about a wedding fair catwalk I am working on on Sunday :D I'm very excited!

Speak to you all soon, 

Bye xoxoxo

New Millinery Makes!

Hello all!

I hope you are all well and are enjoying the sun which is just starting to some out! :p

The week just gone was 'Symposium week' at my university (I posted about symposium last year, but for those who don't know it's kind of like a mini festival that happens on campus where there are workshops for you to sign up to and shows to watch!  So basically a week of fun and excitement exploring new things really :)

I actually hosted my own workshop this year teaching people the basics of knitting which was very enjoyable- everyone picked it up pretty quickly as well too which was impressive! They seemed to enjoy my class so I was happy :p I will definitely be trying to think of what workshop I can host next year now after the fun I had hosting my own!

Haha but now- among many one workshop I did was making theatrical (basically showgirl) headresss!!! The lady who taught the class was the one who teaches the week of millinery as part of my course- she is very talented and very lovely so it was nice to be taught by her again.

We learnt how to have the wire headband and base and then how to build up all the decoration on top. It was cool as everyone's came out so different.  Here is my creation....

Hehe I am quite proud of it. It is very fun to wear I must say! But I was also super happy to learn the skills of making the wire headband shape as I had caught the millinery bug again and being able to make my own wire headband base allowed me to experiment and come up with my own new fascinator design.....

I made it as a gift for the birthday of someone special to me's sister that is coming up soon :)

I quite like the design- it is kind of flower and origami like- it was fun to see what I could create by just folding and pleating and sewing the sinamay in different ways. And then I added the feathers and metal flat back charms to decorate :)

Hehe that's way out it for this fascinator and feather filled post :p

Talk to you all again soon! 

Byeee and thank you for visiting :) xxxx

An interesting find...

Hello,

First up Happy (belated) Easter to everyone! I hope you had a fabulous time :)

I am currently in the Isle of Wight for my Easter holidays and am having a good time

Yesterday me and my family went into ryde and had a walk down the high street. There is a shop there my family always go in called the 'Fantastic Store' it is basically a comic book and action figure store which covers both retro and new items. I am not to into that kind of stuff if I'm honest but I usually have a look around whilst I'm waiting for my parents to finish as on the odd occasion I do find something cool :p yesterday happened to be one of those days!

I was looking at the piles of magazines on the floor and came across a stack of old (about 1980s) 'military modelling' magazines, I don't really know why but I thought ill flick through one of those- just to see what it's like I suppose and then I saw that in each is sure was articles on, and sketches of, some military uniforrms! Talked about in really good detail (to help the diehard modellers I suppose)- so absoloutely fascinating for me from a costume perspective.  There was even the odd scaled down historical jacket pattern.

Look:

At only £1 each I picked up three of them :p hehe I never know what show ill be making for next but if it is set in world war 2 and there are some paratroopers taht need costuming I will know where to turn to start my research! ;p

If you can get your hands on any copies the costume bit is well worth a read if you are interested in such things as I am :)

See you all soon, 

Bye!  Xxx

Half scale update

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned I am not on show anymore so that means I am back on my half scale project :) I mentioned this before but just in case you don't remember this is the project where we choose a historical dress from Janet Arnolds Patterns of fashion and make it up in half scale.

I chose this victorian day dress- which I was lucky enough to go and view at the v and a archive yesterday!! (Clothworkers centre- you have to book an appointment :):

(Image from v and a website)

Here is what I have of my half scale so far:

It is taking a long time due to all the hand sewing and how much decoration there is involved but I am proud of how it's coming along :) I working on the overskirt now before I finish off the bodice so I should have some of that to show you soon! 

Hope you are all well :)

Bye, ill be back soon! xxx

First Uni show!

Hi everyone :)

My oh my it has been too long since I posted! But that's what happens when you are on shows and are working 9am till 11pm each day and then have only 3 days to finish off all your written work :p But that is all done now so I am here to report back! :D

First I should tell you all what the show I was working on actually was- it was a play called 'The Low Road' written by Bruce Norris. I thought it was a very interesting play (we had to read it and watch the run through so we could see where actors would have quick changes- which we as dressers are in charge of).

 It's main theme is economics- which makes it sound a bit boring unless you are into economics but it actually very different and has a really good story to it. It is mainly set in the late 18th century and follows the life of an arrogant and corrupt business man who was raised by a brothel owner, it then jumps forward to the present day in the middle to see one of his ancestors (anti equally slimy businessman) at an economics conference and finally ends with Some Alien bees coming down at the end. Yes you did read that right- alien bees!

I do not blame you if all that makes no sense at all it is one of those things that you need to really read to understand and I'm sure then you would enjoy the story and really get into it and start analysing it like I did! It doesn't sound like it but it is actually a comedy and so when you properly read it it actually gives you the laugh as well :p

But anyway- now onto my make. I made the coat designed for the main character, Jim Trumpett, to wear once he had grown up and travelled to market and bought all his new fancy goods- my coat which was meant to be one of his purchases.

AND HERE IT IS:

The pleats are striped- a cool detail the designer wanted :) There were stripes included somewhere on all the costumes by the designer to signify how everyone is kind of connected in the small american tows where the play was set- and I suppose connected to ancestors too for when they jump to the future in once scene. I really like design features that are meant to signify things like the stripes in this play- as it's almost like I am building a code or a secret message into what I am making that can only be accessed by people analysing and imagining and really getting Into the show :)

I was really proud of how it came out :) It fit really well and I really liked the finished aesthetic- it is probably one of my favourite things I've ever made! And it was even more fabulous taht it got be in a show- on a stage- in stratford london- in front of an audience- which on two of the nights contained my family and friends!!!! :D

Here is a sneaky shot of it I took from backstage inbetween carrying out my quick changes:

But here is a much better shot of it took by the official college photographer during dress parade :p:

Haha now- did you rebel I mentioned alien bees? One of my jobs was also to help with making thier costumes. We started with some yellow fisherman suits and after some sampling and a lots of hand sewing and analysing the designers sketch here is what the alien bees jacket looked like...

Notice the stripes..? ;)

And here are the trousers- mid having thier 'pollen pockets' sewn on :p:

I really wish I had a picture of the bees full dressed up as the lyrics and the see cool helmets and backpacks with wings on that scenics made! And they had yellow marigold gloves with really long pointed black fake nails on and utility belts! Haha and the microphones they had made them sound all buzzy.  I had to quick change alien bee 1 (there were 2) which was quite a challenge as you can imagine due to all the crazy parts there is to put on- but it was fun and we managed it!

Hehehe hopefully I have managed to explain some of the craziness of shows in an understandable way!? :p 

Well done to everyone involved as I think it was really good show and everyone really made me feel part of the team which was lovely!

I wonder what adventures and randomness my next show holds for me...? :o)

I hope you are all well and I will speak to you again soon!

Bye xxx