A Cumbrian Wedding

It was great to see that Ellen a bride I made a hat for last year had her wedding featured on the unstoppable wedding blog RockNRollBride this morning. There was a post last year about the little felt hat and the gorgeous Liberty Freedom who are very kindly loaning me some clothing for a shoot next Thursday.

Fenwick's of York Meets Hat Therapy

 

 

Last Saturday I went to York as Fenwick's department store had invited me to take a selection of my work to show to the public as they were hosting a Race day / wedding event for the weekend.
It was a very busy Saturday and I had sales and orders which was wonderful. As you can see I was set up near the downstairs cards, gifts, accessories and Fitflots.! Here's a few pic's of the hats I took with me and my table. It was a great day and I met some really lovely people.

Dark Shadows part two

Here are a few more shots from the Dark Shadows shoot where the talents of some very clever people where brought together by Shelly at Toast of Leeds .

For details of who made what pop over to Shelly's blog using the link above it's well worth a visit.

Bridal Lace

 

A beautiful piece of crystal encrusted corded lace was used to make this bridal comb. I added extra swarovski crystals to the centre of each flower to add extra sparkle. The veil which covers the face on a ribbon bound slim headband has smaller crystals sewn on to several points and the lace flowers are on a wide toothed comb which then slides in front of the headband.
This will allow the bride to have two looks in one day. Both have a very old fashioned vintage feel and are very pretty. finally I made a pair of fingerless gloves out of the fabric by cutting around the scalloped end of the lace.
The wedding dress features the same fabric in the bodice and has a long deep v neckline.All together a very beautiful combination.

Wedding Ribbons and Petals

                    

As the wedding season begins with lots of Easter weddings I always like to make a few neutral headband pieces and things that ladies can just come into the shop and team up with their outfit.
Everyone has such busy lives and often there is no time to have a bespoke piece made, however that does not mean that you can't have something original.
Both of these can be worn to a wedding or special event the first is made from pinopk, vintage petersham ribbon and veiling, the bottom one is all petersham ribbon, lace feather and a single button at the back.

It's also great to think that as they are simple colours you will be able to use them again.

Pill Box Hat

 

I love Pill box hats, in general they bring such panache to the right outfit and veiling softly draped across the eye always looks good.
This is a very soft peach boom felt in mink with a vintage petersham ribbon trim,  The pearl beads are swarovski and you might just be able to spot tiny seed beads on the veiling. This one has now left the shop and is on it's way to a wedding in Greta Green in Scotland. The pin was left in until the lady had tried it on, but don't worry I did take it out after I added the final stitch.

wedding window

Almost everyone I know watched part of the Royal Wedding last week, I really enjoyed all the hats of course as well as the fabrics, shapes, colours and accessories.

I wanted to have a vintage feeling to one of my shop windows just prior to the wedding and to achieve this, wrapped some silk around some mdf that had been cut into a dressing table mirror shape.

Then I pinned pattern pieces, photographs taken by Shelly at Toast and a beautiful hand embroidered lavender heart by carolinewattsembroidery .

On one side I have a hat block,scissors,pins,tape measure and threads with a sign that reads 'where design meets traditional skills'.

All the hats where of a neutral tone, two pill box, one with veiling, one made from window sinamay and a window sinamay brimmed hat with a silk organza crown.

I did have some green foliage and a tulip but that wilted very quickly as it was very sunny.

The only problem has been trying to get a great photograph through the glass.!

I am going to keep the display for another week but change the hats for bridal headdresses and accessories.