What a lovely pink and white stripe! I wish I had bought some too.

Rene finished sewing her bodice in time to wear to the Willits Renaissance Festival. Here are some photos I took showing the dress and some details shots.

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Now this bodice has been a bodice of DOOM! It has a extreme like for oily substances and will find any oil in a room and suck it up. I’ve watched Rene very carefully and neatly work on her bodice and get oil on it over and over again.

Portion of back with completed embroidery:

Front with embroidery partially waiting whip stitching:

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Rene sent me a progress photo of the hand-sewn embroidery The front will take longer as some mystery spots appeared on the front portion of the bodice. She has re-done the front and I re-drew the front patterning for her.

Back section:

Another row of black velvet ribbon will be stitched on underneath the embroidery. Isn’t she doing a lovely job? Yum!

Rene asked me to adapt an embroidery design for her bodice by making a continuous design that would be curved around the top edge. The inspiration source was only a small section so I had to fill in the details and warp it to fit a curved surface. It was done free-hand in chalk and cleaned up in a second pass with blue washable marker.

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I had to share these cute photos we took of draping ideas for Rene’s Regency gown. She bought this lovely Sari and we were trying to determine what elements to feature where on the gown.

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One of my clients recently decided to make a corset for the first time. I snuck around with the camera a bit ao she might post a dress diary in the near future with all the photos I took. Here is a peek at her hard at work:

She caught a shot of me working on my fiance’s breeches for the wedding: (more…)

I’ve had the pleasure of having another guest seamstress in my studio this week. Rene came over to work on her very first corset and hang out with me for the past few days. I am very happy working alone in my studio but I am always more productive when I have a fellow costumer at my side working on projects.

Here is a photo of her working on my Juki. It was her first time using an industrial sewing machine. A week for some great firsts!

Without further ado: