Every time I go to buy fabric I seem to get attracted to raw silk. Sometimes I have the intention of buying something else but silk has such a nice look it wins me over every time!
One of my first silk dresses was this white dress I made for my friend Sarah’s 21st, it was a black and white ball, so I made a white silk dress with a giant flower on the front decorated with some pearls from a broken necklace. A couple of weeks later I made a black silk skirt with tulle underneath, staying with the flower theme I added another one to this skirt!
For my own birthday I made a dress from a pink sari I picked up from an Indian shop in London. It had this amazing gold embroidery on the bottom which I was able to keep on the bottom of the skirt. The shape of the dress is great because it makes your waist look tiny but covers up your hips, it gives you a great hour glass shape.
Last OctoberI did a course at central st martins in fashion design and from the theme romantic into fantastic I came up with this design for a dress:
I looked at the shapes of fantastic modern inventions such as computers or airplanes, which are clear, bold definite shapes and layered them to create a flowing romantic dress. To make the dress itself I first made a lining which was just a satin strapless dress which fits the body exactly, I then cut out loads of long strips out of gold silk for the outside of the dress, as these have no visible seams there was a lot or ironing and hand sewing involved. Each strip was slightly longer than the last one to give an asymmetrical look. Next stage of sewing all the strips onto the lining, I then added a really chunky gold zip, the kind you would use in a coat to give it more of a modern feel.
…However, when I finally put the dress on it didn’t really look very nice, so I tried turning on the side to see if that would make a difference. The dress was so much more flattering this way around and has a cool tail at the back. I thought it looked nice without the shoulder strips so I left it strapless.
These are just a few of my silk dresses; I’m currently working on a floor length silk silver dress which I will add pictures of soon!