Rachel Lamb Bridal Design

This is Rachel wearing her fabulous floaty silk chiffon wedding dress. Rachel had specific ideas about the exact colour of her dress, which she didn't want to be standard ivory. After deliberating over many shades we chose a kind of pinky-goldy-champagne (can't be more specific!) type of colour that worked very well with the off white crochet-lace trims. Out of necessity, the chiffon on the dress bodice is all hand pleated and hand-sewn.  Rachel was very sure she didn't want a twinkly dress or any bling of any sort, the dress was a simple design where the chiffon was used both to provide texture and wafty floatiness. But we decided to add some pearls and tiny silver glass beads to the trims as well, which gives a tiny gleam to the ensemble. As Rachel is tall she can carry off this hipster style of dress well. She looks stunning!

Remember this dress I showed a picture of at the toile stage? Well it's slowly progressing! Above was the toile (prototype) made from calico. Yes, I pinned all those pieces on something that it's then necessary to take apart again. Below is a picture of the real silk dress in progress. Today I started beading those squares onto the main body of the dress. Phew! I really enjoy this sort of day, working on something where I'm sitting still and doing a repetitive task like this can be very relaxing and leaves my mind free to wander. But I think the idea of doing this sort of work does weird things to my brain: First thing in the morning, I optimistically think such things as 'Yes, I'm sure I'll have half the dress done by sunset'. The sun is not yet set, but it is fading, and I'm about 1ft up from the hem at the back... and I'm not hanging about! It's important that I get the timings right, as this is a sample dress and needs to be...

...or is it early autumn? No matter. It's that transition phase. Do you fancy a walk? Come for a gentle ramble with me and him. I like to walk around my neighbourhood and village, every day if time allows. I love just looking .        I had intended to take pictures of hay bales - the rolled up type, because I love how they look.  They're such an unnatural shape. Like alien life-forms, or as if some large hand had just rolled them there.   Inevitably we got side tracked by other stuff too.   I love looking at wild stuff randomly growing. I like looking at the textural mass of tangle - I see it as a whole...       ...and the individuals that make up the tangle. Both are inspirational to me. I wonder if we would find the nettles above prettier if they didn't sting, and the umbel shaped things less attractive if they did?   More a...

  Really excited about this dress. It's currently being made as a new collection dress and I can't wait to show you when it's finished.