Rachel Lamb Bridal Design

Back in the early Autumn last year I had the pleasure of working with Matilda on her beautifully simple and elegant wedding dress. Matilda was inspired by her mother's wedding dress which she brought along to our first appointment together. The dress was very simple with seaming being the main detail. After a discussion, we decided to make a modern version of her mother's dress for Matilda. It's a beautiful A-line shaped, boned dress, with buttons all the way down the back to the bottom of the train. The main body  of the dress is made from ivory silk Dupion and the neckline and sleeves are a softer ivory silk crepe Georgette. Doesn't she look perfect?

Back in the spring, I posted something along the lines of: "This year I'm making the shortest and the biggest wedding dresses I've ever made" or some such. I also posted on Facebook about cutting out the skirts for a dress and the hems being something like 40 metres long. (I can't remember the exact length, but I had measured it, and it was certainly  very long!!) Well this is that 'biggest' and 'longest hemmed' dress and it belongs to Karen, who got married to Mark in July this summer. Before I go any further, these pictures are taken by photographer Rachel Barnes . You may have been expecting an enormous dress from my earlier comments, and although full-skirted, it's not that big to look at is it? As you can see the proportions suit Karen really well; she's got the height to go with it. I meant 'voluminous skirted'! When Karen first contacted me, she showed me a picture of a full skirt with large pleats and wan...

As the title says, Emily sample dress is now finished. It's actually a two piece outfit - the lace top can be removed and the belt worn with the strapless dress underneath. I was all set to continue photographing the under-dress when the battery went on my camera, so those pics will have to wait for a bit. I decided to lightly bead the neckline of the strapless dress underneath - last week I wasn't sure. I hope you can just about see the beading on the dress through the lace. The dress is made from ivory silk Dupion, which is a pure silk and reasonably crisp, but it could be made in a variety of fabrics for a shinier, smoother or floppier look if you prefer. A different shade to the under-dress could perhaps also work with the ivory lace too. This dress is for my Collection. Which means it's there for you to try on and order as a made to measure design or to use as a starting point for a Bespoke design of your own. As with all my designs, you can ...

  It's been a busy few months of adaptation work wise. I'm someone who has always felt comfortable with entire open days of practical work time that enable me to really get my teeth into finishing something big reasonably quickly. With family around - school days and holidays, this isn't really feasible these days, so I've been practicing working within the time I actually have available. Sounds obvious doesn't it? But it's something that up until recently, didn't come easy to me. I really do have to practice it! However, recently my brain has started to slot things into place - prioritise - and it's becoming easier. What has happened is that shorter periods of time have enabled me to get on with some of the smaller projects I always have on the go and never finish, such as the headbands above. They are work in progress. These have been on the cards for a while as alternatives to headdresses or tiaras. I will find someone with a beautiful head...

This is the wedding of Carolyn and Tom, which took place in earlier this year in May. The blossom provides such a perfect backdrop for Carolyn in her dress. Carolyn's dress is made from a heavy silk crepe with a draped silk crepe Georgette overlay and sleeves. We incorporated some lace motifs around the middle of the gown which flow into a lace tie at the centre back. (A bit difficult to see the lace areas in these images.) All pictures are by photographer Jean-Luc Benazet . This image above shows how softly the neckline drapes around Carolyn's shoulders.

The way I work often involves lots of hand sewing, and this bespoke wedding dress was no exception. I listened to the whole of The Private Patient by P.D. James while working on attaching the lace motifs to this dress this week - that's a reasonably long story. It was quite satisfying because both the sewing and the story finished within minutes of each other! It looks lovely and is virtually finished for the final fitting next week. I'll be able to show and tell more at a later date. :-)

  Here's lovely Poppy wearing her wedding dress. Poppy really is a country girl at heart - wellies, dogs, mud (she won't mind me telling you that) and an easy and comfortable life. She wanted a dress that reflected that, and that she would feel easy and comfortable wearing. So soft, feminine, no boning and a small train that can easily be hitched up later on. Poppy's dress is a gentle A-line shape with a scoop neck and loose sleeves. It's made from a heavy silk crepe with a soft lace overlay and soft satin hand-tied sash. I added some small pearls around the neckline and on the sleeves to give a small and gentle gleam. No fuss.