Rachel Lamb Bridal Design

Last year I made a bespoke wedding dress for one of my brides with white lace and ruffled white organza skirts. It really was a wedding dress! The above pic is a finished shot. I am showing here below, without much explanation, mainly work in progress shots of the dress as it came together. It was a very labour intensive dress with all the white corded lace hand appliqued onto the bodice, and the skirt ruffles also all attached by hand.  Above: Not finished yet - only about half the ruffles attached at this stage. I thought this would be good to show as another wedding-dress-making journey from start to finish. I'm taking bookings for 2019 and 2020 weddings at the moment. Do drop me an email if you'd like to discuss having your wedding dress custom made. :) X

Well it's February already, and feels a bit late to be saying Happy New Year! But there you go, better late than never! I hope you had a good festive season. January always feels like a strange month, quiet yet productive. I've been working on a wedding dress and coat combination that is now almost finished, but the wedding hasn't happened yet. Once it has, I can show you. I thought I'd show some pictures of my studio. This was prompted by some comments from a bride last year, who said that she felt slightly daunted by not knowing what to expect before she arrived! I have often had relieved comments from people once they've met me, having been braced to meet someone scary, and then they see me and that I'm normal! I'm not some stick thin fashionista who's going to call the fashion police! My studio reflects me, I hope. It's functional and is definitely a work space, rather than a show room. There's a bit of editor...

It's good to be back at work and to get back into a routine again. This week I started work on a pattern for a wedding gown for one of my new brides. Often, to the outsider, the making of the patterns can be forgotten in this process, but after taking measurements, it's the first thing that happens! Initial draft to measurements I enjoy making patterns, it feels quite old-fashioned (and probably is) in this day and age, to be drafting a pattern using paper and pencil. But that is what I do for each and every person I make something for. Whether that be a simple shift dress or an elaborate bridal gown. Adding shaping and style lines This goes some way towards what I term 'Bespoke'. 'Couture' also comes into it, but I shy away from that word because I think it is often misused within the bridal industry. (Things are called Couture when they are anything but...) In my opinion, it is having something designed and made for you, however simple, t...

Purple in the garden and in the work studio this week. I've just finished the purple dress and will be able to show more images after the wedding. Really enjoying the sunshine and flowers, and the buzz of bees at last. I'm particularly pleased that the Aquilegias - Black Barlow (middle pic) have flowered well this year. I love dark purple blooms. :-)

This past week I've been working on a fabulous purple silk wedding dress . I can't show any more detail yet as this is pre-wedding, but I wanted to give an impression of the 'purple-ness' in my work room at the moment. As I took the above pictures the grey sky actually lightened temporarily. I try not to let the weather get me down, but hey...some sun, or at least some warmer temperatures would be good. I said goodbye to two lovely brides and their lovely dresses the other week. I will show you some sketches of the designs shortly, and some photos of the actual day soon.

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...

...if you aren't a mother of somebody, that's OK too. I've recently been making a dress for a mother of the groom. I have made a few 'mums' over the years, but it's not something I do regularly.     Anyway, I thought I'd get my act together and take some pics of work in progress of this dress, and up to the finish.   This is a very simple shift dress, quite Audrey looking. I tend to make relatively simple dresses for bridal party people, because often they might not be the type of person that likes wearing matching dress, jacket, hat, bag and shoes etc. I get the idea from feedback that it can be quite tough to find an outfit if you don't feel like a typical bridal party mother (as dictated by the high street), or if you just want something easy. Or perhaps the wedding or event is a small and/or quiet affair and a simpler dress is required? Whatever the reason, I like making dresses like this, and have lots of 'why don't I ma...

  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.

Do you have hair that needs, or just would like, something pretty in it? Don't want a tiara or something that sticks up? Just something flattish and decorative? Something that could be good not only for bridal hair accessories, but also just general summer prettiness? I've been playing about with lace and come up with these. They are wired underneath so you can curve them around the shape of your head or make some bits stick out if you desire. These ones are sewn onto a hair clip, but I'm going to put some on bands as well. These pics don't show proportion as yet, but at the weekend I will photograph them on my sister's head (she doesn't know this yet) so you can see how big they are. The top one is ivory with some twinkles, and the lower one - which is bigger - is ivory with some fine gold thread and twinkles. I shall be putting them in my long neglected Folksy shop for sale asap, or I can sell directly to you, if you fancy one just drop me an email...