Rachel Lamb Bridal Design

  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.

I recently made myself an A-line skirt. I made it using pink corduroy that I found in John Lewis fabric department. When I was in the shop it looked more red than it actually is, at home and in daylight I find it's a fairly dazzling pink! But that's OK. I'm often asked if I make my own clothes and I wish I could say 'Why yes, all of them!' but sadly, lack of (non wedding dress making, relaxing) time is the issue. I drafted the pattern myself and made it using the simplest methods I could, as speed is of the essence for me when making anything for myself, otherwise it runs the risk of being consigned to 'a cupboard' and forgotten, not unlike my knitting ;) I'm 5' nothing, so I often find getting skirts and trousers a trial because: a) I don't want to take them up. b) There is often a decorative trim at the hem that, although lovely, I would have to either cut off or unpick somehow and move, and that's not likely to happen. c) T...

Here's Dawn. She knew what she wanted and that was a red wedding dress, with some pleats and beading on it! So I set to and made it for her :) It was good to make Dawn's dress for her because apart from the pleasure of making it, it was nice to have a change of colour in my studio. Ivory is always lovely for wedding dresses, but this was a gorgeous rich red, which made a change for me and made Dawn happy! Dawn married her chap on a summer day in Ely (you can see the Cathedral in one of the images above) on one of the days when it wasn't raining, and the vibrant green of the well rained-on grass contrasts really well with her dress colour, I think. The pictures were taken by photographer John Wolfe, who very kindly sent these to me. You can visit his site here .

Here is Abi on her wedding day at Madingley Hall in Cambridge, the grounds of which are much bigger and more formal than I realised (lots of pleasing clipped, topiary shrubs etc if you like that sort of thing - I do). Abi is wearing a strapless version of one of my collection dresses (called Tallulah), which is made from ivory silk taffeta. For Abi I made the beading denser than the sample dress and the actual beaded area is bigger too, so although she chose an existing design, it was adapted to suit her. The above shot shows the beading during manufacture. This dress was the perfect choice for Abi because the pleating at the waist showed off her figure really well. But what is this I see? Shock, horror! First she's running - which just shows how easy to wear my dresses are...  and those shoes don't seem to match her dress! ;) Aren't they fab? I'm a great fan of brides wearing different coloured shoes and accessories. (I once had a...

Earlier in the year there was a large, bright orange thing in the sky, I think it was called 'sun' and we felt lovely and warm when those rare things called 'rays' came out of the 'sun' and touched our skin? These pictures prove that at some point this year the sun did shine in my work studio, enough for me to take some pictures there without the fetching orange glow of the overhead lightbulb. Before I go on though, re my last post - thanks for all your kind messages of all types, they were so thoughtful and supportive. I was concerned a bit about posting about the situation, but now I'm glad I did, and if you have been trying to make contact, I hope it helped explain my absence. This dress was made for Jo back in the early part of the year. You may recall seeing a snap of this in a work in progress post a while ago - I couldn't resist showing a peek of it then. It was for a small and intimate ceremony. No fuss. I love...

OK, I was recently reading one of my favourite blogs The Coffee Lady and she used a great excuse for not posting regularly and referred to her last post of a few weeks back as 'just then'. Her excuse was that time travels faster as you age, to which I thought, how true is that? And decided to borrow that same excuse for myself! So in my last post 'just then' what was I on about? Showing you Hannah's winter wedding I think. Well quite a lot has happened since then, wedding work and otherwise. The thing with blogging is choosing what to share and what not to share. I'm sure many people like to read only promotional stuff or choose to write only 'happy' stuff, and that must be wonderful if it works for you, but I find that style paralysing for many reasons, not least because when one is a creative type, (I prefer the word 'bohemian' at present, but more on that another time! ;)) one is influenced and motivated by everything...

I thought I would try and catch up with showing some 'real' weddings, so this is Hannah and Michael who got married back in December, in Cambridge. Hannah is very petite and knew she would like to have a dress made for her and in my opinion she chose an excellent shape for her figure. The gown is a silk Organza over silk Dupion strapless number, (that's see-through fabric over opaque) and it works well for her because the bodice shows off her tiny waist and the contrasting fullness of the circular skirt emphasises her waist further. Organza is a firm but see-through weave and the silk version we used was very matt so some satin ribbon detailing at the hem and waist worked well with it as a contrast. Hannah also chose to have a lace bodice with sleeves made to wear over the dress, which was something she could remove later. The lace bodice was cut to look like part of the dress when she wore it and it fastened at the back. Part of making something ...