About me

My first experience of sewing was watching my Grandmother, who then gave me a needle and thread and taught me the basics and instilled my love and excitement of producing something from a scrap of material.

I have always had a passion for art and believe that all of my artistic work to date was to inspire feelings of happiness and nostalgia. This has not altered since my progression into Theatre, Fashion and Bridal wear.

I have a BA Hons in Fine Art and virtually all my projects had material in some form or other in the finished piece – I think I may have had one paintbrush, but my main tools were a Black and Decker Quattro and a sewing machine! I also started making my own clothes at university when I struggled to find clothes to fit my shape. When I finished university I wanted to dedicate myself to learning everything I could about fashion and the construction of clothing. I fell in love with theatrical costume, especially corsetry, and its eclectic and dramatic styling.

So, I studied and achieved a number of City and Guilds and NOCN qualifications in Fashion Corsetry, Theatre Costume, Embroidery, Tailoring, Machine Embroidery, Costume Realisation, Decorative Techniques, Beading, Hand Embroidery and Lace.

Beginning with creating clothes for my own curvaceous and generous frame to creating garments for a variety of shows this confirmed my realisation that no one is a standard size; even the models I have worked with have their own little variances. Because of this, I took a course in pattern cutting as I realised that commercial patterns still had to be adjusted. And for Theatre Costume or Bridal, it is nigh on impossible to get the pattern to match your designs.

Through creating my own patterns I have also found it has given me the ability to analyse a garment and design and know how to cut and construct from the ground up.

I very much enjoy working with people and this naturally flowed into teaching. The passion I have for creating the physical embodiment of a client’s dream dress is matched with encouraging a student’s own love for the craft.

My training and experience

The wedding dress journey

When my amazing husband proposed, I did ‘the thing’. I went dress shopping! I was reluctant to explore beyond what I thought would suit my shape, but once cajoled into trying a variety of gowns, I was actually stunned when I discovered I did actually suit something the opposite of what I imagined I would have to wear. But I still couldn’t find ‘The One’ because I liked the beading from that dress, the fabric from that one, the sleeve length from another and so it continued. So I set out to design and make my gown incorporating everything I wanted in my dream wedding dress!

Since making my own, I have brought many brides’ dreams to life. From the bride who asked for the lace from her grandmother’s dress to be incorporated into her gown to the bride who had a hand-fasting ceremony and wanted her dress to encompass the colours of nature, but her mother desperately wanted her to have a traditional gown, and thankfully I achieved both their wishes. It really is just the most incredible feeling when you do produce the dress that a bride has been dreaming of.

I have also been asked by many brides to alter an off-the-peg dress to perfectly fit their non-standard shape and I give as much love and dedication to the detail on these as I do to everything I make.

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