Rockstars and Royalty Blog — Couture gown

Congratulations to Esther and Ashley who were married earlier this year at Royalla Common. I had the pleasure of creating Esther's sequin wedding dress and the added fun of making a matching skirt and headband for their baby daughter. Esther chose a nude mesh sequin fabric with tiny silver seed beads and clear sequins in a pattern that faded into a  branch-like design as it moved up the fabric, which we layered over a taupe satin. The weight of the beads and sequins gave the dress beautiful movement at the hem. The off-cuts of the sequin fabric were used to...

 Kelly and Stuart Wolf celebrated their wedding at their own 2 day festival 'Raise The Vibration - The Festival of Love'. Kelly and Stuart run The Centre of Sacred Union; Sacred Union Yoga, Dance, Sound Healing and Retreats, and incorporate their passion for unity and love into their work and their lives, and it was evident in every aspect of their incredible festival wedding as well, as shown in the incredible photos by Tracy Lee. I designed and created a blush pink silk satin and tulle dress with silver sequin appliques and a dramatic red and pink flower crown for Kelly's wedding ceremony....

Inspiration for my couture gowns can strike at any time, and in the case of Flora, it was while I was browsing online for fabric (one of my favourite pastimes!) I saw the soft tulle, embellished with chiffon flowers and curling embroidery and knew I had to have it!  I decided I wanted to create something with even more flowers, that looked like an overgrown garden that had bust into life in spring, so I added lots of extra embroidered flower appliques, embroidered leaf appliques and chiffon flowers to my cart, all in shades of blush pinks and deep reds....

‘You can be anything you want to be, just turn yourself into anything you think that you could ever be. Be free with your tempo. Be Free. Be free.’ Queen – ‘Innuendo’ The Liberty dress started life as a challenge to myself to create a couture dress using half-finished projects, studio scraps, and supplies from my stash, but it became so much more. It became symbolic of the changes that were happening in my life, my struggles with mental illness and creative self-doubt, and of me rediscovering my passion for couture. It marks my return to making couture gowns, and...

The Moonstone Gown (named after the most beautiful pink and white rose) is my latest couture creation. I'm constantly looking to improve my skills and learn new techniques, so whenever I make a new couture sample dress, I push myself technically and try to make designs or include features that I've not done before. Model, hair and make up - Sarah The Pale Pinup One of the new techniques that I used in the this gown is call thread tracing, and it's used to hide the seams within the design of the lace. I'd thread traced small areas of lace on...