I am working full steam to complete Monique's gown by the 26th this month, since we are scheduled to move out of our current house on the 28th.

The gown is in this amazing sunset shot with green color, the fabric photographs in an incredible way.

Here is what I have so far:

(I still need to do the second half of the embroidery for the front of the skirt)


This is the front of the corset, still in embroidery stage:


This is the train of the skirt, there is so much glare from the flash of the camera, you cannot see the gold color embroidery


Still have to do the sleeves, the design on the cuff of the sleeves is still giving me a hard time, but will have to have it worked out by tomorrow

At some point will have to take the dressform outside to take more decent pictures, WITHOUT flash. Good thing is, in the new house there will be so much room for pictures, just as I had promised myself. Hooray for that!

Besides the gown, still have cloak and jewelry to do. Back to work!

Tags: corset, gown, ivy, monique, wedding
Current Location: in front of the sewing machine
Current Mood: creative

Yesterday, finally, I completed Nadia's gown. It has been almost ready for about a 2-3 weeks now, we were just working out the small details such as where exactly to put pearls and crystals.


We dressed Nadia in it yesterday and took pictures in my back yard. There was a bit too much light and I was taking pictures with Nadia's camera, so a lot of the details cannot be seen.

Here are the two pictures she sent to me, I will have more when she picks it up this evening.



We also took close-ups, but I do not have them yet. Basically what cannot be seen in the pictures well is the painted lace overlay on the "bodice" of the gown. There are also crystals in the centers of the flowers in the lace, and small pearls trimming the seams and the neckline.

There is a bit flower that turned out adorable, at the left side of the "belt" and there are smaller flowers that look as if someone has scooped some flowers and have thrown them at her and they have gotten caught on the dress. It looks great in reality, but cannot be seen well.

Nadia's hairstyle in the pictures is a bit funny :-) We were illustrating the "concept" of it with her hair half-up half-down.

This is also not the tiara she will be wearing, I am working on it right now and we just put the Valentine tiara on her for the sake of having one.

I think the shape of the gown is great for her. Nadia is a former dancer and the gown has that inspiration. The color is also perfect for her. The only thing is I think we have to turn up the colors on the lace a notch. I made them quite pale because she was petrified that she would be a "pink bride". However when she saw the pictures and after my neighbor Gloria said the colors should be stronger, Nadia has finally agreed and now I am working on making them a bit more saturated.

Tags: gown, nadia
Current Mood: happy

Here are the pins that I was wearing for the Forget Me Not pictures:



The flowers on both pins are the same, just the added swirlies are a bit different

Tags: flower pins

I was finally able to take some pictures of the Forget Me Not gown

Then I decided to have fun by getting artistic in Photoshop.
Now I am dreading Janel's critique :-))))

Anyway, here they are:

Tags: corset, forget me not gown, gown, pictures, wedding

Jessica just wrote to me and she gave me a link to the previews of her bridal portraits. They are so awesome, that I couldn't resist sharing them!!

How do I always get to work with all those beauties? You guys have seen how amazingly pretty Sheri is, and now Jessica! After the famous shot of Sheri with the veil/mantle, and after I showed it to Jessica, we decided that I was going to make her a veil. I made one and she has had pictures taken with it too. They look great.

I know many brides do not choose to wear veils, but my advice to them would be : even if you do not wear a veil on your wedding day, get one anyway and at least get some pictures taken with it. Trust me, it will be worth it.

Enough of me rambling, here is the link, go see for yourselves:

http://www.bevinsphotography.com/cp/reidbridal/

Tags: corset, gown, jessica, pictures, veil, wedding
Current Mood: excited

...is finally ready and I am very excited!

Here are pictures of what it looks like:




I personaly think it is cute, but will have to see if people will think the same. I sure had lots of fun making it! Now I have to figure out a way to take pictures of it on a model. And I think I know the perfect lady - one of my neighbours. She is black and very nice, I think the band will look great on her. Now I only have to find her contact info!

Tags: circlets, flower, headband, headpiece, jewelry
Current Mood: thoughtful

Now that I was able to take a breath with Kara, I am onto my next gowns projects

Nadia : has been moved to next week - she was supposed to come over tomorrow, but has to go away on a business trip with her husband. So, the pictures I had promised for tomorrow will happen next week


New gown in the planning : I will have a short break before I start working on a FairyTale commission for Gerd in Norway :-) So I thought I'd better use that time to start on a new gown that has been in the planning for a while. Haha, this time I am being smarter and am designing the gown to match an already existing name. Considering how difficult it was to name Jessica's gown, I think that was a very smart move :-))

So, the name for the new gown will be "Utterly Romantic" and it will be...white! Well yeah, I believe it is time for an all-white gown, after all the colored ones! It will be made out of lace and chiffon and WILL have a corset - just can't help it, I love corsets so much!

Of course, just chiffon and lace won't work, it will need a "base" fabric that I am pondering at the moment. I am considering thin delustered satin, because it drapes really nice and will be great underneath the chiffon.

I am not going to be posting sketches, because I am too lazy to make any :-)) BUT will be posting "work in progress" pictures. Hmmm...I guess another trip to Mary Jo's is due, to find lace that will entice me enough to use it in the gown.

On the jewelry front : I am quite excited, because I have a new tiara!! I have named it "Valentine" and it looks like this:



I am also working on my first headband which will have a filigree-like flower on a headband. The flower will have moonstones and crystals in it. Pictures of it probably tomorrow, since I have to first make it shiny!

Tags: circlets, corset, gowns, jewelry, tiara, wedding
Current Mood: creative

I am so so so happy!!!!!!!!!!

The doctor just called with the results from the biopsy.

We had best of luck - it is not cancer!! What it is, is something called some-kind-of-vasculitis

Basically, the immune system getting confused and attacking some vessels in her rear, hence the swelling and the mass.


At the same time, she is so much better this morning, ate everything, walks well and even brought me the ball to play!

Tags: kara
Current Mood: ecstatic

This post isn't about dresses and pretties as usual. It is about the K9 love of my life - my 12 year old GSD Kara.



She had been having some issues lately which were originally attributed to arthritis. Thursday evening we noticed her left hind leg had swollen and Friday we took her to the vet. During the visit the vet found this mass near her uterus and the suspicion is for a tumor. They took samples and sent them for biopsy, the results are expected Monday. They also took X-rays of her chest and there were 2 spots that indicated some abnormalities in the lungs. The conclusion based on the X-rays is that she has cancer and it has spread in her lungs.

The outlook, according to the vet, is less than favorable.

There are VERY few things that can take me off-balance. This was one of them. I cannot describe to you the overwhelming fear and desperation that hit me at the news. For a few minutes there it was almost as if the world went spinning. After my mom's death this is the second time I felt such fear.

Anyway, after the initial shock I decided that since Kara is overall so healthy, I wasn't going to let a tumor take her away from me. I was going to fight. Now, pending the biopsy, it seemed there were 2 options:

1. The tumor turns out to be removable, in which case the option is surgery-chemotherapy-radiation
2. The tumor turns out to have spread, in which case the option is to keep her comfortable until she dies and put her to sleep when she starts to suffer


Well, none of those two options sat well with me. Back then, when the vets were telling me it was arthritis that was causing her issues, I had that nagging instinct that she had a tumor. But the arthritis sounded as such logical and age-appropriate explanation, that I did not listen to that instinct. Now as I found out, I should have listened to it.

Now I have decided to trust my instinct no matter how strange. And it is telling me that instead of giving up, I should try some alternative healing for her.

So I have made up my mind and together with my husband have come up with a plan to beat the cancer. We did tons of research and have created a combination of diet and supplements that are going to starve the cancer and boost her immune system so the two things combined should help her heal. I am not going into details here, however it is based on numerous experiences of dog owners and holistic vets.

I am starting this program with the full understanding that it won't be cheap or easy and that it will require a lot of dedication. However, I refuse to let a stupid cancer take her away from me





I should get the biopsy results Monday. They should tell us exactly what we are dealing with. I also have an appointment scheduled for this coming Thursday with a holistic vet. They should help me determine the exact dosage of the supplements I will use to treat her.

I am so scared, but I also have full belief that it will work and we will prevail.

Tags: cancer, kara
Current Mood: determined

This Sunday, armed with fierce determiantion, I finally did it! Cut the fabric for Nadia's gown. I was a bit apprehensive a bit because it is a full piece gown, not a separate corset and skirt. Then I decided that I had pondered enough over it already, so unless I got into the action, nothing was going to get done.

Well now there is definitely no going back, the deed is done. Now the only thing I need to do is to figure out the exact lines for her interlining. Which stupid me did not mark on the mock-up when I tried it on her. Well I take that back. I did mark, but a few points, whereas I should have drawn the lines themselves.

Tags: gown, nadia, wedding
Current Mood: thoughtful