Et Voila ,,, Une Toile

Finally !

After adding the last few sample flowers my first Toile is complete !


I continued to spiral the flowers under the best and round the right side of the dress.


I then put my dress on a mannequin to see how everything held in place and after tacking into place a few petals I'm really happy with the final outcome.

Toile numbre une ! .... i got a A in francais ;)

Yesterday I started to manufacture my toile for my first outfit. I have decided to make the toile out of the same fabric as the final will be done in, as it is a stretchy fabric and I need to make sure it will fit to the body and hold the flowers structures properly.

After cutting out of fabric, sewing up seams and neatening the armholes and the neckline, I am left with just adding the samples of my floral details, I also tried the dress on for fit and size, and am really happy with the size and stretch of the fabric, although a size 12 is ever so slightly large for me !!

Here are some photos so you had follow my collection from paper to catwalk.

paper patterncut into powernettingadding the darts

fastening the shoulders and side seams
herringbone stitching on the armholes and neck
basic dress complete.
For the fastening on my dress i have used hook-n-eyes as after some research they are commonly used on designer/bridal couture as they are a hand finished and can easily be altered to give a better fit.

A Spiral of Petals

My first design

This is the first design I have chosen from initial my 100. It was taken from my couture section and therefore will have to fit well, have high standard finishing, hand embellishments and fabulous fabrics.

I want this garment to almost look as if the model is wearing nothing, yet has (strategically placed) flowers wrapped around her.


To do this I will be using a basic dress shape in power-netting, which is a flesh colour stretchy fabric, and then adding dupion silk flowers, which I will gather and wined by hand and attach in a spiral up the dress. I will also add quilted and hand embroider leafs to add for texture and a splash of contrasting colour.

Here are some images of my samples to give a clearer idea of the detailing on the dress.
All the images in this post have been edited using photo-shop, not only to make them more interesting and clear to look at ... but because blackberry cameras are Rubbish !