Kiran's Sari-Inspired Wedding Dress, Part 3: East meets West

A while ago, I started to design and create a wedding dress for my friend, Kiran. I now have some photos from the day to show you the finished dress!

Kiran and I both agreed that we wanted to include her Indian-Australian culture in this design, so as the name of this post implies, we mixed a little bit of east and west culture into the dress. I created a western style dress, using the eastern beaded sari and created an eastern influenced over skirt.

You can take a look at part 1 and part 2 of this dress, where you can see the making of, and how it all started. Also, I have now created videos of the making of this design, and you can view them on the Penelope Red youtube channel here. There are three parts to the video.




The wedding took place in Byron Bay, Australia.



I am so happy with how it turned out! I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful lady to wear this design, as I think Kiran looks perfect in it.


The dress awaiting its big debut!



The happy couple!


The back of the dress was going to be just as important as the front, since during the ceremony most people see this. I decided to create this interesting contrasting panel on the overskirt in pink, and make some really interesting shapes from it. There is beading all over the sari, a beaded trim at the back hem of the over skirt, and beading on the back of the dress, at the top.



I think it is almost safe to say that this is probably my most favourite design I have ever done so far, or at least in the top two or three. I have to admit, my tailored coats or winter dress do come very very close, but I can't help but love the decadence of this design!


If only I could find an excuse to make another one for myself!

The Making of Lorelle's Bright Blue and Black Wool Winter Coat

The weather has been very cold recently- perfect for making coats! Recently I had fun creating a bright blue and black coat for Lorelle. As you may have seen in some of my previous postings, I put a lot of effort and time into making my designs- this is what sets my designs apart from many other designers out there.

Since it is so hard to tell people how much work is involved in these coats, I thought I would show you...



I decided to give this coat something extra, by placing embroidery down the seam lines in black- to contrast the bright blue.





Each button hole takes many steps: working out where they will sit, making the piping, sewing the piping to the outside of the coat, clipping, hand stitching the piping down. Then once the coat is finished, I need to hand stitch the inside to the piping, to open up the button holes.





I place pockets in each coat, on the side seam.




Each Penelope Red coat has many layers; outer layer in wool, interfacing (above), interlining in cotton (below) then a silk lining.



Some of the design details: contrasting shaped panels, embroidery, and pleating and fur trims.



Attaching the fur above, and attaching the collar below.



With so many layers, it is always important clip, notch, and trim all side seams.





Above, sewing the lining, and below shows how the embroidery is done- by my fantastic machine!



I do a lot of hand sewing in my coats- one of the reasons why they take so long to make, but it also means you are getting a truly unique and beautiful product. How many designers do you know have hand sewing in anything?


I hand sew all the seams flat, to make sure they sit flat and stay beautiful for a life time.



When the coat gets to this stage it really is exciting! Above, I am attaching the front outer side to the front inner side, which means I am almost finished!


...And the finished product! Lorelle was so excited that she had to wear it out straight away!

The Making of Lorelle's Black and Purple Wool Jacket part 2

I must confess, this isn't really a "making of", but I wanted to show you the finished product to the last post, which was The Making of Lorelle's Black and Purple Coat.

So here it is. Doesn't Lorelle look great!? I love it how she paired it with a pair of black pants, but brightened it up with a blue mosaic printed bow tie blouse (the pants and the blouse are all Penelope Red too!).

The lady has style!




As you can see, the brocade is outlined throughout the jacket with piping in purple.

The jacket was made from a black wool twill (with a tiny bit of elastane for comfort), a vintage floral brocade in black, blue and purple, and fully lined with a purple silk.

It is so great to see this design being worn by its owner in such a fun way!

The Making of Lorelle's Black and Purple Wool Jacket

Recently I created a custom order for Lorelle. She wanted a black and Purple wool jacket in the shape of the Pallas Athene Wool Jacket style.

I thought it would be best to have less of the purple, and more of the black, since it would therefore be wearable for more seasons and be able to wear with more designs.

We chose a stunning blue, black and purple floral brocade to team with the black, then I added a purple satin piping in between the two main fabrics. This is the making of this custom order jacket...



Cutting the fabric out neatly and precisely!


As well as cutting the brocade- see how it shimmers in the light!



Creating the piping involves many steps- first cutting the fabric into bias strips, and sewing them together.


Attaching the interfacing to the wool pieces, and then I start to sew the pieces together.




Once the binding is one long strip, I then wrap it around the cord, and sew as clse to the cord as possible to create the piping.


Above, the piping has been inserted between the fabrics, and I need to clip and trim the layers so they all sit nicely.


The back body piece of the jacket is shown above, before I insert the brocade and piping.


Sewing the brocade to the black fabric with the piping in between- not as easy as it sounds!



The jacket with the piping and brocade attached, before I sew the lining onto it. (above)


The back of the jacket- it was very difficult to get the piping and brocade around those corners!


Getting the sleeve ready to be attached.



Now I am starting to sew the lining pieces together.








Inside the sleeve and shoulder I place a shoulder pad, a sleeve head roll, and many pieces of interfacing, so they all must be neatly sewn and steamed.



Attaching the sleeve to the body of the jacket.


I decided that the jacket would look best with a little extra piping, so I did this along the neckline.


The jacket has been finished, and now I hope I can get a few extra shots of Lorelle wearing the coat, so I can show it off to all of you!