'Dorchester House Chandelier' Wedding Dress

Another design inspired by my Saltram guidebook (see the 'Lady Catherine' wedding dress post for a slightly longer explanation.) The chandelier that inspired this design isn't at Saltram though. The photograph which I found it in is of 'The Red Drawing Room at Dorchester House.' Dorchester House was in London and the 4th Earl of Morley sold it in 1929 to generate money to help maintain Saltram. After it was sold Dorchester House was demolished and the Dorchester Hotel was built in its place.

The chandelier, though probably no longer in existence, is beautiful. It has five tiers to it with each tier a little wider than the last, until the last tier which is much more extravagant than the others. Like the chandelier, this dress has a five tiered skirt. The tiers are made from a light, flowing material and loosely gathered. The edge of each tier is decorated with swirling gold embroidery which in places captures some of the shapes used on the Dorchester House's chandelier. The bodice of the dress is fairly plain. At the top of the bodice gold material is curled into the shape of the motif that is repeatedly used on the chandelier. The gold swirls are stiffened with wire inside them and stitched onto a very fine piece of gauze (intended to be as subtle and unnoticeable as possible.) The wire would be malleable enough that it could be adjusted to fit comfortably around a variety of body shapes. Another set of gold swirly would go across the back, with the dress being fastened down the centre of the back.

I hope you liked this design. For more designs check back here next week, or visit my every-day wear blog at: www.bronzedaledesigns.blogspot.co.uk/.

Wedding dress design and image © Bronzedale Designs

'Copper' Evening Dress

I've recently been rewatching the BBC's 2015 Poldark series, and so with all the talk of copper mining in it, perhaps it's not surprising that I ended up designing a dress inspired by copper. Searching for images of it, you begin to appreciate what a beautiful colour copper is, as is the colour it goes when it is left to the elements. I really wanted to include both of those colours in the dress as they complement each other so well. In the end I decided to use this effect, where the blue-green merges into the copper quite subtly, with no definitive line in between the colours.

Detail of decoration around the neckline

The design for the dress is quite simple: a floor length dress with quite a slim skirt and thin copper coloured straps. The only real decoration on the dress other than the colours is around the neckline, where three strands of thin copper coloured braiding have been loosely interwoven. There isn't need for anything else, the beautiful colours of copper are decorative enough.

I hope you liked this design. For more designs, check back here next week, or visit my every-day wear blog: www.bronzedaledesigns.blogspot.co.uk/. 

Evening dress design and image © Bronzedale Design

'Lady Catherine' Wedding Dress

I've got a guidebook for the National Trust property Saltram, near Plymouth (though unfortunately I've never actually been there) and I've been using it to find inspiration for quite a few different wedding dresses recently. This dress is (loosely) inspired by a portrait of Lady Catherine Parker who lived at Saltram in the 1700s. The portrait depicts Lady Catherine in a silvery dress with a ruffle of lace at a low neckline, and sleeves with lace on them. I've taken some of these elements to create this dress, though some aspects of the design are just fanciful invention and take nothing from the portrait.

Detail of the bodice

The dress is moderately full skirted, with a loose natural waistline. The dress has a fairly low rounded neckline with a frill of lace behind. Lace is used across the top of the bodice, and is also used on the sleeves. The sleeves are loose and gathered and reach to about halfway between the elbow and the shoulder. This dress would be fastened at the back.

Detail of the sleeve

Detail of the lace on the bodice

I hope you liked this design. For more designs, check back here next week, or visit my every-day wear blog: www.bronzedaledesigns.blogspot.co.uk/. Please feel free to leave any questions or comments, feedback is really appreciated.

Wedding dress design and image © Bronzedale Designs

'Sunset Over the Sea' Prom Dress

On my list of possible ideas for prom dresses was written, very vaguely 'the sea' so I was thinking of something calming and blue when I searched for images to work from. Instead I ended up with a beautiful image of the sun over the sea in which a reasonable amount of the picture was not blue, but gold. This dress took quite a bit of playing about with necklines and draping before I felt I had it right, and then a lot of experimentation with colour.

I'm really pleased with the end result and the way that the blue fades quite subtly into the gold. I wasn't intending to do so, but out of curiosity I tried out a glitter brush over the dress, with the glitter fading away higher up the dress. I thought the effect looked something like pictures you see of sunlight from beneath the waves, so I decided to keep it.

The plain creamy yellow narrow underskirt of the dress makes the outfit appear more formal, and contrasts nicely with the decorativeness of the main dress. However, it could be made without the underskirt for a less formal look, or to show off a particularly nice pair of shoes. The dress fastens at the back and features a thin gold halter neck.

I hope you liked this design. For more designs, check back here next week, or visit my every-day wear blog: www.bronzedaledesigns.blogspot.co.uk/.

Prom dress design and image © Bronzedale Designs