'Holly Blue Butterfly' Party Dress

Deciding, a few weeks ago, that I wanted to create a design based on butterflies, I googled British butterfly species and picked this one, simply because I thought it was really beautiful. This design is inspired by the Holly Blue butterfly which is native to the UK and is a stunning blue colour with grey tips to the wings.

I took the colours on the Holly Blue butterfly and used them for this dress, starting with a fairly vivid blue at the top of the dress, this gradually merges into a grey colour.

The dress is of a fairly simple style, it has a 'V' shaped neckline and short sleeves and then a flared skirt which should swirl out dramatically when you spin. It is intended to be fastened at the back with an invisible zip.

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/. 

Wedding Dress design and image © Bronzedale Designs

'Mirror Painting' Wedding Dress

The inspiration for this dress came from the frame of a Chinese mirror painting that hangs at Saltram, a National Trust property near Plymouth. I've used the Saltram guidebook for several wedding dress designs (see the 'Lady Catherine' wedding dress or the 'Dorchester House Chandelier' wedding dress.)

For this design, the frame that I was using had a criss-cross pattern across part of it, and I have used this around the neckline and waist of the dress. The criss-cross pattern is made up of interwoven strips of gold material which are then sewn onto the main dress. There is also gold around the short sleeves, and the main dress is a pale ivory colour. The dress has a soft 'V' shaped neckline and a loosely gathered, semi-full skirt which reaches to the ankles.

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/. 

Wedding Dress design and image © Bronzedale Designs

'Antique Hand Mirror' Flower Girl Dresses (Part 2)

This is the second part of my flower girl dresses post (for the first part click here) with the last two flower girl dresses on it. These ones are also based around the decorative antique hand mirrors that I found on several different antiques websites.

Detail of the bodice of the gold dress

These designs take the decoration from the hand mirrors and use the patterns on the bodices of the dresses. The patterns are embroidered in shades of gold and outlined in a darker brown. Both dresses have a scooped neckline which is edged with ribbon in the same shade as the embroidery. The straps of the dress are also edged with ribbon, and ribbon is used as a belt around the waist, separating the bodice from the skirt.

Detail of the bodice of the pink dress

The gold dress has a fairly full skirts, whereas the pink dress has a straighter skirt. Both skirts are ankle length, and ribbons are used around the hem. The pink dress has a single ribbon around the hem, whereas the gold dress has two ribbons around the hem.

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/. 

Flower Girl Dress designs and images © Bronzedale Designs

'Pen Nib' Evening Dress

This is a bit more modern than the sort of thing I usually design, but I was flicking through an old National Geographic magazine (the December 2010 issue) looking for ideas and there was an advert for a Parker pen. Almost all of the page was filled up with an incredibly detailed close up of the pen, and so I thought I'd have a go at using it to design a dress with.

The neckline of the dress is designed to imitate the shape of the pen nib, with a discreet thin black ribbon halter neck to hold the bodice up. The bodice is made up of lots of shaped pieces of fabric that imitate the detail on the nib of the pen. The seams where the pieces join would be painted along with black paint to emphasise them. The front panel of the dress would be sewn to a heavier backing fabric to add weight and keep it hanging fairly flat. The rest of the skirt of the dress is gathered. There is a slit to one side of the front panel, reaching up to the knee to ensure it's easy to move in.

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 Designs

'Antique Hand Mirror' Flower Girl Dresses (Part 1)

Detail of the embroidery on the silver dress

I don't normally design children's clothes, but I wanted to have a go at designing these flower girl dresses. They are based on the decoration on the backs of antique hand mirrors that I found on a variety of antique websites. I designed five different flower girl dresses, but to prevent an incredibly long post, I've split the designs into two posts. I'll post the other two designs in a couple of weeks.

Detail of the embroidery on the green dress

The designs are fairly similar. They all have a decorative bodice, embroidered in gold with patterns taken from the decoration used on the hand mirrors. The skirts of all three of the dresses are quite full, though the blue dress does have a slightly narrower line than the other two. The blue and silver dresses use a rounded neckline, but the green dress uses a 'V' shaped neckline. All three of the dresses are ankle length and have gold ribbon stitched round the skirt of the dress near the hem.

Detail of the embroidery on the blue dress

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/. 

Flower girl dress designs and images © Bronzedale Designs