'Girl With Flowers' Cloak

Sorry this post is late, I usually try to get my posts for my bridal blog out on Tuesday or Wednesday, but I've not got around to it until today, this week.  

I found the painting which inspired this cloak on a blog post about the artist Robert Reid. This cloak is inspired by a painting by him called Girl with Flowers. The painting doesn't show much of the cloak she is wearing, but I have used the colours of the painting and the flowers that are around her in this design.

The cloak is intended to be made of a blue-mauve satiny fabric, and to use the same material for both the outer and the lining of the cloak. The outer side of the cloak is embroidered all over with purple flower shapes and swirls. The lining of the cloak is mostly plain, but has a double line of decorative stitching running down it at intervals. The cloak could potentially be made reversible with either side able to be used as the outer side of the cloak. The cloak has a short, collar-like panel where is fastens at the front. The longest point of the cloak reaches to just above the knees, but the shape of it means that the edges only reach to the waist. So it's definitely more of a decorative cloak, than one that could be worn for warmth.

I hope you liked this design. For more designs, check back here on November 1st, or visit my every-day wear blog: www.bronzedaledesigns.blogspot.co.uk/. 

Cloak design and image © Bronzedale Design

'Marie Spartali Stillman' Dress

This dress is inspired by a painting I came across by Marie Spartali Stillman called Madonna Pietra degli Scrovegni. The dress in the painting is really beautiful, and so I have attempted to copy elements of it for this design. The painting only shows the top half of the dress, so I have had to improvise the skirt.

 The dress is made up of an under-blouse and a dress over top of it, joined together. The blouse is a mustard yellow colour and is pleated along the neckline, it has long sleeves. Over top of this is the dress which is a moss green colour. It has pleats around the neckline and puffed sleeves. It has a belt in the same mustard yellow colour as the blouse. The skirt is floor length.

 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/. 

Dress design and image © Bronzedale Designs

'Fossil' Special Occasion Outfit

I drew this design after I'd shown my sister the Poiret inspired 'frock' that Lady Sybil wore in the first series of Downton Abbey. She really liked it, and so I designed this outfit in colours that she wears often.

The design is a rust colour, with green ammonite fossil shapes printed across the material. The belted middle, the sleeves and the ankle cuffs are in the same green used on the fossil prints. The sleeves are loose flowing sleeves that reach to just above the elbow, and the design uses a wide, high waisted belt panel. The ankle cuffs would be gathered and elasticated. The design would fasten at the back with a hidden zip.

Pattern made from shapes used on the design

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/. 

Outfit design and images © Bronzedale Designs

'Love Letter' Party Dress

I had the idea of designing a dress based around a letter after coming across the book (and blog) Letters of Note. I'd also flicked through a book a few months earlier about John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and his wife Sarah Churchill. Quite how the two ended up coming together I'm not sure. Possibly because I remembered thinking that John Churchill wrote dramatic letters to his wife.

This dress is based around two letters that the John Churchill sent to his wife in 1706, from the Hague, and all the writing on the dress is taken from those two letters. I would have loved to have been able to have recreated his writing on the dress, but I don't seem particularly skilled at copying handwriting, so the handwriting ended up as a rather poor approximation.

The dress itself is a parchment colour and reaches to just below the ankles. It has plain, parchment coloured straps and would fasten using a zip at the back. The skirt of the dress is ruffled and hitched, the hitching in the skirt would be made adjustable using ribbons inside the skirt, which would mean that the skirt length of the dress could be adjusted slightly.

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/. 

Dress design and images © Bronzedale Designs