'The Secret Countess' Dressing Gown

(Sorry that this blog post is being posted two days late, it's been sunny so anything that involves staying indoors has been shifted to the end of my to do list.)

I've been reading The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson recently, though rereading might be more accurate, as I have read it quite a few times before. To say that this design is inspired by the book would be stretching the truth a little bit, it's actually only really inspired by the book cover, which on my version of the book, has a butterfly design in gold around the edges of the front cover.

I've used this butterfly design on this dressing gown, the butterfly motif has been repeated across the dressing gown at different angles and sizes and in different shades of gold. The butterfly motif is intended to be printed on the dressing gown fabric.

The rest of the dressing gown is fairly simple. It has a plain gold collar and tie and is mid-calf length. There is a loose ruffling on either side of the dressing gown, but other than that the shape and style of the dressing gown is simple, relying on the butterfly pattern for its' decoration.

I hope you liked this design, it is part of my 'Designs Inspired by Literature' project. For more designs check back here next week or visit my special occasion wear blog at www.bronzedalebridaldesigns.blogspot.co.uk 

Dressing Gown Design and Images © Bronzedale Designs

'Stained Glass' Swimsuit

After several disastrous attempts to design a bra inspired by stained glass I gave up and tried a swimsuit instead, and for some unknown reason that idea seemed to work when the bra so clearly hadn't. I have no idea why, but the bra I tried to design several times really did look awful. I have the sketches to prove it.

Anyway, here is the more successful swimsuit. The style is taken from a lovely 1930s swimsuit that I saw in a book a couple of years ago, but that one was yellow. This design has the top and bottom connected by a brown plastic ring which matches the edging on the swimming costume. The bottom half of the swimming costume is a little less revealing than the average modern day swimming costume, which, I personally think is quite nice.

The design is inspired by stained glass, and the piece that I was using as inspiration was pretty much impossible to do justice to. It is a triptych designed by Joaquim Mir called El Gorg Blau, and it is unbelievably stunning, with glass almost every colour of the rainbow. As such I've just taken some of the colours and shapes and used them in this design with deep brown lines outlining each shape in the way that stained glass is outlined. This is the result.

I hope you liked this design, it is part of my 'Designs Inspired by Art' project. For more designs check back here next week or visit my special occasion wear blog at www.bronzedalebridaldesigns.blogspot.co.uk 

Swimsuit Design and Image © Bronzedale Designs

'Ripples' Suit

I designed this only a few days ago. There'd been a lot of rain and I ended up in the middle of a very large puddle getting extremely wet, which was actually surprisingly good fun (though I was with my sister, who is very good at making just about anything fun.) Which is how I ended up choosing to design this suit based on ripples.

Detail of embroidery on the collar

The suit is a blue grey colour. The suit jacket has a wide collar, in a deeper colour, embroidered in ripple patterns with creamy-white thread. The jacket reaches to just below the hips and the edges of the jacket are embroidered with ripple patterns. The sleeves have several lines of stitching down them for decoration.

Detail of embroidery on the suit jacket

The skirt is a slightly flared A-line shape and reaches to the knees. It is the same blue grey as the main part of the jacket, and has darker embroidered lines down it. It has the same ripple design as the jacket embroidered along the hem.

Detail of embroidery on the skirt

I hope you liked this design, it is part of my 'Designs Inspired by Nature' project. For more designs check back here next week or visit my special occasion wear blog at www.bronzedalebridaldesigns.blogspot.co.uk 

Suit Design and Images © Bronzedale Designs

'Elizabeth I Coronation' Jacket

This jacket is based on the coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. It uses a pattern similar to the one used on the bodice of Elizabeth's dress, it also copies the fitted shape of the bodice (though it hasn't been taken to the extremes that the Tudors took it.) Interestingly, the dress that Elizabeth wore in her coronation portrait was also the dress that Mary I had worn for her coronation.

Detail of the pattern on the jacket

This jacket is intended to be made of brocade of a golden brown colour with the pattern picked out in a slightly duller brown colour. The jacket is very fitted, with close-fitting long sleeves. The collar is ruffled and is made out of a lighter satiny material in a similar colour to the rest of the jacket. The same material is used to make a ruffle that goes around the hem of the jacket. The jacket uses an invisible zip for a subtle fastening.

I hope you liked this design, it is part of my 'Designs Inspired by History' project. For more designs check back here next week or visit my special occasion wear blog at www.bronzedalebridaldesigns.blogspot.co.uk 

Jacket Design and Images © Bronzedale Designs