'Carriage' Top

Inspired by a picture of a Victorian carriage, this could be worn as either a long top or a short dress. It is made up of black and white panels, fitted together to form the shape of the carriage when the wearer's arms are down by their sides. The top has wide, three quarter-length sleeves, and the wheel shapes are appliqued onto them. White ribbon is used to outline some of the panels, such as the rectangles that make up the carriage windows, and around the edge of the neckline and the sleeves. The top reaches to the upper thigh.

I hope you liked this design, it is part of my 'Designs Inspired by History' project. For more designs check back here on the 1st of November or visit my special-occasion-wear blog at www.bronzedalebridaldesigns.blogspot.co.uk 

Top Design and Image © Bronzedale Designs

'Mary II Painting' Pyjamas

I've based this design on a dress from a painting of Mary II. The painting that I based this on is actually a copy of one by Sir Peter Lely. In the original she is wearing an reddish-orange dress, but in the copy I based this on, her dress is blue.

Detail of the pyjama top

These pyjamas take the colours of the dress from the painting. They have slit sleeves with another cream sleeve underneath. The slit is then joined by a small piece of ribbon with a teardrop shape hanging from it. The slit sleeves were inspired by the sleeves on Mary II's dress. The pyjamas also have embroidery round the neckline which mimics the shapes of Mary II's pearl beads in the painting.

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 

Pyjamas Design and Images © Bronzedale Designs

'1950s Car' Raincoat

Before I write this post, I must confess to knowing absolutely nothing about cars of any sort. But I recently saw a photograph of a place I knew as it was in 1950, and the cars looked different enough to really stand out to me.

This design took quite a long time as it was difficult to create the right reflection on the plastic of the raincoat. The raincoat is flared, has a wide collar and slim, straight sleeves. It has white edging around the corners of the coat, an off-white belt and white button feature on the shoulders. The raincoat is knee-length and would fasten with snaps.

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 

Raincoat Design and Image © Bronzedale Designs

'Roman Wing' Top

This post is late because I've only just finished the design. I've been procrastinating doing it all week, because I didn't have a clue what I was going to do. I'd run out of ideas and couldn't find anything to base my design on. After quite a while of looking for ideas I ended up on a BBC news article published yesterday about a piece from a roman statue that was found in Gloucester. The wing piece is thought to be from a statue to Victoria, the Roman Goddess of victory.

This design uses the wing shape as decoration on the top. The wing shapes are embroidered onto the top, the shapes are backed with a slightly heavier fabric so that they retain their shapes. The fabric of the top is loosely gathered at the edge of the wing shapes and also at the cuffs. The cuffs are made in the same way as the wing shapes are, and are embroidered in the same colour. A small button would be used on each of the cuffs so that they can be loosened. The top fastens by two buttons at the back of the top, because the way that the wing shapes overlap would make it impractical to fasten at the front.

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 

Top 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

'Henry VIII' Tunic

This portrait of Henry VIII is one I'd seen so many times that I'd stopped really looking at it. It wasn't until I was looking through a book about Tudor and Jacobean Jewellery, and was actually looking for ideas that I really noticed the detail on Henry VIII's clothes.

This design uses some of the details from the portrait, the tunic is a similar colour and the embroidery is inspired by that on Henry VIII's tunic, (though I'm afraid I didn't quite do it justice - that sort of intricacy is incredibly difficult to try and copy.) The tunic is very loose, but is pulled in at the waist by a belt. It has simple, short sleeves reaching to the middle of the upper arm and a bateau neckline. It reaches to the top of the thigh and would be made out of a light cotton material.

Detail of the belt

Detail of the embroidery

I hope you like this design, it is part of my 'Designs inspired by History' project. For more designs, check back here next week or visit my other blog, Bronzedale Bridal Designs at www.bronzedalebridaldesigns.blogspot.co.uk/

Tunic Design and Images © Bronzedale Designs

'Ightham Mote' Jeans

I designed this after I found a leaflet for National Trust membership. It had a suit of armour with a lot of elegant scrolly decoration on it. Looking it up, the suit of armour is from Ightham Mote, a manor house in Kent dating back to the 1300s. The house looks stunning, so I've included a link to the National Trust webpage for it:

www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ightham-mote

The suit of armour on the National Trust leaflet

As for the suit of armour, it dates from between 1800 and 1900. The design takes the scrolly detail on the front of the suit of armour and uses it on the waistband, pockets and on the decorative denim shapes above and below the knee. The styling on the knees involves three pieces of denim, stitched over with decorative running stitches in a darker embroidery thread. The turned up cuffs of the trouser legs have upright lines stitched upon them, and are also edged with the same decorative running stitch as is used on the knees. I wasn't sure about the cuffs on the trousers, I couldn't decide whether the design worked better without them, so if preferred the cuffs could not be included.

Detail of the decoration around the knee

Detail of the decoration on the pocket

I hope you liked this design, it is part of my 'Designs Inspired by History' project. For more designs check back here next week.

Trousers design, images and detail © Bronzedale Designs

'Victorian Locket' Coat

I designed this coat after seeing a Victorian locket on an antique jewellery website. There's a picture of the locket below, and the web address that it came from is at the bottom of the page. I've taken the swallow motif from the locket and adapted it, using it on the collar, cuffs and hem of the coat, embroidered in gold coloured thread.

I chose the colour for the coat simply because I thought it suited the motifs, but when I went back and looked again at pictures of the locket, I found that the inside of the locket is a similar colour to this coat. I chose the gold for the embroidery because it stood out and made the coat look quite elegant, but silver could look good as well.

The coat uses frog buttons to fasten it. Even very simple frog buttons can look striking and there are some beautiful designs. You'd need a hidden button to keep the collar closed as well, and although I didn't include this on the design, I think I'd put a button or two on each of the cuffs.  
The coat is asymmetric, with the buttons fastening on the diagonal. This allows for one wide collar panel, with the more detailed motif on.

I hope you liked this design. It is part of my 'Designs inspired by History' project. For more designs check back here soon. 

Coat images and design © Bronzedale Designs.
Locket Image taken from: http://www.antiquejewellerycompany.com/shop/victorian-silver-locket-with-swallow-motif/#.VrzhzY_XLD5
I do not own the locket image.