2013: The Year of Big Changes

How did it suddenly get to be a quarter of the way through 2013?
I mean, it was sudden, wasn't it?
It just snuck up on me.

There was a cruisey January where I caught up on all my sewing & started on the Historical Fortnight Sewing Challenge.
Then school started.


Then there was Kyria's gorgeous black & white wedding dress.


And then fashion season was upon us.











I originally thought I was just crewing High School Musical starting March 9, so I booked myself silly working for the Myer Autumn/Winter 2013 launch,

the Victorian  Racing Carnival Autumn parade

& L'Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival 2013.

Next thing I know the hire agreement for HSM has disintegrated & suddenly I was required to source some costumes. Before I knew it, 12 outfits for Sharpay & Ryan, blew out to about 40 costumes, & I found myself working almost everyday from February 22 through to March 26.

What a ride! Come Easter I was beyond exhausted & my husband had almost forgotten who I was, but I was clear about where I was heading in the next part of the year & into 2014.

After a lot of soul searching I decided it was time to move on from the Carey Musical Theatre Association after 15 years of costuming their annual musical. It's something that probably should have happened 2 years ago, but you know how it is with habit.
I love the work, I love the kids & I love the volunteers I work with, but the organisation has changed over the last few years & I was finding it hard to cope with the new methods of operation.
The thing is when you finally take the plunge & make the right decision everything else just seems to fall into place.
And that's what has happened with me.

The stylists I worked with this season asked me to create some millinery pieces for their parades while doing alterations. A few veils, several fascinators. 

The first two were easy projects & started me thinking that this was what I could really do. 

I enjoyed it, it was relatively easy & it didn't stress me out of my brain like wedding dresses tend to. This led to an in with the millinery buyer at Myer.

Then I worked with Karla Clarke at Harpers Bazaar on the L'Oreal Red Carpet Runway Bridal extravaganza. We came to a bit of a brick wall with the millinery that had been supplied for the parade & I suggested I could put a few pieces together. A few pieces turned in to 31 with a 72hour turn around. 

The pressure was immense, but I enlisted the help of my friend Maddie & we managed to make beautiful pieces that complemented the wedding dresses by Akira Isogawa, Collette Dinnigan, Rachel Gilbert, Aurelio Costarella & Toni Maticevski.

And so begins the next phase of Empireroom.
Stay tuned.