New Direction: Vintage Couture Gowns

When I first started out after my course at the Melbourne School of Fashion, I made quite a lot of wedding dresses for private clients.

It was such a huge learning curve.  Every client & dress was different. 

From a Frost Green Medieval Velvet gown to Gothic Revival to great big beaded meringues & restyling Mum's 1960's dress.


With each new gown I learned so much about pattern making, fabric suitability, fixed quotes & hand embellishing.
From there I went to work at Adele Chapeaux in Toorak for a couple of years, before heading back to uni to study costume design.

Along the way I have continued to make a select number of wedding & evening gowns, via word of mouth, but it seems like time to start creating couture gowns in earnest again.

In 16 years of costume making I have amassed a vast collection of vintage patterns dating back to the 1920's through to the 1960's &  since the Vintage clothing revival does not look as if it is slowing down I have decided to start recreating some of those gorgeous designs for modern fashionistas who long for a taste of yesteryear.






So without further ado, Empireroom Vintage Couture is open for business.
Make an appointment for a design consultation today & let us create the Vintage gown of your dreams.

Come & visit me at Empire Room

Some selfish Vintage sewing for me.

After what seems an eternity of shows, jobs & sewing for everyone else, I decided it was time to have a day to sew for me.

Not for Beauty & the Beast: my latest show. Not for Alex Perry; dress design legend. Not for the kids ballet & band uniforms. Not for any styling jobs. It was time to use some stash fabric & break out some vintage patterns, just for me.

So yesterday, after an early trip to get fabric for Bride & Prejudice, my August production, I came home & made a blouse & pair of high waisted jeans.

I had already trialled the jeans pattern with some linen some time ago & found I needed to lower the waist about 4cm, lose the cuff & make the darts a bit bigger, as I am quite petite.

I used denim with a slight stretch that I was given about 10 years ago by the Tsubi guys(now Ksubi).
I also moved the zip opening from the front to the side seam. I didn't feel like fussing with a fly front in stretch fabric & I much prefer a side zip in high waist pants.

They are so comfortable. 

The blouse was made with some beautiful self printed voile I picked up in Paris last year. 

3m for 10euro. Bargain! 

So soft & sheer, an appropriate undergarment is a must.

I made View 1, but again, due to my petite size the 3/4 sleeve is neither wrist or 3/4 length so I rolled them for the picture. I might add a cuff to make them long or just tack in the roll, as I think it looks quite neat. Very Lauren Bacall.
I'm also thinking of extending the darts up to the bust point for a more fitted look.

I think the blouse will work better with a skirt, but they look ok together for this picture.