Here comes the bride

This week I'll be sharing one of my current projects with you guys - a 20s-inspired wedding dress!

The bride, just like so many others before her, couldn't find an off-the-peg dress quite as perfect as the one she imagined, so she contacted Ears and Whiskers and challenged us to create a unique gown.

Besides preferring the corset-free style and slinky cuts of roaring 20s fashion, the bride also had a special request: a "keyhole" cut-out back!

I set to work immediately, designing a few different styles which matched various fabrics for overlays and underskirts, and short-listing lace samples (I normally use this site for my research, because their vintage laces are just to die for!).

After a bit of testing and consulting with the bride-to-be, we decided on the final look: beaded lace overlaying a bias cut satin gown. Subtle but memorable, just as a truly dashing 20's dress should be!

For us the hard-work is yet to begin. Awaiting are long hours of cutting, pinning, fitting, sewing and hand-finishing all sorts of details, including a full row of beautiful pearl buttons and a scalloped edging to trim the keyhole back.

We'll keep you posted on our progress! :)

Flower Power!

Daffodils are almost gone from the fields but flowers are here to stay, at least til' the end of this fashion season! Shop windows everywhere are blooming with beautiful patterns, while on the catwalks florals have taken on a more tactile dimension, featuring on beautiful embroideries and appliqués.

This flower-power trend is music to E&W’s ears – excuse the pun - in fact one of our blossoming creations just got highlighted in this month’s edition of Cardiff Life! That got me thinking about my never-ending attraction to florals, and about some of my past creations, like that silk dress with yellow flowers, remember? And after a little stroll down memory lane I've concluded that this trend matches our personality and something tells me we'll stick with it for many seasons to come.

So, whenever you feel like spring or summer just get down to Cardiff's city centre, visit our store and try on our blossoming creations!

Say Hello to Ashley!

Ashley is our wonderful new bespoke designer in store, designing and making amazing crafted headpieces and veils for all you lovely brides…

‘With Love From… Bobbin’ is a luxury range of handmade bridal headwear and accessories for the modern vintage bride and bridesmaids. From the deco hair band to the 1940’s inspired cap with optional veil, Ashley uses fine silks, antique lace and embellishments to create a unique look for your big day. A bespoke design service is also offered where lace and trims are sourced specifically to match ‘the’ dress, incorporating heirlooms or trinkets for that truly personal touch.

Prior to establishing With Love From Bobbin, Ashley worked in fabric buying and sourcing for a number of high street brands including Coast and still designs textiles for the high street today. Now based in Wales, Ashley is rekindling her love for fine fabrics and antique trims to create a range which encompasses the glamour and romance of a bygone era.

Now available in store - bespoke items too!

What more could you ask for? Honestly!!

Get what you really want this Christmas… Purchase here or in store :)  

These lovely girls were at Hubbard’s Cupboard today, handing out leaflets and sweeties to everyone - dressed in the very best of E&W handmade!

Lace & Collars

Aloha,

We took a trip to the lovely town of Frome today to visit the first Vintage Rag Market in the Cheese and Grain hall and it was fantastic! We picked up some wonderful bits and bobs to get making and its really inspired us to crack on with it!

In particular, we spent double our budget on scraps of vintage lace (yes double) and I could have spent 10x that quite easily! With only around 15 stalls it still took us a little over 3 hours to rummage through the piles of goodies people had to offer at their discounted prices.

I spoke a while ago about our eventual attempt to get round to a bit of Miu Miu D.I.Y, and today having found a nice little lot of vintage lace and silk collars - we’re finally on that train of thought!

Here’s a few that I’ve managed to get all sewn up since we arrived home…

Lots more to come, embellished with vintage appliques, motifs and buttons - soon to be pearls, jewellery bits and bobs, fabrics, trims and peter pan collars!

Fantastic.

We’re on the case of button cards, up-cycled shorts, make your own skirt packs and loads more to be introduced to the new shop opening next month (hopefully)!

Its all go

As always

♥

Jubilee outfits for me an my mum!

I’m wearing a beautiful 1950s lace Jean Allen dress (that fits me to a T)

and I’ve made my mum a fitted sweetheart neck ‘wiggle’ dress from recycled materials! Vintage up-dos and fur stoles all round!

Display ‘Case’

I just couldn't resist these!! They’re from a beautiful new(ish) shop in Cowbridge, very reasonable! And perfect for a new display…

Its been a busy few weeks with us at E&W, as always, but these weeks especially! With the upcoming jubilee weekend we’ve been all out union jacking and 50’s making. 

We have a lot of updates, and a website in progress that we promise we will let you all know as soon as its set in stone! Everything feels like its up in the air at the moment, and we cant wait to get back down to earth.

I'll keep you posted on the way down!

E&W

Project Jubilee…

The time is now! We’re currently under a little move about of the workshop due to my sister moving home and reclaiming her room for a month - so there's no better time to sort out the projects for the next few weeks!

I want to create the 3 main looks of the 50's to showcase at the Jubilee festival and to me that means the dress, the coat and the suit, all with a cute 50's eco look.

The box coat. The Chanel suit. The classic full skirted dress.

These 3 pieces, for me, exude the 1950’s look and although there are a lot more dresses that have the classic 1950’s look, I wanted to choose something a little different that I can experiment with…

Then to go with all of this we’re expanding the Famous 50’s collection - a whole load of circle skirts, little tops and cutsie dresses. All eco, all vintage, all amazing! And these are the fabrics…

And for once Ill show it as I’m going along - from start to finish.. (promise)

I’m also (finally) in the middle of uploading all our wedding dress stock to our web page! So if you want to see our amazing wedding dress collection from 1940’s to 1960’s, handmade and up-cycled gowns check out the website here

So much to do! With some time to settle in and do it! Bring on the week ahead.

The Famous 50’s collection!

Treasures…

So we recently purchased yet another load of random clothing and accessories! (we just couldn’t say no!!)

And in it we’ve found some amazing treasures!

This beautiful writing case is a treasure worth keeping! The inside is in pristine condition and has the original blotting and paper and pen! And also this…

I’m absolutely an completely in love and do not think I can ever get rid of it! Hand embroidered and completely beautiful, perfect condition - the colors are amazing!

We’re also completely stocked up on hats and fascinators, vintage gloves (leather and fabric) all amazingly detailed and absolutely fabulous!

We can’t wait for our photo shoot next week to show them all off…

The dress

Aallllmost finished, I couldn’t decide whether or not I wanted the buttons but It looks a lot better done up so just a few buttons to sew on now :)

Time for change!

Ok Lovely People…

Here it is. The official start to the twice weekly blog posts with lots of fancy finds & makes!

With the wedding season ever approaching we’re very much drowning in white right now, time to starting adding the E&W touches…

Starting with this gorgeous up-cycled gown! 1940’s blouse top with cumber band and boned satin under-dress! ♥ 

Found this amazing blanket a few weeks ago - definitely feeling a Chanel style skirt suit out of it!

No one does it quite like Audrey…

I've had a while to think about what wedding dress to make for a vintage photo shoot that is coming up.

My initial idea was the stunning 1950’s dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film Funny Face…

I debated about a lot of styles: a 1940’s silk bottom gown with a tail, or even a quirky organza dress with yellow flowers after I found some beautiful material stuffed away in the back room, but in the end, it always comes back to the Audrey dress.

I’m so excited to see what it turns out like!

Tomorrow’s job…

Lets make a start on these collars I’ve been on about for some time!Detachable peter pan collars, lacey, vintage fabrics, ribbons, I’m excited already!

Refurbished stall

The E&W recently refurbished stall at Happy Days, Cowbridge.

Showcasing the new vintage clothing range just introduced.