// Photoshoots

We recently teamed up with some amazingly talented companies to create a stunning styled shoot in the absolute best location!

The photos of the shoot are soon to be released on Gwen's Bridal Bazaar and we absolutely can NOT wait!

Without giving too much away, here's a sneaky peek at the amazing Laura Power's images from the day and a quick phone shot of the beautiful dress we had the pleasure of making...

I can't wait to tell you how i got all my inspiration for the dress once the shoot is released! Its a good un!

xoxo
♥

Dress mess...

In my fairly short time of designing wedding dresses, I've had a lot of brides that were last minute panickers... as far as I can tell, it's mostly stemmed from that budget dress they've had on order.

This post is pretty close to my heart and is as much about throwaway fashion as it is about weddings, because it's not all weddings I've had this problem with! 

Maybe it's because I'm a massive perfectionist or maybe because I was taught to make couture, either way I now find it very hard to shop (especially on-line) as I scrutinize the quality of the clothing. I'm even seeing more and more brands who's quality is dropping but the prices certainly aren't! As much as I'm a lover of the ethical, budget always comes in to play and now an again I will opt for the not so well made cheap piece to add to my wardrobe but where ever possible I will save to purchase a top quality garment as in the long run, it's much better value for money.

On this subject, if there is a ever a time to not cheap out on a garment - I would suggest your Wedding dress! This week reminded me of this little nightmare and if I can ever give you some advice - it is this... Do not buy your dress on-line! 

Granted - there may be some success stories with Brides who have bought their dress cheaply on-line and had the best dress they can imagine - but more often than not I get the last minute panickers who have ordered their dresses only to be completely gutted at the quality of the garment, the fabrics and the fit.

A few months back, BBC's 'Fake Britain' took a look at the sale of counterfeit wedding dresses on-line, this is what was said  “Brides think they are buying what they see in the pictures, but they are not, these dresses are only available from official stockists of the particular designer…The fake dresses are made for pennies from lining material or something equally as cheap, seams and stitches are often unfinished and they mostly arrive with no underlay; meaning it falls like a sack.” 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news girls but if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!

Getting your dress made you can choose and see the quality of your fabrics, you can watch your dress coming together, change any little bits (if your as fussy as I am strap width is always a biggy!) and you can relax knowing its going to fit you perfect. Even buying from a reputable shop - you can guarantee the quality and know you have some insurance if anything were to go wrong.

So please, no matter how nice the picture looks - don't buy your dress on-line! Get it right the first time and don't end up spending more than you bargained for.

xoxo

♥

Eva...

My re-designed version of Eva! 

Eva is a chiffon and lace dress

The delicate lace bodice has capped sleeves and a full button opening down the back. 

Eye lash fringed edging is hand sewn to the neck line, sleeves and at the waist. 

There is a silk wrap around waist tie made to match the color of the under dress.

The chiffon is gathered and full at the bottom to give an elegant floating skirt.

Pair Eva with our champagne under dress for a vintage feel.

Design!

With the end of wedding season looming, I'm all set for a bit of me time!

It's been my first full wedding season since opening the shop, after having caught the tail end when we opened last year I couldn't even have imagined how busy it was going to be! It's been hard work, with massive ups and downs but now it's finally calming down I couldn't feel more inspired to be cracking on with some design work!

I'm currently in major need of some good sleep, a hair overhaul, a bath and maybe a little holiday! However, today I have been drafting up my pattern blocks ready to get cracking on some brand new designs both for weddings and beautiful recycled dresses.

Amazing studio!
(http://statigr.am/p/476067668838198123_2062441)

Throughout Uni, the design and pattern cutting aspect is always what I enjoyed most. I've always been a bit of math geek and enjoy solving problems (mathematical ones, not such an agony aunt!). Having never quite gotten the hang of draping, pattern cutting really is down to mathematics, working out how to create a shape by manipulating the fabric then recreating it on paper.

I'd love to eventually do some workshops on pattern cutting, getting the basics of dart manipulation for all you lovely sewers to create your own patterns!

I'll post some photos from design to patterns to final pieces soon!

xoxo

♥

Eva...

A recent commission got me drawing...

I decided to call this dress Eva and I'm going to include a similar version (editing some details in the back and adding sleeves) in my mini collection of versatile wedding dresses.

The lace is a beautiful corded open work lace and the skirt will be layered chiffon and floor length with a separate under dress that can be worn by itself too!

♥

xoxo

Beautiful Bride

One of our wonderful Brides Lucy got married today (Congratulations!), so we can officially release out photos of the stunning champagne and ivory dress we made for her. 

You may remember our post Here comes the Bride showing the preliminary sketches and designs for Lucy's dress. A champagne satin under gown with a beaded lace overlay and stunning keyhole feature in the back. As far as I'm concerned I'm still new at working with lace, especially of the beaded variety, but I'm so pleased with how this turned out!

Complete with a button up bustle train to dance the night away!

The sash is optional, appliqued over the champagne under satin with a tie back.

We hope Lucy had the best of days and wish her all the best for her future! Enjoy your beautiful dress

♥

xoxo

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!

Shades of grey: beautiful bridesmaids

This week I've been working non-stop on these fabulous bridesmaids dresses. I love to design dresses that make bridesmaids feel beautiful rather than making them cry desperately for help!

However, not every bridesmaid in history has had the good luck of wearing an Ears and Whiskers creation, and I bet that a lot of you guys out there are hiding at least one unfortunate bridesmaid outfit at the back of your wardrobes. Here's a tip for all you brave BFF's: why not upcycle those ugly ducklings that have been occupying valuable storage space all this time? Just take a look at this Minneapolis-based upcycling fashion project called CounterCouture. Angie Arner, owner and founder, has created a collaborative movement to transform all those shiny, pleaded, and ruffled disasters into upcycled trendy fashion. Fabulously eco, just as we like it!

Vintage Wedding

As what we do is such a niche market, we have a lot of interest in our lovely wedding collection. I make all my dresses bespoke to each person, designing and making around them and their vision for their big day!

With such a large interest, I decided to design a small collection of dresses - customizable to suit your style and made to measure! Check out the prototype on the wonderful Lauren.

Each dress can be made individual to you, you can choose your sleeve length or have no sleeves what so ever! Choose whether you want polka dot tulle, lace or an all over satin, if you want the sleeves and top see-through or covering you up, choose your length and sash style, all from as little as £650. 

Each dress is made from a true vintage pattern, adapted to your style meaning you get the fit and quality of a true vintage dress with the whole process being easy and suited to you!

What more could you ask for? Honestly!!

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

Simple and elegant

Jennifer Wedding Dress - Simple & Elegant! Empire line, capped lace sleeves and a detailed lace band.

Oh Alice

We finally got around to meeting up with Alice post wedding and was so happy to hear how everything’s going!

A lot of praise for the wonderful dress which I’m so happy to have done for her, it couldn’t have looked better on anyone else! With a little one on the way and a change of house, she’s kindly let us ‘foster’ the dress for a little while so we can show it off to all!!

Here are some beautiful photos from Alice and Matths big day!

Couldn’t have been happier with the sweet card she made us either - It’s so lovely to know how happy someone is with something you’ve made them!

It’s been lovely, and we definitely cannot wait to see her and the little one in the shop very soon!

Our very own Alice in Wonderland! (Wonderdress)

♥

A Grand Day Out…

Today was the last stall we’ve had lined up for the rest of the year! (devastating news I know) but on the plus side, we’re setting up online! Some consolation?

We turned up this morning after a 5am start from the E&W household and a 3 hour drive not knowing what to expect and apart from the weather (which did hold off) everything was amazing! Powis Castle is a beautiful place and we had a prime spot staring at it all day…

We took everything we could find from home and the shop that was red, white or blue to make a lovely rail of clothes and I finished off the Jubilympics dress just in time!

Yet another busy day ahead for the up-cycling combo… We have a dip dyed sheet ready to be transformed into King and Queen capes for the quirky Cowbridge Hub procession and then our celebrations are over.

Hope everyone’s had/has an amazing Jubilee long weekend , we saw some street parties on the way back that looked amazing but my camera had run out of battery :(

E&W

♥ 

Lots of love 

The buttons!!

Neglected…

It-s been a long 2 weeks for us at E&W, We've had an amazing dress to make very quickly with a little over 100 appliques being meticulously cut out and hand sewn back on along with 7 meters of edging, between being ill and minor mistakes which have caused major problems, its all coming to an end!

With any luck being finished JUST in time for the wedding… which is Saturday…

So over the 2 weeks I feel like I have neglected a lot… the shop, my blog, socialization, my camera and myself! And I’m going to put that right!

This weekend is pamper weekend, catch up on sleep and sort this neck ache out, I also plan on getting my little camera back in action, fashion or non fashion related…

Anyway! Here’s a few pictures of the dress so far, there are minor issues of sewing in the lining, the hem and the buttons / button loops to put in but apart from that all is going well after my mental breakdown earlier after I managed to snap my sewing needle 6 times trying to go through 11 layers of fabric..

The lace looks absolutely stunning and pictures will never do it justice! It’s so heavily beaded and intricate and it weighs an absolute ton!

The sleeve was a panel from the edging of the skirt, it makes the cutest little cap sleeve! It took so long to get it to sit right, and between the hand sewing and the machine stitching and the lining it took ridiculously long to put it in, but I absolutely love it!

The train is the perfect length - Im so excited to see her in it!! It still looks completely unfinished to me at the moment because there are so many little things to adjust and the buttons to add in, I really hope people can see how much time and effort and design have gone into this dress because I think it is absolutely beautiful!

We just cant be E&W without the personal touch - so the freehand embroidered tag with antique ‘something old’ lace for good luck.

I’m so happy to have got the chance to make this dress - something I would never have got to do without Alice. Having not made a lot of dresses for people it’s hard to build up a reputation - but I hope after seeing this people will see what I can do - I love that it’s not just dressmaking - nothing can ever be that easy for us!

In other news…

In totally non-wedding related news, I’m super excited for the Diamond Jubilee in Powis - so much so that I’ve refused to get rid of a recent purchase - a late 1950’s Jean Allen beige lace tea dress! One of the most beautiful things I’ve seen that fits me so perfectly it could have been made for me! It’s my outfit for the day along with a vintage fur stole and some little kitten heels, styling the vintage look!

We’re also mid talks of setting up the on-line shop! wooo! A fab friend is setting up everything we’ve talked about, a meeting next week with a few design idea’s to bring it all together and we should be away! Get ready to search our market for hand-made and vintage… could be the start of something much bigger! 

Watch this space…

E&W ♥