My sister has been dancing flamenco since she was 12 years old. She has performed in over a 100 shows in Canada, Spain and Portugal. I have always loved the beautiful dresses that would be worn on stage, the colours, the flowing fabrics and designs. I had the opportunity to design a bata de cola dress for her that was displayed during my graduation fashion show and more recently I designed this flamenco dress for one of her shows. The dress is made from black lace, satin and pale silver beige under dress.  The pictures were taken by my mom Maria Lawrence and are copyright to her.  

This was a present for my mom.  Made from a vintage indian brocade in a brilliant, bronzed ochre. the flowers and peacock were of my own design which I embroidered and detailed with beads.  The back is a applique patchwork of stenciled peacock feathers in gold fabric paint. I created a padded lining which I made from zig zagging a quiting stitch over a cotton padding sandwiched between a lovely green brocade. More detailed shots coming soon.

Front

Back

For Christmas this year I decided to make some special gifts for my family. For my sister I designed and constructed this apron for a fancy tea party. Included in the gift were a collection of teas, a cupcake recipe book, the cutest marshmallow strawberries from Harrods and a single serving tea strainer shaped like a teapot.  The apron itself was inspired by the packaging of the cupcake book. I just loved the pink stripes with contrasting turquoise ribbon. I put a lot of effort into the detailing with hand sewn and cut scalloped edging, decorative stiches on the pink and turquoise ribbon and a miniature embroidered cupcake with bead sprinkles on the pocket.  Here are the pictures as modeled on a very sad and wonky dress form.

Hey Everyone, I took a short hiatus from the blog to work on some projects but I am back now. Been also doing a bit of mending lately and decided to fix up my pillows I made for Christmas for my family a couple years go. The little tassels had fallen off and were lost around the house so I had a bit of fun tracking them down and sewing them on again - a little more securely this time. The pillows are made using a beautiful multi-coloured dupioni silk that changes from a blue-gold to a green-gold depending on the light. I found an inexpensive trim from the fabric section at Wal-mart where I was also surprised to find an interesting assortment of tassels and a fun turquoise faux fur trim. The image was created using fabric transfer printer paper which you can purchase at most art or office supply stores. Illustration by Edmund Dulac .

Detail Front - Hand sewn star beads and small pearls.

Back Button - with crystal chain.

Pillow two

Back detail - Vintage military style buttons

Detail of buttons

Been having computer problems the last few days but finally sorted everything out.  My new printer/scanner came today in the mail! So I will be scanning new artwork in as soon as I get a chance. Here is some more Nightingale collection pictures.

These are some fairly old designs of mine I thought I would post now as it will be a little while before I have some time to scan in some of my newer work.  This is from my Nightingale collection. Just some fun designs comprising of my favorite themes of asian and 20s styling.