Spring First Communions 2021 Update

 I have been very lax about keeping up with the blog. 

Here's a few items off the machine in the last few months - The latest few First Communion dresses have all wanted pin-tucked bodices, and high necklines, very nice, but oh so time-consuming! (Worth it in the end!)

One for Scotland

One for the USA

Fine Cotton Poplin with added embroidered trim.

A mixture of embroidered cotton in the skirt and sleeves,
With pin tucked cotton lawn bodice,
 and applied cotton trim.

This one has a nice big bow, too.

And being a glutton for punishment, I even designed a matching pin tucked bag for one young lady!

Sara's dress was made of one of the heavier embroidered cottons.
A lovely traditional dress with Peter Pan collar,
and long cuffed sleeves.

I've made a few First Communion veils, and have several in stock, so if anyone needs one, don't hesitate to get in touch.

Embroidered Eucharistic motif on tulle.

embroidered organza,
 with a mantilla lace edging around the face.

Small organza mantilla edged veil 
with embroidered cross.

Embroidered Eucharistic motif, and small cross,
on tulle.

Different types of motifs can be embroidered, please don't hesitate to enquire...

Another Beautiful Bride, another Wonderful Wedding!

So, like the buses, they all come at once! I've had three wedding dresses to do this year, and each has had its own distinctive beauty, reflecting the character of each bride. What I so love about making wedding dresses, is that the girl's input, along with my design and sewing know-how always ends up with something unique, but reflective of the bride, which you can't really get with an off the peg number (and rarely will you find one of those with SLEEVES!!)
This latest one was a real joy to make, both because of the lass's lovely personality, and because of the fabric she chose which was a rich pure silk ivory taffeta, with a distinctive shawl collar made of silk jacquard with a rose pattern woven in.

(All Photos courtesy of Peter L Jones)

 The ceremony was an Eastern Rite Ukrainian Catholic one, so a new experience for many of the Bride's Latin Catholic friends. There is a lovely crowning ceremony, and I think the dress really did make the Bride look like a queen!

Below are some details of the dress, with its shawl collar and the veil which was also made especially to go with the dress. The dress had silk covered buttons with a front opening so that the shawl collar could be all in one undisturbed piece around the back.

  The veil was made from a pure silk tulle in ivory. The Bride wanted it to cover her hair fully, and we agreed it would look nice with a lace edging. Providentially, I wandered into an antique shop one day and found some lovely antique English net lace, exactly the right colour and width! This was hand-stitched in place to form a beautiful frame for her lovely face.

Many Congratulations to the King and Queen of the Day!

Joy and Sorrow, with Hope.

I have been asked to make a few items recently which seem to fit into the cycle of life.

A gift set to send to Australia, for a new, much longed for baby, not quite yet delivered!

The gift-giver was quite specific in what he wanted, something "Traditional" in white, but not to look as though it were for a Baptism... hence the touches of green, with elephants marching across the bib. The set is made from a very fine cotton lawn with satin weave and embroidery details, and touches of antique insertion lace, all lined in cotton lawn (apparently, it will be hot in Australia when the baby gets to be old enough to wear it!)

The next project completed was for a Polish wedding, soon to take place, but as it hasn't yet, I can't really reveal "The Dress". It's for a lovely Welsh Lassie, who's marrying a dashing Polish Gentleman! Suffice to say, it involved a lot of piecing of extremely pretty lace, and swathes of silk satin, lots of buttons and a bow!

Sneak preview! Two different laces have been invisibly joined prior to piecing the back part of the bodice. 

The back after completion!

The last item is of a more sorrowful nature. It made me reflect on how fleeting life is, and how we should all prepare for death. A widow-to-be is expecting her terminally ill husband to die soon, and wanted a special mantilla to wear at his funeral. She had a specific idea of what she wanted. As I looked at the image she had in mind, I realised I would have to cut, shape and piece together lace. It was a time-consuming project, involving a lot of hand-stitching, all around the edges of the inset pieces of lace. But I found it a very moving task to sit quietly sewing the pieces together, and pray for her and her husband and family, and contemplate my own mortality too.

The first stage of shaping the lace edging around the dotted net. It was coming out bigger than the recipient wanted, so I had to bring the edging in more.

After completion.

When I started Zelie's Roses, I had little patience for hand sewing, wanting to get things finished speedily. The more I force myself to spend time creating things by hand stitching, the more I appreciate what Zelie Martin used to do in her lace-making! I hope I'm now of a level for her to have employed me as someone who pieces the lace together, since I still don't have the patience, or skills, to actually make lace!!

I like to add all the people I sew for to my prayers; a safe delivery for the baby and mother, a joyous and Christ-filled marriage for the happy couple, and the consolations of St. Joseph and Mary to be with the dying man and his family.

Recent Shenanigans

Well, the busyness of the business has been taking over to the degree that I haven't managed to post anything much lately. So here's a random selection of what Zelie's Roses has been up to...

A winter wedding dress of pure silk

It started out as some very large circles - I am so grateful that I have my wonderful cutting room floor!

And became a very elegant flowing gown, with almost a 1940's feel...

Then to carry on the circles theme, I managed to make a couple of circle skirts for a little lady...

Who chose the teapot one for her first day back at school!

Whilst I'm also working on several altar frontals/tabernacle veils, I did manage to get this one made in time for Easter...

This was it being tried on for size, during Lent, hence the purple Tabernacle veil!

Oh yes, and somewhere in between all that I managed to pop in a set of vestments for the Shrine Church of St Augustine, and the National Pugin Centre. It included an Alb, Chasuble, Cope and Mitre.. as well as a Monk's habit. As it was to be a Pugin-esque Chasuble, I was very blessed to find just enough vintage orphrey banding to make it look sufficiently authentic....

You may well ask how I managed to do all that in such a short space of time, well, they are meant for children on their educational visits to the centre, so didn't have to be too perfectly finished, although I did spend time making sure they were robust! I hope to get some pictures of them all being modelled in the not too distant future.

And just as I thought I could settle down to some serious work on a real-life full-sized Chasuble that needs to be ready for an Ordination in June, a Bride to be in distress got in touch asking if I could make her a Wedding Mantilla Veil, as she hadn't been able to find anything big enough, and her Wedding was in two weeks' time! Happy to oblige, I fortunately had some lovely lace in stock so was able to come up with this...

Now, back to that Chasuble...(and the next Wedding dress I'm working on too...!)

Bespoke Cotton Lace Mantilla

Here is one of my latest efforts, a navy blue cotton lace mantilla, made to  a specific size by request.  The lady who ordered it wanted it to have a scalloped edge, so I had to digitize an edging lace for my machine which would finish the mantilla in scallops. 

There was a slight gap between the scallops at the two corners, so I filled those with roses!

A discreet label in black was attached.  I like to design labels to suit the object or garment they will be sewn in to.

The new owner seemed very pleased with it, and I managed, even with all the Summer breaks to get it to her in time for the Feast of the Assumption.

Mantillas for Mums, and Bonnets for Babies!

I've been making quite a few mantillas lately, and enjoy trying to fulfill the specific requests that people often make, like the brown cotton lace one that was recently asked for.

I love making bonnets too, but am sad that sometimes I don't get to see them being worn by their new owners.  If people buy anything from me, I love to have photos of them or whoever it has been bought for, modelling it.

This one was sent to Japan.

This was used for a Baptism at my Parish. Sadly, I didn't get a photo of baby in it, though!

This was made for baby Grace's Baptism -
I think the photo was taken on another occasion, though.

I love the delicate lace edging framing the face.

But I'm so glad I get to see this one being worn every Sunday!
Maria doesn't seem to mind keeping it on through Mass, either.

A nice easy to wear, elasticated bonnet with lace brim. £8.00 in polycotton, £15.00 in pure cotton, dependent on size.