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.

Close up of the most recently made Modest Wedding Dress.

Here are some close-up photos of Patricia's dress that were taken in the garden prior to delivery to the bride. Made from a pure silk satin under layer, with gorgeous Chantilly lace on top, hanging in three tiers over the skirt, and a waistband and bow of matching silk satin.

This photo shows how light and floaty
the layers of fabric are.

Detail of the beautiful lace layers.

Beautiful Summer Bride in her Modest Lace Wedding Dress

An unofficial snap of the latest Zelie's Roses creation. I am particularly fond of this dress as I had lace to work with, and Zelie Martin was a very fine maker of Point d'Alencon lace. The bride looked exquisite in it, and remained cool and resplendent in her gown, despite it being a very hot day! Hopefully I will be able to post some more official photos when they come off the press.

Update, here are one or two more official photos, taken by the photographer Martin Macgregor, who lives in Oxfordshire.

Please see the Modest Wedding Dresses page for more photos.

Modest Long-Sleeved Wedding Dresses can be beautiful!

The latest from the Wedding Dress studio!

The last couple of  months around Christmas I had two wedding dresses to make for one bride. This is because she is Malaysian, so whilst having an English church wedding over here, she also had a "do" in Malaysia afterwards. It was nice to be able to make a white one for England, and a bright red one for the Chinese part. (Which was a tea ceremony, and an evening meal.)
The white dress is pure silk Duchesse satin, with a pure silk organza overlay, and the red one is pure silk georgette, with a silk chiffon overlay, and gold bead and embroidery details.
 I am hoping eventually to be able to post a few more photos that show off the actual dresses a bit better, but she does look lovely!

Second Official Wedding Dress!

The scene of the cutting of the duchesse satin!



I am glad to say that since my first official wedding dress (my own! a mere almost 17 years ago) I have now successfully completed a second one, and the wedding day went well, with no catastrophes. I admit to having spent a restless night before the big day, dreaming of the things that could go wrong, no doubt inspired by this wonderfully funny passage from Anthony Trollope's "Barchester Towers" which I had just been reading, whereby a sofa in a crowded room is given a hefty shove, with the following result -

The sofa rushed from its moorings and ran half-way into the middle of the room [where] Mrs. Proudie was standing..
... She was beginning to be stately, stiff, and offended,
when unfortunately the castor of the sofa caught itself in her lace train, and carried away there is no saying how much of her garniture.
Gathers were heard to go, stitches to crack, plaits to fly open,flounces were seen to fall, and breadths to expose themselves; a long ruin of rent lace disfigured the carpet, and still clung to the vile wheel on which the sofa moved.

I feared that the chiffon overlay which I had hand-stitched in place might somehow get stepped upon and a Trollopian disaster would ensue! But I need not have feared, and the Bride looked very beautiful and radiant, which just goes to show that there's no need for the modern bride to succumb to the immodest bridal fashions of today.

May they be richly blessed in their marriage.

Hello, Please allow me to Introduce Myself...

Hello, by way of introduction, my name is Elizabeth Dulston, and I make clothes. I began this after hearing several mothers bemoaning the fact that they could not find decent, modest, well-made, plain everyday clothes for their children; to which I replied "I can make them if you let me know what you want!" So this blog is to help people communicate with me what they want me to make.

I am happy to make fairly simple, everyday pinafore dresses, but I am also able to do dresses with sleeves, blouses, skirts, etc. - as well as a range of baby clothes, (including bonnets, booties and bibs!).
I can also make "fancier" things, such as the Baptismal gown which can be seen in the header picture of this blog, and First Holy Communion dresses, examples of which are below and in the side bar; also waistcoats, and trousers for boys.

Those who know me will know why I've chosen the title Zelie's Roses. For those who don't, Zelie was an inspirational woman, who lived in the 19th Century, and always made sure her daughters were well-dressed; she also helped to boost the family income by making lace (Point d'Alencon) at home.

I have chosen her name for my modest business, making modest clothing, at, I hope, modest prices!

I have more samples below, and in the side bar, of what I can do.

For a 6 month old (also being modelled by Maria in the side bar)

and a pinafore with blouse to go underneath, for a 9 yr old

A New Summer frock for a one year old baby.

This one has been made for an 18 month old.

I have plenty of fabric in stock, (please see next post for some of the current choices) but am also happy to work with fabric you supply. If you see something that you like, or have something in mind that you would like me to do, please get in touch, and I can email pictures of the fabric I have at present, or we can discuss your requirements. My email is in the side bar, (underneath the picture of Maria being jolly!).

I send out a sizing chart to be filled in, so I can have the right measurements, and then make the garment to fit.

Prices for the everyday clothes range from about £15 for the simplest pinafore, to £25 - £35 for an older child's dress, but it will depend on the fabric chosen, and how many frills and flounces are required! I will also make clothes for adults, and am able to make modest wedding dresses too, as well as Mantillas, and Chapel veils.