Where have you been woman?!

Is what I imagine you’ve been saying. Or if you’re too polite to think/say that then please believe me that’s what I’ve been saying to myself when I look at the last time I posted.

I have actually been a busy lady which is reassuring (I’ve not been trapped under a pile of fabric unable to reach a telephone to call for help, etc).

Today is my first day back after a week in Spain. Aaaaaaaaaah lovely beachy sunshine and reading books.

I took my Edith Head auto/biography with me that I got as a birthday present. Using her first drafts of an autobiography this book was completed and added to by Paddy Calistro.

For those of you who don’t know, Edith Head was one of Hollywood’s most memorable and rewarded fashion designers. She started work as a fashion artist with Paramount and worked her way up to being the signature designer for the studio. She won 8 Academy Awards for Costume Design; some for work she didn’t even think was her best!

She dressed too many stars to name but formed strong friendships with many iconic actors and actresses; Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Shirley MacLaine, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Natalie Wood, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. She was one of Alfred Hitchcock’s preferred designers and although she found working with Hal Wallis difficult at times, he always asked for her on his pictures.

This book really opened my eyes to how costumes were conceived, designed, produced and fitted for the movies in the 30s through to the 60s. The effect of the war on available fabrics, the changing styles as new decades passed and the politics of handling certain actors and directors are all covered with wit and detail.

I really recommend this book! It’s got so many lovely photos and anecdotes. There’s plenty for a dressmaker as well as someone just enthusiastic about film-making during the golden years of Hollywood.

The other thing I’ve been hidden away working on is a dress.

Aaaah the dress. I blogged about it here.

I had a wedding to go to in the Dales in Yorkshire. At a place called Danby Castle that I’d never heard of even living in Yorkshire all my life!

I wanted a new special dress to wear and dug out some lovely French Crepe I had in stock.

I made my sort of cambie dress out of the pajama pattern I got for my birthday. It’s not really that much like the cambie but it’s got that vibe which I like.

Best photo I have sorry. I’m going to post a review with better photos soon as I think this is a good pattern and with a few tweaks becomes a very wearable dress.

The wedding was fantastic. Bunting themed cake, epic vegan food (courtesy of the chef who goes on tour with Thom York and Radiohead) and lots and lots of dancing. Plus an aggressive pony who only liked men. Humpf!