Sunday, April 29, 2012

Project Jubilee…

The time is now! We’re currently under a little move about of the workshop due to my sister moving home and reclaiming her room for a month - so there's no better time to sort out the projects for the next few weeks!

I want to create the 3 main looks of the 50's to showcase at the Jubilee festival and to me that means the dress, the coat and the suit, all with a cute 50's eco look.

The box coat. The Chanel suit. The classic full skirted dress.
These 3 pieces, for me, exude the 1950’s look and although there are a lot more dresses that have the classic 1950’s look, I wanted to choose something a little different that I can experiment with…
Then to go with all of this we’re expanding the Famous 50’s collection - a whole load of circle skirts, little tops and cutsie dresses. All eco, all vintage, all amazing! And these are the fabrics…

And for once Ill show it as I’m going along - from start to finish.. (promise)
I’m also (finally) in the middle of uploading all our wedding dress stock to our web page! So if you want to see our amazing wedding dress collection from 1940’s to 1960’s, handmade and up-cycled gowns check out the website here
So much to do! With some time to settle in and do it! Bring on the week ahead.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

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 ♥

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Audrey Hepburn

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Alice’s wedding dress is half done! It looks absolutely stunning and cant wait to see how it all comes together…
We have spend about a fortnight cutting out each individual applique ready to be stitched back on, the back is going to be covered in pearl buttons and the gold appliques look absolutely amazing against the ivory satin!
Its been a massive process, and very time consuming, but I’m so happy I've got the chance to make something this beautiful with fabric like this!



Friday, April 13, 2012

Salut!

Good afternoon everyone!
My laptop has finally been fixed and I am back on the blog posts! Its been a catch up few weeks - we have sorted and cleaned, fixed and stitched and now we are back on form.
We have a massive project at the moment that we need all the support we can get! So please get your orders in, pick out your party dresses, tell your friends, like us on facebook and spread the E&W eco word! 
We have had a mention on a few blogs after attending the Bath In Fashion - Vintage Sunday which is always lovely to see! If you have any pictures of yourselves in anything you’ve bought from us - we’d love to see it! Just tag us on facebook, post a link to us on your blog or tweet us @scofee and get 10% off voucher for our stall in Happy Days!
May will see us concentrating on our 1950s eco look! If you haven’t made plans for the Diamond Jubilee yet - check out ‘A Grand Day Out’ at Powis Castle on the 4th June! With 24 vintage stalls, a vintage fairground, Champagne cream teas and finger sandwiches! See their facebook here

This month is wedding fever - with a dress to finish, 3 bouquets and 23 button holes to make! I will be posting the wedding dress as I am doing it, I absolutely love the design and although it is not ‘eco’ it has a distinctive vintage style and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
This month we are also churning out the shorts ready for summer! Dip dyed, tie dyed, printed, embroidered and embellished! We ♥ shorts
We will keep you up to date with all of that over the next few weeks, and with what we’re up to! Please keep all the support for vintage, eco and local businesses coming!
E&W ♥

Sunday, April 1, 2012


Models (left to right) Alayna and Marla
Alayna wears 1920’s cotton embroidered blouse (£35) and vintage Dior skirt (£60)
Marla wears handmade, recycled bodice top (£40) and matching upcycled skirt (£30)


Lots to catch up on…

It's been yet another busy and productive weekend for us at E&W!
We started the weekend early Friday when we attended the Cowbridge Fashion Week Fringe, organised by Cowbridge Hub to help some amazingly creative pupils completely re-design a blank dress by adding just about anything!
We set up our little workshop ready for the task ahead and sorted out all the fabrics ready for the girls to pick and choose what they wanted!

We had 90 minutes in total to upcycle 5 dresses fit for a fashion convoy on Cowbridge High Street, and although it completely took the wind out of us and I don’t think we stopped to breathe - it was very much appreciated and the girls looked fab!




Then today we trolled up to Bath, for the BathVA Vintage Sunday and although we sat in the car at 7am in -1 waiting for the windscreen to defrost, we eventually warmed up after endless amounts of tea and buscuits and thoroughly enjoyed our day!


Not only did we get lots of amazing feedback off some lovely people, we met the face of the Ethical Fashion Blog, got some brilliant future contacts and we also got a lot of interest in what we do and how we do it, so all in all its been a good day!



What a brilliant weekend we’ve had and this week is going to be as busy as ever! With a wedding dress to get cracking with, some bouquets and button holes for a lovely customer and a complete re-vamp of the work room but not before we get everything back to the shop ready to sell!
Please keep all of your feedback coming - good or bad we love to hear your thoughts!
Lots of love
E&W ♥