Marilyn Monroe Life Dress

 This was a custom request dress, styled after the Ceil Chapman dress Marilyn Monroe wore on the cover of Life Magazine. The base is a stretch satin with bra cups, side zipper, the over fabric is a white knit fabric gathered and draped with a side slit. 3/4 Sleeves also gathered. The Original dress was meant to be worn on the shoulders but of course Marilyn wore them pushed off for a sexier look, this dress can also be worn either way :-)

Niagara Top & Skirt

 This set is styled after an outfit worn by Marilyn Monroe while shooting "Niagara"
A wide square neckline top with wide cap style sleeves, angled darts in front and buttons up the back. On the bottom is a fitted wiggle skirt with an angled wrap front. The set is available as a custom order through my Etsy shop.

Elizabeth Taylor- Cat On A Hot Tin Roof-Chiffon Dress

 This is a dress I just finished. I have a back log of dresses made in the past month or so that i haven't blogged about yet, i will be adding those soon.  I have been busy between my teething baby and orders.

My client chose a plum chiffon with a plum satin lining. The waist has some elastic at the seam to allow for a baby bump as well as some extra holes in the belt to make fitting easier to adjust. The chiffon drapes along the V-neckline in one piece in the back, the front is draped in 4 pieces, though the original dress has the diagonal side drapes coming from the back piece (not as separately cut details) but its easier to alter later with normal side seams. The skirt is two full circles for the chiffon and one circle for the satin lining so there are side front and back seams in the chiffon. My Etsy shop Morningstar84

Miss Pinup Australia wearing the 'Hallway Dress'

I just had to share these, my lovely customer Miss Betty Jean sent me pictures of her wearing The Marilyn Monroe Hallway Dress that she ordered last year from my Etsy shop for the Miss Pinup Australia contest, and she won!

Vintage Repurposed Blue & Peach Dresses

Both of these dresses are made from vintage materials!

The blue polkadot ''Cupcake Dress'' is made entirely out of a 50s square dance skirt
the top ruffle had some stains and light faded spots so i removed it and there was just enough undamaged to make a bodice. I shortened the other two ruffles from the top and re-gathered them. i added some white cotton trim, also vintage to the top and a white satin ribbon at the waist. The only new things were the zipper and elastic :-)

The second dress i finished was this cute Peach & Pink Dress i removed the pink crochet yoke from a vintage night gown that was in bad shape but the yoke was just fine. I had this lovely vintage peach cotton and some cute vintage pink rickrack and ribbon. There is a new zipper in the back seam but thats it!
I love using old things to make something new, i pretty happy with the results and cant wait to get started on the next revamp/restyle/re-purpose project :-)

other dresses are also available at my Etsy shop Morningstar84

Restyled 80s Wedding Dress

I thought this dress had some potential, and the first things to go were those sleeves, eww.
then i removed the front lace panel because someone had melted the lace and it was just a hard plastic blob right on the midriff, not pretty. i cut the lace down to match the lining and added some trim and recovered the center front bodice with lace i had left over from some other project. I added boning to the front and the back. I made the sleeves into an attached collar/shawl. Put cream satin bias binding around the back and sides of the dress to finish it. then i added cutout pieces of lace in the skirt to tie it all together. I think all in all it turned out pretty good.
It is for sale at my Etsy shop

Disco Fever/ Jumpsuit Mania

I was going through old pictures of past projects recently and realized that i have made a lot of jumpsuits, who knew they would be so popular, granted most of them were made for 70s disco parties. Vintage jumpsuits can be very hard to find in a normal size, they tend to be all made for small petite women. Below are just a few of my favorites that i have made :-)

Betty Draper Inspired Wiggle Dress

My inspiration for the Betty dress came from a bit of fabric i had in my stash, when i saw it, it just looked like her. But i didn't want to just copy her dress anyone can do that. I wanted something with her fashion sense, but a little more fun, so i added my own little twist. Here are a few pictures that i had in mind while designing.




Betty & Don Draper at dinner,
notice the brocade fabric of her dress.


The little bust bows on this dress gave me the idea.
for this,



The Halter Strap is Removable!

I made this dress with floral brocade and satin detailing.
When i saw this fabric i thought of Betty Draper but i wanted it to have a bit of a pinup spin, with the halter and bows above the bust, as well as the hip band. The vintage pin finishes it off nicely i think and it matches so well!
You can check it out at my Etsy shop.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/73011232/cream-green-betty-mad-men-dress