More Joan Holloway Dresses

Two more Joan dresses from the show ''Mad Men'' i love these dresses, and they are great on so many shapes and sizes. I have more Joan dresses available at my Etsy Shop :-)








This dress is made of blue linen, lined in cotton, with linen bias trim and bows and shell buttons down the side of the skirt






The Teal Ruffle Joan dress, made of wool suiting, fully lined. Includes the matching belt, i even found a pen necklace to use for the pictures it's not included with the dress but i have seen quite a few of them on Etsy :-)

Mira Sorvino's Gold Marilyn Dress

This was a custom request for the gold dress that Mira Sorvino wore when playing Marilyn Monroe in the 1996 film ''Norma Jean and Marilyn'' below are screen grabs from the film, there aren't many pictures of the dress out there, so i had to watch these scenes several times trying to figure out what those pleats were doing.



I found a great cream and gold metallic crepe fabric on ebay that worked really well for this dress. I lined it in cream and added bra cups. The pleating was a bit of a pain, trying to get everything to lay where i wanted, but i think it came out well. i even made the little dangle in the back neckline :-)

The Prince and The Showgirl Dresses: Silk Mermaid Wedding Gown And Ivory Mermaid Premiere Dress

I am finally posting what i have been working on, it has been a busy year so far and it doesn't look like its going to let up anytime soon :-)
First is a variation on the ''Prince and The Show Girl Dress'' worn by Marilyn Monroe. a lovely silk mermaid evening gown with chiffon draping and beading.






my client wanted the sleeves to match, preferring the gathered one over the beaded one and they were made a little longer, to elbow length. Also she wanted only beading at the scalloped chiffon hem, everything else was left off. I used 100% silk charmeuse satin and silk crepe chiffon, and hand beaded the fringe and border. it is fully lined in poly shantung for a little more stability. The body of the dress has a cotton underlining to support the satin as well as boning in the side seams. The back neckline was raised to 1'' below the nape of the neck.
So the final dress has the same feel but has a much more simple and understated feel to it.

And second another customer requested the mermaid gown Marilyn Monroe wore to the Premiere of ''The Prince and the Showgirl'' i used a lovely ivory faux silk shantung, fully lined with built in bra cups, back zipper, very low scoop back, fitted through the body with princess seaming and full gathered skirt that starts just above the knee, and of course the matching wrap.

And below the pictures from the premiere showing Marilyn in the original dress

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!

From a Picture to a Gown

With prom coming up i thought id share a couple of my more recent formal projects, both are made from just a picture, i draped/drafted patterns for both, and searched high and low for the right colors and prints to complete these. Sometimes what you are looking for just isn't out there, but i was lucky this time around.

Above is the picture i was given, and below the finished gown, this dress was quite a project!
it has built in bra cups, and an elastic band that runs along the under bust band, but because of the jewels it could only be attached every few inches by a ribbon loop sewn on the underside of the band. i used the same technique with the arm bands to keep them up. The skirt is a yellow stretch mesh with gold glitter with a white stretch satin lining, making it look like a light gold. with so little dress on the bodice, it is tricky to be sure it fits close to the body and doesn't gap, especially when you can't fit the dress to your customer. I have done work for this client before but i have never seen her, so that makes fitting all the more difficult. Luckily the dress fit and she was beyond thrilled when it arrived.





Above the other dress that i was given a picture of and the finished product, i had a hard time seeing what the exact beading/sequin situation was on the original image, so i had to sort of guess, but i think it looks pretty close. It is bias cut with a front drape, i used a penny to weigh down the front drape facing just a little bit. The lower portion of the skirt is chiffon with a light weight satin lining. The print isn't quite the same but it was the closest one i could find :-)

Jayne Mansfield Bathingsuit/Sundress Set

This set was inspired by the Yellow Swimsuit & Skirt worn by Jayne Mansfield in the move
''The Girl Can't Help It'' at first glance it looks to be a sundress, but then she removes the skirt and reveals a cute little swimsuit. My version is made in Mint Cotton Stretch Twill with white cotton sateen piping and big white plastic buttons. The bathing suit is fully lined this lingerie mesh to help support the figure as well as the outer fabric, boning and bra cups help suport the breast, and zips up the back. The skirt is fully lined in the white cotton sateen, the fron features pockets with button tabs, the back of the skirt buttons with scalped detail all the way down the back. The belt can be removed and worn with either the skirt or swimsuit or not at all.