Adventures in Watercolour, part 2

Part 1 here

Before my mum came to visit us, I let her know that I wanted to get better at watercolour and demanded some lessons from her (she's good at all that). While she was in Manila we had a few painting sessions and I've been making it a habit to paint regularly since. I've been painting lots of wedding dress ideas, and also did some watercolour illustrations for my Hong Kong post.

I still use fashion drawing templates, because trying to draw people properly takes all the fun out of it for me. I've also been adding ink outlines using various techniques - fine pen, thicker markers and bamboo pens. My favourite way of drawing with ink is to cut an old-fashioned quill from a feather (so hipster, I know...) but I didn't think to bring feathers with me when I moved to Manila and I have no idea where to buy them! In Australia I would just buy a novelty feather mask from the party section of the supermarket or a packet of coloured feathers from the craft shop but I haven't been able to find any in Manila. There are also no birds in the city apart from sparrows, so the chances of finding a feather lying around are slim. Luckily the town where my parents live is full of magpies, so I managed to collect a few feathers while I was there before Christmas.

Weekly update - polka dot dresses & pink flowers

That's right, you heard me - weekly update! Well, that's the plan anyway. Signing up for The Blogcademy has made me determined to put more work into this blog and turn it into something that people would actually want to read. I love reading other designer's blogs to get to know the person behind the label, see what inspires them and what they've been working on. With bridal it can be hard to share what I'm doing all the time because I feel like I should wait until after the wedding day to show any dress details, but I'm sure there are plenty of other things I can show you in the mean time.

This week I've been working on another bridal sample which I've named Daphne. It's made from a soft polka dot tulle (also called swiss dot or hail spot) similar to the fabric I used for my own wedding dress. It turned out so pretty and frothy I just had to try it on and have a bit of a dance around in it. Isn't that the point of owning a bridal business?

This dress works perfectly with a ribbon sash. I only had a dark green grosgrain ribbon and a purple velvet ribbon handy to try on with it, but they both give it a lovely vintage look. 

I feel like the phrase "I've been enjoying my garden a lot lately" makes me sound like a 75 year old, but... I really have been enjoying my garden a lot lately. It looks bright and pretty in the daytime, and at night we can hang out there and have a drink before dinner. I never know if pot plants on a balcony count as a 'garden', but it's all I've ever had (as an adult) and I don't see myself having a real garden with grass and trees and things anytime soon - thank goodness, we both get terrible hayfever so I don't know who would do the mowing.

The bougainvillea makes me especially happy, partly because it's bright pink and partly because my grandpa used to hate them to the point of obsession so thinking about his famous 'killer bougainvillea' rants always makes me laugh. In fairness to him, I did cut myself on one of the thorns when I was taking these photos so he may have had a point. 

James brought home these colourful flowers on Thursday. Pink, orange, yellow... perfect!

I always take photos of my mannequin to set up self-timer shots and test the settings, and I love the lighting in this photo. If I started work at 6.30am I could enjoy this light every day, but there is breakfast to be eaten and tea to be drunk and internet to be read. I normally just catch up on blogs and instagram in the mornings, but I recently found a site called Show + Tell which I'm really loving. It's run by Monty Dimond, and her 'On the Couch' interviews with influential Australian women are just perfect to watch with a cup of tea and vegemite toast.

Update - Samples & Cigarette Girls

It's been far too long since my last post so I wanted to check in and update you on what I've been up to since the awful day when I spilled water all over my laptop and killed the wi-fi (handy hint: don't do that).

In my last post I mentioned that I am taking Bell Street in a new direction, focusing on bridal and custom work rather than ready to wear collections. As a result most of my time lately has been spent on business planning, dreaming, designing and pattern making. I am currently working on some bridal samples and finished 'Maggie' (above) last week - she's very sweet.

As much as I want to focus on bridal, I also love doing costumes and will never say no to working with Rollergirl Promotions - those girls are too much fun! I made them these vintage style cigarette girl outfits for a corporate event and they looked amazing, as usual.

James and I recently went to Hong Kong for a quick break as it's less than two hours flight from Manila. We had a great time and loved the city, although we didn't get to see as much of it as we planned due to us both getting horrible sniffly colds. We didn't let it ruin our trip though, and hey - if you have to be sick in bed, better to be in a lovely hotel bed and have someone else clean your room each day!

I did manage to make it to Hong Kong's garment district, Sham Shui Po, and had a bit of a 'wahhh, why don't we live here?!' moment when I realised how easy it is to find and get everything you need. I got some beautiful ivory silk fabrics for bridal samples and stocked up on a whole lot of miscellaneous haberdashery (James' favourite word) that I haven't been able to find in Manila.

Manila is already in full Christmas mode, which I love! I'm in a very positive excited mood at the moment, because I have so many fun things to look forward to - and that's the key to happiness, according to my Mum (or a book that she read). In just over two weeks my awesome friend and bridesmaid extraordinaire, Jess, will be arriving in Manila with her sister and the three of us are going to an amazing beach resort called Secret Paradise. On the same day that they leave, my Mum and Dad are arriving! They're also keen to do some travel so we're heading back to Hong Kong (with a compulsory day at Disneyland) and then to Baguio which is a few hours north of Manila. It's safe to say I'm not going to get much work done in November. I'll be working furiously on a custom ball gown and more Rollergirl costumes in December, then it's back to Australia for Christmas and New Years - I can't wait!

New things

I've been really busy with custom jobs lately, and I'm absolutely loving it. I used to get really stressed about custom work being too time consuming and not leaving me any time to work on my collections. The solution should have been obvious, but it's taken me awhile to come around to it - why worry myself with producing seasonal collections when my income comes from a steady stream of custom work? Especially as I've been getting more and more bridal jobs, which I love doing.

So, things are going to change around here! I won't be designing regular collections anymore or producing ready-to-wear clothing. I'm dedicating myself completely to custom work - specifically to bridal. I love weddings and have a million ideas flying around my head for gorgeous vintage-style cocktail, bridesmaid and wedding dresses!

When I went shopping for my own dress (ok, we just went to play in the bridal shops - I was always going to make my own dress), there were really hardly any options with sleeves, nothing remotely 60s style, and when I mentioned the idea of a short dress I either got a condescending laugh or was shown mid-calf 'ballerina length' - cute, but mid calf is still long in my book! I want to fill that gap and make the dresses you can't find in the bridal stores. If you're dreaming about the perfect dress and it doesn't seem to exist in real life, I'll make it for you.

As you can see from these pictures, I don't just do bridal. I love variety and I'll make anything. But bridal is definitely the direction I'd like to move in and so that's what the website will be focused on. I'll still blog about cool sixties stuff and travel - because without those things I'd be posting even less than I do now - but the main website home page will be that of a bridal designer. Just wanted to explain everything so you don't turn up in a month's time and think you've ended up on the wrong page!

I'm SO excited about taking the business in a different direction and working towards a big goal. That black and pink notebook (above right) is my 'Bell Street Bridal' book and it is filling up fast with ideas, plans, sketches and scribbles. I'm having fun.