Florence Broadhurst dress

You may have noticed the dress I was wearing in the photograph that I posted yesterday. At least one person did, because I received an email saying, “You should mention the lovely dress you are wearing in photo.” This suited me fine, because I was planning on talking about Florence Broadhurst today!

The dress is the one I made some time back from Florence Broadhurst “Peacock Feathers” fabric. I talked about it a bit at the time, here on the blog and on the Vetty Creations Facebook page. The story of this dress and the designer of its fabric is told in the current issue (Issue 82) of Inspirations Magazine as part of an article I wrote on Florence Broadhurst.

Florence was a powerhouse of a woman. Whatever she turned her hand to, she threw herself into it wholeheartedly! She churned through many careers in her life, the last of which was wallpaper designer. “Peacock Feathers” is one of her wallpaper designs, and when I saw it, I knew it was the perfect fabric for my dress.

The colourway I chose was a great neutral colour scheme (though Florence also did it in some quite bright colourways!), which I thought would be great for both summer and winter. The feathers form a really dynamic design and are very striking. Whenever I wear the dress I get lots of comments on it.

I designed the dress myself, using skills learned from the patterndrafting course that The Reader and I have been taking with CIAM Patternmaking Australia. We’re off to our class again today, and we may find out our results from the recent exam we did. 🙂

Signature Prints hold the rights for all Florence Broadhurst’s wallpaper designs. Mostly the fabrics are printed on heavy fabric for upholstery (which was perfect for my dress), rather than dress weight fabric.

Below is a photo from the day I was cutting out the dress. It gives you an idea of the fabric itself. Lots of beautiful peacock feathers!