Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Rescued By Bowerbird - Birth of a Label


For a number of year now I have been re-working vintage finds. It started with buying dresses that were too big or too long that I would take home and fix up so that they would fit me properly. Sometimes, while sifted through an Op shop I'd find an rather ugly shaped dress made out of beautiful material so I'd take that home and play around with it until I found a way to make it wearable and to show off the gorgeous fabric.

When I went into business, I ended up with a truck load of dresses that had this kind of potential and I'd spend hours in the shop making them into something fab

This got me thinking that there was a market for re-worked vintage and with a little coaxing for friends I decided to start Rescued by Bowerbird. The concept behind the label is to keep the authenticity of the garment alive (I also keep the original label so that it's origins are not forgotten and then sew mine into it as well) and then work on updating it to give it a more contemporay feel without loosing any of it's vintage appeal. So as well as changing hem lines, taking in, letting out and re-working shapes I also embellish with beading and vintage collars, embroider and in some cases combine a few pieces together to make one outfit.
I will be launching Rescued on-line once the shop goes live and as part of the website I want to incorporate a design forum. This willinvolve me posting pictures of a garment I'm working on and hopefully generating some interest and ideas from customers and readers about what the garment needs to revive it - It should be fun!



I've recently embellished this little 70's dress with pieces of silk ribbon to give it a completely new look...

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