Karen delahunty Designs 1st Collection on the Catwalk at the NEC Sewing for Pleasure show March 2013

 Its been a fortnight since the Sewing For Pleasure show finished. finally had chance to sort out  some photos and videos from the fantastic event.

Here are a few of the pictures showcasing my first collection of corsets on the catwalk.

Every one loved them. The students said they were lovely to wear and enjoyed having the opportunity to wear them on the catwalk.



these two above are designed from a fabrics printed by swaffer company. the designs on the fabrics are beautiful. The blue anemone and the pink/purple iris flowers are painted by a local artist Kay Elliot from warwickshire. She paints the most realistic beautiful flowers. Quite a few of her designs have been printed on to 100% cotton fabric, she has managed to keep every colour shadings that she used in her orginonal paintings, which makes them stand out from any other ordinary floral print which is usually 'watered down' to 8 or 10 shades.
 I think this is why they appeal so much

The metalic grey skirt and corset were created from an historical theme. with  a' triangular cup' at the top of the  corset which is corded at the bust area for effect. Both the corset and matching coloured  skirt have a scalloped matching hem edges. the skirt is a half circle lined and net is added to give some extra flare and  body to the outfit.

the peach 'LOVE' corset and flowing skirt were made to show my embroidery  and creative skills. i have made my own fabrics from recycled pieces of peach toning threads, fabrics and ribbons to create some of the panels within the corset. on other panels I wanted to show how you can use your decorative stitches you have on your sewing machine and use them creatively. I used toning coloured cords to the front panels, couching them on to spell the word LOVE. other panels have the word love stitched over them in different languages.
the corset has eyelets to the back and is laced with a pretty ribbon.
The skirt is made from strips of chiffon, organza and other fabrics to produce a free flowing element to the design.
i made several little  hearts from the scraps of fabric,stitched to various lengths of cords and added to the waist to drape over the skirt. one of the hearts is made into a brooch worn at the top of the corset.
a special gold silk piece of textile is added to hearts - it was given to me bu Julia O'Connell -one of the  the ladies behind the making of the superb Cloak that was designed especially to fit a huge working model of Lady Godiva as part of the west midlands input towards the Olympic  Games. I met this amazing lady at Theatre Absolute ( she is part of this organization) in Coventry several months ago now when she was just in the design process of the Cloak.

here is a video link to my designs on the catwalk

Its thanks to the  great effort of Brenda Killigrew from Inkberrow Design Centre,  and her students, that this show can take place each year. They all volunteer for the event to provide a very good show three times a day for 4 days. its that big now that there are two shows an A and a B show that get alternated each day.
Thank you Everyone involved from Karen Delahunty Designs