Belle of the Ball

After a few sneaky peeks on instagram, and my creative space, I can't believe that it's taken me this long to do the big reveal.

Carly asked me to keep it a secret until after the ball...

I've totally fallen in love with diamante trim. I'd like to hand stitch it onto all my garments from now on....and the merino was a dream to sew with (fabric and trim both from Clegs)

Carly had very particular needs for this garment.

It needed to be warm (hence the merino), the underside had to be soft against her delicate skin (we chose a soft cotton flannelette), and it had to be hands free and easy to take on and off at the ball depending upon the temperature.

I was a bit scared cutting into the $80 per metre fabric so I made a couple of calico mock ups first just to check the fitment etc.

Here's the finished outfit just before the ball. Carly bought her dress at Macy's in NY. It's totally gorgeous!

I love this photo of Carly, Layne and Carly's mum at the ball

And..... there was much excitement about INXS at my place again last week.

Before Carly headed to Sydney, I gave her one of my INXS DVD's to take to the ball just in case Kirk happened to be there (thinking I could get his signature).

Well, Carly told Layne about me being such a huge fan, so she took the DVD and gave it to Kirk and they ALL SIGNED IT!!! (well except for Garry Gary Beers but that's OK).

I didn't know any of this until it landed in my letterbox last Wednesday. Second best surprise ever!!! (because the Kirk phonecall was first). Phew!