Miss Celie

I Spy: Carolina Herrera Lily of the Valley

As I’ve never been in the position to get married you can imagine why I’ve always hidden this Brides magazine deep in my reading collection.

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I saw the cover dress back in 2006 and thought it so beautiful I purchased the magazine.  This Carolina Herrera gown with lily of the valley print was too good to not save. Back in 2006, runway collections weren’t readily available on the internet. I was just getting back in to sewing and thought it would be fun to make a dress with a print placement like this.  I kind of forgot about this magazine and stuck it in a stack of other publications I have. I do remember consciously hiding it when I first bought it, lest anyone think I had some funny ideas.

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So, imagine my delight and surprise when I saw the EXACT SAME FABRIC from Carolina Herrera on the Mood Fabrics website last week! It looks like the colors are the reverse on the Mood sample. But, I have a small amount the cream version and this photo above is showing the “wrong” side.

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Here’s a different photo of the dress. The fabric ‘border’ is horizontal, allowing the longer non-lily potion to be used for elaborate  skirt.

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And, according to the inside cover, was retailing for $7,000 at the time. But, when I google searched for the dress, I found people paid $10,000 four years ago.

This is why I love that we sew. It’s kind of cool when you spot the designer fabric, eh? Especially from a magazine that you purchased six years earlier *just* for that dress.

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I’m not making this dress for anything nevermind a formal! But, I think the fabric would be a gorgeous skirt or spring cocktail dress.

Edited to add: Guys! Check it. Reader Claudia in Germany used the fabric to make a dress three years ago. Isn’t it beautiful! See how the silk almost  glows?

I still prefer Feedly, but I figured I should at least try Bloglovin, Follow my blog with Bloglovin . They’ve added a one step import process (so no exporting your files, etc.) But, it doesn’t seem to be keeping categories in place.

Also, I follow over 200 blogs!!! Good grief.

26 comments

  2. I love that fabric!! How much did you end up getting. I think I want to make a spring dress with the print in the center like your picture.

    • That’s what I had in mind too! Something short and flirty. So, the dress is in panels with the print running along the crosswise width. So, if you just want the print in the front, you could get the ‘regular’ amount of fabric. But, if you want it to be in the front and back, you might need to double what you would normally get. Does that make sense? There is also a second border that is in the panel that looks like the leaves of the flower without the little bitty buds. So, you could use that at the center back of the dress if you wanted. The fabric is also hefty enough that it doesn’t ‘need’ underlining and it’s not super wrinkly the way natural fibers can be. So, I think it might be a blend. It’s really beautiful.

  3. All the lovely and cheap(!) fabrics make me wishing I lived in the U.S. What a gorgeous fabric! I want it now! Can’t order online from Mood since I live in Europe… have to make a phone order. Silly. Hope they launch their new website soon. (Which is said to enable online orders for international buyers.)

    • Yes, I’ve heard the new website will allow online international orders. I can see how a phone order is totally frustrating!

  4. This fabric is gorgeous! I cannot wait until you make a spring dress with it. I have found it interesting how long some of these designer fabrics spend tucked away somewhere, then reappear. I wonder if that is by design so home sewists can’t compete with runway designs. Doesn’t matter. It is great that you found it. It deserves you!

    • I knew a girl who worked for Tracy Reese. They purposefully sold their material outside of New York to make sure other designers couldn’t get a hold of it. I think Mood told me they’ve had it for a while. And, a reader in Germany also bought it three years ago. It is interesting though how long it can take for the fabric to make it to the mass market. And, if it weren’t at Mood — we might never know the origin!

  5. Oh I can’t wait to see what you make with this, it’s bound to be fabulous! If only I could wear that color of green….

    It is curious that this fabric is 6 years old and you can just now buy it at Mood?

  8. I got a swatch of the other colorway a few months ago and have been trying to think of a way to use it. The green is awesome too, can’t wait to see what you come up with!

  12. Great find and great memory, I too find it interesting that you can still find a fabric used 7 years ago. It will look gorgeous whatever you make, but come on, aren’t you even a little bit tempted to copy the dress that you bought and kept that magazine for all these years?!?

  13. Thats some gorgeous fabric, pretty neat considering how long ago you bought the magazine, it was just meant to be!

  14. Wow, what a great find! That fabric is lovely! Lilies of the valley remind me of my grandmother, so they’ve always held a special place in my heart. 🙂

  15. Miss Celie, I have been to Amsterdam three times now and all three times went to Kantje Boord. Sometimes I wonder if that is the only reason I went — just kidding love the whole place and have a ball there and can’t wait to go back. I have just recently purchased the Shelley Bra pattern from Bra-Maker’s supply

     in Hamilton , Ontario and was thrilled with the fit and think that you might be interested too. I seem to remember you saying that you use a large cup size and I do too. Inormally buy a 40DD –she does a 40-E pattern which fit me really well. Thought you might be interested in giving in a try. I really enjoy your posts. I think your sewing brain works similary to mine.Good luck with your sewing!!

  16. GORGEOUS fabric 🙂 Yes, you should make a cute little cocktail dress 🙂 The colors would look very nice on you. Concerning ‘right and wrong’ sides of fabric. We need to remember we can use whichever ‘side’ we like 🙂 The JOY of being our own seamstress 🙂 YAY!!!

  18. So beautiful! Not my style, but I do have some other border print that this could motivate me to get out just to see what I could do with it!

  19. This is a beautiful fabric. I look forward to what you make with it. Interesting how it is the reverse color printing of the original. I can relate to buying a magazine just for one piece of inspiration.

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