I cried and cried...

My friend Nkem put up a post about her wedding dress that I made and it had me in tears... Oh no I wasn't sad. They were happy tears :o) She tells the story of how she burst into tears at her final wedding dress fitting four weeks to the "big day"!

Here's a lil excerpt

Femi had to come up to console me; of course I was inconsolable. There was no plan B. This was a disaster. Our honey-tongued designer once again “assured” us that he could fix it. Femi pleaded with me to give him one more chance and I did. After about 3 more weeks, with one week to go, I go for what should have been a final fitting and the disaster had gotten worse (I did not think it was possible for it to have worsened). Reality sets in: I do not have a dress to wear on my wedding day! And I have 7 days to find one.

My rescuer came in the form of friend who makes clothes for me and had come to know my style and preferences. She runs a label called Gbemisoke (www.gbemisoke.blogspot.com)

We explained the situation to her over the phone and thankfully she consented to helping salvage the situation. We engaged her on a Thursday, she proceeded to shop for the fabrics on Friday, spent the whole day on Saturday making the dress and on Sunday I went for my first fitting and the dress fit perfectly. It wasn’t by any means what I had previously envisioned but at this stage, I couldn’t be choosy

Read the full story on her blog:

I hade made the gold raw silk dress for their registry wedding a few weeks earlier.

Here's my fav pic from their wedding. That's her holding my son, Nathan (she calls him Prince Edward) He was about 5 months old and he got enough kisses that day to last him a lifetime :o)

When I got the call from Femi about making the dress, I wasn't sure I could pull it off. I knew, however, that they really needed me, so I dropped everything I was working on and went fabric shopping the very next day. I drafted the pattern and cut the dress immediately and started sewing on Saturday morning. She called me from the airport as soon as she got into Lagos on Sunday to ask how it was going and she couldn't believe it when I said she could come for her first fitting. I was positively thrilled that the dress fit :o).. She was soooo happy, and that for me was enough to make up for all the neck-breaking work.

I met Nkem in 06 through Femi and I've made many dresses for her some of which I already shared here and here. She loved my work and encouraged me a great deal, introducing me to many of her friends who have become loyal clients and dear friends. You remember Lebs from this post? I met her through Nkem, as well as Atinuke of Zuri Perle and many others.

As you've probably read from previous posts, I have no formal training in sewing or designing. All I've got is an innate God given gift that I have worked my behind off to turn into a skill. All I know, I have learnt on the job. The encouragement from friends like Nkem who could have discouraged me cos I was less than perfect have played a HUGE role in making me into the sought after clothier that I am today. When I read the hateful and spiteful comments people sometimes leave on blogs about designers work, I cringe and thank God for a support system made up of my family and friends who helped me grow without killing my dream. While I do not expect everyone to like a designers work, there is a HUGE difference between constructive criticism, which points out things that are less than perfect and offers pointers to helping others become better, and vitriol laced attacks that cut people down.... I can imagine how the designers must feel, cos I know firsthand how much work, physical and emotional, goes into creating clothes, especially in Nigeria where it is such a huge challenge to run a business....

I've gone from making dresses like these for Nkem and her friends back in 06/07

To making better ones for her even after her wedding dress

Femi took this pic of me grinning from ear to ear at City People magazine's fashion show competition when they came to support me. See my wiiiide grin? I couldn't believe it when I was called out as 2nd runner up!! You see, I didn't know until that day that it was a competition. I took part just for fun, plus participation was free and all I had to do was bring the clothes. You can view that collection over at www.gbemisoke.com. It was my first fashion show and there were so many talented designers that had been doing their thing loooooong before I started. I realized that day that there was more to this "hobby" of mine. I met Frank Osodi (He designed Agbani Darego's Miss World dress) that day and that led to an internship with him that has moved me closer to achieving my dream.

I thank God for blessing me with dear friends, too numerous to mention who believed in me when all I had was a dream that one day I would become a "world class couturier", a dream that has taken me on an exciting journey that started from delivering clothes to clients on okada until I could afford a beat up nissan sunny, to having a film crew fly from South Africa to feature me in SABC's documentary Promise Africa and fulfilling my elusive dream of taking courses at the acclaimed London College of Fashion last summer.

I haven't reached my "world class couturier" goal yet, but guess what? I'm closer to it now than I was and I'm going to keep giving my best.

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. ~ Winston Churchill

Thanks for coming by again and again.

May your dreams com true xoxoxo

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire!!

Hello!!!

So we're here!! We got here safe and sound thank God. Thankfully, our journey was stress free. The munchkins slept for the most part of the journey, in fact they both slept all through the connecting flight from ATL to Houston, saving me from the temptation to go chemical on them :o)

We got some stress from naija customs and immigration cos they claimed that my fabrics and trimmings were not "exportable items"... there was no way I was going to leave about 5 boxes filled with Ankara, Sequins, Stones, Laces, Raw silk, thread and zippers that cost me a fortune to buy behind, so I paid 'tax' as they called it.....thankfully I got waivers on excess luggage fees on a couple of boxes :o) You should've seen our luggage! 13 boxes or so... D was like "are you sure you really need all this stuff?"hmmm... to think that I even left some stuff behind!!! I packed just one box for the munchkins, One and a half for myself...err make that two and a half ;o), one box of food... did I hear you ask what was in the other boxes??? Fabric, thread and everything else I would need to start my fashion business! I brought some ready-to-wear shift dresses and patchwork skirts too, so if you're reading this and you're in the US, send in your orders and I'll give you a "blogspot" discount.

I need to figure out how to make my website more "e-commerce compliant", so if you have any suggestions, please share. In the meantime, I'll put up pics of the stuff I have here as soon as we move into our place and I can unpack properly. There's lots of stuff you'll love. I"ll also be taking custom orders, so drop me a line at gbemi@gbemisoke.com if you want anything.

We're all seriously jet lagged though, so we've been drifting in and out of lalaland... there's a thousand and one things to sort out... car, apartment, appointments with paediatrician and dentist to name a few... I'll have my hands full for sure. I expect things to go really well though, cos God's grace is sufficient. My plan is to throw myself straight into my work, so I can channel all the creative energy I have into making 'feel good clothes' for women who are not afraid to live out loud :o)

America, Gbemisoke is here!!!

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.~~Arnold H. Glasow

Halima, my newest bride

I love making wedding dresses!

I get a high from seeing my work on women, but there's something extra special about seeing a bride in a dress I made....

Halima's dress had to be 'nikkai compliant', no cleavage showing, long sleeves etc

The challenge was to create something chic that my young bride would love and that her parents would approve of. After several sketches, this was the final one.

Here's the fabric she had bought.....

The first step was to create the toile. The toile is the mock up of the dress made out of calico. We do this to ensure that the dress fits right and any alterations can be made before we cut up the actual fabric.

I drafted her body block...

Cut out the calico...

Here's her first toile...

She had to come from Abuja for her first fitting, which went well as there were only a few changes. So I made a new pattern and the dress bodice

Next up was draping...

The veil...this was one long process, cos I had to lay on the lace edge on the tulle by hand.....

Many hours of sewing and stitching..... here we are

I'm still waiting for the official wedding pics, but thanks to my dear sister in law, who introduced me to the bride, I got these....

I couldn't go to Ilorin for the wedding, but I heard it was a carnival, cos the grooms son is Adebayo Salami's (Oga Bello the actor) first son. Happy married life Halima and Saheed.

I also made the little bride's dress, but she couldn't wear it cos it wasn't 'nikkai compliant'... I shouldn't have made a short dress...

I'll do a post on some of the other wedding dresses I have made soon...I didn't document the process of any of them like this one though, so it may only be pics of the fitting sessions.

Thanks for coming by. Do drop a line....

xxx

Favorite dresses part 2

Hello,

We can always find something to be thankful for if we look hard enough. I’m grateful for the opportunity to do what I love. I don’t take it for granted.

Here are some more dresses I love… Enjoy.

Here is Nkem in one of my earlier patchwork experiments in 07

Mrs Biodun-Kuti. 06..still fresh...

This 2 piece was also 07. We were going for lots of drama with the skirt and she loved it

Me... 07. Good old dry lace, red ribbons laced through...I'm still saving this dress cos I hope to fit into it again in this life time *AMEN* :)...I don't think I'll do all this 'matchy-matchy' again though...

I’m not sure if it’s because of the fabric, but I love this dress a lot.

Tinuke's monostrap dress. This was @ Nkem's wedding in 08. lovely...Aunty Nneka. 08

The next four are aso-ebi. What I like about aso-ebi is how you can make a person stand out when there are so many people wearing the same fabric.

With Funbi‘s dress, I incorporated the aso-oke...me likey..

For Dunni, we used taffeta. And she did stand out

I was looking at Moradeke’s wedding pics on FB and I was thinking, hmm… fine girl, I like the fit of this dress… and then I saw it was Ayo wearing Gbemisoke. J

Here’s Ayo again, this time I was the photographer. See the difference between a pro and a… ermm...not so pro photog ;)

Another FB find :) Ayo in a patchwork skirt from 09...

Here’s Adenike of Ewar makeovers rocking the ‘Ewar dress’ I named this dress after her because I designed the dress from scratch for her

She looked so good in it, I made one for myself (and a couple more for her)... This was me at the City people awards in 09

Here’s Nike again in a top we made with the leftover fabric from the 1^st Ewar dress. She has a way of making my work look good.

Nike rocks a piece from my 09 collection here

Same dress, different fabric

Here Funmi shows that with the right shoes and accessories (plus the right dose of swag which she adds), you can turn a ‘simple’ dress into something stunning

Patchwork dress from 08....
Ankara bubble dress with asymmetric ruched bodice... 2010aaaThis is dry lace with a touch of Ankara

The more pictures I look up, the more I find.... Plus I'm working on new stuff daily, so there's so much more to share.... *smile*

There's a gorgeous bride who'll be wearing gbemisoke tomorrow...make that today, cos it's almost midnight...I'll share her pics as soon as I get them and maybe try to find some pictures of other brides and bridesmaids I've done.... I fell like kicking myself for not being consistent with documenting my work *sigh*...well I'm glad I have these...

Thanks a lot for coming by. Please drop a line to let me know you visited

xoxo May your dreams come true...ciao