Ellie's Atelier

Lewes, East Sussex

Recent work

Close enough to see the stitches.

Alterations do not photograph well from across a room. The work is in the seam allowance, the pressing, the way a layer sits on the layer beneath it, so these are close. Most are costume pieces, named by production; a client’s piece is only ever shown with their permission and without their name.

Tabards for the Free Cities, House of the Dragon

Season two, made with Dee Sheehan Ltd and designed by Caroline McCall. Contrast layering, machine embroidery and couching, with coins and shells stitched on by hand.

An embroidered tabard border in gold and red thread, edged with hand-stitched cowrie shells and coins
Hand embroidery in gold and red thread, the border edged with stitched cowrie shells.
Dense gold paisley embroidery worked onto deep red silk, meeting a patterned block-printed panel
Dense gold paisley on deep red silk, meeting a block-printed panel.
A beaded band of gold paisley embroidery on indigo and crimson silk, finished with cowrie shells and coins
A beaded band on indigo and crimson silk. Beading rework is one of the things boutiques send out.
Radiating panels edged in gold thread, with couched stars, fanning out from a single point
Radiating panels edged in gold thread, with hand sewn stars.

Rhaenys Targaryen’s coat, House of the Dragon

Season two, designed by Caroline McCall and worn by Eve Best. Worked on with the team at Dee Sheehan Ltd. Suede strips pieced in chevrons follow the neckline of the bodice.

Rhaenys Targaryen’s suede coat laid flat mid-construction, its front built from chevron-cut panels joined by hand-finished seams
The body part before attaching to the coat skirt panels.
Angled suede panels pressed against an open-weave backing cloth, showing the seam allowances flattened by hand
Layered suede pieces in chevron design
Overlapping suede panels pinned into a diagonal seam, seen from above on the workroom floor

Tutus, bluebird in amongst bluebells and in Venice

Made and photographed by me and Anna Maria Genuise for rental company Tutumakerstudio. Each is a boned bodice attached to a basque which supports the tutu, the tulle is tacked by hand so the tutu plate holds its shape.

A dancer in a royal-blue and silver tutu, arms open, standing among bluebells in a wood
The Bluebird tutu, in a bluebell wood. Dancer Daisy Farris.
A dancer in a turquoise tutu with an embroidered bodice, one arm raised, on the steps of a bridge in Venice, a domed church behind her
A turquoise tutu with an embroidered bodice, on a bridge in Venice.
A dancer in a peach tutu with a beaded bodice, one leg raised high, beside the iron railing of a bridge in Venice
A peach tutu with a beaded bodice, beside the railings of a bridge.
Two dancers in white tutus and tiaras sitting in a gondola on the water in Venice, the gondolier standing behind them
Dancers in a gondola, Venice.

Bridal before-and-after photographs are added as clients agree to them. If you would like to see something specific, such as a bustle, a bodice re-cut or a particular fabric, ask, and I will send what I can.

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