Hand made

1. I've always found that it's a fine line between being a stunning silhouette and being a dummy, a point I think this photo illustrates rather well.

2. This is the dress hanging on my new dummy. The dummy was a Christmas present from mum that's now in my hall, fully dressed as 1957 complete with shoes. It never fails to give me a start - like the benevolent ghost of Betsy Draper standing guard.

3. In a year filled with lots of success and achievement it's this dress that I am perhaps most proud.

4. It started when my friend Alana got engaged. I decided to make a dress for her wedding. Luckily mum accepted the challenge and we got stuck in. For several weeks we met each weekend, had some food and then got sewing, sometimes way into the night. We always took it very seriously.

5. Each step was an achievement, every inch of it tackled with care and finished as perfectly as we could manage. What we made in the end, I think, is rather stunning. Why we made it stemmed from friendship. How we made it and who made it with me is something I will remember forever.