Artisan of the week, Rachael of DeDe and Dolores

The artisan this week is a person that I have admired the work of since first finding her shop. Rachael of DeDe and Delores makes the most beautiful dresses, shoes and skirts for the little princesses in all our lives. She combines simple lines with stunning fabrics and produces dresses with twirly whirly skirts that I would have loved to own when I was a small girl.

1.Could you please introduce us to who you are and what you do?
My name is Rachael and I am based in Penarth, near Cardiff in Wales. I am a mother to two young girls and spend my time, whilst they are at school creating stunning children's dresses, skirts, coats and baby shoes from divine fabrics.

2.What led you to take up your craft?
It all started when I couldn't find any long sleeved dresses in the shops for my eldest. I decided that I could probably make one as I already had a sewing machine.Then I discovered that I could buy wonderful fabrics online ! I taught myself to sew from scratch and with a lot of work began to produce dresses that I was proud for my children to wear. Then I just couldn't stop.. I am a perfectionist and wanted each dress I made to be immaculate.

3.Which part of your work do you most enjoy?
Choosing fabric, opening the parcel of fabric when it arrives and finding it even more glorious than I imagined, lovely emails from delighted customers and watching my girls swirling and twirling in their dresses!

4.Which part do you find hardest?
I thoroughly adore the entire process of making these clothes so I'd have to say that the hardest part is photographing the dresses. It's hard to capture the richness of the colours and the incredible detailing in some of the patterns.

5.Where do you hope to be in 1 year’s time?
At the moment, my youngest is only just in her first year at nursery so there isn't a whole lot of spare time! I'd say in 2 years time, I'd like to be at the stage where once both girls are in school full time, I can devote all my time to launching De-De and Dolores as a fully functional business.

6.What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Always be nice to people on the way up, you never know if you'll meet them on the way down!

7.Name other artisans sites/shops would you recommend are worth a visit?
Tuggle is interesting as is All Things Original
I love Siansburys shop on etsy and adore her sock monkeys!
I've recently discovered flickr too which is a great way to find other crafters .

8.What is your favourite sandwich filling?
ooh...it's got to be sliced mozzarella in a ciabatta roll with sun-blushed tomatoes and pesto...mmmm!

Thank you for participating with our blog Rachael. Your work is so pretty and the flow of your dresses are gorgeous. Perfect for spinning around and around in until you are so dizzy you fall down. Don't you just love doing that? Or is that just me and my love of twirling around with hula hoops? I look forward to seeing the grand launch party for the DeDe and Dolores children's clothes label in 2 years time!