ENVIRONMENTALLY friendly dressmaker Lucie Giselle Ponsford has helped a client make her friends green with envy by revamping an old 80s frock into a bespoke flamenco dress.

But the transformation is all in a day's work for Lucie, 29, from Tavistock, who is a dab hand at turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, maintaining her green dressmaking credentials by re-cycling as much material as she can.

Lucie is the latest creative practitioner to join the team at Duchy Square Centre for Creativity in Princetown.

And she was quickly into her stride when Gabrielle Jackson wanted her outdated frock revamped into a Spanish themed flamenco-style dress, complete with Carmen Miranda headdress, for a costume event.

Lucie, who runs her own business, Giselle Designs,

said: 'I love revamping outmoded and tired garments hidden in the shadows of the wardrobe. It's what I call sustainable dressmaking.

'Re-inventing things is a real passion and creating Gabrielle's dress was actually a simple enough process. I added a panel and ruffles down the back and a bow on the front to match. Then I created the headdress from some fake Amaryllis flowers Gaby had in her dressing room and added frilly red sleeves to liven the look.'

Gabrielle, who lives in Moretonhampstead, wore the dress at the recent Sun Seeker international distributors conference 2010, at Lough Esk Castle near Donegal.

She said she was amazed with her new creation when she collected it from Lucie's workshop.

'I am delighted with what she has done.  She is a very clever designer, all the more so because she can see what most of us cannot — that old clothes can be turned into something delightful and wearable,' said Gabrielle. 

A graduate in Costume Design at Wimbledon School of Art in London in 2001, Lucie won a BBC competition to work on a 1940s costume drama 'Island at War' spending three years doing TV Foyle's War on a freelance basis and a further three years as a wardrobe mistress for the English National Opera.

Lucie, who moved to Tavistock last year, said: 'I love making beautiful things and I am heavily influenced by my costume background, responding to both caricature and personality, while also reviving period vogues.'