Kate set fixed - I hope!

Apparently there have been some problems with one of my recent Kate items - the red Alexander McQueen outfit she wore at the Jubilee Regatta. Apparently the mesh was showing up in the game but not the skin. I have now re-made this outfit from scratch and the whole set will be re-published tomorrow. Please let me know if you experience any further problems with this set.

Team GB

To celebrate the recent success of Team GB in the London Olympics, I have created a set of Team GB swimwear and athletics kit for The Sims 2. I loved Stella McCartney's designs based on the Union Jack flag.

Kate Jubilee

I very much enjoyed the recent Diamond Jubilee celebrations - especially Kate's gorgeous outfit choices in festive red, white and blue (well, almost!). My latest set includes two of her Jubilee outfits, along with two others worn during recent appearances. I have also re-created two more of her cute clutch bags.

This set includes the following outfits:

1. The elegant pale pink wool crepe Alice coat dress by Emilia Wickstead that Kate wore to the Sovereigns' Luncheon on 18th May 2012 and again on 29th May 2012 to attend a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. On the former occasion, Kate carried a gorgeous pink satin Prada clutch bag, which I have also re-created. On the latter occasion, Kate carried the L. K. Bennett Natalie clutch, which I have previously re-created for The Sims here. The dress requires mesh 150211 by BBKZ. The bags require my favourite NataliS clutch bag mesh.

2. The striking red wool crepe Alexander McQueen dress that Kate wore to attend the Diamond Jubilee River Pageant on 3rd June 2012. Worn with L. K. Bennett nude Sledge pumps. This dress also requires mesh 150211 by BBKZ. A version of this dress has also been seen on Tulisa and on Kim Kardashian, but I definitely think Kate wore it best. The hat shown in the preview is available here.

3. The gorgeous champagne lace Alexander McQueen dress with pink satin waistband that Kate wore to take part in the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral, Carriage Procession and Buckingham Palace balcony appearance on 5th June 2012. Again accessorised with L. K. Bennett nude Sledge pumps and pink Prada clutch. This outfit requires mesh 007 by ulkrhsn.

4. The blue tweed Missoni coat that Kate wore to visit Fortnum & Mason's in London on 1st March 2012 and again during a visit to Nottingham on 13th June 2012 as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Tour. On the latter occasion, she accessorised the coat with L. K. Bennett navy blue high heeled Art pumps and the very cute Jaeger Kate clutch bag (I guess she couldn't resist!). This outfit uses Elena's Cocktail mesh. The bag requires the clutch bag mesh by NataliS.

I would really like to re-create some of Kate's gorgeous hats for The Sims, but they are intricate 3D creations and would require custom meshes. As I have said before, unfortunately I am not a mesher. Now there's a challenge for someone...

If you like this set you may also like my Kate Megaset.

Kate's Jewels

My latest set continues the Kate Middleton theme, but with a twist - rather than my usual clothing sets, this is a set of eight pairs of Kate's best known earrings.

The set comprises eight pairs of earrings as follows:

1. The famous Robinson Pelham diamond acorn earrings, a gift to Kate from her parents on the occasion of her marriage to Prince William

2. Ava-Eva vintage earrings by Beaut

3. Kiki Classic peridot, blue topaz and diamond earrings by Kiki McDonough

4. Effervescence Bubble Stiletto earrings by Links of London

5. Grace white topaz and diamond stud earrings by Kiki McDonough

6. Temple of Heaven Girandole gold earrings by Cassandra Goad

7. Eternal citrine drop earrings by Kiki McDonough

8. White topaz Hope Egg earrings by Links of London

These are some of Kate's best-known earrings - several pairs are firm favourites which she is often seen wearing. As always, she has wonderful taste.

A big thank you to Liana for the fabulous earrings mesh which is required for this set. This is a very clever mesh - it catches the light when the Sim moves and really brings the earrings to life.

Kate Part 9

So here is my 9th set of items inspired by Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge.

I am hoping to upload the set soon, but the Sims 2 submission system has been unreliable since before Christmas and is currently not working at all. The Sims 3 submission system doesn't seem to be working at the moment either. Please correct me if I am wrong about any of this.

My new set comprises five outfits and one hat.

This set requires four meshes available at TSR.

I love Kate's style and like almost everything she wears so, as usual, I was spoilt for choice. Eventually, I settled on the following five outfits for this set (in order of date worn):

1. This is an outfit which Kate wore on June 12th 2011 to attend a church service in Windsor to celebrate the 90th birthday of her grandfather-in-law, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. I love this striking brocade coat in a beautiful shade of blue designed by Jane Troughton for Pocket Venus. Kate had worn it previously to a wedding in 2009 with different accessories. On this occasion, she wore the coat over the famous blue Zara dress which she wore the morning after her wedding and accessorised it with her nude L. K. Bennett wedge pumps and a very cute Jane Corbett hat. I have done my best to create a hat as similar as possible to the original but there seem to be very few headwear meshes available. I used a the very cute Veil Cap mesh by H.Lin from 2007 available at TSR. The main outfit uses mesh 150211 by BBKZ. I love this silhouette on Kate. It's very flattering and feminine.

2. Kate wore this outfit on 6th December 2011 to attend a Gary Barlow fundraising concert at The Royal Albert Hall in London. This outfit is quite different from her usual style. The skirt is much shorter than those she usually favours and we don't often see her in dark tights. The black lace tulip dress is by Zara and is worn with a black collarless 3/4 sleeve jacket by Ralph Lauren (another favourite of mine, previously worn the morning after her wedding with the dress in the first outfit of this set). I used ulkrhsn's 006 mesh for this outfit.

3. On February 8th 2012, Kate attended her first official solo public engagement, a visit to the National Portrait Gallery in London to view the new Lucian Freud exhibit. She wore an unusual double breasted coat dress by Jesiré featuring a knee length flared skirt, elbow length sleeves, an ornate belt and a striking shawl collar. She accessorised the dress with a diamond pendant, diamond bracelet (both included) and black suede Jimmy Choo platform pumps. Again I used mesh 150211 by BBKZ for this outfit.

4. The 15th of March 2012 was a busy day for Kate. In the morning she visited the Olympic Park in London and played some hockey. In the afternoon she visited the Dulwich Picture Gallery wearing a gorgeous grey Orla Kiely dress featuring a pleated knee length skirt, self-tie belt, 3/4 sleeves and contrast black floral appliqué at the neckline. The dress was worn with black suede platform pumps. Again I used mesh 150211 by BBKZ for this outfit.

5. And bringing us bang up to date, the outfit Kate wore on her most recent public engagement on 19th March 2012, a visit to the Treehouse in Ipswich, part of the East Anglia Children's Hospices group, which included her first taste of public speaking. She wore the Trina dress by Reiss from 2008. Reiss is not my favourite company, but I do like this dress. It has quite an eighties vibe, being electric blue, knee length, double breasted and worn with a thick black belt. The dress also features an oversized statement collar and full length sleeves gathered at the shoulder with buttons at the cuff. Kate usually substitutes the belts that come with outfits for belts of her own, but on this occasion she wore the original belt. I think it goes with the dress very well. Again she wore black suede platform pumps. For this outfit I used Elena's Cocktail mesh, which I used previously in my Kate For Christmas set. This mesh includes a stonking pair of platform heels.

Kate Megaset

Just a few days too late for Kate's 30th birthday on 9th January (Happy Birthday, Your Highness!), my Kate Megaset will be published on 12th January. It contains all 8 of my Kate sets in one handy megaset comprising 39 items: 28 complete outfits, 3 tops, 2 pairs of jeans, 5 clutch bags and 1 hat.

In order for all the items to show up in your game, you will require meshes by A., BBKZ, Chriko, Crechebaby, Ekinege, Elena, Fantasyrogue, Liana, Maxis, NataliS, Shannara, Simal, steffor, Sunair & ulkrhsn. Links to the relevant meshes are provided for each individual item as appropriate. Many thanks to all these talented mesh artists.

All clothing items are available for adults and young adults and are categorised appropriately. Accessories are available for all Sims. A universal collection file, which will allow you to locate easily all of my Kate clothing items in your game, is included.

Kate For Christmas

My Christmas set this year was inspired by Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge. I have chosen six items in festive colours: three dresses, two clutch bags and one hat.

The six items I've re-created this time are as follows:

1. The glamorous fiery red silk jersey and chiffon Sarai dress by Beulah London which Kate wore to a Gala Fundraiser in London on 13 October 2011. This full length dress features a plunging V neckline, billowing sheer chiffon sleeves and luxurious long wrap around ties at the waist. I wasn't able to find a mesh with long puffed alpha sleeves so instead I used Ekinege's beautiful Mesh 09 which has long flared alpha sleeves and I think works very nicely.

2. On the same evening, Kate carried the gorgeous gold metallic weave Edith envelope clutch bag by Wilbur & Gussie. This requires my favourite NataliS clutch bag mesh.

3. The striking lawn green silk Maja dress by Diane von Furstenberg which Kate wore in Los Angeles on 8 July 2011. This knee length dress features a deep V-back with a line of gold buttons, elbow length sleeves and a belted waist. Worn with taupe high heeled L.K. Bennett pumps. Not my favourite of Kate's outfits, but I thought the colour was very festive. This outfit uses Elena's Cocktail mesh.  This mesh has the cutest platform high heeled shoes and allowed me to illustrate the soles of the shoes, an interesting novelty - take a look!

4. On the same evening, Kate carried a striking leopard print snakeskin clutch bag by Diane von Furstenberg. Again, not one of my favourites, but I think it goes well with the green dress. Again, this requires the NataliS clutch bag mesh.

5. The glamorous red French floral lace dress by Collette Dinnigan which Kate wore to a wedding on 24 September 2011. This knee length dress features a red lace overlay with a black lining, scoop neckline & elbow length lace sleeves. Worn with black high heeled Prada pumps. This outfit requires my favourite mesh 007 by ulkrhsn.

6. Kate wears a lot of very cute fascinators and small hats. I used steffor's Advent - Accessories - 5 hat mesh to create a generic small red hat.

I hope you enjoy my Christmas Kate set.

Merry Christmas!

Kate In Canada Superset

A superset containing all four of my Kate In Canada sets will be published on Friday 25 November. This set comprises 19 items: 9 dresses, 2 coats, 2 casual outfits, 3 shirts, 2 pairs of jeans and 1 bag.

I love Kate's style and I have very much enjoyed trying my best to re-create these outfits as faithfully as possible - admittedly, with varying success! Some outfits were easier than others, but I always enjoyed the challenge. I hope that you (and your Sims!) have also enjoyed it. Please comment here to let me know which item was your favourite.

Many, many thanks as always go to the very talented meshers, without whose meshes this project would not have been possible: BBKZ, Fantasyrogue, Liana, NataliS, Simal, Sunair, Tantra and ulkrhsn.

If you enjoyed these sets, please take a look at my original Kate Superset.

My next project will be a set of Kate's outfits for Christmas, so keep an eye out for news here in my blog, on my facebook page and via twitter.

Kate In Canada Part 4: The Finale

Here is the fourth and final installment of my Kate In Canada set - items inspired by the wardrobe of the Duchess of Cambridge during her trip to Canada this summer. This set comprises two complete outfits, two tops and one pair of jeans.

This set is a little more casual than previous sets and has a bit of a Western theme. It requires three meshes available at TSR and one standard Maxis base game mesh.

The four outfits I've re-created this time are as follows:

1. The casual ensemble which Kate wore to visit Slave Lake in Alberta on 6 July, comprising navy blue J Brand skinny jeans worn with Linda Camm belt, cream ruffled blouse, Smythe Les Vestes One Button Blazer and Pied A Terre 'Imperia' black sling back wedges. I had a lot of trouble sourcing a mesh for this outfit as it required wedge heels, skinny jeans and an open jacket with a cut out section at the back. In the end I plumped for ulkrhsn's mesh 005 which is a little curvier than Kate but ticks most of the boxes, although the shoes had to be adapted a bit from those that Kate wore. This is a very versatile mesh which allowed me to re-create the white lining of Kate's Smythe Les Vestes jacket - I think this looks quite snazzy in the game.

2. Kate put together a Western-style outfit for Day 1 of the Calgary Stampede on 7 July, comprising GoldSign 'Passion' bootcut jeans worn with an eye-catching belt, the gorgeous 'Armonia' shirt by Temperley and R Soles 'Vegas Setter' cowboy boots - topped off, of course, with the symbolic white Smithbilt Stetson hat with which she had been presented earlier in the day on her arrival in Calgary. I have re-created this outfit as separates. The jeans use a standard Maxis base game mesh. The shirt requires Tantra's AF6 mesh. N.B. The shirt will vary in length in the game depending on which bottom half you pair it with.

3. For Day 2 of the Calgary Stampede on 8 July, Kate wore a similar outfit to the one she had worn the previous day, but this time substituted the equally gorgeous 'Rodeo' shirt by Temperley. The jeans are the same pair as worn on the previous day and the new shirt uses the same Tantra mesh as the previous one.

4. For her departure from Canada later on 8 July, Kate wore the elegant red wool 'Marianne' coat dress by Catherine Walker accessorised with the Queen's diamond maple leaf brooch and her favourite L.K. Bennett taupe 'Sledge' pumps. BBKZ's 150211 mesh worked very well for this outfit, especially the very cute platform high heels.

For once, all the outfits (except the jeans) are maternity friendly. However, you have to be careful which bottom half you pair with the shirts as bottom halfs are not generally maternity friendly and you end up with a very odd effect!

As always, a big thank you to the very talented meshers who allow me to re-create these real life outfits for The Sims.

All these outfits are available for adults and young adults.

** Incidentally, please make sure that you have your in-game settings set to the highest quality in order for the outfits to show up properly in the game. In the past, in the interests of making the game run more quickly, I have experimented with lower settings and was appalled at how blurred and awful some of my outfits appeared. My preview pictures are always created from screenshots taken in my game with minimal editing, so that is how the outfits should look in your game. If they don't, please check your settings! **

If you like these outfits, please check out my Kate Superset, Kate In Canada Part 1, Kate In Canada Part 2 and Kate In Canada Part 3

I hope you have enjoyed my Kate In Canada series. For your convenience, I will be combining all four Kate In Canada sets into one handy superset shortly.

Kate In Canada Part 3

So here is Part 3 of my Kate In Canada set - items inspired by the wardrobe of the Duchess of Cambridge during her trip to Canada this summer. This set comprises three complete outfits, one top and one pair of jeans.

This set is a little more colourful than the previous set. It requires three meshes available at TSR and one from Just Sims 2 (which I have used previously, so you may already have it).

The four outfits I've re-created this time are as follows:

1. The navy blue Ted Baker trench coat that Kate wore for her arrival in Yellowknife on 4 July. I was a little surprised by this outfit as I felt it was perhaps a bit on the short side. There was a white dress or perhaps a skirt and blouse peeking out from beneath the coat, and NataliS's lovely layered mesh 021 from Just Sims 2 (which I also used for Kate's Epsom outfit) allowed me to reproduce this. I have categorised this as outerwear only, as generally people don't wear coats indoors! So you will need Seasons for this outfit to show up in your game.

2. Another of my favourites, the Malene Birger Bullet dress which Kate wore to visit Yellowknife on 5 July. Finding a mesh for this dress was a challenge as I was keen to reproduce the padded shoulders which are so key to the shape of this dress. The closest I could find was mesh 022 by NataliS. The shoulders are a bit more pronounced than those of Kate's dress, but I think it looks quite striking.

3. Later on 5 July Kate visited Blachford Lake, a trip requiring an informal outfit. She wore the same navy J Brand jeans and Sebago Bala moccasins that she had previously worn for the dragon boat race, this time worn with a stone military style Burberry shirt and an unusual embellished leather belt by Linda Camm. I couldn't find one full body mesh which met all my requirements for this outfit, so I ended up making the shirt and jeans as separate items. This does have the benefit that you will be able to mix and match the shirt and jeans with any others in your Sims' wardrobes. The shirt uses a base game Maxis mesh. The jeans require the Mix n Match Part 4 mesh by Simal, which unfortunately seems to suffer from the same problem I've encountered with some other alpha meshes - the 'missing insides' syndrome. However, it's not a big problem here as it only affects the lower parts of the legs of the jeans.

4. For her arrival in Calgary on 7 July, Kate wore the silk Primrose dress by Jenny Packham - possibly not the best choice, as it was very windy at the airport and the skirt of the dress was full, lightweight and floaty...She carried the gorgeous Natalie clutch which I made previously. I tried a couple of meshes for this dress and settled on T035 by Sunair. The mesh is maternity friendly, but something odd happens when you have a pregnant Sim wear it, which I've never seen before - the high heels and puffed sleeves disappear. I am guessing the mesh was based on a simpler Maxis mesh which is what it reverts to on a pregnant Sim. It is a pity that more meshes aren't maternity friendly. I encounter very few.

As always, a big thank you to the very talented meshers who allow me to re-create these real life outfits for The Sims.

All these outfits are available for adults and young adults.

If you like these outfits, please check out my Kate Superset, Kate In Canada Part 1 and Kate In Canada Part 2.

Watch this space for further additions to this set...