We have just launched womenswear - it has been a long time coming, but this is slow fashion! The process started several months ago, and although its been a labour of love it has been quite long-winded, in the summer we spent several days drawing rough ideas, followed up by several more days sewing calico samples and looking at possible fabrics, but we weren't happy so discarded it all, we wanted to make sure that the final pieces combined comfort with clever but simple detailing, clothes that are truly wearable every day but feel special. So we designed again, and this time to a point where we could do a fitting, Lily, the daughter of a very good friend kindly agreed to come and do...
With the bolts of fabric, cutting table and sewing machines and overlockers all taking up space it was all becoming a bit cramped at home, originally we had said we wouldn't look for a new studio until the brand was selling confidently but already I was restricted in terms of when I could use the sewing machines (always good to be nice to your neighbors!) and I often got distracted by doing things in the house so when a working space came available we jumped at the chance - the difference has been fantastic - suddenly there was space to work properly, we set up a cutting room and put the sewing space next to it, pattern rails, menswear rails...
We were now much more confident about the designs but we still didn't have any fabric, we were both very keen to make sure that the fabric was sourced in the UK and were possible made in the UK.... there were a few reasons for this not least the wish to use sustainable sources and also to support home industry through Brexit. BUT IT WAS HARD! We went to lots of fabric fairs, both here and in Paris but companies wanted you to buy in large quantities and we struggled to find any UK suppliers with good quality stock - we came back from every fair disheartened so decided to try a different approach, rather than going direct to mills...
Well its been a hectic few months, what started as a promise, to keep up with the blog fell by the wayside as we went through the process of putting the menswear together, so cheating a little bit I will start where we left off... The first few months were hard, I hadn't realised how different designing menswear would be, initial designs were covered in pockets and heavy detailing, not at all what we wanted, we were working from home, the living room had become the workroom, all furniture removed and a cutting table installed. We bought an industrial and semi industrial machine and put them in the bedroom and got to work! April was spent making countless toiles, talking...
Another busy week in the studio, the aim is to finalise the menswear in the next few weeks, so I have been busy grading patterns, and finalising designs, I am not an experienced grader (grading is simply taking a garment pattern and making a version in all of the different sizes from extra small though to extra large) so it has perhaps taken longer than hoped but there were two of us working on the patterns which was great. Excitingly a previous employer has offered me access to machinery that I don't have - button-holers for example, for free, this is great because sending garments off to be finished can delay deliveries and obviously add cost to the customer so...
