Some of you may have noticed a bit of unusual activity round these parts... Infrequent posting, sly hints at big things a-brewin'... If you had imagined that for the last nine months I had been scheming and plotting, working late into the night, designing, sewing, writing, basically carving out my dream job - then you'd be right! I give you... (drumroll please!) ...By Hand London.
By Hand London is an independent sewing pattern company aimed at beginner and intermediate sewists. Designing patterns inspired by the stylish women we know and admire, our brand is all about championing individual style and celebrating strong femininity. Released in bi-annual collections, it’s your own customisable fashion line!
My business partner Charlotte and I will be launching our very first collection of sewing patterns in October 2012, and until then we will be documenting the process on our brand spanking new blog, byhandlondon.wordpress.com, where we will also be talking about fashion and individual style, championing the ladies we love and are inspired by (and the boys too!), as well as sharing as many DIYs we can muster, and believe you me, the "DIY ideas" list is looooong! Having just gone live last week, the blog is still pretty bare, but swing by for a DIY fringed belt tutorial, some delicious ice pop recipes and a DIY bandeau top tutorial. I value and appreciate the opinion of you, my wonderful readers, above all, so I would be eternally grateful for your feedback and advice.
While I will be saving my more fashion/style/repurposing ideas for the By Hand London blog, I will still be posting here, with a focus on home, family, my recipes (sorry Marie!), knitting & crochet, bloggers challenges and my personal projects & makes. Basically keeping my home and working lives on separate blogs!
I can't even tell you how excited I am to get really stuck in, I have never felt so creatively alive and inspired! I only hope that our blog and sewing patterns which will be launched in October (yes, there will be a party!) will be met with the same enthusiasm and excitement that Charlotte and I feel.
PS. To all you talented sewists: as we approach the launch, we will be offering up a handful of copies of our patterns to be road-tested. To get your name in the hat, please leave a comment below!
I would *love* to test out some patterns! Sounds so exciting!
ReplyDeleteYAY! Sounds so exciting! Definitely keep me in the loop about pattern testing....depending on the time, I might be able to do it!
ReplyDeleteCount me in for a pattern test :) Sounds super-exciting!
ReplyDeleteWow! How exciting! I will definitely be checking out your patterns once I have shed the blubber lol.
ReplyDeleteAwe-frikkin-tastic! The more pattern choices the better as far as I'm concerned, and good on you for getting out there and doing your own thing. I'd be happy to pattern test if I fit the body type you're designing for. You should probably state that pretty prominently somewhere- (for example I know Collette is aimed at the Joan types whereas Sewaholic is for the big-booty girls), so if you're aiming for a particular target market you should take a more focused approach to your test population as well (statistically speaking...). If you're aiming at a specific body type you're better off testing it on someone that fits that profile. And please get disqus so I don't have to deal with the blindness inducing hideousness that is recaptcha, everytime I want to comment. Disqus handles spam blocking for you (it uses Akismet, the same algorithm that's built into Wordpress) and enables cross platform commenting while keeping tabs on comments, responses, pings and trackbacks. Do it. Do it now!
ReplyDeleteFirstly, thank you for the Disqus link!! I have been frustrated by my comment for aaaages too, so will get on updating it right now!! Thanks!
DeleteSecondly, we really want appeal and cater for a wide variety of shapes and sizes with our sewing patterns as we are all about celebrating our different figures and, most importantly, finding styles that suit us rather than blindly persisting with fashion trends that just don't flatter us. With each pattern we will suggest body types that we feel the pattern would suit best, and include variations that would work for others.
Thank you so much for your feedback - gonna get on disqus right now this second!! x
BTW I had to #$%^ing word-verify thrice for the comment above X(
ReplyDeleteSorrrrrryyyyyyy :(
DeleteCongrats! If you're willing to have U.S.-based pattern testers, I'm interested! Thanks for the opportunity. Wishing you luck.
ReplyDeleteThank you! And yes definitely worldwide pattern testers please! x
DeleteHow awesome! Congratulations :) When you start with producing your patterns, *please* make it fairly easy for we plus sizes to use them! I understand fully that it can be too expensive to print tons of different sizes, but if you do come up with a tutorial on how to enlarge patterns I would *Really* appreciate it!!
ReplyDeleteWow! Congrats! That's such an exciting project!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I have never pattern tested before but would be interested.
ReplyDelete