S1. EP9. Some Exciting News – Indigo Robe Fabric & Bikini Cover-ups!

We’ve got some fantastic news! We’ve finally got the gorgeous Lily print fabric back from Fashion Formula! We sent off the print about two days ago and it’s just come back, which means we can now start making Francesca’s Indigo Robe. Not only that, but we’ve finally booked a holiday! We wouldn’t normally mention it but to celebrate we’ve decided to design and make a series of gorgeous bikini cover-ups for Francesca, before we leave at –the end of the month.

Francesca’s Indigo Robe – Lily Print Fabric has Arrived!

Earlier in the week we contacted Fashion Formula and asked them to print 3 metres of our custom designed Lily print so we could start construction on Francesca’s Indigo robe. Two days later we received our print and it looks gorgeous! We opted for a high sheen satin, picked from their extensive collection of fashion fabrics. All in all it cost around £57 for the print so roughly £20 p/metre. There is one slight issue which was completely our fault- he scale of the print is slightly smaller than Francesca requested. However, it still looks fab. As we’re running the Edinburgh marathon over the weekend, I have asked a Tosca, an excellent machinsit and samplist to make the dress up in our absence so it’s ready in time for our holiday on the 29th! So more images of the finished garment are still to come. In the meantime, here is a close up of the print and that high sheen satin from Fashion Formula!

Bikini Cover-Ups for Corfu!

Ok, so let’s crack on, there is soo much to get through! Since we’ll be going away on holiday in just under a week, it seemed important to get the ball rolling with our collection of Bikini cover-ups. We printed a few fashion templates, courtesy of Prêt-à-Template and put pencil to paper. Once the preliminary sketches were created, we imported them into Adobe Illustrator and created some precision digital illustrations. We then added colour and fabric scans to bring them to life. We chose a selection of Japanese Ikat cotton from The Cloth House, located on Berwick Street London- check out their website, they have a wealth of gorgeous fabrics to choose from. Here’s a close up of the fabrics we sourced.

Japanese Ikat cotton is a great material to work with. It drapes well and is effortless to sew. The most fascinating thing about Ikat cotton is the patterning. The individual fibers are dyed before the weaving process begins. This creates a striated pattern effect that is impossible to achieve with print. You can read more about it on Wiki here.