Fabrication exclusive

Throughout the last year I have continued to stock a range of capes, wraps and accessories for sale in Fabrication in The Light, Leeds. I'm proud to be part of this wonderful shop, and have added a product to my range that is exclusive to them!

Made from the same 100% recycled wool that the Fab Blankets in the shop are made from, and featuring beautiful wooden buttons, these ponchos are not just lovely and warm but super stylish too.

Priced at just £30, the only place you can buy them is in the shop itself. The only problem with that is that there's so many beautiful things in there it's hard to come out with just one item!

Catching up after Christmas...

Blimey December was a busy month! I barely had time to catch my breath between sewing sessions to get all the orders done and keep my area in Fabrication in Leeds fully stocked. Rather than bore you with a post per cape/cloak, here's a round up of some of the beautiful custom pieces which left my workroom in December...

Black crushed velvet cape with a pointed hood:

Semi-circular boiled wool cloak a red lining, with 3 frog-clasps as closure:

Semi-circular pure wool cloak with a midnight blue satin lining and a beautiful celtic clasp - a surprise Christmas present for a very lucky lady!! The hood on this one is detachable, revealing a mandarin collar underneath:

Full-length boiled wool cloak with a jacquard weave lining. This was designed to go over a silk-velvet wedding dress in the same colour as the lining, which I also made but don't have any decent photographs of:

Child's red melton cloak with a white fur trim, after the cloak worn by the main character in the Goth Girl books. Also a Christmas present! 

This month already has a couple of cloaks and a wedding dress lined up, so I'm sure I'll be doing another round-up at some point!

A coat to make a goth happy!

This coat was finished just in time to be taken and worn to Whitby Goth Festival, and on the Friday they arrived I had a text from the customer informing me that he was the "only goth that's happy that it's misty and cold in Whitby". I think I can safely say that the coat was a success!!

This was a full-length coat made from black wool melton, with contrasting charcoal melton cuffs and pocket flap, and lined with a very lovely silver jacquard fabric lining. The buttons were from Duttons (of course, we're in York!) and chosen by the customer to match the lining.

First, a picture of the whole coat...

And now, some close up pictures...

I'm really quite proud of this, I'm not a traditionally trained tailor but I still think I did a pretty good job, and the customer was pleased with it which is the most important part after all!!

Wool melton cape with a detachable collar

In addition to having some ready-made items for sale online I also offer custom made capes and cloaks, so you really can have the cape of your dreams!

This cape was a custom order for a lady who'd been looking for something similar for ages and was delighted to find that she could get exactly what she was after made! Made from a polyester/wool blend it has 4 buttons down the front, a contrasting stormy grey lining and a detachable faux-fur collar.

I also made a matching faux-fur headband for her, very stylish!

fabric haul!

Should I admit now to having a fabric addiction or has everyone already worked it out?

You know you've really got a problem when vans start pulling up outside your house loaded with the stuff and all you want to do is jump in and roll around in it!! Which is exactly what happened today...

To roll the clock back a little, yesterday I got a call from Fabricman saying that he sold roll-ends and offcuts of Scottish Mill fabrics, he was in the area tomorrow and could he call in and meet me, give me an idea of what he sold and his prices. I will admit I was expecting more swatches than actual lengths, but this morning Fabricman pulled up with a van full of fabrics... wools, wool/linens, wool/silks, silk/linens, wool/cashmeres. Really high quality material, a lot of it more lightweight than you usually find on sale here in the UK (a lot of the finer weights that are exported straight to the Middle East) plus some lovely coating weights.

All things considered, I was really quite restrained! I got a few samples for a customer who's looking for the perfect material for a full-length coat, then the following two lengths of material:

1) The softest dark grey cashmere/wool blend with a brushed finish. This is so soft you could swaddle a baby in it and they wouldn't complain, although given babies propensity for dribbling I'm not going to test that tomorrow when I see my friend and her little one. This is definitely mine, no amount of begging will make me part with it, and it's going to be made in to a hip-length cape probably with a jacquard lining if I can find one in the right colour.

2) The other length was another cashmere/wool blend with a less obvious brushed finish that is still lovely and soft but not quite so soft as the grey (slightly lower cashmere content). This one is in black, and is going to be made up in to another hip-length cape, this time for general sale.

I have a lining in mind and the cape I'm planning will go on sale for £80 but if anyone wants to snaffle it up before I get round to it (i.e. in the next couple of weeks) and get it custom-made with their choice of lining colour instead then I'd be happy to give you a 10% discount on that price. Just email me.