"Pushing the boundaries

I've come to the realisation that I enjoy pushing my boundaries,

I have recently taken on two commissions that are lust a bit outside my comfort zone. Both involve difficult fabrics, each difficult for a different reason.

The first is a lace bolero to be worn over a strapless wedding dress and needed at two weeks notice. It's taken a week to get the required lace and it is beautiful but very delicate in parts and heavily embroidered in others. This is what makes it difficult to work with, the heavier parts stretch the delicate parts, the heavier border is wanted along the hemline of the garment so need shaping and the buttons need to be where the lace is more delicate, so no buttonholes can be made. All in all a challenge.

The second fabric is a tartan, to be made into childrens dresses and a boned ladies top. The challenge with tartan is matching the pattern, not too much of a problem with dresses as they are simple shapes, the boned top is another matter, lots of seams, mostly curved. Again a fair challenge.

The funny thing is I'm enjoying the challenges I face and the challenge makes me even more determined to do a fantastic job for my customers.

So push your boundaries, enter the discomfort zone and possibly do your best work!!"

Oh, to be inspired!

Being creative means to be receptive to inspiration in one way or another, and this asks the following of the artist: to determine the techniques and/or media to use in order to express the inspiration, and to be open to outside influences, such as colour, texture, sound, the spoken and written word, nature and the elements, human movement to name a few. Or is it the other way around?

Once the channels for inspiration are opened, there is no end to the possibilities. One example I would like to give is that of a range of jewellery I started creating in 2011, after a holiday in Tenerife. I had been to this island many times before, and so knew the landscape and colours, the climate and even a small amount of the language. I had also started to learn to dance Salsa a couple of years before. Through those experiences I had become very relaxed about the environment, and so could let things flow, regarding designing new jewellery. The basic ideas were already there, I just added movement and colour to the design in mind.

In nature there is no end to the shapes, colours and textures to explore. Many jewellers create pieces inspired by the seaside, water, pebbles. Trees and flowers can be used in an incredible variety of forms, abstract or representational. Next time you go out in the garden, or the woods, take some time to discover the myriad of designs there are to be found.

'exceeding expectations'

I'm pretty sure it's been said many times before but all businesses need to strive to always do better than the customer expects!

As s self- employed dressmaker I rely on word of mouth recommendations and repeat custom, this means I need to ensure all my customers are happy customers, wether they spend many hundreds of pounds on dressing a wedding party or a few pounds on getting a pair of trousers shortened.  I believe the best way to secure happy customers is to do their particular job better than I intimate I can at the start of the job process.

If like me you underestimate your skills even a little, this is easy, I quote a job in terms of cost and time, I generally underestimate the time required so usually manage to complete jobs early. Bonus!

One difficulty with early completion of jobs is the reliance I have on suppliers, I have found the answer to this is finding good suppliers in the first place and in the second place having a full understanding of their delivery systems. A good example is the fabric and haberdashery supplier 'Calico Laine', the company has stores in the North West but also operates an excellent online store with a good selection of fabrics, patterns and haberdashery, good prices and importantly great staff on the end of a phone line who take my order and dispatch it quickly.

Another difficulty is my reliance on my tools, to help alleviate this I have at least two of almost everything including sewing machines, of which I have three ready to use. It also helps to keep tools in good condition, machines need to be serviced and blades need to be kept sharp. So again good suppliers of tools and the services to keep them going are essential.

The other way to improve on your offer is of course to complete a job to a higher standard than the customer expects, in my case I complete my sewing to the best of my abilities and hope for the best!! fortunately my customers are generally more than happy with their garments or curtains and some are very happy indeed. These are the ones to get testimonials from, but more of that another time!

Caroline Jones 'Fashion Revived'

Can precious metals ever be ethical?

All silver, gold, platinum etc. would have been mined originally, most likely in non-fair trade circumstances. So a 100% ethical stamp can never be given to precious metal jewellery.

As a large majority of the trade sells cast items, this has to include around 50% new silver, as to assure a good quality casting result.

This doesn't mean that we can't try to aim for a more sustainable and thoughtful way of working. It surely is more environmentally safe to re-use old gold and silver? One has to consider the process needed to melt down, refine, and then re-make silver sheet and wire.

Still, even accounting for the energy needed for this to be done, putting it up against gold mines run by semi-slavery, exploitation of people and the environment, poisoning water supplies and excavating more and more of the earth's beautiful landscape in order to get at a few more kilos of gold ore, it seems to be a better way to produce the basic material for what is, lets face it, luxury goods. Last year's massacre at the Lonmin mine in South Afrika, which resulted in 44 deaths, is a terrible reminder of how costly the extraction of this desirable metal can be.

The reason I am just mentioning gold mines is that silver is very often a by-product of the gold mining, or copper mining, industries.

Of course, silver is also used in the medical and IT industries, but in very small quantities compared to the jewellery trade.

Given the choice, and if the prices are comparing favourably, which would you rather choose? Newly  mined silver or gold or the reclaimed version? Items which are made entirely by hand can very often be made completely out of reclaimed silver, or gold.

"time is of the essence, sometimes!"

When dressmaking I like to have time to a job thoroughly, properly, carefully, all of that.
Occassionally I am not allowed that time and things can go awry like the tunic that I mentioned a few weeks ago where fitting requirements were suspended because the customer wouldn't travel and left no time for choices to be made and subsequently the garment didn't fit as well as expected.
I now make it a rule that time must always be allowed, even for rush jobs!! I'm learning!
I have two commissions on the go at the minute, both 'rush' jobs in that I am up against deadlines with both.
The first is stage costume for a tribute band and the deadline is a gig which is to be filmed, this one is a rush job because although one coat is finished having been correctly fitted etc, the other can't be fitted until the evening before the day the coats are wanted. Aargh!! Don't panic Mrs Jones!! Forward planning is the key here - the first coat was timed so I know exactly how long the second will take and what order of manufacture is the most efficient, and the second coat is fully tacked together for fitting and ready to go the minute the fitting is over. I am confident that the coats will be ready for collection the following luchtime to be worn at the gig and I'm looking forward to seeing the film.
The second is a wedding gown alteration which I fitted on a Thursday and have to get done by the follwing Tuesday with a busy weekend in the meantime, again forward planning is the key, I have set aside 2 days to do the work and have all the required materials ready to use. The bride will have her beautiful gown and it will be just as she wants it for her big day.
Both of these jobs will be completed to my satisfaction and as I have very high standards for my own work, the customers should be more than happy.
So time is of the essence - either you need plenty of time to do a job well or you need time to plan ahead to do the same job as well but quickly!