Tuesday's Gathering

I'm always drawn to richly-coloured dense prints. As hard as I try for the benefit of my wardrobe to buy and make plain classic clothing so that I can at least pretend that I'm sophisticated, I always get sidelined by yet another an amazing print dress or wildly patterned fabric. Ikat therefore, is just my thing.

1. Kookai Ikat Print Shorts (via Asos)
2. Matthew Williamson Ikat Print Stretch Coton Blend Skinny Pants

3. Anthropologie Ruffled Ikat Chemise

4. Warehouse Silk Ikat Print Jacket

5. Thakoon Ikat Print Silk Crepe Top (via Net-a-Porter)

6. Topshop Ikat Print Leggings

Traditionally ikat fabric is produced in a similar way to tie-dyed fabric, except that the threads themselves are bound and dyed before they are woven into cloth. The good old V&A has some wonderful examples of traditional Central Asian ikat clothing from the 19th century here.

Although I doubt these are strictly ikat fabrics, there are some fabulous takes on the idea out there.

1. Amy Butler Lark Persimmon
2. Magnificat Avocodo
3. John Kaldor Cannes (via Sew Essential)
4. Liberty Landis A Tana Lawn
5. Robert Allen Plaid Ikat
6. Ada Chartreuse

Tuesdays Gathering

The Spring/Summer 2012 collections were full of this classic print. Stella McCartney, Jil Sander, and Pucci are just a few of the big names who showed some of the hottest ways to wear it. Here are a few of our current favourites!

1. Warehouse Paisley Print Dress
2. Alexander McQueen Black Paisley Flower Silk Scarf Cape
3. Stella McCartney Christine Paisley Print Silk Pants
4. Etro Paisley Print PVC Cosmetics Case
5. Gucci Paisley Print Wool & Silk Blend Scarf
6. Whistles Liliy Paisley Shorts

If you're inspired to make your own, how about these fabrics as a starting point:

1. Ghostly Paisley by Cate Anevski
2. Heirloom Paisley by Joel Dewberry
3. Mumbai by Domesticate
4. Grey Whimsical Greyhound Paisley byJane Walker
5. Paisley Ahoy Koi, Oh Boy by Vo Ako Virginiao
6. Paisley by Andover

A gather day out

Today was a good day for gather. After a "we are grown up and responsible really" meeting at the bank, we decided to do what we do best and go fabric shopping! Although being the responsible people we are, we didn't buy (yet!) but instead just wondered around the biggest fabric warehouse we've ever seen getting all excited about the possibilities for our first dress pattern. As we were restrained for the moment, there's not much to report back on the fabric front so instead I'll leave you with a few pictures of the wonder that is a massive textile emporium of loveliness...!

A progress update and some fabric inspiration

A belated Happy New Year to you all!

Us gather girls had a somewhat frenzied Christmas break - a family wedding on the 23rd, a poorly toddler and a very poorly cat meant that the sewing machines went untouched for the whole festive period... I think a break is actually no bad thing sometimes, it means we're both raring to go now! And we've got something rather exciting to be sewing up too: our first dress pattern! We're currently testing all the pattern pieces - seeing how they fit together and making any small adjustments. The dress has a few different sleeve options so we've got quite a few versions to make up, nevertheless, it's a hugely exciting time for us and we're both pretty chuffed with the results so far. As soon as we're happy with the final pieces, the next step will be to get them all graded, in preparation for the real pattern testing. There will be more information regarding testing to come, keep an eye out on here or twitter if you're interested in helping us out with that!

Now we have an actual dress form to work with our minds are naturally turning to fabrics and prints. Here are some of the prints that are currently inspiring us, a little taster of what's possibly to come!

Andover

Premier Prints

FreeSpirit

Andover

Timorous Beasties

Hanna Werning

Joel Dewberry

Joel Dewberry

Timorous Beasties

Liberty

Andover

Timorous Beasties