Patterns - how do you use yours?

We're spending an awful lot of time at the moment working with our pattern pieces. We're currently also doing a lot of research into the best paper to print on to.

Which brings me to this question: What do you do with your pattern pieces?

Are you a cutter or a tracer? Having spent precious ££s on your pattern do you like to trace the size you need and leave the original intact or do you go for it and cut it out?

Traditionally, patterns are printed on very thin tissue paper. Do you find this easy to work with? Or do you find yourself transferring onto something stronger and thicker for longevity? Would you pay more for a pattern printed on better quality paper? (Incidentally, there is a very good tip over here on the Coletterie blog which talks about reinforcing patterns with interfacing!)

We'd love to know your thoughts!

Introducing Charlotte Hardwick

I suppose some people may think it's strange to start up a business creating and selling dressmaking patterns when neither of us are pattern cutters!  However, what we can do is curate - just as someone who is not an artist can start up and run a gallery. Where our strengths do lie is in the design, the look and the feel of our product. We think we might know what people want to buy - because it's what we want to buy. As keen but novice dressmakers ourselves, we're essentially creating the pattern and kit that appeals to our style, taste and to our skill-set; we hope that others may like what we come up with!

Our next step was then to find someone who had the technical expertise, who understood what we were trying to achieve and who could help us make that into a reality.

Enter Charlotte! She's brilliant quite frankly. A graduate of Wimbledon School of Art, she then trained at the London College of Fashion as a Pattern Cutter with Dennic Lo as her tutor. (good credentials? I thought so!) We first met with her a while back to discuss the first design that Gather is going to produce. The brief to Charlotte was a bit of an essay really! We chatted over coffees and she suggested some brilliant alterations to the original design, all the while kindly making us feel like we weren't a pair of amateurs... Having someone with her kind of expertise on board has been a real learning curve for us and we're hoping this will be the start of a long and fruitful working relationship!

I don't want to give too much away regarding the first pattern just yet but I can tell you that it will be a dress. A simple but chic affair! There will be a couple of versions to make and a really nice little detachable accessory.

And so it is under construction. We're hoping to have the first version back by mid-December so we can get testing (the fun bit!) and I absolutely can't wait to see our vision made up in a physical form.