It started with wrapping fabric around my Sindy doll and calling it a dress when I was 6 years old. Fast forward almost 40 years, with a few stop offs on the way that include a fashion degree, a teaching Masters, several businesses (including a failed one) and I am still doing just that. Although my dolly is life size now and we call it ‘draping on the stand,' I am still designing and creating clothes. 

Some may know me from my previous business - Sew Me Something. A venture I ran for 12 years until its recent and painful demise. There’s more on this in a series of blogs you can read in the Journal. What started out as a vehicle for me to make the clothes I wanted to wear turned into an entirely different beast. 

 But now it feels like I have come full circle, back to doing what I love because I love it. 

Making clothes for me is not just about making something to wear, although that is obviously the beneficial outcome. I almost enjoy the thinking, ruminating and puzzling beforehand even more than the actual execution or sewing. Pondering on the questions of what I want to make and why are just as important as the ‘how’. 

We all make clothes for ourselves and others for very individual and sometimes quite specific reasons. I have been fortunate to have a period of time recently where I have been able to reflect on my own reasons for sewing. This was one of the reasons I created the Dressmakers Diploma and why I am taking a much more considered approach to designing and producing patterns for The Cloth Cutter. 

"Jumping off the hamster wheel in spectacular fashion" and withdrawing into the protection of my home environment has given me the space to reflect, gain perspective and develop an understanding of what it is I want to achieve with The Cloth Cutter. 

My reason for making anything now needs to be a solid one based on informed knowledge and understood history. I want to spend my hard earned time and energy making something I love. Which means good quality cloth ethically sourced, using notions and tools with substantial provenance behind them telling the story of their creation. And being more consciously aware of the circular nature of consumption. 

If I want these things for myself, why shouldn't you. Which is why I will be finding and sharing the fabrics, notions and tools I want to use in my own sewing and making, with you. So you can also understand the story that goes with them and allow it to inform your own creative path. 

The Cloth Cutter patterns will all be items I have made firstly for myself. Worn and tried to get them just how I want them, so you know they will work when you make them for yourself. They will start as PDF patterns to minimise waste, but Big Bertha, my large format printer, is still with me so a paper pattern printing service will be an option. 

Sharing my knowledge is also where I started almost 20 years ago as a fashion lecturer and is still dear to my heart. So I will be running workshops and masterclasses from my new studios. These will be for those that are seeking a greater understanding of what making clothes means for them and how to develop their existing skills. 

I am looking forward to this new chapter in my working life and inviting others into my creative space to share and develop together. 

Jules x