My Design Background
I trained in fashion in Paris many years ago, at a time when sustainability was not yet the central economic and environmental concern that it is today.
As a young self-employed designer, I could not afford to order large quantities of fabric. I discovered the stock of Bianchini-Férier, the historic French textile manufacturer based in Lyon, and was fortunate to meet a salesperson who was very open to the needs of young designers. I could buy beautiful silk organzas, satins and taffetas from their existing stock, rather than commissioning new production. This gave me access to exceptional materials while allowing me to develop collections on a small scale.
My relationship with textiles deepened when I began travelling to India in the late 1980s, following an exhibition of Indian textiles at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. I became particularly interested in traditional textile practices and was immersed in vegetable dyeing at a State Weaver Service Centre in Central India. These centres had been established following Mahatma Gandhi's encouragement of initiatives supporting local craftsmanship, skills, design and sources of income.
Vegetable dyeing introduced me to a very different relationship with colour and material. Dyes were made from organic and mineral materials, with even iron scrap being used to create black. I encountered local studios continuing these practices in their own production and began working with them for my collections, using locally produced cottons and silks alongside fabrics from the Bianchini-Férier stock.
Having studied pattern drafting and block printing, I was able to develop a collection from beginning to end: from the initial pattern, through the development and printing of the textile, to the finished garment. This complete process has remained important to the way I think about design. I am interested not only in the appearance of a garment, but in everything that happens between an idea and the finished object.
Later, I moved to the Alps, where I became interested in the local flora and fauna. The landscape and its plant life became another source of observation and inspiration. I now live in Scotland, and I find interesting connections between the natural environments of the Alps and Scotland.
How I Work Now
I continue to work independently as a fashion designer, based near Glasgow.
Over the years, I have accumulated a large collection of fabric remnants from my previous work, and I have also received fabric donations. Consequently, my material resources are often already there before a new piece begins. I may need to buy calico for 'toiles' or paper for pattern drafting, but much of my developmental work can be done using fabrics that already exist.
In recent years, I was very involved in supporting my ageing parents, which meant that I had less time than I would have liked to develop my own creative practice. At the same time, I continued teaching within Creative Industries and Fashion, including at the Borders Campus of Heriot-Watt University.
Teaching has continued to influence my own practice. I have particularly enjoyed working with students on zero-waste pattern drafting: developing garments in which the entire piece of fabric is incorporated into the design, rather than producing conventional pattern pieces that leave unusable remnants behind. With traditional techniques, fabric scraps can also be retained and given another life through further making and students' upcycling projects.
Pattern drafting remains one of the most fascinating aspects of fashion for me. It is both technical and imaginative. A garment can emerge from simple geometric forms: a dress or a shirt can be developed from a rectangle, a skirt from a circle. Pattern cutting can emphasise particular parts of the body, reveal them, conceal them, exaggerate them or transform the body's proportions altogether.
I enjoy moving between different approaches to pattern making—traditional drafting, draping, zero-waste methods and more experimental approaches such as subtraction cutting. My practice continues to move between textile, pattern, garment and teaching, informed by many years of working with materials, traditional techniques and the landscapes around me.
My Current Work
Since 2018, I have been selling sewing patterns rather than finished garments. This has gradually shifted my practice towards the pattern itself as a form of design. A sewing pattern is not simply a set of instructions for making a garment; it contains the structure of the garment and the possibilities within it, allowing someone else to interpret and bring the design to life.
I am currently developing a new collection at the design stage, creating a range of sewing patterns. I am exploring how the principles that have informed my work over many years—pattern cutting, geometry, draping, zero-waste approaches, the relationship between fabric and the body, and the possibilities offered by different materials—can be translated into patterns that are both interesting to make and enjoyable to wear.
Working in this way also allows me to share the process of making. Rather than producing a limited number of finished garments, the pattern can become a starting point for many different interpretations, depending on the fabric, the maker and the way the garment is constructed.
0 comments