Winter wonders after a hectic Summer!

Right so I know it has been too long since my last post... Womad was wonderful, as always! Almost sold out of my hooded waistcoats and my plan is to focus on using the fleece to create a variety of waistcoat and jacket styles for next summers festie season.
I am even considering testing out a few mens waistcoats, as I made my first ever mens pattern to make Sam a waistcoat this summer and it went down well! Watch this space for some Mens sizs coming soon hopefully!
I met a lovely girl called Shanti this summer and she is starting her own stall selling homemade hoops and a few clothing things... she has asked me to make a few things for some christmas markets this winter, so I am currently working on a jacket design using the hooded waistcoat as a base and adding sleeves. If successful You will see this design out and about next summer! I am also working on a shorter frilled edge waistcoat which is great as it takes much less fabric to make and I am getting to use some of my scraps up! As always it is a rush to make all this... I have until next friday November 11th to make 8 jackets and at least 6 waistcoats, as well as hopefully some fingerless gloves out of the scraps!
Hopefully it won't be as long until my next post... busy as always!

Busy busy... sewing and computing!

Last weekend was spent enjoying the sunshine and then the rain at Sunrise festival with the lovely Jan from Saris and Silks, Maggie from Felt Like a Hat and Harriet from Umbul-Umbul! I did take a few of my recycled fabric pocket belts, but people weren't really shopping so i will just have to save them for all the lovelys at Larmer tree in a few weeks time! Speaking of a few weeks... I have so much to cut out and sew, and only 4 weeks to do it in! Instead I have been creating a new website for all that is Tassia.B... so you can see my handywork at tassia-b.weebly.com. But now that is up and running I do really need to knuckle down and do some serious sewing! I have all of my fabric orders in now, so I have been busy dyeing the Hemp for my waistcoats and some of the soy for my pocket dresses. Today's colour was Ocean Blue so my garden was a sea of sea this afternoon... in between the annoying June showers we are constantly getting!

I just have a few more deliveries to wait for, one of my thread colours for this years variations and the other is all my hangers for the mountains of stock I actually have to make now!

I have an order from a lovely lady named Louise who bought a dress off me last year at Womad and found me online to request another design for this summer! So first things first when my thread arrives is to get her order made and posted, then I can get cracking! 7 pocket dresses cut out so far, another 24 to go... plus 16 tops, 4 pairs of trousers and 24 waistcoats! Then there is the long list I have delegated for my busy helper to do (my lovely mother!) another 20 pairs of trousers, 10 long skirts and 16 dresses! Wish me luck....

I am in frantic making mode...

Yes that's right it's festival season already, which means i am manically making some beautiful ethical garments for the lovely festival public! Right now i'm focussing on some pocket belts (a festival essential) made from recycled fabric which consists of all the bits i have in bags left over from previous projects! I am off to the Sunrise Celebration in Somerset next week for some much needed festival fun, and the pocket belts will be in attendance too, waiting to be snapped up by you lovely lot! Then after sunrise it's the big push to get all of this years Tassia.B designs, 5 styles, crafted and ready for this years lovely Larmer Tree and WOMAD festies in July! Wish me luck, it's going to be a long few weeks!.....

Tassia.B... update!

Its been a while since my last post, so i thought i would update you all on my current activities!

This time last week i handed over my first ever wholesale order to Pen Elvy at The Other Factory... the order consisted of 10 beautiful dress and 10 cosy waistcoats in a selection of colours, some of which i had not tried before! And i have heard from her today that they sold well... so it's always nice to get good feedback like that!

My time is being stretched between working at Eloise Grey, seeing friends and family on my days off, and trying to keep my energy levels up for general everyday life! I always find the onset of Autumn is beautiful but draining... more layers have to be worn, and no more flip-flops!

I have decided that if my use of fabric is to be most economical, i need to figure out a way of using the negative space (or leftovers) surrounding my current pattern pieces. So i will be drawing out the current pattern shapes and piecing together the random shapes left, to create another design... hopefully a funky little patchwork-esque skirt! Drawings to follow soon...

I am going to the Ethical Fashion Forum's Sourcing Expo on October 6th, where i am hoping to find out more about fabric sourcing in Africa, India and South America! It would be good to get some contacts of other Fabric suppliers that i could possibly use instead of my current California based company Pickering International. I would rather not have fabric made in China then shipped around the world... but my fabric is so specific, i'm not sure where else it is available! Fingers crossed i will come back with some answers from the sourcing expo. One company who will be there is an organisation called Cotton Made in Africa who have Organic Cotton farms in Zambia! I hope to find out more on October 6th...

Festival SUCCESS... life is all go!

Ok so on Monday i returned from a very successful outing of Tassia.B. ethical fashion at Womad festival last weekend... and on tuesday i was offered an internship with Fashioning an Ethical Industry for 3 months next spring! So my life is speeding along nicely... without me really having to plan anything!

I am still just trying to adjust myself back into non-festival mode... which is very hard as i had such an amazing 2 weeks at Larmer Tree then Womad! I wish i could be back there now really, but life goes on... back to work! The lovely memories are keeping me going at work!

So my first collection is a success, we made a profit at Womad which i can put towards more fabric supplies to make more designs! I have offers to stock my designs in a shop in Brighton, and also a couple of offers to stock my work at a couple of other markets this summer!

I am trying to decide whether to branch out and do a few other colours, and also whether to work on a few autumn designs for the coming season! When i decide, i will let you know...

And as for this Internship, i just applied on the off chance, and didn't expect to hear for months as i am not available to start it until March! I spoke to the co-ordinator, Hannah, yesterday and she was lovely. She is really easy to talk to, and she said not to rush to start the internship after i get back from India, so thats great for me! So now i just have to find a part-time job in Bristol from March onwards, so i can afford to find somewhere to live! Any suggestion?....

See my current collection at my facebook group page by clicking on me (left!)...