By the time you read this, these two fabrics will have been made into frocks and blouses and who
knows what - often we don't know exactly what we shall make.
We thought you might like to see what goes into making our clothes so special, so unique and so
unlike anything else you can buy. It starts with a drawing, the part of my job that constitutes my
happiest moments. Then each screen is separated.
happiest moments. Then each screen is separated.
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Screen 1 |
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Screen 2 |
At this stage it doesn't look very beautiful.
But then off it goes to the printers to manufacture old fashioned silk screens. Some of our
fabrics require up to 12 screens, which gets very expensive and labour intensive.
Then my boss, Kate and I make the journey to the printers to oversee the actual printing.
The cloth is laid out onto enormously long tables and the hand printing begins....
With each sweep of the squeegee the ink gets forced onto the fabric, much strength, skill and
precision is needed to make perfect fabric. Sometimes, it isn't perfect, but this is
how we like it, with a touch of human fallibility, proof that it is indeed made by human hands.
Here is the finished product
Well, nearly finished, it is still waiting for little red houses to be added.
When the beautiful Alderney is printed in another part of the print works,
a different machine is used. This isn't quite hand printed as the
design is so delicate it needs an even strength to print it properly.
Each stage, every hand poured dollop of colour, every adjustment is overseen
by the wonderful Podge and Jo.
First we make the colour.
It is then poured into the machine
Then, as if by magic this happens:
Which turns into this:
This beautiful wafty soft cotton will be sent to the factory on the other
side of London to be made into Cabbages & Roses clothing.
It is extraordinary what goes into making our clothes, this is just one tiny part of our process
and at every stage we do our best to have as little impact on the environment
as possible. All the inks used in our printing are Oeko-Tex
approved. The people who work in the factories that we employ
are without exception happy and healthy, we know because we work with them.
xxC&Rxx
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