A new colour, longer length…spring is looking good from here!
Image Bonnie Eleanor
Hello everyone,
I know many of you have been hanging out for a dress update…and I’m so sorry that it’s taken me this long to find an opportunity to get around to doing something about it. With a winter slowing of events and workshops, at last I can begin to process a few other things that have been waiting in the wings!
Yes…there is indeed a new dress colour: some of you have seen me trialling the prototype and I think it’s my most favourite yet! My supplier calls the colour ‘denim’ although it’s the same weight as the original ‘natural’. There’s something about its weave though, that makes it ever so slightly more crisp and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each and every wear. With multiple washes…it’s also a smooth, quick and easy iron from air-drying on a coat-hanger to throwing on in a rush (you all know by now that I’m an ironer…I can’t help it!).
There’s no change to the style of the dress except to the length, to which I had the pattern altered some years ago. Across all the sizes XS, S, M, L & XL it’s several centimetres longer than the original (in tune with us all being 12 years older…in fact Bonnie first photographed me wearing the prototypes when she was at school, in April 20012!). I guess it’s testament to the dress (that I designed as an easy-to-toss-on, go-anywhere garment that would get me through workshops that always involve a great deal of physical action) that I still don’t hesitate to wear it...a lot! And I know many of you do too.
I know figuring out your size at this chilly time of year won’t be high on your priority list (there’s a size chart on the webpage) but I also know many of you already know your size (XS, S, M, L & XL) so for those who do, it may be more a question of adding to your colour collection or replacing a dress that (like me) you’ve worn to death! If you’re after a navy or grey I’ll have to check with the supplier…just let me know as there’s a minimum amount of linen I must order to do so.
Placing an order with my maker means I first need to order the fabric meterage and the likely number of buttons, then to have the fabric professionally hot-washed to pre-shrink (its 100% linen). I then collect it for the second time and take it to the workroom to discuss my order with clear instructions…and wait for the magic moment when I see a message to say the dresses are ready! The Sydney-based dressmaking workroom kindly squeezes in my little orders to complete between proper fashion labels when they can, so I’m always in their hands when it comes to timing. As I’d really love to get a batch underway for spring delivery, if you’re keen to get your hands on one…either in ‘denim’ or ‘natural’ please can you let me know by contacting me in the next week or so? That way, I can make an action plan. I’ll do my best to keep the price to the same it has been these last years…and I’ll have a better idea if that’s possible once I know the quantities I’m looking at. I can then confirm with you directly before you finalise your order.
You can read more about the dress on the webpage and…since getting this newsletter into draft, it has dawned on me that it really is 12 years since we photographed the original prototype, so I’ve just whipped up a not-very-professional 12 year celebratory reel on instagram (I really ought to learn how to do that thing properly!). You can view it here and have a giggle!
In the coming weeks I’ll also be in touch about wire veg tunnels (when I last spoke to the lovely local guy who makes them for me he was more receptive than when I last asked – I think I exhausted him with the covid batch!). And the local coppersmith also confirmed he might be persuaded to make some more of the hinged pest-rings I designed a few years ago and find so valuable for direct, in-ground seed-sowing. I know I’m annoying to these makers – more hindrance than help in that small, bespoke runs are fiddly for them as well as time-consuming too, for me; but when something is worth having, it’s worth pursuing…so these are the things the winter months will hopefully allow me to process so that I can offer them once again for you to access. But first…the dresses!
I’m also all out of aprons from the pre-Christmas batch (except for a couple of the glorious tan colour which I personally am loving…you can see a pic of that one here!). It’s also in the current copy of Delicious Magazine where you can find some delicious and timely recipes we really are enjoying at the moment. Here’s a link to the apron colours that made up the last run. Let me know if you’re hankering after one? And if so, I’ll try to scrape an apron order in along with the dresses and cross my fingers the maker doesn’t object! (I know she’ll throw her hands in the air, admonish me, maybe even wag her finger, but she’ll still call me darling and say she’ll do what she can…I might just need to wait longer!).
If you have any questions, as ever, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
With very warm wishes
Mickey
ps I realise in my last newsletter about ALLAN PARKER’s BRAIN RESET WORKSHOP that I got so carried away explaining how it’s ‘a Larry-instigated event’ that I omitted the date! It’s WEDNESDAY 26 JUNE! You can find further details and the booking form here. And if you missed that newsletter, it’s now slotted into the archive here.
