It was tough to pick our favourite five designs, but the judging panel managed it (with the help of some very tasty cupcakes). The winners had a really tight time frame to turn the garments around, but they pulled a few all nighters and we ended up with five spectacular dresses. We’ve had some professional photos taken of all of the outfits, but we thought you might like a little behind the scenes look at Cassandra’s garments.

She was kind enough to photograph the whole process. Hopefully, this will show all you budding dressmakers how much blood, sweat, and tears go into something so pretty.

Here’s a photo of her winning sketch.

And here’s how it all started

First the toile was cut, and then fitted to the dummy

Next, Cassandra cut out the pattern pieces of the fabric she got from Mandors.

Cassandra was working with print artist Jo Faulkner, and here, you can see Jo printing onto the fabric.

The velvet is then peeled off the fabric to reveal the flock pattern. I’m guessing I may have skipped a few steps of the process here, so apologies!

Here you can see Cassandra’s hard work, in her own words, “Lapels, shoulder pads, under collar and Project Runway to keep me going”

And here you can see all the hard work starting to pay off as the garment starts taking amazing shape

Here is the lace collar designed in collaboration with Knitwear designer Kristen Orme.

And here is the collar on the blouse

Tune in next week for photos of the finished outfit.

The outfit was designed and made by Cassandra Belanger.

Fashion Designer, Cassandra Belanger was born and raised in British Columbia, Canada. Educated at the Okanagan Fashion Institute in Canada she is now based in Glasgow, Scotland. She is currently starting up her own label and is the owner and instructor at The Stitchery, a home-based studio teaching courses and workshops in dressmaking and design, pattern cutting and beginner sewing just to name a few. She has also worked abroad in Uganda and Rwanda and has a charitable fund as part of her business, supporting tailoring centres in South Africa and soon Northern Uganda. For more information or to contact Cassandra
Website: www.thestitcherystudio.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thestitcherystudio
Email: cassandra@thestitcherystduio.com

Kristen Orm designed the knit collar on the blouse.

Kristen Orme is a knitwear designer based in Edinburgh, and has been
hand-knitting for over 10 years. Born and raised in sunny Florida, she designs her
own line of knitwear and also publishes hand-knitting
patterns for the home crafter. Her work can be seen at www.kristenorme.com,
and she blogs  all her projects (knitted and sewn) at www.kristenmakes.wordpress.com.

Jo Faulkner did the flocked print on the jacket.

Colourful and illustrative screen print designer, inspired by
landscapes, natural environments and architecture. Patterns are evolved
from doodles, line drawings and collages, using eco-conscious processes.
My website is www.JoFaulkner.com,
and e-mail is JoFaulknerPrints@gmail.com

Someone suggested that I do a wee staff member spotlight, and get them to show off their favourite fabrics. I’ve been inundated with volunteers, but Maggie Milne seemed very keen to speak up about her favourite fabric.

In the words of Maggie, “My favourite fabric to work with is batik fabric.  As a patchwork quilter, I really appreciate good design and rich colour which you really get with batick fabrics. Batik is a very finely woven cotton fabric due to the many dyeing and wax processes it has to go through.  It cuts well, irons crisply, and does not fray like many cottons can.  The multiple dyeing process and the screen printing process it goes through makes each bolt an unique work of art.  This makes a quilt full of movement and rich colour.  It gets my vote every time and I shall continue sewing it into my works of art!”

You can see a lovely photo of Maggie with a bolt of batik craft cotton, standing in front of a batik quilt. If you would like to make your own quilt, then why not sign up to one of Maggie’s quilting classes? There is some more information here, but the price has been slashed to £40.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150874669738431&set=a.129670608430.107005.111975653430&type=1&theater

Mandors have teamed up with Scotland Re:Designed to give five up and coming designers the chance to create and exhibit designs at the SR:D pop-up shop and static display.  The SR:D pop-up store and static display will take place in the Lighthouse, Glasgow from the 27th June to the 1st July.

The competition is open to designers of all ages and stages of brand development. Interested applicants should submit a detailed sketch of one of their designs to Mandors. A judging panel of industry experts will select five winners. Each winner will be gifted Mandors fabric to create his or her winning looks. These looks will then be displayed in the SR:D pop-up shop, and will be seen by buyers and international press alike.

Winner of Best Shop in Glasgow and the West in 2010, Mandors strives to put the customers’ needs first and provide as wide a range of products as possible.  Mandors will have a selection of fabrics available to purchase at the pop-up shop, along with a trained member of staff who can offer product advice.

On the partnership Denise Deutsch, Marketing Director at Mandors stated “The Scotland Re:Designed project is such an exciting one for us to be involved with. Supporting new Scottish talent is really important to us at Mandors, we have been sponsors of the Glasgow School of Art degree show for many years. Scotland has such an array of talented designers and we are really looking forward to seeing all the design submissions and seeing them brought to life in our fabrics”.

Creative director of Genuine and SR:D founder Chris Hunt said “Mandors reminds me of an Aladdin’s cave of fabric. Having spent hours browsing fabric shops as a textiles student I am thrilled that this creative family-run Scottish textile business, which stocks ranges from Liberty’s of London among many other great designs, is able to support a New Talent fashion initiative within Scotland Re:Designed. When we launched SRD we were overwhelmed by the volume of applications from all levels of businesses, and Mandors’ vision allows us to help develop the next level of graduate, post-graduate and emerging talent.”

How to Enter

Designs should be submitted to Mandors Scotland Re:Designed Competition, 134 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G3 6ST no later than Wednesday 6th June.  Winners will be announced on the Scotland Re:Designed website on Wednesday 13th June for more details see www.scotlandredesigned.com

For more information visit www.mandors.co.uk or call 0141 332 7716

Follow @MandorsGlasgow

Hashtag: #NewTalent

Like at Facebook.com/mandors.glasgow

Competition Terms and Conditions

In order to ensure a range of talent is acknowledged are represented at least one of the lucky 5 to exhibit at SRD will be selected from Under 18’s and another will be New 2012 Graduate Talent.

Professionals can apply but judges’ decision is final. No discussion will be entered into and we cannot give individual feedback.

Mandors will supply a strict maximum of £400 fabric per designer. Designers are liable for any additional costs.

The finished designs will be required by Monday June 25th 2012.

Here is a wee bit more information about Scotland Re:Designed….

Earlier in the year Scotland Re:Designed took twelve of Scotland’s top designers and manufacturers to New York to display their collections to an array of press and buyers in an international showcase. The event occurred during the Scottish Government‘s official Scotland Week 2012 programme, with support from the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland.  Each of the designers will be returning to display and sell their collections at the Scotland Re:Designed pop-up shop.

Those selected were Bodywear designers Bebaroque, the Scottish Queen of Cashmere Belinda Robertson OBE, Scotland’s oldest continually operating textile factory Caerlee Mills, Edinburgh born and based menswear designer Kestin Hare of brand Common People Clothing, award winning knitwear design house Eribe, couture jeweller Euan McWhirter; supplier to the likes of designer Jenny Packham, luxury womenswear designer and celebrity favourite Henrietta Ludgate, award winning designer Judy R Clark; famed for her exquisite womenswear designs in lace, silk and Harris Tweed, internationally distinguished cotton lace weaver Morton Young & Borland Textiles, hot new cashmere designer Rosie Sugden, renowned interior designers Timorous Beasties and award winning milliner William Chambers.

Scotland Re:Designed received investment from the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland, the private sector and contributions from the participating exhibitors.

We’d really like to thank Creative Scotland for making all this possible, so here is some more information on that.

Creative Scotland is the national development agency for the arts, screen and creative industries.  Our vision is that Scotland will be recognised as one of the world’s most creative nations – one that attracts, develops and retains talent, where the arts and the creative industries are supported and celebrated and their economic contribution fully captured; a nation where the arts and creativity play a central part in the lives, education and well-being of our population www.creativescotland.com

About the Year of Creative Scotland 2012: The Year of Creative Scotland began on January 1, 2012 and is a chance to showcase, celebrate and promote Scotland’s cultural and creative strengths on a world stage. Through a dynamic and exciting year-long programme of activity celebrating our world-class events, festivals, culture and heritage, the year puts Scotland’s culture and creativity in the international spotlight with a focus on cultural tourism and developing the events industry and creative sector in Scotland. More information about the programme can be found at: www.visitscotland.com/creative<http://www.visitscotland.com/creative>

The Year of Creative Scotland is a Scottish Government initiative led in partnership by EventScotland, VisitScotland, Creative Scotland and VOCAL. More information and resources to help businesses engage with Year of Creative Scotland are available at www.visitscotland.org/yearofcreativescotland-toolkit<http://www.visitscotland.org/yearofcreativescotland-toolkit>.

The Queen is a bit of an unsung fashion hero. Not only does she make recycling outfits look cool (making it perfectly acceptable for us commoners to do so as well), but she was a forerunner on the colour blocking trend. If you’d like a fully matching outfit, like her, why not pop into the store. Many of our suppliers offer a range of fabrics in the same colours. Perfect if you’d like to try colour blocking, or if you’d like different weights of fabric for one dress.

Thank you to Dear Green Place for posting this photo to our Facebook page!

The Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics in London seem to have made the world a bit Union Jack crazy. Of course, Mandors have lots of Union Jack fabric, including this rather lovely fleece at £8.99/m.

We’ve got a wide range of flag print fabrics, or just plain poly cottons. Perfect for making your own bunting. We’ve even got some precut bunting packs, making it even easier for you to decorate for the occasion. You could even go the whole hog, and make yourself a lovely Union Jack dress in the style of Geri from the Spice Girls…. There is a 90s revival going on….

We’ve also got some beautiful craft cottons to mark the occasion.

There are all manner of products jumping onto the red, white, and blue bandwagon. How about a Union Jack sewing machine? Bet you’ve always wanted one of those?

Or if you would like something a little classier to mark the occasion, there is a beautiful scarf from Liberty, which just happens to be one of my favourite shops.

There has been a huge trend for Union Jacks in the homewares market for a few years now, and we’ve just seen it cross over into curtain fabrics over the past few months. I posted this photo to our Facebook page a wee while ago, but I’m going to put it up again. It’s from the new range called Checks, dogs, and rock and roll. I love it! It is available to order.

We’ve also got this super cute range by PT, including a lovely bright jewel coloured PVC tablecovering.

So, whether you’d like to make some bunting, cover your table, wrap yourself up in fleece, or even make yourself a wee crown to watch the special day, why not pop into Mandors?

x

P.S. Apologies if you have tried to comment on the blog and it hasn’t shown up, I get unimaginable amounts of spam comments, so sometimes real ones get lost in there

Mary outside Frasers yesterday

I explained to her that sales in the shop weren’t as good as the previous years, and that footfall is way down.  She asked where the shop was, and I told her it was on Sauchiehall Street.  When I was growing up, I remember Sauchiehall Street being full of fancy furniture shops, at the end where all the bars and clubs are now. There was a huge big furniture shop selling Versace furniture, and a few interior design shops. One by one, they all closed down.

The pedestrian end of Sauchiehall Street used to be a busy shopping street. Every unit was full, and you could hardly walk down the street, as it was so busy. Last week, I walked down Sauchiehall Street towards Buchanan Galleries.  What a sad sight, HMV has closed down, and is empty, Virgin Media is empty, Jack Jones is empty. I think I counted six big vacant units along the street. Our poor high street. No wonder footfall is down in our shop, there isn’t much of a reason to walk up Sauchiehall Street anymore. Unless you’d like to visit one of the three Greggs along the way…

I was thinking today about Mary’s call to save our high street, and also to bring manufacturing back to the UK. We need to find a way to boost the economy here, and making stuff in Britain is a great idea. Let’s stop importing rubbish clothes from the Far East, and start wearing stuff made in our own country.

Last night, I got chatting to a few of the designers who come into the shop.  One girl, the lovely Bonnie Bling http://www.bonniebling.co.uk/ has suddenly experienced a huge increase in demand, since her rings were featured on the X Factor. Great, but she can’t keep up with the demand, and she can’t afford the laser cutting machine, which would help her to do so. She is currently trying to raise the money for the machine here http://www.bloomvc.com/project/Big-up-our-Bling

I was thinking today, that as Scots, we should be supporting our amazing local talent. I’ve seen some truly spectacular designs recently. These are garments that are made in Scotland. I asked for some feedback on Facebook and was blown away by some of the suggestions.

"Death Valley" Brawlgown SS12 by Obscure Couture

If you are interested, why not have a peek for yourself? I’ll put the links at the end of the post.

The other day, The Life Craft posted that another wee vintage shop is closing in Glasgow.  It makes me sad to hear of independent shops struggling and closing.  I’ll miss The Life Craft (and all who sailed in her). I know that sometimes it can be easy to go to a big chain of shops, but spare a thought for us poor independents.  Mandors is a small, family run business.  We have two branches.  We’d love to be able to provide you all with mail order, but we just don’t have the infrastructure.  When we buy our stock, we buy as little as we can, of as many different things as possible.  We want you to have a huge choice of awesome fabrics.

Sometimes, we may be more expensive than Hobbycraft, or other chain stores. But we just don’t have the purchasing power.  We’d love to be able to be cheaper than our competitors, but we’d rather give you a wider range of exciting fabrics.

Next time you are thinking of buying something, no matter how big or small, please spare a thought for your independent retailers, for the high street instead of shopping centres, and for things that are made in Britain, or even better, made in Scotland!

Taps Aff knuckle dusters from Bonnie Bling

http://www.joey-d.co.uk/

http://www.ten30.co.uk/

http://www.obscure-couture.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LilBubbaThings

https://www.facebook.com/mad.clothinguk

http://www.chouchoucouture.com/

http://www.annawhyte.com/

http://www.rebeccatorres.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Betty-Spoke/119276501455502

http://www.jennieloof.com/main/Welcome.html

https://www.facebook.com/pages/HandmadeInPartick/151011188297850

http://www.crikeyaphrodite.com/

www.skullsandcross-stitches.co.uk

http://www.bluebellgray.co.uk/

Summer is supposed to be here, and after a lovely sunny few weeks, the snow hit again today. Hopefully this is just a minor blip.

We’ve got new summer fabrics arriving into the shop daily, and I’ve been doing my best to take photos as they arrive. You’ll find the photos on our Facebook page, as it it the easiest to update. And with so many fabrics, I need the quickest way to share photos possible.

I thought I’d give you a wee roundup of some of the new patterns out there. As it is coming into summer, I thought I’d focus on dresses, as they make the best use of all of our pretty prints!

I’ll start with this one. I tried to buy it yesterday, but it was sold out, which means one of our customers bought it in the past few days! I’ve picked out a beautiful digitally printed cotton to make it in, and I’ll be bugging the rest of the staff for help over the next few weeks. It’s a Simplicity pattern, so that means it is half price at the moment.

I really like this one as well

We’ve got loads of beautiful brocades in stock at the moment, and I’ve been searching for a nice pattern that isn’t too old fashioned.  I think this one fits the bill perfectly…

One of the girls from the dress department made this beautiful new Vogue pattern the other week. She used the fantastic newspaper print canvas. It’s a really unusual dress, as you actually pull it over your head, and wrap it round like an apron. I’ll try to convince her to let me take some photos of it and share it, but in the mean time, here is the pattern

On the subject of vintage Vogue patterns, here’s another new addition to the pattern book. Perfect for all of our pretty vintage inspired prints.

This one is super cute, and would make a great addition to any summer wardrobe. It looks nice and swishy to keep you cool for our sweltering climate

Not all the new patterns look this good, there are a few that have really made me giggle. I’m not sure who comes up with them! I’m sure that they aren’t actually THAT bad, but the choice of fabric leaves a lot to be desired.

Don’t forget about our wee competition for Mandors vouchers. Just send a photo of something that you’ve made from Mandors’ fabric. You’ve got until Monday at 9 am, and then I’ll post the photos into an album and people can vote for their favourite. Just email your entries to Denise@mandors.co.uk.

Happy sewing!

x

I thought I’d share some of the new dress fabrics that we’ve got in store now. I promise to also do an update of our new craft and curtains fabrics to keep everyone happy.

We will start off with some fabrics that are exclusive to Mandors. These are digitally printed nylons for swimwear, and cottons. They are beautiful, and really different.

Here’s a wee photo of one of the displays in store with some of the fabric

We’ve been searching high and low for some really different an unusual fabrics for you guys. As it’s Spring (look, there’s sunshine outside), we have just taken delivery of some beautiful cottons and poly cottons.

We’ve got some really cool cotton prints for kids, or just the young at heart…

Jersey is going to be huge this season. We’ve been working up to it for the past few seasons, but prints have gone even bolder!

We’ve got some awesome bargains in store too. These prints are just £3.99/m. Get them before they sell out!

We’ve got some really special new evening wear fabrics in too. Like these pastel sequins, and chiffon with feathers.

The display team have been busy making the dummies look pretty, and making garments for our new window display.

And finally, we’ve got a few Union Jack themed fabrics in store. Even though we are proud to be Scottish

Here’s one of my favourites.

More photos to follow from other departments….

What is your favourite so far?

x

I spent two years living in Scotland and one of the hard things about leaving my little corner of the world in Oz was farewelling my sewing machine for two years. My dear dear sewing machine that had served me well for as long as I can remember. Without my sewing machine in Scotland I sought solace amongst the bolts of fabrics at Mandors. I visited often and always left with fabric that would some how have to make it back to Oz eventually, no matter what!

On one of my trips to Mandors I was instantly struck by a gorgeous floral cotton that I had to have. What I would make of said fabric hadn’t even entered my thought process yet (Yes, I admit, I am a fabricholic). After making a swift purchase I was on the computer and on the search for inspiration on what to sew with it.

My best friend was getting married shortly and I knew a dress for the wedding would be the perfect choice, and I am always a complete sucker for a vintage 1950’s dress. So now I had the plan!

A search through the New Look catalogue led me to purchase pattern 6048. I loved the sweetheart neckline, the full skirt and the fitted bodice. It ticked all the boxes of a vintage inspired pattern. I have always enjoyed sewing New Look patterns as I seem to need to make very little alterations to their size 10 and I find the instructions always straight forward.

I managed to complete the dress over a wet weekend and in time for the wedding. The pattern was very easy to follow and the only alteration I made was adding two inches to the hem to allow for the tulle underneath and I always prefer dresses to fall just underneath the knee.

I bought a crisp white cotton to use as a contrasting fabric along the top of the bodice which proved easier to sew than I had initially thought. I opted to use an invisible zipper at the back because…well…quite frankly once you start sewing invisible zippers, you never go back!

I decided to add layers of tulle under the skirt to give it more fullness. I did this by lining the skirt with cotton voile which I cut at half the length of the skirt. On the lining hem I added two rows of tulle in an apricot colour that matched the flowers of the fabric.

Overall I was super happy with how the dress turned out and would thoroughly recommend giving this pattern a go. It is great for the advanced beginner and is a flattering style for many figures.

I had back to Scotland for a visit in June and what am I excited to visit…Mandors!

Bec xx

PS – Pictures below

The finished result

My Mandors fabric stash – slowly making my way through it!

Guest blog by Bec

Last weekend, I made a special purchase in the Edinburgh branch of Mandors – 20m of green, yellow and red tartan ribbon…

I have now sent off the ribbon to a women’s co-operative called “Groupement Takku Liggey” in the rural village of Keur Momar Sarr, Senegal.  Groupement will use the ribbon as part of their grassroots project.  The women turn beautiful West African fabrics into bags, aprons and tablecloths, to sell to customers in Scotland and beyond.

The women will cut the tartan ribbon into individual rectangles and attach one folded rectangle to the side of each unique Senegalese product.  The ribbon is green, yellow and red to represent the colours of Senegal and the tartan design represents the links with Scotland.

Groupement will then send a package of colourful wares back to Scotland, which is enough to brighten even the most dreich of Scottish days.  The bags, aprons and tablecloths then wing their way to community markets and events to be sold to happy customers.  100% of the proceeds are returned to the 23 members of the co-operative.  This benefits the women and their families and injects much-needed cash into the wider village.  Most recently, Groupement bought two cows with their profits, which the whole community is delighted with.

The wee tartan label has featured on our products since we set up the project in September 2009.  As our Project grows, we hope that recognition of our wee tartan label will grow too.

For more information about the Project, please contact us through Facebook: “Groupement Takku Liggey”.

Thank you Mandors for stocking the Groupement ribbon!

Joanne Glover,

On behalf of Groupement Takku Liggey, Keur Momar Sarr, Senegal

I have no idea where I first heard about Kanzashi I just knew it was something I had to attempt as I have fallen in love with some amazing Kanzashi pieces on Etsy.

Kanzashi is the Japanese art of folding small fabric (traditionally silk) squares into petals to form a flower. These flowers are used to adorn the hair of geisha’s and are symbol of her status.

If you want to know more about Kanzashi and its origins click ***here*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzashi

Here are some examples of beautiful Kanzashi:

(Amazing Kanzashi by Atelier Kanawa on etsy)

When looking for tutorials on how to make Kanzashi I found this one http://www.mookychick.co.uk/how-to/diy-arts-and-crafts/kanzashi_tutorial.php really clear and helpful.

After figuring out how to do the basic rounded petal technique it I happily skipped to my local fabric shop and got LOTS of lovely fabrics:

And this is my first attempt….I was not too happy with this one but my mum liked it so I made it into a brooch for her

Second attempt (the small one) a hair clip and third attempt I put on a hairband and wear all the time

And this is my latest one I made at the weekend. I love it but its massive and doesn’t quite look right on any of the hairbands I have.

I just got this book from Amazon and cant wait to learn more Kanzashi techniques

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kanzashi-Bloom-Fold-Sew-Projects/dp/0823084817

£10.09 from amazon

Are any of you fans of Kanzashi? Do you get crafty on a regular basis?

Marina
xo

Guest blog by Marina http://www.forevertheuglyduckling.com