Scotland Re:Designed behind the scenes
It’s been a busy few weeks here at Mandors. We’ve been working with Scotland Re:Designed on an amazing competition, and were lucky enough to host a pop up shop in the Lighthouse as part of the exhibition. It has been a fantastic opportunity for us to work alongside some of our customers. We asked you guys to submit your entries to design a garment to be made up in Mandors fabric, and we were overwhelmed by the responses.
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