Delicate details

When each piece is hand embroidered first the design has to be printed onto the fabric with a mixture of chalk powder. This becomes the guidelines to sew over. The imprint will be on the fabric forever however should never be seen as the stitches cover this.
On the odd occasion we are asked to unpick or change the design of something.

My tasks were to unpick some embroidery and try to wash off the imprint underneath.

                                              
                                   

It was very difficult to wash off the marks and I had to be very careful not to damage the fabric and leave any water marks. Working on the Wikipedia gold work piece meant I also had to make sure I didn't get the embroidery wet.    


I also spent today helping cut strands of thread and neaten up machine embroidery to be ready for clients to collect, I found this cat lifting up the fabric very cute.

Green fur

So today I got to play with some fluffy green rabbit fur.

Its very exciting when customers come in and ask us to do beading samples, often the main embroiders are far to busy to do beading sample jobs so the interns get to do all the fun bits.

As I dont know how to tambour bead this part was already done, I then had to draw out the next lines at the correct distances apart and bead them.

                  

Using the chosen beads I just had to sew them down trying to keep a straight line and make them all the same length. 

Sadly the customer decided that this type of beading would cost too much for her and I wasnt able to do any more work on this piece.

I then had to prep a piece ready for some gold work. I firstly twisted some string then had to go over it with white cotton to hold it in place, then once it was secure I could cut away the ends and sew over it so the end looks neat and ready for the gold work. 

New Machines

Today was a mixture of days where things came in short busy blasts.

The machine that does all the machine embroidery broke yesterday so an emergency machine was called in and it was all hands on deck to learn how to use it properally and finish orders to get them out to the customers.

I was on hand helping do the placements and cut and trim away the backing and lose threads. All the agent provocateur silk bags had to be pressed before being packed away and sorted into the correct store.

        

                                              

After the chaos had died down I was then helping tidy the office where all the badges and golden strips of ribbon are kept. They were all very messy and I had to roll up and re pin them all. The next stage was sorting them all out into the same category of pattern and trying to arrange them size wise into the shelves. 

                                             

New Year

Back and ready for the new year at hand and lock.

My starting task is to help make beading samples in relation to the new collection idea based around the sea.

                          

                                                   


                                        

Last few days

The last few days before my Christmas break involved some organising.
I say some but it took 3 interns two days for us to complete this task. Its simple enough, just to sort drawer by drawer and put into colour order. Cut all the threads free and wind back up and secure with tape.
These drawers are by the front desk where the customers come in and it just looks very messy and becomes tangled which makes it hard to open and show customers thread colours.

Once they were all done it looked a lot neater and made showing customers colours a lot easier.

Christmas Shoes

Today I was in charge of monogramming some fancy in house slippers which would be Christmas gifts. 

I had to organise the shoes and keep them with their matching bags, then I had to put the placements on the bag and frame them up.

There were three different types of thread dependant on the bag which I had to make sure I had the correct ones to the colour. Some shoes came in just bags and some came in bags and a box and I had to also make sure that the correct ones were kept in the right bits.

This for me was very important as I was solely doing the whole order and I had to make sure all were sewn on straight and clearly. 

I was careful to pin back as much fabric as possible on the frame so that the bags didnt get caught up and that there would be no unpicking or damaging the bags. 

  

   

I am really proud and pleased with the outcome and how the bags looked. It was hard work placing them all on the machine and sorting out the shoes and bags but overall a success which I learnt alot from. 

Frames

The most important task of framing up frames was given to me today. As we are getting busier due to Christmas, there are more customers wanting hand monogrammed items.

Knowing how important the frames are and for them to be done correctly I like to take my time on them even though they are well needed.

For a frame to be done correctly it has to be evenly pulled and sewn down. The hardest part is keeping it tight and getting long enough thread to cover one half of the frame before coming back to create the cross.

                                     

                                     

Thimbles

Today was full of small random tasks, the most difficult and time consuming however was sewing these two golden emblems onto silver knotted epaulettes. 
Thankfully I had the help of another intern and we each did a set of epaulettes.

Firstly we had to decide the colour thread to use, whether to go with a silver thread to match the silver knot metal or to go with a gold thread which will match the emblems. We decided to go with the gold thread and sew small and tight stitches so that it can not be seen and this way the emblem will be sewn down securely too. 

         These are the hardest things I have been asked to sew as the knotted metal isnt at all level and you have to thread the needle through but not pull too hard as to damage the metal. It also is a pain on your fingers and can be very difficult to pull the needle out.Myself and the other intern were very grateful when they were both finished and looked even and straight. 
The rest of the day was spent helping use the computerise sewing machine finish of logos on garments and prep finished orders for customers. 

Monogramming

Today was my first ever monogramming task although small it is something that needs to be done every time a new monogram is to be sewn. 

When you first start a monogram there is the prep work, this involves tracing out the letters exactly to the same mm and so that every monogrammed item in the order looks the same.

This for me was so interesting and something new to learn as I hadn't done any practise sewing monograms either so I was glad to help with the prep and see how it was done.

Once all the letters were drawn onto the special paper I then had to prick the design on the reverse side keeping the holes in line and neat as this is how the letters will be transferred onto the fabric. 

          

Miss World

Today I was given a very special and specific task to finish off embellishment on a Miss World sash.

Firstly this involved working out where best to place the remaining Swarvoski crystals and then securing them so that the thread wasn't visible. This was a very delicate task and I wanted to make sure that they would be secure so I took my time on this, I also couldn't have any carrying threads go through to the back of the sash so I had to take more care with my stitches.

         

Once the crystals were all sewn on I then had to sew chains and a clasp onto the back of the sash so that it could be worn with a fastening. This was quite difficult as I had to sew through the chain a number of times to prevent the thread from going through the gap. I also had to pass through the fabric but only on the back side which was very thick in the corners. 

   

The last task for the sash was to go to creative bead craft and get a Swarvoski gem to hang off the clasp just to make it look a bit more appealing. Scott the design director was looking for a very specific shape which sadly they didn't sell there or at swarvoski any more. I ended up taking some images to send to Scott and bought the closest thing possible.