A Look Inside (Literally, Inside) our SS17 Collection
by Emily DeLong | 18 July 17
I wrote a post like this one a few months ago for our FW16 collection, and I had so much fun writing and photographing it (and hopefully you had fun reading it, too) that I figured I'd do it again for SS17.
Selling clothing online is tough, not only because you can't try things on before you buy them, but also because a lot of the things that make our garments special are the little details that are difficult to photograph and describe. French seams, full linings, hand-sewn buttons — all those things sound great (because they are), but it's hard to truly see the difference a carefully crafted garment makes unless you're holding it in your hands.
All that said, this blog post is an attempt to show you some of the little details from our SS17 collection that product photos can't do adequate justice. Get ready for a lot of close-up shots and garments turned inside out!
The inside side seam of the Poppy Top in Sage Silk. I choose to do most interior seams as French seams due to their impeccable combination of neatness and strength.
Here's another French seam, this one on the Poppy Top and Buttercup Gauze. I just love it when the insides of garments look neat and tidy.
Of course, not all seams can be French seams. The back seam of the Thea Dress in Pink Cloud is folded over and stitched down on each side, creating a bit of visual interest and allowing the keyhole opening at the top to sit naturally.
Here is the top of the same Thea Dress, but turned inside out. The dress (in addition to most of the rest of the collection) is lined with undyed organic cotton double gauze, which creates a cloudy-soft, breathable layer against your skin.
At first I was going to line the dresses made from our two SS17 silks (Pink Cloud and Sage Silk) with silk, but I had some extra double gauze lying around (and not a lot of silk) and was curious as to how the gauze lining would work. This Thea Dress was the first sample I made with the double gauze lining, and the moment I tried it on I knew I was going to keep it that way! The dress was super luxurious from the silk crepe, but the double gauze lining gave it a floaty, ethereal quality (not to mention that the dress was ridiculously soft).
Here's another silk dress lined with organic cotton double gauze, the Lily Dress in Sage Silk. I like how you can see the outline of the pocket from the inside!
Here's another lining picture, this one of the Soleil Skirt in Navy Check.
And this is the inside of the Picnic Dress in Navy Check. The little checks in the double gauze lining make the fabric easy to cut out!
Here's another shot of the Picnic Dress in Navy Check. I thought it'd be fun to use just a little bit of the main fabric in the inside of the dress (in this case, the waistband) for a pop of color.
On the outside, I cut the waistband of the Picnic Dress in Navy Check on the bias so that the checks go diagonally. I like the way it breaks up the pattern (and at a figure-flattering part of the dress, no less!).
Another inside of a Picnic Dress, this time the one made from our Buttercup Gauze.
Here's the bottom of that same Picnic Dress in Buttercup Gauze. The zigzag-y stitch on the bottom is a blind hem, which looks super cool on the inside of the garment and (more importantly) nearly invisible on the outside.
Here's a closeup of the inside of our Square Scarf in Navy Check. Even though there's not a lot of sewing to do on our scarves, getting the hem even and lining up the tags so that they're sewn in straight takes a bit of time.
Speaking of time, one of the big tasks at the end of sewing many of our pieces (like the Lily Dress in Buttercup Gauze pictured above) is hand-sewing on buttons. Even though it does take up a lot of time, the result are buttons that are super sturdy and not likely to fall off. (Also, I find hand-sewing pretty meditative, so I really don't mind the extra time it takes!)
Another thing that I always hand-sew are hooks and eyes at the tops of zippers. The only style that needed them in our SS17 collection was the Meadow Dress, though, right at the base of the bodice before the bow ties begin.
Adding pockets to garments is always one of those things I think will be a great idea until I actually have to do it. Aligning a patch pocket accurately (especially when there are two that have to be in the same spot, like on a pair of pants) is incredibly tough, not to mention getting the stitching around the outside to look nice and clean. There really is no room for mistakes — especially on silk, where any needle puncture is permanent! The topstitching around the pocket on this Regatta Top in Pink Cloud isn't perfect, but I'm still happy with it.
Last but not least are a few pictures of our Sawyer Pants. Each season, our pants always end up with the coolest-looking insides, probably due to the contrast bias tape trim I use to bind all the inside seams.
For the Blueberry Linen version of the Sawyer Pants, I bound the seams with bias tape made from our Navy Check fabric. I love how fresh and summery and nautical the combination is!
The inside of the Sawyer Pants in Cream Stripe are perhaps a bit less interesting, but only because I was worried doing the seam binding in anything too colorful would show through. The consolation of this colorway, though, is that the pants are lined, making for the softest, coziest pair of pants in existence.
And there you have it! A look inside (literally) of our SS17 collection. As a firm believer that the inside of a garment should look just as polished as the outside, I'm glad I got to share this with you!