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| Samples from London |
I was looking for Scarlet red silk or lightweight wool, a white silk for lining the gown, black velvet ribbon - 3.5cm, 3.8cm, 4cm and 7.5cm in width and fur 11cm in width.
I went to the following shops when sourcing:
Barnett Lawson Trimmings, Little Portland Street
MacCulloch & Wallis, Dering Street
Borovick Fabrics, Berwick Street
The Cloth House, Berwick Street
The Silk Society, Berwick Street
The Berwick Street Cloth Shop, Berwick Street
and
Misan Textiles, Berwick Street
They were all very helpful with the project and advised me on the kind of fabrics they stocked and gave me samples. One assistant advised that sometimes if you put silk and silk together as a lining it can make the garment quite static and therefore I could use an anti static lining.
Furs
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| MacCulloch and Wallis |
I didnt find as much fur as I wanted and a shopkeeper said that recently he had noticed that shops weren't stocking it as much as they used to.
MacCulloch and Wallis stocked faux furs 7.5cm and 14cm in width. The 14cm furs are £21+ VAT and I think the lower fur in the picture is a good colour for the robe.
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| Barnett Lawson Trimmings |
In The Berwick Street Cloth Shop they sold this fur fabric that was 140cm wide for £69 a metre. I thought that an alternative would be to buy about 25cm of this fur and use is as a trimming, this would therefore be £17.25. I am not sure about this fur in particular though as the fur lies in lines and may not be suited to the gown.
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| The Berwick Street Cloth Shop |
Black Velvet Trim
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| Barnett Lawson Trimmings |
There are many different widths of velvet trimming on the Mayor's robes and I find all these quite difficult to source. 3.5cm, 3.8cm, 4cm and 7.5cm.
At Barnett Lawson they had these 2 wider trimmings. The one on the left of the photograph is 3.6cm wide, it has to be bought in 10 metre rolls which is £10.30+ VAT. On the right is a ribbon 7.2cm wide and is sold at £4.50 a metre
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| MacCulloch and Wallis |
In MacCulloch and Wallis the widest velvet ribbons they stocked were 3.6cm and 5cm wide. The 3.6cm wide ribbon on the left is £2.55+ VAT whilst the 5cm ribbon in the middle of the photo is £3.50+ VAT.
As an alternative I got a sample of satin ribbon. I thought that satin ribbon might compliment a silk gown better that velvet ribbon, which can look quite heavy. This sample on the right is 7.5cm wide and £2.20+VAT.
Red Lightweight Fabrics
I got a variety of red fabrics from £6 - £69. On the toile we used 490cm of 140cm wide fabric, the pieces we cut had a 5cm seam allowance to allow for adjustments but to be safe we probably need about 5m of the top fabric. Therefore with a budget of £400 I have estimated that the top fabrics needs to be about £40 a metre but could be more if with less expensive fur for example.
I mainly got samples of silks because in the first meeting the Mayor preffered the fine imperial silks.
Some of the silks I got samples of are very lightweight
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| Cloth House |
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| MacCulloch and Wallis |
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| Borovick Fabrics |
I am concerned that these samples are too lightweight. Some of them are similar to the weight of the toile we have made from lightweight calico. The toile is draping in a different way to the original garment and this is because of the fabric isn't heavy enough to hold the fabric straight. Therefore I think that maybe we should consider a silk that is a bit heavier. It would still be silk so it would be breathable and lighter than the wool but hopefully the weight would cause the fabric to hang well.
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| The Silk Society |
The one on the left is quite a bit heavier and the red is a bit too dark for the robe. It is 140cm wide and £69 a metre.
The middle sample has quite a matt silk and is 140cm wide and £60 a metre.
The silk on the right is 112cm wide and £50 a metre. This has quite a velvety texture, which is quite a good weight and I think would be suitable for the robe.
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| The Berwick Street Cloth Shop |
Both these silks from the Cloth Shop are £50 a metre each. The sample on the left is very matt in texture which I dont know would work well on this robe. The sample on the right is quite a heavy satin silk, it is nice and I think would work really well on the robe as the pleats would sit really nicely but I am not sure if it is light enough for the Mayor to regard it as a summer robe.
I also got samples of linens and cottons. These are a cheaper option but I don't think they have the glamour needed for a gown like the one we're making. Also some of the cottons have a looser weave that wouldn't be suitable.
Lining Fabric
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| The Berwick Street Cloth Shop |
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| MacCulloch and Wallis |
The sample from the Cloth Shop is a very nice silk, it is 140cm wide and £29 a metre. I like this cloth as you can not easily see the red underneath it and so would make an effective lining also it is nice and soft on the touch so would be pleasant to wear.
In MacCulloch and Wallis the assistant advised the Bremsilk Cupro lining which is on the right. This kind of lining is breathable, antistatic and a good quality. It is £8.33+ VAT and is an option to consider.
The other sample is silk habotai, it has a nice texture but is possibly too thin and fragile for the robe.
I am really pleased with the samples that I have got to take for first fitting. It is a good range to consider and I hope that with my previous samples and any that Abi has got that we have found our final fabrics. I would have liked to have gone to Shepherds Bush also to sample but unfortunately I couldn't fit it into the trip as I had to also visit museums and the theatre. I will definitely be visiting London again when I am back in Bournemouth and if we are not happy that we have found the right fabric for the robe I will source a lot more.
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