How I made this dress
I have always painted, drawn and created content for client work, but I never embraced my creativity in an authentic way. Until now.
Guests have shared wonderful photos of from my launch event
It was quite by accident that I made this incredible hand made beauty. It all started when I hand painted this 90 x 90 piece for my gallery launch. I wanted to create a piece for my exhibition that showed the detail at scale in my silk scarves.
I decided to take the same design and create a silk dress for the event. First I contacted my friend, Felicity Westmacott, who is an incredible bespoke dressmaker. I asked her if it was even possible given the timescales and what she needed from me. Being a reformed delivery-focused consultant, I always begin with a discovery process and establish what I need to get the job done.
I had already drawn a dress design and had the fabric in mind, so she suggested finding an *ACTUAL* pattern to save us time. I conducted a lot of research already and had found a 1970’s vintage pattern for us to use. Little did we realise it was reversible (front to back), which aligned with my scarf ethos of wearing things your own way and viewing and sharing different aspects of our story as and when we feel like it.
Felicity also suggested fabric length and cutting on the bias, so I just needed to finalise my fabric design with my printing partner. I contacted my team in Macclesfield and was advised to create a repeating pattern, how many metres I’d need, and printing time. I work with the only sustainable Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS)-certified silk printer in the UK and they are superb.
In order to create this 1 x 4 metre piece of silk, I decided to repaint the art as I didn’t want to wear a teal coloured dress. I repainted the art, digitised it, and edited it in photoshop to create the repeating pattern.
My team in Macclesfield sustainably printed and delivered my silk in 10 days. Incredible.
During this time, I had fittings with Felicity and she got to work as soon as the beautiful silk arrived. We had one more fitting to pin the hem and cuffs. My completely bespoke silk dress was finished in less than a month.
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Would you order this dress?
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Would you wear this design as a scarf?
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Would you like this in a custom design?
- Would you like your own custom-designed fabric?
I am opening up my pre-order for this dress very soon. Get excited, because it is going to be...magic.
About Kathy Kyle Studio
Kathy Kyle is an artist, illustrator and entrepreneur who creates ethical, sustainable wearable art. She creates custom and limited collections. This includes bespoke hand painted clothing, textile and surface design, and stationery. Her work is inspired by nature, the fast-talking dames of Old Hollywood films, and slow, vintage style. With 25 years as the ‘creative’ working in tech start-ups, branding, PR, art and climate advocacy, she has now launched the studio to ethically create wearable art.