Threads Urban Filly Newsletter for November

Posted by on 1/15/2023 to News

The Journey

Although I have always worked in the corporate world, a part of me yearned to have a business of my own. Since I have been sewing since I was 16 and earned a degree in Clothing Design, it just seemed natural that I would gravitate towards designing and manufacturing a line of ready-to-wear garments of my own. The impetus to embarking on this journey, however, was more about sheer frustration--the inability to find the kind of styles that I wanted to wear. After fruitless hours of browsing online, I decided that it was time to unleash my creative side and develop clothing that reflected my own personal style and standards. But where to start?

I pulled out my old boxes of Butterick, Vogue, and Simplicity patterns and began searching for that spark of inspiration. In my mind, there hasn’t been a significant trend in women’s pants for some time- unless it’s in the area of skinny jeans and yoga pants. Yes, they are comfortable, but they simply aren’t right for every occasion and neither are jeans.

As I thumbed through the boxes of patterns, I came across some much beloved Ralph Lauren designs and pondered whether it was time for a return to romantic, feminine styles of the past. I stopped searching when I got to the pattern with the image below, which I found intriguing. I contemplated whether the design elements of this simple asymmetrical skirt could be recast into a pair of trendy gaucho pants.

While gaucho pants never totally disappeared from the fashion scene, many of the styles you find online today have minimal construction and style. Yes, they look great on slender Size 2 models with near perfect figures, but few of those styles would look good on me--or on most of the women I know.

So this was the beginning of my journey. I hope you will continue to follow me through future newsletters and that you will find them enlightening and enjoyable.