MAKING OF WEAR LEMONADE

Ooh la la my little kitties! 

Thank you! It seems so derisory and common to just write thank you, I wish I could invent a more powerful word to show my gratitude for your reception and the truly encouraging words we’ve received from you about our collection Wear Lemonade ! A year ago, I met Laure for the first time, upon a precious recommendation from Patricia, an amazing person who is in charge of various operations in the “Sacrés Coupons” boutique in Paris.

Laure came to meet me at my home, because at the time I already had a desire to try my hand at sewing patterns… But “real” ones, not thrown together as I had been doing up until that point. And in life, the hardest thing to do is accept when you can’t do something alone, and that in order to move forward and be legitimate, it’s better to know when to partner up. That’s why I wanted to work with a real designer who knows her subject well, and so I asked Laure to take care of the designs, we discuss how we want things to fall, what details and finishing touches are possible while maintaining simplicity and accessibility, that’s my hobby horse, to not scare off beginners…

And then Laure, with her long hands, traces, cuts and assembles the rough versions of the clothes, we try things on at the office, everyone puts in their 2 cents and we validate a final version of the garment. Then, Laure, Queen of Patterns (her new title) modifies her patterns on paper, scans then vectorizes them, so they become the sewing patterns of Wear Lemonade…

In reading your feedback, comments, suggestions by email, the idea of the Wear Lemonade collection came to see the light of day… A collection of patterns, yes, but also the finished garments for those who don’t have the time, or have two left hands, or are allergic to the sewing machine…I think that subconsciously, I always knew that this would be the logical next stop in the progression of things: picture a parallel wardrobe, practical, in which you feel pretty but not like you’re in a costume. In short, a kind of ephemeral collection of indispensable clothing that feels so good like lemonade. 

Once the designs and spec sheets were done, we had to seek out garment factories, and this was not an easy task because every month the units come in very small quantities and it is complicated to find factories that accept to work on our project without quoting us astronomical prices, given our limited quantities. And I have another hobby horse, the prices, and I suspect that this is not within the reach of every budget but as you already know, we are not Spanish or Swedish big dogs ... But still, I wanted our prices to be fair, commensurate with the work done on each unit, the materials used, and the limited quantity of products. If you’ve looked through our product spec sheets, you noticed that all was Made in France or Made in Portugal. In an ideal world, I would have liked that our sweatshirts be manufactured only in France, but I wanted us to do our own baggy cut, with a wide neckline, a "sexy" sweatshirt with weft-terry embroidery that I just love, but in France the offer to work on sweatshirts is quite poor and it is rarely possible to develop your own cut.

Today, everything we do is Made in France, Made in Paris even, but if by some unfortunate circumstance our workshop couldn’t fulfill our orders or if tomorrow we find a workshop in Europe which would do a great job of sublime quality, with a super ethical charter, I reserve the right to opt for the manufacture of our collections elsewhere in Europe. It's really important for me that I tell you this, because I'm not particularly attached to Made in France, I am delighted that we currently have this label, but quite honestly, for me, there are two things that take precedence over all factors, and that is the quality of work and materials, as well as the working conditions of the employees doing the handcrafting...

For this launch, I wanted to pay tribute to the great DIYs that have been presented on Make My Lemonade over the past 3 years, remastered versions at the expert hands of Laura, the Frida dress, the Perfecto Mona, and the tutu Ava... The garments are produced in two color versions, a standard version and a printed version of our own patterns that we have developed just for the occasion.

To make all this possible, we had to have a real e-shop! And we were fortunate to work with Colorz agency, who were able to “lemonize” our e-shop website. Charlotte has been working with me for over a year and a half now. In reality, she’s the head of operations at the studio and is also in charge of online sales, so she's the Queen of the e-shop! Today, there are still some small glitches to work out, image adjustments and such, but it’s in the process of being perfected. By the way, as of next week there will be another payment mode available, credit card (yippy!!!) and Paypal will no longer be the only way to place your orders! In short, do not hesitate to send us your comments, your opinions are very important and help make us better!

So, we'll be back every month for a new item in a limited edition, and when it's gone it's over, but if you really want a certain item, you’ll need to get sewing! See you tomorrow little birdies, for a Happy Friday post!

Translated by Ida Driscoll