16 December 2015

Behind the Scenes...


Hello! It's been a little while since we did a behind the scenes-type blog post, so I thought today I'd share some peeks at  what we're getting up to at Tilly and the Buttons HQ.

It never really seems to slow down, which I guess is always the case with a small-and-growing company. But I'm not complaining as despite the hard work, it still feels like a dream to get to make stuff and share how to make stuff as a job :)


Ooh, first thing to tell you is that we're going to be taking over Mollie Makes' Instagram account this week! We're big fans of Mollie Makes - in case you haven't heard of it, it's a creative lifestyle magazine sharing lots of crafty inspiration - so it's great to get to team up with them. We'll be posting to their Instagram account from Thursday to Sunday - please come say hi! - and also curating a Pinterest board for them on the theme of 'Last Minute Christmas'. (There's nothing on it yet, again it starts on Thursday.)




We're working on three gorgeous new sewing patterns at the moment in preparation for 2016. Two of them will be released by us in the first few months of the year, the other one is for a publication - I'll let you know all the details nearer the time :) We've fallen head over heels in love with these patterns, and can't wait to share them with you.

These are some snaps from one of our shoots where we photograph the instructions for the pattern booklets - it's the fun and colourful part after a looong development process! We hire a talented freelance photographer, Fanni Williams, to take photos of me demonstrating the steps, and in between Vanessa prepares the next step ready for the next picture. It's always a bit of a crazy day, particularly in Winter when we need to get everything done before the sun goes down at 3pm (eek), but it's always fun and fuelled by cake (mince pies last weekend).


Laura's been taking your orders and answering your emails, and in the last few weeks she's been joined by our newest team member, Lexy - who you'll meet in a photo in a minute! 

Did you see our new Coco pattern cover? We had to reprint it again (thanks to everyone who's bought the pattern, seriously guys, you're amazing) and thought we'd take the opportunity to give it a little makeover. We've introduced pink to our colour scheme and have started adding confidence levels to the envelope to help customers in bricks and mortar shops decide if the project is for them. It sounds silly, but pink is a colour I passionately resisted when I started the company because I wanted to get away from the 1950-floral-domestic-goddess aesthetic that's often associated with sewing. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that look in the slightest, just that I wanted our brand to present a different image of sewing. However, more recently I've been totally embracing pink - there seems to have been a bit of a pink renaissance recently, and I love it!


And finally, did you see Vanessa's recent Orla dress hack tutorial? We went with the champagne (ginger ale) prop for the final photos, after an epic sequin-confetti-shower photo shoot fail

Wanna see the outtakes? Of course you do...


So first we tried Vanessa throwing the sequins in the air herself... and these were the best shots I got. Oh dear!! So then we roped in our new Office Manager Lexy - pictured below - to stand on a stool and throw them over her head...



Now you see it... now you don't... These pictures crack me up! All we were left with was a mess to sweep up, hehe :)

Have a lovely week! xx