On 1st January 2010, my ex-boyfriend dared me to start a sewing blog.
And then he double-dared me, and of course no one can resist a double-dare so I opened up Blogger and typed in the first blog name I thought of. “Tilly” as it’s my name, and “the Buttons” as it gave a nod to both sewing and typing a blog – plus it sounded like they could be my sixties girl group backing band.
That blog is now turning the ripe old age of ten years old next week and, a decade on, I’m typing this from my studio in London, surrounded by a team of awesome women, with our own line of sewing patterns up on the shelves, our third book currently at the printers and our first fabric collection about to hit the shops :)
Back to ten years ago, I really had no idea that any of this was on the cards. Least of all because I was hungover after a new year’s eve party the night before. I had a career I loved in the world of indie cinemas, and never imagined I would ever want to own my own business, let alone leave the film industry. I thought this blogging thing could be a bit of fun but in all honesty didn’t know how long it would last and didn’t think anyone would read it apart from my mum.
So why did I start? I’d recently got into dressmaking in my spare time and had stumbled upon a few blogs written by other women around the world who made their own clothes. As none of my IRL friends shared my hobby, I thought it could be fun to chat to people who understood my interest in seam techniques and love of fabric, and document my own makes to keep me motivated to carry on sewing.
For my debut post, I shared some photos of the first thing I’d made, a shift dress from a McCalls pattern in a yellow floral cotton bought from The Cloth House. Back then, there wasn’t the thriving indie pattern scene which we are lucky to have now, and I wouldn’t have known where to find fabric online. On the plus side, the sewing bloggers I “met” online were so kind, creative and resourceful, and we banded together to navigate the sewing scene and help each other to keep making stuff.
Looking back at my early posts is naturally mega-cringe. The photos were small and shadowy, the writing demonstrated an uncertainty about what I was embarking upon, my haircut a dodgy growing-out-crop channeling Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. But everyone has to start somewhere and, had I not embraced the spirit of “imperfect but published”, I would never have blogged at all and wouldn’t be doing all the things I am now. (That's something I always advise people who want to start a venture - you just have to start and as that's the only way you'll really learn and improve.) Nor would I have had the pleasure of diving head-first into the wonderful online sewing community, which has kept me inspired to make things – and still inspires me every day.
In the early days of the blog, I shared things I’d made, things I wanted to make, fabric hauls, meet-ups and random musings. As the years progressed, I heard again and again people saying that they would love to sew too but they had no idea where to start and found sewing patterns intimidating. In my professional life, I was designing training programmes and working on audience development, in particular how to make the potentially intimidating world of arthouse movies appealing and accessible to more people. So I couldn’t help but have a burning desire to do something to break down these barriers to sewing – I wanted more people to fall in love with making their own clothes just like I had, and to realise that it wasn’t so difficult after all.
This blog content also led to publishers get in touch to see if I would be interested in writing a sewing book for beginners. Those initial book approaches didn’t turn into anything concrete, but they did encourage me to get myself a literary agent to help me navigate the world of publishing. You can read the full story about how I got my first book deal if you're interested.
My first book, Love at First Stitch, hit the shelves in May 2014, my second Stretch! came out three years later, and my third book Make It Simple is coming in a few weeks’ time (and available to pre-order now!). I absolutely LOVE the process of writing sewing books and feel extremely fortunate to have found a new career that makes me feel so fulfilled.
At the same time as I'd been strengthening my blog content, I’d also decided to advance my dressmaking game by learning to draft patterns at the London College of Fashion. Following which, blog readers kept asking me to share the patterns I was making, so I tentatively dipped my toe in the water in 2013 by releasing the Mathilde blouse - a button-back top with pin tucks and voluminous sleeves. It was a PDF pattern only, which readers could buy directly through my blog.
Apart from the pattern grading, for which I used a fashion industry grading company, I did everything myself, from creating the pattern, through googling how to deliver digital products, taking photos of myself in my kitchen on timer, and taking a course in how to make technical fashion drawings. It was a steep learning curve! The patterns have come on a long way from those humble beginnings, with a whole team of people now working on different stages of its development, and beautiful instructions and packaging that I'm so proud of. (You can read about the evolution of our pattern packaging here.)
The response to the Mathilde blouse pattern was encouraging, so I immediately began working on my next pattern, the easy-peasy Miette wrap skirt. I was particularly keen on this design as I knew the simple construction, flexible fit and lack of fastenings would make it perfect for beginners.
Once this second pattern came out, I felt more confident that I could sell enough patterns to cover the minimum order required to litho print my next design – the Coco dress and top – so set about finding a large format printer. I wanted to avoid tissue patterns as I find them so annoying to use and store, plus I wanted a printer who was local to avoid the environmental impact of shipping supplies from overseas. After much hunting around and countless phone calls, eventually I found my first printer.
Coco launched and luckily the investment in printing paid off - in fact, six years on it is still one of our bestselling designs. As well as investing in printing, I'd also hired a freelance designer - an amazingly talented lady called Arielle, who had worked on my first book - to design the packaging. Bit by bit it was becoming a more professional operation, but I was still doing most things myself, including (ahem) "modelling" the garments myself in my kitchen with the camera on timer, and running the business out of my flat in Brixton.
Going from digital patterns, all sent out automatically, to printed patterns, which I had to pack and shlep to the local post office (who understandably hated me) was a big change, one I hadn’t quite prepared myself for. My flat turned into a warehouse, boxes everywhere, and my (new) boyfriend discovered that his (new) girlfriend was a tyrant as I shouted at him to pack faster, faster, faster! Seriously though, I was so lucky to have his help, as well as the help of Alana, a fellow sewing blogger, who swiftly volunteered to come round and stuff envelopes.
It was admittedly a bit of a makeshift operation, but if I had to do it all again I would do it the same way. I didn't have any savings to put into the business and didn't want to take out a loan or investment - I wanted to ensure the business was sustainable and could fund itself. So I built the company slowly, testing market demand as I went and reinvesting profits bit by bit to ensure the business was sustainable.
At one point someone commented that I was running a "cottage industry" - I think they actually meant it as a compliment, but it stuck in my head and reinforced my determination to grow the business so people would take it more seriously. I’m sure I’m not the only woman in the craft industry who has been on the receiving end of patronising comments (“Do you want to check with your husband?” is one I know I'm not alone in hearing when enquiring about putting in a wholesale fabric order at a trade show). If you’re reading this and have encountered this kind of prejudice, I urge you not to feel discouraged but to use these remarks to spur you on to make your venture even more successful ;)
Shortly after we (the royal "we") launched our first printed pattern, I had a biopsy on a mole on my foot, which luckily turned out to be benign, but [gross out warning] the stitches burst and I ended up lying on the sofa for ten weeks flexing my foot until the wound had healed. And that’s when my first wholesale order came in! I had to somehow pack the order while lying down/crawling around on the floor and convince a friend to take it to the post office for me.
The wholesale side of the business has since grown to around 200 stockists all over the world. Our stockists help us to spread the sewing bug, from John Lewis and Liberty who provide us with a great platform to the wider world, to the independent haberdasheries who are so passionate about crafts and brilliant at getting their customers excited about sewing goodies.
By now you may have realised this account of the story of Tilly and the Buttons is in a more thematic than chronological order, as everything took ages and slightly overlapped. So, jumping back a bit, while some of this was going on, I was also sitting on a secret – that I was going to be on the telly. Eep! After six months of auditions for the first series of the Great British Sewing Bee, I got the call that I was going to be a contestant about ten days before the first filming day.
To be honest, I hadn’t thought through the impact (both positive and negative) that being on TV would have on me and my blog (I wasn’t selling any products at the time of filming) - I just wanted to be part of something that was going to help spread the sewing bug to more people in the UK.
There's a bit of a myth that if you're on one of these shows you get handed money-making opportunities on a plate. The truth is far from it, particularly for BBC shows - my contract restricted me from making money directly off the back of being a contestant, and I had to work my butt off for years, both on creating blog content and developing my products. However, there is no doubt that the show made a huge difference in raising the profile of home sewing and spurring on the UK’s craft businesses, which Tilly and the Buttons has benefited from hugely. Before the Sewing Bee aired, when I told people that I made my own clothes they would look at me like I was mad. Once it was on mainstream TV, it felt like overnight sewing had become an acceptable hobby for younger people to be into. So luck definitely played a part - I was doing the right thing at the right time.
Back to the business and jumping back a bit again – I’d gone part time at work when I started working seriously on the patterns and, once I signed my first book deal, I realised it was now or never and quit my day job. A few months later, as boxes of patterns and books were taking over my flat and interfering with my sleep, I set about to find my first studio and first employee. As soon as I saw the light-filled studio in West Norwood, I knew I had to snap it up. The rent was higher than I had budgeted for, but I took a risk and decided to use the pressure of the extra cost to give me a kick up the bum to catapult the business so we would grow into the studio, make up the rent and then some.
The first person I hired was Laura, a fantastically dedicated and hardworking employee, who started out packing orders and answering customer emails, and soon went on to take on lots more responsibilities (including posing on a forklift truck when we went to visit our printers - don't ask). Five and a half years on, Laura has moved on and we are now a team of six amazing women plus three regular freelancers, still in the same building but in a bigger studio.
I taught sewing workshops in the studio for a while, before moving them online so we could reach more people around the world. I love the fact that our workshops can be taken by anyone, anywhere, at any time. You don’t need to make a special journey to get here, you don’t need to arrange childcare or get time off work, you don’t even need to leave the house! Plus you get to see the sewing up close and can pause, rewind and rewatch the lessons as you like.
And here we are now, ten years on. I’m so proud of everything we’ve achieved with Tilly and the Buttons together, from winning industry awards for our products to getting invited to do speaking gigs, getting supplements in magazines and of course growing our line of lovely patterns, books and more. It's taken an immense amount of hard work and sacrifices to get here, but I feel so lucky as I have the best job in the world. I have learnt SO much along the way, and our products and content have improved so much. There's always room to improve more, so I'm excited to see what the future brings.
Of course it's not just me that has made it happen - our team, past and present, has been amazing, and lots of other people have helped out along the way, from volunteering to pack orders to testing out our patterns, agreeing to be one of our "real gal" models and helping to spread the word about our patterns. This is our current team getting manis at our last Christmas party.
Whether you have been following the blog right from the start (hiyee!) or have stumbled upon us more recently, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being part of this story. It means so much to me and to the team that there are lovely people out there who sew with our patterns, read our books, sew along to our workshops and follow our social media accounts.
Here’s to the next ten years!
