Leather and Cake.

It has to be said, at Preen we eat a lot of cake. It always seems to be someones birthday/ last day before their maternity leave starts or other undisclosed celebratory day and although half the studio could be fit models, (Preen's standard woman is 5'10''and a size 8) we all seem to be constantly nibbling on chocolate and treats!
The hierarchy at Preen is an interesting one: Justin and Thea are the big dogs, the founders and designers/creators of the entire Preen fashion brand. Next there is Julie, she is head designer for Preen by Thornton Bregazzi. This is the main and first fashion line and is shown at London Fashion Week every season. Next there is Justyna who fronts Preen Line, a diffusion brand that's slightly more edgy than the main line with more punky, youthful elements. She is lovely! In addition, on a good day there are nine of us interns, two seamstresses and one pattern cutter who work upstairs and the entire production/sales team who sit downstairs. Quite a full house!

I haven't worked much with leather in the past but this week I was asked by Justyna to do some sampling for the new collection - I created various tessellating shapes in different patches.  It was really good to work with something slightly different, I think the most difficult part was getting the stitching perfect the first time around as when you sew leather it permanently punctures the hide and there is no way to undo it! I finished the edges with glue, I thought it sounded crazy when I was told to do it but it actually gives a really successful finish.
I also helped organise the Preen archive - we packed away lots of the old collections for storage, such a mammoth task considering Preen's incredible history but it was amazing to go through the garments and see where the brand came from. It was a really good week.