Fabric Design by Christina Binning Wilson
Story and Illustration by Sandshoe
I designed the image in the early 90s and printed it onto a business card.
An elegant and charming Italian woman I sat next to on a plane out of Brisbane a year or so later told me she was a fashion buyer. She had come to Australia “for the parades”. She had been to one on the Gold Coast. I showed her the design. Did I…maybe…was this shown at the Parade, she stumbled. There was a cloth very like it, she said, that she liked a lot.
There are a number of fabric design programmes on the current software market. I came up with my tattered remnant of cloth playing with the Clarisworks programme on my old Apple Mac.
I do love this design.
I imagine it woven in a light merino wool fabric or with a mix to make it a little heavier and a coat pattern draughted with pockets to reinforce and mould its shape into a curve – when a model wears the finished garment, bell-like. The sleeves of the coat are raglan, comfortably straight and not cuffed.
The skirt is a plain straight skirt darted at the waist with four conventional darts, two front and back, with a side zip and a front kick pleat. Its length is only just below the knee.
A second mix-and-match outfit is a trouser suit that has a narrow legged trouser with a lightly reinforced cuff, a side zip and four conventional darts. Its alternative suit coat is waist length and darted only from the front shoulder seam of each shoulder. Reinforced and lined the coat provides a box effect above the narrow legged, cuffed trouser.
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
There are many here in Bowral that wear raglan sleeved jumpers. I saw one this morning coming out of Coles with a huge pack of 24 rolls of toilet paper. He held them under his arm and then jumped on a push bike. He looked happy. I wondered what the urgency was. May be, so soon after Christmas, there were ‘incidents’ of crook prawns playing havoc somewhere. Who knows?
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Yes, I think we can guess, Gerard. Crook prawns or true, perhaps a bad can of tinned Spam, who knows, Raglan sleeves of course just the thing to ride a bicyle to the supermarket in and if of the inclination stash the 24 rolls of toilet paper under to spare the amount of extra packaging 24 rolls entail if at all shy about being seen buying such lest people talk. 😉
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Shoe, those narrow legged pants can be so slimming and leg lengthening, especially if you wear them with high heels; I love the look. I also like your fabric design, for myself I’d change the red to a burnt orange.
When still living in Balmain, I bought a beautiful Tweed coat from an American woman, I had it for years and always got many compliments when wearing it. She also had for sale some American cotton socks, they were white and lacy and lasted for ever…those days worn with white sand-shoes…so there Sanshoe 🙂
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so sorry, Sandshoe
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Thank you helvi. I think if you put the fabrics side by side, you might choose the red rather than the orange helvi, speaking instinctively of course as we cannot afford this luxury of trying the fabric out by commissioning it for manufacture. I may be wrong but instinct tells me you might choose the red. Lovely to be chatting about the design with piglets.
Country Road had a magnificent line in white cotton socks that I bought in batches of half a dozen when I could afford them and they had stopped selling them when I went the last time to make a purchase of a modest pair or two. They were expensive, just under $13.00 in the 80s. They went hard and shrank a little when they were washed yet I loved them. Synthetic socks of the day were not the quality the mixes of today are I think.
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I imagined a shoe style and a heel like I had on a pair of shoes manufactured in New Zealand by Adams, helvi that I thought was a local manufacturer. They had a style called ‘Taxi’, that was a simple shoe with a beautiful cut and a segment across the toe defined by a stitch across it and the segment was decorated with a dotted pattern like punch holes. It had a small heel.
A shoe with a higher heel I thought of, but that had a good broad base, was a black patent pair I had with a single distinguishing gold stripe up the heel at its back and the stripe widened out like a vase top at its highest point where it connected to the body of the shoe. I would love to gather together items of comfort and style I have worn, helvi, and pay that credit in an exhibition of my own design fabric. You mentioning the tweed coat and the white cotton socks bears out we have particular garments that have been the highlights of our experience with clothing.
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I’m still looking for a pair of shoes that I once had, they were black patent leather, and some narrow strip of silver at the front, they comfortable and elegant with low heel, I wore them in Buenos Aires, where women look elegant, I wanted to fit in…all the girls in shops
wanted to know where I bought them. I got them in Oz but they were Italian…
New Zealand has got many good designers, when I worked I used buy lot of their stuff.
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helvi, during the time I was there the restrictions on imports and assistance the clothing industry got ceased pretty well. I don’t know a lot about the detail of it and unsure about the time frame. The clothing industry pretty well moved offshore to profit out of low cost labour..
I would be interested to learn how the industry is faring these days in New Zealand. Hours in a day… 🙂
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Hi Shoe. Merry Christmas, a day late. I think the scrap of fabric looks like a horse. I like the sound of the clothing, I hope you can see them made some time.
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Yes, Lehan and thank you. It would be lovely to see them made.
I love that. A HORSE! I stared at it and stared at it and then I saw. A HORSE! I see the horse, Lehan. That suggests a label. 🙂
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I like the pattern shoe, I’ve got a cashmere scarf with a similar pattern.
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That sounds v smart in cashmere, algy.
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Bought it somewhere Scotland I think, warned the neck.
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Your neck would have looked very smart warmed by your handsome cashmere scarf, I bet, algy. 😉
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Indeed it did. Nowadays it doesn’t get cold enough here for scalves I feel. Not sure where it is now
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Love the material look and the design. Coincidentally it sounds a bit like an outfit I had. Quality, long lasting, warm and comfortable. Love the raglan style especially.
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O, thank you, thank you Vivienne so very, very, much.
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Gawd, you’re a lady of many talents, ‘shoe!
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I take it you like the suit cloth Big.
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I’ll be back and reading all tomorrow. Am thawing and preparing prawns and then we head off over the border. Love to all.
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Lovely Vivienne you dropped by.
I am having a wonderful time in my cottage and the world is quiet.
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