Locally Made

After the recent deaths of thousands of garment workers in Bangladesh, I've been trying to learn more about foreign versus domestic clothing production.  I've long been concerned about the humanitarian and environmental impacts of low-cost, foreign garment production, but the tragedy in Bangladesh has made it much more real to me.  This recent op-ed piece in the New York Times highlights the importance of both regulation and consumer power and really struck a chord with me.


I'm also excited to read this recent book, which I have heard is eye-opening:

The heart of what we do at Winslow is respond to the epidemic of cheap, fast fashion.  Whenever I set out to make a tie or pocket square, I learn through doing how important domestic production of clothing really is, both to the quality of our lives, and the quality of the lives of people in Bangladesh and other places where clothing manufacturers outsource labor.  We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Madras

I was so excited by how the madras shirting looked on a bow tie ...

...  that I had to make a necktie out of it as well.    This fabric is reclaimed shirting, so I first had to piece the shirting together before laying it out and cutting the necktie pattern.

Once I got the pattern cut out, I started thinking about what fabric to use for the tail.  (The random quilt project and a seersucker tie in progress had to make room for the madras on the design board!)

The tie really started to come together once I cut the interface lining -- I can see what the madras looks like with the blue shirting fabric.  

Can't wait to see how the tie turns out!  

Instagram Love.

Jamie and I try to capture our Winslow adventures in photographs, which you can follow on Instagram.   Here are some of my recent favorites.

I'm loving this bandana bow tie.  I wasn't sure how the traditional paisley pattern would end up laying on the shape of the tie-- but I was pleasantly surprised!   

Jamie snapped a picture of some Winslow bow ties hanging together.  The madras is still my favorite.

The bold navy stripe fabric (which I wrote about in my last post) ended up looking super sharp on a bow tie.  

Striped

I've had my eye out for great striped fabrics.  Stripes bring a crisp, fresh edge to an outfit.  I found this great vintage wide navy blue stripe, which I think would look great on a necktie.  Cut on the bias, of course!

The wide stripe looks so bold next to the light blue seersucker.

(Ignore the quilting experiments that also found their way onto my design board!)

After cutting the wide stripe necktie, I finally finished stitching up the seersucker necktie -- which is available now.  

And keep an eye out for the wide striped necktie, which'll be coming soon to the Etsy shop.

In progress

I can't wait to post the exotic paisley neck tie.

New Bows

New bow ties are coming to Winslow soon.  Keep an eye on the shop!