Big update........sorry for neglecting you!

Ever wondered what goes on in a small business on a day to day basis?  Well the past few weeks I have been running around like a  headless chicken trying to get some stock organised for a) my photoshoot next Saturday and b) to sell at my brand launch this September at the Goodwood Revival (16th-18th September).

One product I have already posted up here (the Marilyn headscarf) and there has been a tremendous reaction to them to which I am truly proud of.  Another product I put a teaser photo up on Facebook which is a silk headscarf that I had a brilliant lady design the print for.

I met a lovely textiles designer by chance one day whilst working for a lingerie boutique in London last winter.  Her name is the wonderful Luna DeLovely - a soul songstress/burlesque performer/textiles designer extroadinaire!  She has since become a dear friend of mine and I knew she was the perfect person to contact to design an exclusive print for Betty Blue's.  We decided the perfect product to design for would be a chiffon scarf for vintage girlies to protect their hair set in rollers, and I commissioned her to produce four different designs;  Two for Autumn/Winter11/12 and a further two for Spring/Summer12.

So after lots of e-mails to and fro deciding the perfect prints, and having it printed at a UK digital printers, I sat down today to cut them all out so that I can send them off to have a little hem done at my factory in Wales.  So without further ado here are some sneaky pics of the A/W designs showing the process I have to go through to make them after being printed:

My personal favourite design.  On the roll before cutting them out!  Scary stuff as they are expensive to get printed so if I go wrong..........well there is no option to go wrong!!  I can't afford to!!

The second A/W design and Luna DeLovelys favourite design :)  all cut out ready to be sent to the factory with the Betty Blue's labels as well. 

The third product (I hope to receive in the post tomorrow morning from my factory eeek exciting!) is a cute and flirty summery babydoll and knicker set.  Inspired by the 1950's/1960's I have tried to use authentic fabrics to evoke the era, and it is named after a 50's/60's siren "Bridgette".  It is a lovely sunny lemon yellow with white lace accents, sure to brighten up your day, especially on those British rainy summer days!  (Seriously where has the summer gone?!?!  It's still August we should be in a heat wave!).  Here is a little sneaky teaser picture I took when I visited my factory yesterday:

The knickers have cute ruffly elastic and the babydoll also has lacey shoulder straps that you cannot see in this pic .....I have to keep some things a surprise teehee ;-)

If you follow my twitter feed you may have already seen these pics so I apologise, I did also over use twitter on that trip so sorry for the spammage!  There is a lot of waiting around and I get bored very easily!!!  I also popped up a sneaky pic I took of one of the ladies who will be making my garments:

Betty :)

This is Betty beautifully posing with the last product (over her shoulder) I hope to have in time for the launch - a jersey lined stretch velvet "Siren Suit", consisting of a little jacket and high waisted slacks.  I may post another time about my obsession with Siren Suits but otherwise google it to find out the history behind them ;-).  Betty is awesome because a) she has the same name as me!! and most importantly b) she is an excellent sewer of lingerie and well pretty much anything else clothing related!!  I am testament to her sewing skills as the hem was hanging strangely on the trousers so I had to unpick her stitching, and it took me literally hours to un-pick just one leg.

This last outfit has been the bain of my existance!  When starting up Betty Blue's I wanted to provide people with well priced, comfortable, snuggly and importantly British made loungwear.  After all who wants to lye around their house in ugly sweat pants and a hoody, when you can recline in style and sophistiction!  My whole brand exists on the concept of providing that warm and snuggly alternative to the aforementioned atrocities.  But I have to say it is extremely difficult to source and make well priced small runs of garments in the UK.  As a result I fear that I may have priced out a few customers as in relation to the likes of "Primarni" and "New Look", although their products are very different in style to mine, I can in NO way match their price point.  But as my brand is in a "Vintage" style, I think my customer will appreciate the fact the designs are on the glam side and not be expecting high street prices.  I could go on and on about price point as raw fabric costs have sky rocketed in the last 18 months, but I don't want to bore you!  But all I will say is that for the amount of skill and work that has gone into all of my products, they are very well priced, even if a few may think they are expensive.  And I should also say because small runs are being produced (apart from continual signature lines) you are getting peace in the knowledge that only a handful of people will own the same items.  Anyway rant about price point over here is a teaser of the colours you can get the siren suit in :) :

Seasonal colours of "Moss Green" and "Aubergine" as well as Black

All going well I hope this Siren Suit will become a Betty Blue's signature design.  If it is popular and lots of people buy it, Black will always be available but I will change the Moss and Aubergine for other colours next A/W.  There is a gorgeous Hunter Green and Burgandy I know it would look spectacular in!  Hopefully if there is a demand for them then the increase in production run may see the price lowered in the future and also fabric is cheaper the more you buy of it.  So I am going to need all of your help to get this going!  I will also introduce more sizes in the future if there is demand so if you don't see your size when it's up and running on my website please e-mail me (info@bettybluesloungerie.com).  The future of this brand is in your hands!

So I hope this update has helped you understand what I do from day to day and I will leave you all with the following picture:

This is what happens when I get up and dressed at 5am......odly no one told me I was wearing a strange combination of clothes!  Think they thought I'm "arty" because I'm a designer haha

The next post I make will probably be the results of my photoshoot that is happening this Saturday so I can finally stop teasing you and show you the first items that will be for sale at Betty Blue's Loungerie :).  Untill then I hope you all have a fabulous week.

Betty xxx