About Me
I’m Alison, 40-something professional (metaphorical) plate-spinner and doer of stuff and I live in South London. I love the outdoors, growing, cooking and eating veg, walking and discovering places/things/ideas, swimming, the wonderful women of the Women’s Institute and making.
Since 2006 I’ve run a business with my partner Iain selling men’s made-to-measure clothes to private clients in London and further afield. The best bits are meeting with clients and guiding their choices of lovely, natural fabrics to wear. Owning a business is challenging, though good for personal growth, especially through major events like the 2008 financial crisis, terror attacks by our premises near Borough Market, the shock of losing my sister and a global pandemic. That last catastrophe has meant both Iain and I now have portfolio careers (posh way of saying juggling lots of jobs) while some stability around people’s new working patterns and altered priorities settle. Our tailoring business is a bit quieter for now and through getting a bit more confidence doing sewing alterations and commissions as part of my portfolio as Alison’s Alterations (see what I did there), it’s now time for The Cranford Cabinet to make an appearance on the craft and making scene.
I’m a big fan of natural materials and enjoy making my own clothes, occasionally knitting and learning new skills at the odd class such as footstool upholstery and making soap. Like many, I made face masks during the pandemic, though ours were from old shirts or offcuts of shirts made for clients. This was the first spark of making use of the few thousand surplus pieces of fine fabrics we have amassed through our tailoring business though it still took a while to distil that into the idea of a craft side hustle. The materials I use are really high quality fine fabrics though the odd-sized pieces are not large enough for whole new garments. They have little value unless I can make them into useful and attractive things. That’s where I hope my resourcefulness, creativity and sewing skills will really be helpful. I want the lovely materials to be enjoyed in another form rather than expressing an overtly ‘recycled’ aesthetic.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been fashionable despite working in ‘fashion*’ for nearly two decades, I’m more into comfortable shoes and thoughtfully acquiring/making and wearing things I really value. To be completely honest I anguished over the idea of a making business in a world of climate crisis and overconsumption but it didn’t seem right to either ignore the material we owned or diminish its fine qualities into building insulation either. So The Cranford Cabinet it is.
*well that’s what always comes up when I apply for car insurance
Photo captions for mobile viewers:
Alison dons every single item of Borough Belles WI-themed merch, including tea towel on head
Hi-tech gear (water bottle carrier) for filming making vids exploited by small bear
Sewing on the allotment! A cage to protect our beloved Brussels from pests
Alison and Iain snapped in The Hop Exchange by Borough Market