I received the Nerida Hansen collection in the shop and I find it truly magnificent... but beyond that, Nerida is quite a remarkable woman to discover and whose values are worth sharing.
A successful businesswoman, influential in the field of respecting textile artisans and designers, sharing her vision of handmade and slow fashion... in short, the more I read about her, the more I wanted to meet her in person and become good friends!
And the icing on the cake, Nerida does not mess around with quality! You can't fool her! Indeed, her textiles are beautiful but also of high quality! Since we received part of her new collection, I wanted to revisit the overview of the different textiles but also tell you more about this extraordinary woman.
Let's go, here we go!
Who is Nerida Hansen
Nerida Hansen is an Australian businesswoman (Torquay) who started her first company in 2008 with her own sportswear brand for men and women.
Slowly, Nerida has built her team of designers, some of whom are long-time partners while others join the team gradually. Nerida continues her search for local and international illustrators and art designers to support, license, and represent them, while ensuring they fit perfectly with her brand.
Nerida is a very savvy businesswoman who knows what she wants and puts her heart and soul into her work. Her integrity and commitment to her brand and team are quite inspiring.
Nerida is also committed to running a transparent business with minimal waste, adopting more sustainable practices, and reducing harm to the planet. Thus, the fabrics (weaving and fibers) and designs are carefully chosen with an emphasis on longevity, not trends. Her goal is that garments made with their textiles last season after season and are worn with love over time.
As creative director, Nerida places crucial importance on the quality and durability of her fabrics. Her careful selection revolves around considerations such as environmental sustainability, wearability, design versatility, and ease of sewing. Each choice reflects her commitment to ethical practices and sustainable fashion.
Nerida has a fun and colorful universe and her fabrics are of quality. Let’s explore together the materials and weaves she offers in her new collection.
Cotton poplin
Poplin is not a fabric but a weave with a particular thread composition; that is to say, a way of weaving the thread to create a piece of fabric. This weave is made up of warp and weft threads interlaced in a grid. Poplin is a plain weave because a weft thread passes under only one warp thread and vice versa. The warp threads are finer and therefore twice as numerous as the weft threads.
- it is lightweight,
- it is breathable
- soft on the skin
- it has a certain fluidity while maintaining structure
- it comes in all colors and patterns
- it is easy to cut and sew
- ironing is very easy
- it is easy to care for
and it is for all these reasons that I really love sewing it!
Cotton poplin can be suitable for all sewers and especially for beginners in sewing who will gain great satisfaction from sewing this material.
It will be used in garment making: shirts/blouses, blouses, tops and camisoles, dresses, skirts, boxer shorts, summer shorts and pants... but also in accessories for bag linings, pouches, furoshiki, cases...
Cotton voile
Cotton voile is a fabric made of cotton, using a plain weave (like poplin) with a loose weave. It is a finer and lighter fabric than cotton poplin. It can be slightly transparent depending on the weave but also on its shade; light fabrics being more transparent. Cotton voile has a soft drape.
Since the voile we offer you is 100% cotton, the advantages of this product are the same as for poplin. With this weave, you can make light tops, tunics, blouses and shirts for women and children, flowing dresses, light skirts or petticoats for women and children, tunics and shirts for men, but also linings for other garments, jackets or skirts. For accessories, cotton voile is very suitable for making scarves and handkerchiefs.
Cotton satin
Satin is a weave just like plain weave. The traditional way to weave satin is with one vertical thread underneath for three horizontal threads on top. It is this weaving that gives satin its smooth and silky appearance. Cotton satin offers a shiny side and is more associated with luxury.
The satin we present in the shop is 100% cotton, so it has the advantages of cotton. However, due to its weave, satin is more delicate than poplin or voile, which have plain weaves. It is therefore more suited to sewists with some sewing experience.
Like its cousins poplins and cotton voiles, it can provide great support for making more flowing and satin-like dresses, skirts, blouses, and shirts.
We love its luxurious and chic side!
Viscose poplin
You now know what poplin is, so let's discover viscose.
Viscose is an artificial fiber created from cellulose. More precisely, it is what is called a chemically regenerated fiber; its production is carried out chemically but from natural fibers. So we can say that viscose shares with cotton and linen the fact of being derived from natural fibers (cellulose) and shares with polyester the fact of being obtained through chemical treatment.
Viscose, often criticized for its production waste, has more environmentally friendly certifications. These are the labels: LENZING™ ECOVERO™. These labels represent a significant advancement in environmental respect. LENZING™ ECOVERO™ viscose fibers come from certified and renewable wood sources, integrated into an environmentally friendly manufacturing process and compliant with strict environmental standards. Nerida Hansen has chosen this more sustainable viscose, stemming from her desire to minimize ecological impact.
By choosing LENZING™ ECOVERO™ viscose, the collection offers a more eco-friendly alternative for environmentally conscious sewing enthusiasts who want to sew flowing fabrics.
The advantages of viscose are:
- It is breathable unlike polyester
- It has a beautiful drape with a heavy fall
- It is smooth, silky, and soft
- It is light and comfortable
- It does not accumulate static electricity
With viscose, you can sew pretty blouses, skirts, and flowing dresses with loose cuts, but also light and summery pants.
Linen viscose
As its name indicates, linen viscose fabric is a blend of two textile fibers: linen and viscose, with varying percentages.Linen is a natural fiber, the only one still produced locally: a true short supply chain product! Always on the lookout for quality products that are as environmentally friendly as possible for my shop, it is only natural that it is part of my selection. When you think of linen, you probably imagine thick heavy canvases or clothes that wrinkle... hold on, let me stop you! Technology has evolved greatly and has been put to work to improve textiles to counteract the small flaws that linen can have.
Linen provides us with absorbent and insulating textiles, making it particularly pleasant to wear both in summer and winter. While in summer the fiber brings freshness, in winter it perfectly insulates against the cold. Linen is also a very durable fabric that does not deform or pill.
Linen viscose fabrics combine the best of both materials! With such a fabric, your creations will be supple, light, and extremely soft while showcasing the beautiful texture of linen. Moreover, its weight, thickness, and composition make linen viscose fabric comfortable to wear all year round. What are the advantages of linen viscose fabric?
The appearance of the linen viscose fabric retains that of natural linen; it is a fabric with a heavy and full drape, which makes it easy to work with. Linen viscose fabric is suitable for making dresses, pants, blouses, long-sleeve or short-sleeve shirts, flowing jackets, as well as for creating curtains and drapes. Finally, the linen viscose fabric wrinkles less than pure linen and is much easier to care for.
There you go, now you know more about Nerida and her beautiful collection that we are lucky to offer you in store.
The whole team is crazy about this beautiful collection, and you, which fabric catches your eye among these beauties?
To your needles!
