“Imagine holding a handbag that is as soft as a cashmere, embellished with vintage silks, laces and rare buttons. Whispers of times past converge with the present as you embrace its uniqueness.” This is just one of the tag lines that you’ll find at the gorgeous Rubyruby boutique. If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind handbag or clutch, light installation or a lovely vintage ring or brooch, take a look at through the catalogue of loveliness available right now at Rubyruby boutique. It’s crammed full of unique goodies. This business is owned and created by the industrious and multi-talented Di and she’s given up her valuable time to answer some questions for Catwalk Threads.
Details of how you can contact Di for a bespoke service can be found at the end of this interview. Enjoy the read!
JUST FOR FUN:
What is your earliest fashion memory?
My earliest fashion memory would have to be a knitted sweater that I wore when I was about 3. It had the most adorable kittens at the top and at the bottom were their matching mittens, it was olive green and I adored it. It was one of many creations that my mum made for me over the years.
What is your most treasured possession?
A collection of poems that my husband has written for me over the past 18 years.
Favourite vintage era and why?
Edwardian Style
I love the turn of the century, the Edwardian period in particular, they used the most exquisite handmade lace and embroidery and each piece was an absolute joy to look at, even the housemaids attire was made up of tiny stitches and gorgeous lace. Women looked really feminine, although the corsets were a little restrictive, women looked so beautiful when they took them off and wore their magnificent undergarments.
Top three fashion icons.
Sadly there are not many living icons for me, only Vivienne Westwood alive today can be a fashion icon in my eyes, everyone else seems to wear clothes dictacted to them by their stylist! In days gone by Audrey Hepburn who looked heavenly in everything she wore, and Marilyn Monroe ditto.
Your perfect day would be . . . . . . . ?
Sitting on the beach near me, sewing box next to me, listening to the gentle waves, the sun would have to be shining of course!
How would your friends describe you?
Eclectic! I once got called adventurous for wearing a flower in my hair, and no it wasn’t a triffid, it was a sweet daisy.
ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS:
Did you work in the fashion/accessories business before setting up your own business, Rubyruby?
Handrolled Merino Felt Bag
No, although, I always had a strong sense of style and loved customising my own clothes. I worked at Laura Ashley in Manchester at the end of the 1980’s but was more a fan of their interiors rather than garments.
Was there a defining moment when you decided you wanted to work for yourself?
After I completed three City and Guilds certificates in Textile Decoration Skills, Textile Decoration Studies and Feltmaking I started to make the felt bags that form the core of my collection. It has steadily grown from there. Having a family, my business works around me, so I have never had to pay for childcare and I work from home so am there for my family.
I see you have a mrsite website. How did you come across mrsite? Any previous experience with web design?
Medusa Felt Light Installation
My husband had used MrSite to set up his own website and raved about how easy it was to do. I am mildly computer literate and decided to have a go, I bought it off ebay, and was absolutely breathtaken by how easy it was. I have recommended it to all my friends, you even get cashback if your friends put in the code you give them, it is really easy peasy and I think looks really professional. A friend of mine paid over £2,000 for a website for a shop that was always having glitches on and didn’t look half as good as mine. I paid £25 for my website!
Do you take your own photographs? If so, what camera do you use?
I do take my own photos, I use a lovely Canon EOS 400D, although I don’t know how to use all the settings, I seem to point and flash and it works ok.
What makes your business unique and sets it apart from the rest?
Felt Heart Choker Necklace
Because everything I do is not mass produced and every stitch is hand sewn, I never follow patterns. All my creations come from within and are a real journey often with me starting in one place and ending up somewhere completely different. I give all my bags a moniker, a title, not just a generic name like Elsie or Maud, but an element of inspiration regarding the early roots of the bag, the overwhelming feeling that you get when you gaze upon it. I love it! I love all the parts of the creative process.
I can see that an incredible amount of work goes into each unique handmade bag. How long does it take, on average, to make a bag from start to finish?
On average it takes about a week to complete a bag, an awful lot goes in, all my energy, creative ideas. However, I don’t just work on one at a time, I will often have four or five bags that I am working on concurrently.
Your work is really beautiful and eye-catching. Where do you get your design inspiration from? Are your designs seasonal? Do you take inspiration from the latest catwalk/runway shows?
I adore colour and devour books on the psychology of colour. I love to think that having a yellow bag for example will make you feel happy, and a red one will make you stand out and look attractive. Unless I am creating a bespoke bag where the client chooses her own colours, I like to play with the colours that I have. I stock a huge selection of merino and it depends on the day as to which colours I choose to work with. In relation to the catwalk, I read Vogue and Instyle to keep up to date with what’s happening on the catwalk, but i find that my customers are rarely swayed with what is in ‘vogue’ colour wise at the moment, they seem to go with their favourite colours. I don’t really work seasonally, I do take inspiration from what’s around me, however, I have just completed a collection of Ibiza felt bags, inspired by the beautiful island of Ibiza.
How do you go about promoting your business?
Upcycled Vintage Velvet Clutch
I join every craft related website there is. I have a shop on etsy, which is a fantastic website for handmade and vintage. That’s how a boutique in New York found me and now stock my handbags in New York. I also only ever use my own bags so that when people come up to me in the street to ask where I got my handbag from I can proudly produce a card from my bag and direct them to my website. I have sold bags to as far away as Australia like that. (The lady was on holiday from Australia when she saw me shopping in my local town, she came up to me and asked me about my bag. The next day she came back to my house to choose her own bag and took it back to Australia.)
Do you work on your own? If so, how do you find that?
I adore working on my own. I do a lot of my work in my bedroom, it overlooks the english channel through the trees and is opposite an allotment so i get lots of peace and quiet with birds twittering in the trees. I love watching old films, musicals etc when stitching, this is great as the feeling of the movie gets wrapped up in its creation and often the titles or monikers for the bags come from whatever films I’ve been watching during the creative process. Some of my favourites are, ‘Gentlemen prefer blondes’, ‘How to marry a millionaire’, ‘Hello Dolly’, ‘Sabrina’. They are fantastic for checking out the gorgeous designs of the era.
What would a typical day involve at Rubyruby?
Once I’ve got my three boys and husband out of the house, then I either start sewing on a particular bag, or will start hand rolling a new bag. I also teach feltmaking courses from my home, so I might be baking a cake before they arrive at 10 am to create their own piece of felt. People love the creative process of felt making, it is so theraputic, and you are literally creating your own fabric!
How do you go about sourcing your fabrics, buttons, beads and embellishments?
Charity shops are fantastic as are boot fairs, there is a lovely lady near me who sells vintage and antique lace and I buy most of my most rare pieces from her. Wherever I travel to I will always visit the towns charity and haberdashery shops and antique markets, the joy comes from not quite knowing what you will find.
Do you incorporate vintage/recycled fabrics, beads, buttons etc? Do you think people are far more interested in purchasing ‘recycled’ than ever before?
I love incorporating vintage and recycled materials, I honestly think it is the way forward. I detest the throw away society and always reuse clothes that have got past their prime. There is a tide turning against poorly manufactured mass produced garments, I have never been as busy with my business as I am now making one off individual products that recycle vintage luxury materials. I think a very useful course at college would be customising your own clothes from old ones. Look how popular Gok Wan is now!
How would you define the term ‘vintage’?
Debates rage as to when you can date something ‘vintage’. As a general rule it usually has to be before the 1970’s to count as vintage in my eyes, but I mostly deal in buttons and fabrics so some people could argue that the 1970’s is vintage.
Felt Bag from the new Spring Collection
What are your favourite three items for sale in your boutique right now?
I love my spring collection that have been made from entirely vintage materials. ‘Blissful kisses on a summers day’ is made from a vintage hand dyed tray cloth with a gorgeous blue bird taken from a baby bib pocket from France. I love the colours. I love ‘I could spend the day in Ladurees’ which is hand rolled merino and vintage materials, it is such a soft tactile bag that takes its inspiration from the gorgeous confectioners in London, Ladurees. My third choice would have to be my light installation, Medusa. This is an amazing light with 36 bendable velvet stems with merino felt flowers on the ends. The light cast through the felt looks amazing. I have three of these lights in my house, and never fail to get admiring comments about them from visitors. They are bespoke only and can be catered directly to the customers wishes.
Do you make custom orders?
Yes, most of my work last year came from bespoke requests. The client looks at the bag styles that I offer, or requests her own shape to her personal needs and then we discuss colour. Some clients like to supply their own vintage fabrics or buttons or brooches to incorporate and then it becomes an heirloom piece. A client last year had a silk charmeuse dressing gown in the most wonderful eau de nil colour, it had belonged to her grandmother and she wanted me to create a green and blue felt bag using this gown as the lining. I named it, ‘Il baci di nonna’ (A kiss from grandma) I had a piece left over and used it to line, ‘My head and heart race when you are near’ a vintage clutch bag on my website.
Has the current economic climate affected business?
Pink Daisies and Antique Lace Clutch
I have to say that I have never been busier! I started selling in a gallery in Rochester which has led to boutiques in Whitstable, New York, Ibiza and Hastings all wanting to sell my work. People really want to buy individual handmade quality products, now more than ever, and luckily people love what I do.
Where do you see your business in the next five years?
I would love to break into the Japanese market, maybe opening up a shop there. I love the Japanese sense of style and know that they would sell extremely well there.
Do you have a blog?
Yes, my blog is rubyrubyhearts.blogspot.com and it’s called ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’.
Where can your merchandise be purchased from and how can customers contact you?
My products can be purchased from my websites www.myrubyruby.com and from www.rubyruby.etsy.com
Pearl and Hemingway, 13 Harbour St, Whitstable, Kent.
Pink Cloud, A Handmade Boutique, North St Main, Harriman, New York.
Nucleus Gallery, Chatham Dockyard, Kent.
Lottie Bogotti, San Carlos, Ibiza (end of May 2009).
If someone wishes to contact me they can drop me a line through either the contact page on my website or via email : di @myrubyruby.com.
I am a big 50’s fan. The clothes are so well made; the cottons used are of a much higher thread count than anything you would get today. I love the post-war explosion of colour and am a big fan of 50’s prints, from ‘atomic’ to all the florals.
What are your top three vintage finds?
A number of vintage swimsuits that Grandma found in the Salvation Army years ago (so not exactly my find!)
