A History Of The Haberdashery

We’ve rummaged through the Tatty Devine archive and emerged from the haberdashery with treasures in tow. Pulling original pieces from ’08 to ’16, we’ve reworked supersized fastenings and teeny-tiny making essentials as comeback designs ready to join your Tatty Devine sewing kit. Much-loved and much-requested by our community, discover our new drop here.

Craft, making and sewing have always been at the heart of Tatty Devine. Our Co-founders both grew up with a needle and thread in hand. Harriet's Mum was a couture dressmaker, and Rosie's Granny wrote books on needlecraft. This influence can be traced back to our earliest collections and is ingrained in the ethos of our jewellery, design and creativity. 

Inspired by our latest foray into our 26+ year archive, we thought we’d give you a brief history and tour through just some of the designs in the Tatty Devine Haberdashery…

Cast your mind back to 1999, when two Fine Art students were armed with a bag of leather scraps and a box full of tools. Creating iconic cuffs and belts, these out-there accessories ended up gracing the pages of Vogue’s Millennium issue on top model Erin O’Connor.

Rosettes and corsages are becoming increasingly popular once again and can be seen on this season’s runways from Simone Rocha to Richard Quinn. We’re here to show you how we wore it in Y2K. Continuing our passion for what we now call 'upcycling', and repurposing found objects, our sewing kits weren’t safe either. We transformed tape measures into colour-pop embellishments we know today’s maximalists will love. 

Needle Threader Pendant, £30

Silver threads and golden needles: look inside the sewing box. With its own spread in Misshapes: The Making of Tatty Devine, our Needle Threader Necklace was released in 2005 alongside wearable cross-stitch, swans and dominos.  

Our founders, Harriet and Rosie, both got into cross-stitch in the 1980s and vividly remember sewing onto brightly-coloured Binca fabric, feeling like they were carrying on their families' craft traditions.

Enter Zip-Zilla! It’s AW08, the year of the infamous Attack of the 50ft Jewellery! Inspired by kitsch B-movies and larger-than-life versions of everyday objects, we first saw the piece that would have jewellery collectors shaking in their seats (in the best way). 

2009's GIANT Golden Zip Necklace modelled by singer Peaches!

“Sometimes an object already reminds us of a piece of jewellery, and the trick is to re-create it anew. Zips have always looked like a necklace to us, so it was an easy leap to make a zip necklace in acrylic” - Rosie Wolfenden

A season that was all about pom pins, pearlies, brass and buttons: our colourful Ric Rac Necklace was first featured in AW09’s Button Up. Inspired by the unusual uniforms of fun folk traditions, this unique jewellery collection was an orchestra of fun that paid homage to clowns, majorettes, pearly kings and queens and marching bands.

Cue cheers of ‘It’s sew cute!’ Our favourite excuse to use that pun, our glossy black Sewing Machine Necklace, complete with real thread, came to life in a collaboration with the Design Museum. It was crafted as an ode to their exhibition ‘Designer Maker User’ alongside hot water bottles, iconic orange-handled scissors and bicycles with wheels that moved.

Since its arrival, this must-have necklace for sewists instantly became a classic and has been reworked in deep reds, hot pinks, and in miniature as our bestselling miniature craft accessory.

From then to now, we’ve gone on to feature haberdashery-inspired jewellery across many collections, from artist collaborations and sewing accessories turned sculptural statement jewellery to love letters to craft and those who partake. Shop our full edit of jewellery for makers.

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