Crafty things are always on our radar here at Lowie. Last Sunday our founder Bronwyn learnt Punch needle embroidery at The Forge taught by the lovely Zoe Bateman and tomorrow I’m learning to crochet- finally!

We love all things handicraft and when you can tell something has had a lot of love and care put into it.

At Scoop trade show last year where we were exhibiting our AW18 collection, we spotted a group of stylish women wearing some amazing boiler suits and vintage French night gowns covered in beautiful intricate hand embroidery.

After being completely infatuated by these, our founder Bronwyn struck up a conversation to get the lowdown.

The ladies in question were Alexandra and her girls from Kilometre Paris. Alexandra collaborates with artists to create scenes that illustrate specific and unusual places in the world, drawing inspiration from not necessarily the most obvious of landmarks. These scenes are then hand embroidered and beaded by skilled artisans in Kolkata India, using vintage smocks and other beautiful pieces as the canvas. Far flung places to grace Kilometre’s collection include the quirky English seaside town of Margate, Sealion Island in the Falklands and Hobart, Tasmania where our founder Bronwyn is from. Kilometre takes you on a journey down the road least travelled and each Kilometre garment is finished with hand embroidered coordinates of the location in question.

As we discovered about each others brands we realised we shared many views and interests so we were so pleased that the conversation lead to a collaboration to embroider one of our traditional ‘Made in Scotland’ jumpers, illustrated by me.

I chose the remote and small Isle of Skye off the west coast of Scotland to highlight our appreciation for Scottish manufacturing, focusing on clan MacLeod of Dunvegan, a small town on the island.

The jumper features Malcolm MacLeod, said to have been the bravest and strongest clan chief after he slayed a bull who was terrorizing the inhabitants of Glenelg. Wearing his traditional Scottish warrior dress Malcolm stands proud with the clan’s tartan slung over one shoulder ready for battle. Malcolm’s beard and hair are embroidered with looped stitches creating a 3d texture, bugle beads create the black lines of the tartan and socks and mini tassels hang from his sporran. On the sleeve of the jumper is a sprig of juniper which is the clan badge and is still worn today by members of the MacLeod clan. Finally, on the cuff are red coordinates specifying the Isle of Skye.  

These jumpers are exclusive to high end retailer Matches and Lowie and are very limited edition with only 12 pieces ever made – a collector’s piece!