As I sit on yet another plane, knitting my way to Townsville
this time, I’m watching an in-flight show about family histories which prompted
me to write a little note about how Jane’s Sunday Best came to be.
For me, creativity has always been linked with family
(except of course when I was a teenager because then everything was about how
to avoid family...). My grandmother taught me to knit and crochet, and was
almost never seen without some sort of yarn in her hands. She would wear the
most gorgeous 50s aprons (really - she had been wearing them since the 50s) and
we used to sit for hours making knitted squares for blankets – which is
coincidentally what I’ve been knitting today.
My mother (Jan, co-owner of Jane’s Sunday Best) taught me
how to hand sew – although I fully admit that my skills were never even close
to her standards, perhaps due to my lack of patience. My brother and I took art
classes together for years learning classical drawing and oil painting – Jan
joined us and discovered an incredible talent for portraiture and detailed
painting.
As a teenager and young adult I put away much of my
creativity as i spent most of my energy (socialising) studying and working (but
really socialising). It wasn’t until my mid twenties that I rediscovered my
love of handiwork. A friend and I packed up our car and took off around
Australia and on our long drives we would knit and crochet presents for the
people we stayed with – rugs and other treats. I started making eccentric
beanies which I sold at winter festivals from the boot of my car.
Unfortunately, in time there were more and more beanies
available in stores at prices that didn’t even cover the cost of materials
(which I had to buy at retail prices) so I needed another project. Another
friend bought me a book about tea cosies for a birthday present which started
an obsession that has formed the basis for my half of JSB.
I find knitting and crochet very meditative and feel so much
healthier and happier when I knit regularly. The process of design is also
incredibly fulfilling – creating new and interesting tea cosies that are
one-of-a-kind.
One Christmas Jan was wandering around a craft store and
found some fabric with pictures of women with red curly hair (like mine). She
decided to use it to make a bag for me as a present – however when she got it
home Dad asked her why she had bought material that was covered in skulls.
Turns out Jan hadn’t looked very closely at the fabric and didn’t want to give
me a bag of skulls (not that I would have minded) so she cut out the pictures
of women and attached them to some beautiful upholstery fabric to create her
very first bag. The finished piece created so much attention she started making
more and more – then branched out into making 50s style aprons just like
Grandma used to wear.
As word started to get out amongst friends and family we
realised our products were selling as fast as we could make them and decided to
set up a business. The name Jane’s Sunday Best was suggested by a friend – we
wanted something that indicated the beauty of rituals – the ritual of tea, the
ritual of cooking, the rituals of cleaning (while looking gorgeous), the little
rituals that make up life. We believe that family matters. We believe in the
importance of community. We believe that tea and cooking bring people together.
We believe in using age-old techniques to make modern designs. We believe that
using our hands and minds to create beautiful products keeps us happy, healthy
and connected.
Jane is part of both
our names and is one of those words that keeps coming up in our lives so we felt
that it fit well. We love our business and we love having such a positive way
to use our creative energies. We use vintage or reclaimed materials (like old,
clean jumpers) wherever we can, and everything we make is one of a kind –
although we do use the same patterns more than once. Each of our patterns is
our own design and we are always open to new ideas and suggestions. We talk
every week about our creative ideas and we are proud to have our work available
at Handmade High Street in Annerley. This is still the beginning of our story.
Liv