Threads of Change — A Story About Coming Home to Craft, Slow Fashion, and the Earth

Right now, I’m writing from the road — our little van parked by the sea, my family still asleep inside. The air smells like salt and morning light. We’ve spent the last few days chasing the sun, swimming until our hair smells like the ocean, living simply and softly.

I’m here preparing for the launch of the Moonlight Dress, but also reflecting — on how I arrived here, and how this path was stitched together by so many moments of curiosity, courage, and care. These next few pieces are a small unfolding of that story.

Day 1: Behind the Seams

When I was nineteen, I spent a month in Indonesia with my mum, working in a garment factory. I’d gone to see behind the seams — to understand the people who make the clothes we wear, and to ask quietly: what could be different?

There, I discovered a factory run as a collective, where every worker held a share. They weren’t just making garments; they were weaving a life — one built on skill, pride, and community.

Our days unfolded among spools of thread and the hum of sewing machines, learning each step from pattern to final stitch, tracing the many artisanal hands a single piece passes through before reaching us, the wearer.

As the sun dipped behind the Ayung River, I’d retreat to my little balcony, where paper, pencil, and textbooks became my companions — and pattern-making revealed itself like a secret art whispered well into the night.

The first dress I patterned and made during my month at the garment factory

The first dress I pattern drafted and created during my month at the garment factory.

Those early days taught me that fashion was never just fabric — it was human, alive with stories, hands, and heritage. What began as curiosity became a lifelong conversation with the earth, with craft, and with what it means to create with care.

That was the beginning.

The rest — the awakening, the unlearning, the rebuilding — came later.

With love

Gabrielle

xxx