Six years of Made by SJP: handmade clothing from preloved fabric
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This September marks six years of Made by SJP. Instagram has also just ticked past 60,000 followers, which is a number I still have to read twice.
Sometimes I catch myself thinking crikey, I should be further down the line by now. More followers, more orders, more everything. That is just the entrepreneurial brain talking. When I actually stop and look at it properly, 60,000 people in six years is steady, organic growth, and I am really proud of that.
How this actually started
Made by SJP did not start with dresses. It started with scrub bags.
During the pandemic I was making scrub bags for the NHS, and when the demand for those slowed down I was left with a lot of leftover fabric and no plan for it. So I made a dress. Just me, an online pattern and a sew along video on YouTube, working it out as I went.
And people liked it. Liked it enough that I started making them for friends, and then friends of friends, and that is really how Made by SJP was born. Six years on, it is still the same idea: handmade clothing made from preloved fabric, here in Wiltshire, one piece at a time.
No business plan, no grand launch. Some leftover fabric, a YouTube tutorial and a dress people wanted.
Why preloved fabric, and why one of a kind
Working this way is not the quickest route to running a clothing brand. Everything starts as a duvet cover, a curtain or a one off piece of fabric that somebody no longer has a use for, which means there is only ever so much of it. Once it is used up, that is the end of it. That is why almost everything in the shop is a one of a kind piece rather than something we can make again and again in twelve sizes.
For a while I wondered whether that would put people off. It turned out to be the whole point. A sustainable handmade dress that nobody else will turn up in is a different thing to buying off a rail, and the people who get it really get it.
Who the 60,000 actually are
This has been real people choosing to follow along. And it is such a mix.
Seamstresses who admire the work and know exactly how long that finish took. Other small businesses trying to build something in the same slow, considered way. People who love the ethos and the idea of giving preloved fabric another life. People who simply like the colour my photos add to their feed, which is honestly just as lovely.
And then my customers. The ones who love the concept and the garments enough to actually make the purchase, whether that is a ready made piece or a custom order in a fabric they have had their eye on for weeks. This whole organic mix is what has added up to a number I never expected to see, and I do not plan on stopping.
It has not always been easy
Last year Instagram felt like it was on my side. Reels were the craze and I was gaining followers every day from posting single photos. Then things changed, and this year getting views and follows has definitely felt harder. Carousels seem to be the trend now, so I have been giving those a go.
If you are here for a magic recipe for organic growth, I am afraid I do not have one.
What I do have is this. Stay true to yourself and your ethos, and post consistently. Consistently does not have to mean every day like me. Pick three days a week, or five, or whatever you can genuinely manage, and then keep doing it.
I think of my Instagram as my shop front, because I do not have a physical one. If I am not showing up there, it looks like the shop is closed. That is how I look at it anyway.
Onwards
Six years in. Still preloved fabric, still made by hand, still one of a kind, and no plans to slow down.
Thank you for the follows, the comments, the messages and the orders. All 60,000 of you.
If you have been following along for a while and have not found your piece yet, the current fabrics are all in the shop. They tend not to hang around. Not sure of your size? Have a look at the sizing guide first, or get in touch about a custom order.