AN INTRODUCTION

I'm Olivia, a self confessed crafty girl . I like it, I make it, I ALWAYS need to be creating. 

Let’s take it back 23 years, I’m 15 and my mum comes home with a sewing machine which I am so intrigued by, I don’t think she ever got to even use it. I started unpicking my unwanted clothes for the fabric and turning them into new creations, which I sold at school. Yes, the hustler in me started young!

I went to college and university to study fashion design. I can’t actually draw to save my life which made my sketchbooks skinner than 1999 Victoria Beckham. My strengths always laid in the garments I produced. 

So what does a girl who can’t draw do with a degree in Fashion Design for a career? I started my path as a garment technologist 14 years ago and I absolutely loved it, but it’s not the most creative role.

So to feed my creative passion, I have always made my own cloths, but more interestingly, I made wedding dresses. There is something so special about working one on one with a bride to create her perfect dream dress.

I started Electric Plume back in Summer 2019 making sequin and feather capes for festivals, weddings and all other occasions that call for something to help you stand out from the crowd. Just as business was picking up, the dreaded Covid struck and overnight we no longer had those events, we lost dancing!

I filled the following years with growing my family, having two beautiful babies and the time I used to spend playing with sequins and feathers, were replaced with nappies and rattles.

The first beaded bag I ever made was for my gorgeous friend’s wedding. I stupidly tried to find my outfit one month postpartum and had a full headloss, struggling with my appearance and the outfit restrictions breastfeeding came with. So, without breaking personality traits, I decided my only option was to make a whole new outfit, including teaching myself the skill of bag beading....whist rearing a newborn....whilst combatting the terrible twos with my eldest. My dress even had sneaky concealed zips so I could breastfeed easily without having to “take myself off for privacy”. 

This outfit included The First Bag. I’ve thought about taking it apart a few times to remake it properly, now I know what I’m doing. But there’s something endearing about its imperfections, it’s nice to see how far I’ve come.

Actually, I DID remake it immediately after finishing my first attempt as it was way too big and probably weighed more than my baby. Did I get a full "outfit check" photo?….no! Because I don’t think the bag even made it out from under the pram. But it was there, and the creative fire in me had been lit. 

My eldest daughter LOVES my bags and might be Electric Plume's Most Returning Customer. Every parcel delivery we have she says “is it beads? Can I help wash them?” I made her own little mini bag which she uses for her library card. Pretty swaggy even by my standards. But it means everything to me to surround her with creativity. We talk about the colours, numbers and counting. I’ll say I need three red beads and she passes them to me. She’s my super little bead picker upper whenever I drop any. I give her a little bowl of her own and she’ll sit next to me and thread her own strand. 

Behind these bags is a real authentic story and maker. They are not fast fashion, they are made with passion.