Onesie Work Experience - Zoe

Last week, we were joined by Zoe, a Fashion & Textiles student at Newcastle College, for her work experience...

"My name is Zoe, and I’m currently studying in my second year of Fashion & Textiles at Newcastle College. I’m planning on going to Northumbria University after this school year to study Fashion Design. I thought I would look around at any work experience opportunities in the fashion and textile area so I could see what it would be like to work in this industry, before definitely deciding on going to university.

 I came across The All-in-One Company after searching online; I previously heard of them after one of my friends having to do a photo shoot for them a few years ago. I looked through their website of how their company works, after seeing various awards they have achieved, one of them being ‘Still Made for Britain’, I knew it was worth looking further into. I emailed Kate (the director) in September and she suggested visiting for a tour and looking through my work which I have completed in college. A few weeks later we discussed doing some work experience in the half term holidays in February.

I spent time with Lynn (pattern cutter) in the cutting room, she taught me a lot, guiding me through different techniques on cutting fabrics, showing the huge range of pattern pieces and all the different sizes they cater for. Alison, Edith, Trina and Sandra (the machinists) helped me learn so much during the time I was with them. I completed a few jobs and learnt tips and tricks from them which I had never learnt before, even after doing textiles for a college diploma and passing it at GCSE! I also spent time with Becky and Mandy learning about the website and blog, this was interesting and taught me a different side to the business.

I loved how you can see a onesie getting passed around under one roof and end up having a well-made British finished product by the end. I learnt there’s a lot of effort and time which goes into producing products like this; but it’s worth it because the onesies I saw being produced were gorgeous.

Overall it was such a good experience and I’m glad I chose The All-in-One Company to complete my work experience at; and would recommend the same opportunity to anyone interested."