Tailors for enlightenment
Eternal Creation designer Frances Carrington has practiced meditation for some years, and has found it very helpful in her life and work. Recently she decided to encourage the staff at our Himalayan workshop to experience the benefits for themselves. So far seven tailors have received paid leave to attend a 10-day course at the local Vipassana meditation centre in Dharamsala, and there is a waiting list of over 40 more!

Sanju, the packing supervisor, found the meditation a real eye opener. "Before I did the course I thought I had many problems in my life. Now I realise that most of the problems are in my mind. I'm much more relaxed now and hope that my wife will also do a course!"

To continue the benifits of the practice we have made a meditation room at the Himalayan workshop, where tailors may sit quietly and meditate, and we also have a group sit once a week.

Vipassana is an ancient meditation technique taught in India more than 2500 years ago by Gautama Buddha. It's a way of self-transformation through self-observation, focusing on the deep interconnection between mind and body. This self-exploratory journey can dissolve mental impurities, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.

To find out more, visit the Vipassana website.

Workshop Party
A hot pre-monsoon day last week saw the annual Eternal Creation workshop party, held on the workshop terrace. It was time to unwind with workmates and if lucky, waterbomb the manager! During the day such debaucheries as musical chairs, pop-the-water balloon and blind-mans-bluff took place. After dinner the disco kicked off, a heady concoction of punjabi bhangra and western pop. Much fun was had by all.

There were lots of prizes, but one of the most popular was the "best dressed" award, which went to Bitu the Sikh cook, resplendent in a white suit, purple shirt and red, feathered turban. It helped that he was also the best dancer!.

For all you football fans
Forget Manchester United and Barcelona - This June saw the annual Tibet World Cup held in upper Dharamsala, a few km from the workshop. The ten-day tournament saw eighteen teams of Tibetan exiles competing with each other for the trophy, which is named after the Dalai Lamas' mother.

The final, a close fought affair between two south Indian teams, was won to the delight of Jampel, our sports -mad stock manager by his local team, Mundgod. Being India, there was a bovine pitch invasion, but the creature was deemed to be not interfering with play and was allowed to exit the pitch at its own pace.

Picnic in the snow
Yes, the weather's crazy here too... glaciers are definitely smaller and rainfall's increasing in the Himalayas, which paradoxically means more snow. This spring we've had heavy snowfalls on the mountains, despite hot weather on the plains below.

At left are photos from a recent hike to the snowline above Dharamsala, where there was plenty of wintery fun to be had. A dozen tailors from the Eternal Creation workshop organised a picnic 3km above sea-level.

A pleasant 2-hour hike through pine and rhododendron woods culminated at Triund, an open plateau with a spectacular view of the Dhauladar range. Being India, of course there was a makeshift tea shop waiting to refuel the weary travellers.

After chapattis (round Indian bread) and homecooked rajma (a tasty dish made from kidney beans and tomatoes), everyone was ready for a snowfight!

A few of the tailors are from West Bengal and had never seen snow before, so it was a special day for them. Tibetan Jigme, on the other hand, had crossed the Himalayas to get to India, braving blizzards and altitudes above 5000m, so she was less impressed!

April 2009: The queen of knitwear
Dolly, 37, is something of a hand-knitting phenomenon - designer Frances Carrington thinks she must be one of the fastest knitters in India!

Dolly has been with Eternal Creation since 1999, but was taught hand knitting by her mother when she was 15. Her favourite item is the girls' crocheted jacket, and her favourite colour, as you can see from her photo, is pink!

In 2003, Frances made Dolly head of Eternal Creation's fledgling hand-knitting section. She's responsible for buying the yarn, overseeing the preliminary quality control of the orders, and managing the team of women knitters to ensure everything stays on schedule. She's also the most experienced in the group, acting as a mentor to the newer recruits.

"The hardest thing is to manage the quality, as every lady has different 'hands' - some knit very tight, others loose, so getting the same result every time is hard! Also some ladies are better at plain knitting while others for example like crochet, so I give the order to whoever is best for that style."

At the moment all the yarn is acrylic, mainly due to cost, ease of washing, and the fact that many small children find pure wool too itchy.

Says Frances, "I love the hand-knitted pieces - they're fun to design and add a wonderful texture and hand-made feel to the collection."

March 2009: A "rags to rugs" story...
It's always a challenge to reduce waste in any production process. At our Himalayan workshop in Dharamsala, north India, we generate a lot of fabric offcuts, but recently we've started collaborating with a small group of local women who have a great way of putting these scraps to good use.

The women take large bags of cotton offcuts from the workshop and have started to produce woven rag rugs, using only the offcuts and readily available hessian sacks. Using these "junk" materials they are creating some lovely designs which they hope to sell in the local markets.

Bridget Rees, the Welsh volunteer who's co-ordinating the group (as well as running an adjacent non-profit after-school care program) is enthusiastic: "The beauty of the project is that it doesn't require any outside finance - even the hessian sacks are provided free-of-charge by a local shopkeeper. Each rug takes several weeks to produce, working just an hour or two every afternoon, but the ladies are very keen to learn and are starting to produce some lovely results.

"It's a great way for these women to get out, socialise and learn something new while their children are in the after-school class. Some of them are from less privileged backgrounds, so if it turns into a way for them to augment their income, then thats even better!"

It's fantastic to see material which we had previously thought of as waste being used in such an imaginative way. Hopefully this project will expand to be of lasting benefit to the local community.

If you're interested in finding out more about the "rags to rugs" project, or would like to purchase one of the rugs, please email us at: shop@eternalcreation.com

You can also visit this blog Gamru Rag and Rugs

February 2009: Amazing survey results...
Many thanks to everyone who took part in our recent email survey, and congratulations to Felicity Brown from Brisbane who won the $200 gift voucher - happy shopping!

We had a great response to the survey, in both numbers and enthusiatic answers! To give you an idea of how respondents answered the questions, we've included a summary below, with comments by designer Frances Carrington.

98% said they are very happy with the quality of Eternal Creation products! This really makes my day, and we'll definitely pass this statistic onto our staff and tailors at the workshop! Many of you commented on the quality of the tailoring and the attention to detail. Nitika (pictured left) will be happy about this. She is a local woman from Dharamsala, who joined us 5 years ago, and is now head of the hand stitching and beading section.

83% said they are very happy with the fit of Eternal Creation clothes. This is always a tricky one, and something we are trying hard to improve all the time. I base the sizes on standard measurements, and we always pre-test all the patterns. We did have trouble with some of our patterns when we started, and I am now in the process of training 3 new patternmakers (who were previously experienced tailors).

87% said the clothes wash and wear extremely well. There were a few comments about the trims, so please be extra careful if you buy a product with a lot of hand stitching, beading, sequins or embroidery - these are naturally a bit more delicate.

65% thought the normal price is good value, and 32% thought the sale price is good value. We do our best to remain competitive on price, while ensuring our tailors are paid a decent wage - we actually set the stitching rates in consultation with them, rather than allowing market forces to dictate the prices. Working at the factory and seeing how much effort goes into each garment, I personally feel they are great value! We're currently planning a mini-documentary that tracks the life of one garment, from the arrival of the order to the post office. I'm hoping this will bring more awareness about the process of creating our products.

96% bought the clothes because of the design and the fact that they are ethically made. A big thank-you to everyone who supports ethical fashion & my designs! As a designer, I definitely took the long, hard road, starting my own workshop in a remote corner of the globe, and training most of the staff and tailors. Just being able to do something helpful in this small community has been more than enough of a reward, and I'm glad that many of you also felt the same way when purchasing from us. To give you even more insight into the origins of your purchase, we will be adding a the tailor's number to each garment; you will then be able to enter this number on our website and read about the tailor who made your garment. Many of our tailors have fascinating stories, often full of hardship, courage and determination to improve their lives and those of their children.

81% were happy with the delivery time, and 15% thought it was a bit slow. Those of you who thought the delivery was too slow mostly ordered during the summer sale. We had a great response to this, and since the items are hand made to order and sent from India, we did get a bit behind, as we don't like to ask our tailors to do a lot of overtime. Apologies to those who had to wait; we're constantly working to streamline the process and get the orders out as efficiently as possible.

100% said they were happy with the customer service! This is great news, especially for Tsering, our lovely Tibetan production manager who takes care of the internet orders. Tsering is mother to Deckyi, the super cute little two year old you see all through our website and catalogues.

95% said they enjoyed the newsletters. We'll keep them coming!

98% said they would like us to use fewer plastic bags. This is good to know, as it's something I've wanted to change for some time. Please be patient with us, while we organize the alternative - I'm sure you will be happy with our solution!

97% of you said you would order from us again and recommend us to friends and colleagues. This is wonderful news for us and we look forward to your orders!

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the survey! Please get in touch if you have any further comments or suggestions.