Alexander Kee Clothing Co.

The gallery space for the clothes I am currently developing.

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Handmade carved pearl skull rings. Freshwater pearls and beaten brass. Inspired by Shinji Nakaba's rings. 2nd attempt is on the right hand side of the third photo and 3rd attempt is on the left.

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Close-up of an indigo-dyed handkerchief, natural canvas jacket and hand-stitched belt.

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Clothes doodles. What I do when I should be working.

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Indigo and cyanotype panels.

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Soon to be a satchel, quick photo of my tools and leather before I begin. Leather is 2.5mm thick cowhide and the fittings are steel with copper rivet reinforcements.

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Apologies for another photo in crappy quality! Eventually I will swap these out for proper ones but while I have been making a lot I haven’t had the time to photograph anything. Not to mention working a 9-5 through a British winter severely limits the amount of daylight you see! This is another card/cash stash I made for our trip to Paris way back in July. Usual natural leather and strong cotton to stitch. All hand cut, stitched and punched.

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Handstitched cardholder i made for a christmas present. The sides are gusseted, to allow more cards to fit in and the closure is a Sam Brown stud. The leather is vegetable tanned cow hide and i've used polyester thread for cleaner lines and durability.

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Cotton Hankies

We produced some 100% cotton hankies the other day and used a few dying techniques to create the set of three shown here-shibori and dip-dye (and one featuring my lino print of a gull) We plan to use indigo to dye these in future. Take a look at Alex’s tumblr to see his images and other products.

Feedback please!

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This was a quick prototype for an ID/Oyster Card holder, made from 1.5mm natural vegetable tanned leather. It's been machine-stitched (with a hand-crank) using strong white cotton. the pieces are cut and bevelled by hand.

This photo was taken before I'd punched out the hole for the lanyard. On the back is stamped "KEE CO.". The leather has been left untreated so should get a nice patina with use but can also be treated with neatsfoot or linseed oil for a deeper colour.

It takes the standard credit card-sized IDs (I made this to hold my ID card for work).  The background is a dip-dyed cotton handkerchief.

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This is the leather cash stash I made for our recent trip to Paris after having been warned about the swathes of pickpockets that frequent the most popular tourist areas (we didn't see any!).

It's made from natural vegetable-tanned leather and stitched with strong white cotton. The opening is reinforced with antique brass rivets and the closure fastening is a lobster clasp. The clasp is attached to a braided waxed cotton cord with a steel split-ring on the end. This allows it to be secured by passing the clasp through the ring and looping around a beltloop or through a buttonhole. The clasp holds the pouch together but can be unclipped to get your money out, making it practically pick-pocket-proof.

The logo and rivets are all hand-hammered, the leather is cut by hand and the cord is also hand-braided. The leather should wear to a nice patina but can also be treated with oil or dubbin to deepen the colour and keep it supple.

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Recently I found and odd sale on eBay, someone was selling a short length of selvedge denim (a difficult commodity to come across in Britain) along with 6.5m of unused selvedge strips. I’m not sure who’s buying selvedge denim and not using the selvedge but their loss is my gain. This is the first of the selvedge things I’m blogging but there’s a glut of things to come, including belts, keyrings etc., most of which will be for sale so keep your eyes peeled as details to follow. This is a roll-top bag I made, cut across the width of the fabric, which enabled me to use the redline selvedge along the top of the bag. It’s secured with a straps made of strips of selvedge sewn back to back that thread through two brass rings. The straps are attached to the bag with stitching and hand-hammered brass rivets. Originally I’d had this design in mind for a small daypack but after making it up it’s actually a lot smaller than I’d imagine so may not be practicable. There are other options for the fabric that are slightly wider but still feature a selvedge which may better lend themselves to this bag. More experimentation is needed.

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Second in my latest run of accessories, again featuring 2.5mm natural tan leather and a cast brass trigger clip, the extra hardware is a vintage “Best Ring Edge" brass button and has been handstitched with waxed linen thread. I have quite a few of these vintage metal buttons, each is odd but ideal to add a touch of individuality to each keyfob. I believe they were metal detector finds from the Midlands, most bear marks from Birmingham or Leicester. Can also be treated with oil or wax to deepen the colour and prevent cracking over time.

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The latest things I’ve been working on are mostly accessories. This is the first of them, a dog lead featuring strong ecru cotton webbing and natural tan leather end and handle, reinforced with brass rivets and hand-stitched waxed linen thread. The trigger clip is cast brass and so strong enough to withstand the daily rigours of even the most vigorous of dog walks. The leather can be oiled with neatsfoot oil for a richer colour and to ensure that it doesn’t crack over time or can be left natural so as to adopt the patination of daily use. The background is also a work in progress, a patchwork sheet made from 5"x5" squares of various denims, chambrays and other indigo dyed fabrics.

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This is currently a work in progress (hence the missing sleeve) but as it's taken a while I thought I'd post it up, not to mention the weather has been nice so it's worth taking photos just to be outside. The jacket is heavily influenced by Levi's earliest jacket the 1878 Type 1 that LVC have been reproducing.

There are a few key differences in my design so far, the double pleating rather than triple, the pocket styles and the difference in cuffs which are more akin to those seen on 1920s work jackets that Workers have been producing.

Currently this is just a mock up made in a cheap calico to test the fit and design, I'm still working on the collar at the moment. Once it's finished the plan is to make it up in a 14oz natural cotton canvas in a 36" width, which will make it much sturdier than the limp calico toile. I'd originally planned to dye the fabric to the colour I wanted but having seen the jacket take shape in the natural cotton I'm leaning more and more towards the raw ecru colour.

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This is the denim toolbag I made a couple of months ago, using a mixture of lighter weight striped denim for the main body and a heavier weight selvedge denim to reinforce the bottom and for the pocket. The stress points at the handles, corners and pocket corners are reinforced with antiqued brass rivets and the handles are made from a distressed leather that was originally a belt.

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This is just a quick preview of the new stamp that Heather carved for me today, printed onto some fine natural calico. The stamp is hand-carved and printed and the details of the carving/stamping process can be found on Heather's blog here. The stamp will now be featured in all the things I make in some form or other.

I'm also currently working on a denim work jacket at the moment that this label has been sewn into which will be posted up when finished.

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This is the first in a series of things I've made lately but just haven't had the time to photograph. This is an apron I made for Heather out of a heavy 16oz natural denim and features one large bisected selvedge pocket in indigo denim with a stitched pen-slot and a smaller angled pocket on the front of this. The pockets are reinforced with brass domed rivets for strength, as are the herringbone tape straps.

In the second and third photos you can see the interior half-lining which helps to add a further sturdiness to the top and also showcases Heather's hand-printed natural calico. Each was printed individually using her hand-carved stamp, for more photos please visit her blog here.

For the next version of this I will most likely use seam-tape on the edges rather than overlocking them as it should make them look a little neater, although this isn't visible from the outside and doesn't affect the wear/utility of the apron. For the next version I'll also adjust the proportions a little, while it fits me fine, for Heather, its a little big and the tapes don't quite sit on the waist. Again, this is more fine-tuning than a major problem.