Natalie Hayes

Experience

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  French Connection

  Mar 2009 - May 2009

  Menswear Design Intern

  I interned at French Connection as part of the menswear design team, I helped within all aspects of the team and got a valuable insight into the fast-paced nature of a major Head Office, the network of people I built up whilst at this placement eventually got me my first graduate position within the company.Duties: Collating swatch books, Creating mood boards, Trend Research, Preparing garments for showing, Approving lab-dips and print samples, Inputting pattern and design information into the PC. Show less

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  Pollyanna

  Jun 2009 - Jun 2010

  Seamstress Intern

  I began work experience within Pollyanna as a seamstress cutting and manufacturing garments for the in-house label ‘Nomad’, as well as making alterations to other stock within store to meet customer’s individual requirements. Duties: Alterations, Pattern Cutting, Manufacture, Assisting with sales, Customer Service.

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  BC INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC.

  Jul 2009 - Aug 2009

  Licensed Garments Design Intern

  BC International deals with designing & distributing a range of licensed products to most major retailers on the British high street, within this role I was able to design a number of garments using Photoshop and Illustrator thus greatly improving my knowledge of these programmes. Duties: Trend research, Competitor research, Designing graphics, Monitoring approved styles, Preparing designs to be sent to factories.

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  French Connection

  Jul 2010 - Apr 2014

  Junior Gerber Pattern Cutter

  As my first full-time job within the industry I held a Junior Pattern Cutter Position within French Connection. My responsibilities within this role ranged from cutting new patterns; to ensuring the departments patterns are digitised and finished correctly, to liaising with factories and attending fit meetings. The main department I worked on was FC Womenswear, but I also contributed to FC Menswear and Great Plains Ranges on a regular basis.Duties: Creating new patterns, Digitising/finishing manual patterns, Altering patterns for production, Attending fit meetings, Liaising with overseas factories, Inputting pattern & design information. Show less

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  Peter Pilotto

  Apr 2014 - Feb 2015

  After 7 months of working in an Assistant Production Pattern Cutter role (below), I progressed into the role of Commercial Pattern Cutter. Within this role I was tasked with taking garments from what you see on the catwalk to fitting the clients. The processes I was involved in to get to our final product begin with creating new patterns for the commercial side of the business, this then moved onto the fitting and altering stage in which I made sure all garments fit to a high standard, and most importantly, that they meet the designer’s specification. I liaised with members of the production, embroidery and print departments to ensure all their needs were met in the final pattern and accompanying paperwork. I was constantly challenged by the level of complex patterns I dealt with in this role and was also acutely aware of the importance of deadlines and accuracy of my work.Duties: Creating new commercial patterns, Attending fit meetings, Altering patterns for fit and design purposes, Inputting & checking pattern information, Liaising with design, print & embroidery departments, Attending & assisting at London Fashion Week. Show less I began my employment at Peter Pilotto within an Assistant Production Pattern Cutter Position. The main objective I was tasked with in my role was assisting the Senior Production Pattern Cutter in making final amendments and checks to ensure all garments fit our customers and work for the commercial market. To achieve this goal I attended & gave input at fit meetings, I was also responsible for helping with marker making for the patterns to improve fit as well as considering any design or embellishment changes. Alongside this my other duties included checking & altering grading when necessary and finally ensuring patterns are correct and up to standard in preparation for production. Duties: Altering patterns for production, Attending fit meetings, Checking & altering pattern grading, Marker making, Inputting & checking pattern information, Attending & assisting at London Fashion Week. Show less

  • Gerber Commercial Pattern Cutter

    Nov 2014 - Feb 2015

  • Gerber Assistant Production Pattern Cutter

    Apr 2014 - Nov 2014
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  Victoria Beckham

  Feb 2015 - Nov 2017

  RTW Gerber Pattern Cutter

  Working mainly on the production side of patterns along with my junior I was responsible for getting the whole ready-to-wear collection from catwalk to customer ready. This involved inputting all manual patterns into the Gerber system, fitting and identifying any issues which may arise along the way.Duties: Managing both mine and my assistants time effectively, Attending fit meetings, Inputting patterns into Gerber, Ensuring patterns are factory ready, Checking and altering grading, Liaising with production team, factories and graders. Show less

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  Reiss

  Nov 2017 - Mar 2023

  I spent the year prior to my promotion building up my experience and taking opportunities to further my career. These included: taking responsibility for the pattern room in my manager’s extended absence, dealing with workloads for myself and the team to get the best results, taking ownership of the overhaul of the swimwear range whilst still creating patterns which reflect the brands signature. Within this role I am still taking on more responsibility than before and making more decisions in day to day working. The swimwear project is still ongoing and has been well received so far, but my main focus remains on soft separates. Show less At Reiss I have returned to a much more creative role which is a nice contrast to my previous jobs. I work on womenswear, mainly on soft separates including dresses, skirts, tops and jumpsuits with the occasional pattern for outerwear and jersey. As a pattern department on the whole we are tasked with taking ownership of the more complicated styles, ensuring the designers vision is realised. I create patterns from both draping and block libraries, moving onto toile stage and liaising with designers to make sure all their needs are met.Duties: Creating patterns from scratch, Draping, Toiling, Fitting, Show less

  • Senior Gerber Pattern Cutter

    Feb 2020 - Mar 2023

  • Gerber Pattern Cutter

    Nov 2017 - Feb 2020
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  The Pattern Master

  Feb 2024 - now

  Owner & 3D Pattern Cutter