The Haberdasheress

A Haber-what?

In medieval English, it means a female fashion accessories seller.

In modern English, it means me, Lis Coburn, a disabled Canadian costumer, artist and business owner who loves historical fashion.

The Haberdasheress is run out of the living room of my 1-bedroom apartment. It’s constantly bursting at the seams as different projects jostle for space. One day I’m cutting sheets of water-soluble interfacing for embroidery patterns, and another I need the space to try experimental screen-printing techniques on scrap fabric. Sometimes I can hire a bookkeeper or a social media manager, and other times my mom drops in to help put sewing kits together or run online orders to the post office.

This business grew out of my love for historical fashion, and my experience of the struggle to learn skills and techniques that were once part of everyday life. These days, spinning and weaving aren’t basic skills people learn from childhood. They’re specialized hobbies that are much more expensive to learn than just buying clothes at the mall. They’re things that take a lot of time and effort to learn. Embroidery is intimidating.

I want to break that barrier down, as much as is humanly possible. There is something magical that happens, when you feel like part of the story of the things that you’re wearing. They didn’t just show up at your house one day; you have made choices about them, and taken steps to make it happen.