On Tuesday 14 August 2018, Bella Figura was affected by a devastating house fire in which we lost 6 years of customer patterns and fabrics, our research library, cutting table, workshop equipment including sewing machines and all of Suzanne's personal possessions. The cause of the blaze is yet to be confirmed but it took hold incredibly quickly and caused total destruction to our workroom and smoke damage to the entire top floor in which we also stored seasonal stock and vintage clothing.

Over the last week there have been lots of amazingly generous offers of help in all kinds of ways and we are massively grateful for the food parcels, thoughtful cards, offers of interim accommodation and promises of muscle power for skip filling in future weeks. It's going to take us months to recover as we'll need to redraw all of our bespoke patterns in different sizes and it will inevitably take longer to carry out our orders. If you would like to help support our independent business during this tough time that would be incredible and we will also donate 10% of the funds raised to The Firefighter's Charity.

With much love, Teresa and Suzanne