Simone O’Kane meets an East Lancs dressmaker who is working on a very special royal outfit.

AN EAST Lancashire entrepreneur is slowly sewing together a small luxury garment, that will soon be fit for the future king of England.

Two years ago Claire Warburton, left her ‘stressful’ job as a family support worker and set up her own business, making children’s clothes.

She has since established her own clothes line, Princess and The Frock and she has recently designed a fashionable waistcoat that will be making its way to Prince George.

“I think it will be wonderful to see the future king in one of my designs. Prince George will be the Duke of Lancaster one day, so it would be lovely for him to have a present from the county,’ said Claire, who lives in Helmshore.

“The items I design and make are all quality and I am sure it will go down well. I only use top-quality cotton, chiffon and silk. They are unique prints that you won’t find elsewhere.” The self-taught dress maker, designs and makes all of her frocks that are also eco-friendly and ‘grow with the child’.

“Every parent knows how expensive it can be to dress a child. So the most recent outfits I have designed, for example, the dresses, can be worn as a dress and then as the child gets older it adjusts to a tunic and then to a vest top,” said Claire, who uses her two-year-old daughter Belle, as a human mannequin.

Before Claire got into making children’s clothes, as well as working full time, she was busy making stage costumes for her drummer-husband Mark, and his East Lancashire band, The Swing Commanders.

“I needed a career that gave me flexibility because my husband’s hours can be unpredictable. It works really well. So now the three of us can spend the days together as a family and when he is out performing at night I can work on clothes. At the moment I am busy, up until 4am sewing away to finish off orders, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“My husband has finally moved his drums into a studio in the garden, but I have a feeling we may have to make another extended space for me. Although there are no plans to move the drums back into the house just yet,” laughed Claire.

And although she may be giving away her Little Prince collection to royalty, she also donates to charity. Her thriving online business contacts have put her in touch with mothers helping to promote charities for premature children, and to help investigate sudden infant death syndrome.

A collection of Claire’s dresses called Matilda May will be sold with the profits going to these charities.

“Although I left a stressful job, I still do as much as I can to help vulnerable children and I think it’s important to donate to charity.

“I am mainly making dresses, but I’m also launching special occasion blouses because little girls don’t always want to wear dresses. I also make a lot of bespoke clothing – people come to me with an idea and I will tailor it to their needs,” added Claire.

As for Prince George of Cambridge, the son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and third in line to the throne after his father, Prince William and grandfather, Prince Charles a very special parcel, all the way from Lancashire will soon be on its way.