“Necessity is the mother of invention” is a famous proverb, precisely because it’s so true. If you need proof, look no further than the origin story of Dovetail Workwear.
The idea for a line of workwear tailored specifically for women, and made by women, emerged when landscapers Kate Day and Kyle Marie Summers were hired to design the Portland, OR, garden of their client, Sara DeLuca, an apparel designer. Kate and Kyle griped about their ill-fitting workwear to Sarah, who, as it turned out, had aspirations of revolutionizing women’s workwear. The connection was immediate and serendipitous. The three started designing stylish, functional, and durable garments for female laborers, from the skilled tradeswoman to the backyard gardener. In 2018, Dovetail was born. “Sara’s garden really is the genius loci of Dovetail—where it all began and the most OG of field testing locations for our products,” says Kate.
Today, we’re giving you a tour of Sara’s backyard, the garden that launched a clothing brand.
Photography by Island Farm Studio, courtesy of Dovetail Workwear.
Sara had vision and bought her house in inner Portland after it had been abandoned for several years and sat on short-sale. After more than a year of meticulous renovation to restore its historic 1908 charm, she turned to Kate and Kyle to transform the neglected and overgrown mud pit (her backyard) into a sweet outdoor jewel box that highlighted the intimacy of the contained landscape, had ample space for relaxation, and, of course, offered visual beauty.
The dream was to create zones that could evolve with time, spotlight the seasons, minimize water demands, achieve a balance of hard- and softscapes, rethink the approach to daily foot traffic between Sara and her brother’s house, and spotlight several visual focal points from and inside the house. Last, Sara wanted rain gardens in both the front and backyard living spaces. “We designed the garden in what we used to say was our ‘Portland Romantic’ style–lots of texture, touches of subtle color, a boulder-filled rain garden, and mixed foliage and forms to make it feel inviting and alive,” explains Kate.
Sara’s yard is a stellar study in considering how yards must evolve over time. Sara’s children were young when the garden was first designed, but naturally the family’s needs changed over time. “Kyle and I took cuttings from a neighbor to build a willow house that the kids enjoyed for years, which was eventually removed to create a seating and reading space,” says Kate. Similarly, the dry river bed in the back of the garden, supported by Fiddlehead Landscapes, who did the stonework, doubled as a place for the kids to climb and frolic, but once they outgrew playing outside, Kate added drought-tolerant plants within the rocks to enhance visual interest.
Growing up on a farm, Sara now has her version of a mini urban farm. She has native bees (mason and leaf cutters) visiting her yard, chickadees nesting in the birdhouse, and her dog Shasta, who loves rolling in the grass. Plus, plants just grow more in the Pacific Northwest because of the lush rains and temperate winters. “Staying on top of pruning the crape myrtle, maple, dogwood trees, and several other bushes like the ninebark and flowering currant helps maintain their structure and health,” says Kate.
Over the past five years, Kate has continued to update Sara’s garden even though she now works full-time building Dovetail. “But I’m constantly evolving her yard, and equally as important, wear-testing our apparel.”
See also:
- Farm Visit: Growing Flowers and Resilience on Sauvie Island in Oregon
- Shopper’s Diary: A Love Affair with Houseplants at Pistils Nursery in Portland
- Before and After: Expat Gillian Carson’s English Garden in Portland, Oregon
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