"I've folded my last one" — after 43 years beside Jarah, Delia Ashcombe (68) is letting go of the sets she spent a lifetime perfecting
She never wanted her name on the label. For over four decades she simply stood at the cutting table and made women feel whole again. Now, with her hands finally telling her to stop, she has released one last thing into the world — and it's already almost gone.
South Yarra, Melbourne. The kettle is on, the light through the side window is going gold, and Delia Ashcombe is doing the thing her hands have done every working day since 1983 — smoothing a fold flat with the side of her palm. Then she stops, and rests both hands on the pile of fabric, and doesn't say anything for a moment. "This is the last of them," she says finally. "I've folded my last one."
She was never the name on the door — she was the hands behind it
Most of the women who have walked out of Jarah Melbourne feeling ten years lighter have never heard of Delia. That's rather the point. When Jarah opened a narrow little shop in 1983, it was Delia she called first — a dressmaker with a good eye and quick hands who could take a length of cloth and make it sit on a real woman's body. Jarah had the shop. Delia had the hands. For 43 years, neither of them ever left the street.
"Jarah would find something beautiful," Delia says, "and I'd work out how to make it forgiving. How to make it kind." Between them, over four decades, they dressed this city's women through weddings and funerals, first days and last ones, chemo and comebacks and the quiet ordinary mornings in between. And somewhere in all those years, Delia became quietly obsessed with a single idea.
Chapel Street · Then & Now — drag to compare
1983
Today
The same little stretch of Chapel Street, forty-three years apart. "Jarah had the eye. I had the hands," Delia says. "We were girls when we started. We're grandmothers now — and we never once left the street."
Forty-three years to perfect one simple idea
The idea was this: a woman should be able to reach into her wardrobe on a grey Tuesday, put on one thing, and walk out the door already feeling complete — no fussing, no "does this go with that," no standing in front of the mirror feeling invisible. Not a dress. Not a uniform. Three pieces that always, quietly, belong together.
That's how the three-piece set was born — a soft, tonal top; wide, forgiving trousers; and, over the top, the piece Delia loved most: a long, open jacket carrying a flowing marbled ink-print she designed by hand, gold running through it like a seam of light. "The jacket does the talking," she says. "So you don't have to. You put the three on together and you look like you meant it — even on the mornings you didn't have it in you to try."
What makes this collection so special
- Three pieces, guaranteed to belong together: a tonal top, wide-leg trousers and the printed longline jacket — designed as one, so there is nothing to "match" and nothing to second-guess.
- The hand-designed marbled jacket: Delia's flowing ink-and-gold print is the heart of the set. It reads as wearable art, and it flatters where you want to be flattered.
- Made kind: soft, fluid fabric and a relaxed cut that skims rather than clings — comfortable from the school run to a long lunch, in sizes AU 6 to AU 24.
- Nine colourways, one for every mood: from Olive & Gold Marble to Rust, Navy, Black & Gold, Pink, Purple, Turquoise and Yellow.
- Only 9 variations remaining: this is the final collection Delia will ever design. When these are gone, there will be no more.
The women who kept the letters coming
Delia keeps a shoebox. In it are notes — some typed, most handwritten — from women who wrote to the shop over the years. She wouldn't read most of them aloud. But she slid one across the table, from a customer who'd bought her first set after a hard year.
"That," Delia says, folding the note back along its worn creases, "is the whole job. That's all I ever wanted the clothes to do."
Why now, after 43 years
The reason is quiet and human. "It's my hands, mostly. And my eyes," Delia says, holding them up. "The fine work — threading a needle in bad light, pinning a lapel just so — it takes longer than it used to, and it hurts more than I'll admit to Jarah." She smiles. "You get to know when it's time. I know."
The shop is closing too, though not for any dramatic reason — the lease on the Chapel Street space is coming to an end, and after all these years the two of them have decided not to chase another one. There's no scandal, no fire sale of a failing business. It's simply the end of a very long, very good chapter — and, within the next few weeks, the doors will close for the last time. Which is why these final sets are the last Delia will ever make.
★★★★★Join 12,000+ women across Australia who've already made a Jarah set their own
What customers are saying
"I've never had a compliment on an outfit at 66 — now I get one every single time I wear this. The jacket is a work of art. I ordered a second in navy the same night."
Margaret, 66 — Geelong, VIC"I hate shopping and I hate deciding. This solved both. Three pieces, done, out the door. It's the most 'me' I've felt in years and I didn't have to think about it."
Susan, 61 — Adelaide, SA"The fabric is so soft and it actually skims the bits I'm shy about. I took the free second set for my sister and now we both live in them. Buy one get one free — unheard of."
Robyn, 58 — Ballarat, VIC
Where to find this collection
The final three-piece sets are available now, direct from Jarah Melbourne, while the last pieces remain. You can see the remaining colourways and check availability here. Once a variation sells out, it will not be restocked — there is no one left in the workroom to make more.
A note, plainly: this is not throwaway fashion, and it isn't priced like it. It's a considered, hand-designed set made to be worn for years, not a season — the kind of thing you reach for again and again until it feels like your own skin. With the current closing offer, you're paying well below what a single piece of this quality would normally cost, and taking a second set home free. We'd rather tell you that honestly than pretend it's disposable.
A personal 30-day guarantee
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. Wear it, live in it, see how it makes you feel. If it isn't right, send it back within 30 days for a full refund. "I want you to keep it because you love it," says Delia — "not because you can't send it back."
Buy One, Get One Free
$299.99$149.99 for two full sets — one for you, one for someone you love.
It's how Delia wanted to say goodbye: take one for yourself, and one for the sister, the friend, the daughter you've always dressed up in your mind. Only 9 variations remain.
Claim Buy 1, Get 1 Free — Limited Stock2 sets for $149.99 · Free shipping across Australia · Only 9 variations left
The word is spreading
"I'm 70 and I'd stopped bothering. My granddaughter filmed me in the olive set and said 'Nan you look incredible.' I've worn it three times this week. Wish I'd found it years ago."
Patricia, 70 — Bendigo, VIC"Travels beautifully — rolled it into a carry-on, shook it out, wore it straight to dinner. Comfortable enough to sit on a plane in, smart enough to feel dressed. Genius."
Helen, 63 — Perth, WA"When I read that this was her last collection I ordered straight away, and I'm so glad I did. It feels like owning something with a story in it. Beautiful, and beautifully made."
Dianne, 59 — Newcastle, NSWOnly until the doors close
There is no restock coming and no next season. When the lease ends within the next few weeks, the workroom closes with it — and these final nine variations are all that will ever exist. If one of them is calling to you, it's worth checking today; the most popular colourways are already thinning out.
Closing thought
Delia won't be at the table much longer, and she seems at peace with that. "I got to spend my whole life making women feel like themselves," she said, walking me to the door past the rack of finished sets. "Not many people get that." She pressed a fold flat one more time, out of habit. "If one of these makes someone feel whole on a hard morning — well. Then it was all worth it." Some things you only get to buy while the person who made them is still here to fold them.
— Kate Sorensen, for The Workroom Journal ✦