Anyone for a dressmaker??

It’s that time of the year when the wedding season is slowing down but at the same time it is also preparing for the next year. Wedding exhibitions are in abundance and the flow of brides looking for ideas and to make bookings in time for their big day, is rife!

With this in mind, I thought I’d tackle the topic of dressmakers; should I have my dress made and if so, where do I find one. In my opinion, I think this career has always been given a lowly status even though people will gasp with admiration at beautiful dresses that have been adorned with embroidery, lace, beading and fabrics which have been sculptured to give “the dress” that beautiful, sophisticated, sexy or the “wow” look. Yet the dressmaker is rarely acknowledged almost as if the clothes that appear in shops or on celebrities are created by magic! A fashion designer cannot create a garment without a pattern cutter they also cannot create a garment without a seamstress each section is dependent on the other. Therefore it is essential that when you’re looking for someone to make an outfit, you know what to look for. Here are some tips:

1. Dressmakers are not all the same. There are people who specialise in doing alterations, people who make general clothing, bridal wear specialists, tailors, fashion designers who also make the clothes themselves and so on. There is a vast difference in someone making a straight skirt with 1 metre of fabric to someone who is making a corseted bridal gown with a minimum of four layers of fabric each layer being four metres each. The skills are vastly different and should be recognised as so.

2. Generally speaking, you will be charged more than if you bought the garment from a shop. Why? If a garment is being made for only you, a lot of time has to be put into it: The design, the taking of personal measurements, drafting patterns specifically for the individual, fittings, sourcing fabrics and finally making it. Whereas if you buy from a retail store it is one of many. They have been mass produced in generic sizes and therefore much cheaper to manufacture and cost.

3. Phone around and ask the right questions such as do you specialise in making wedding dresses, evening gowns etc, can you design the garment or should I get a pattern and will my garment be made in house or out sourced. Once you have established the basics and your happy, go and see the person. Making a garment is not only about the product but there must be a connection between the two parties. Both sides have to be able to communicate effectively in order to achieve the desired look. Also there will be a number of questions to be asked from both sides which is best achieved in a consultation.

4. Be honest and realistic. If your budget is £300 but you want a £3000 dress made it’s not going to be feasible. There’s nothing wrong in stating your budget from the start, it will give them an idea of what may or may not be achievable in terms of labour and fabric. Consequently there might be an alternative which you may not have thought about. Honesty is really the best policy!

Dressmakers, tailors, fashion designers are professionals and very skilled people who know what they are doing and may have worked in their field for many years. They have to listen to what their clients want but equally customers have to listen to the professionals. If at the end of the initial meeting you don’t feel that this is the person you want to make your garment then move on, they weren’t the one for you. It’s a bit like shopping not all of them are going to cater for your style, shape or budget so you have to put in the time to search for the one that does.

To Buy My Wedding Dress Abroad or Not To Buy Abroad..That Is The Question!!!

31st December 2011 was the last time I wrote a blog and like most New Year resolutions I vowed to keep the momentum going. I thought I would unleash all my experience on being a dressmaker, tell the tales of antidotes and generally talk about business! So much for New Year’s resolutions!!!!!! It’s now July, seven months on and I’ve only just got the right mind-set to put pen to paper, so to speak!!!! I’m now in the middle of the bridal season and like most people, brides are looking for “the bargain” particularly with the present economic situation. So this year I seem to have a number of ladies coming to me with dresses bought from China telling me about their experience of buying abroad and what a deal they got. However I am yet to have seen a real bargain because when they bring them to me to alter, the conversation goes……”I bought this from abroad for £.... which was really good BUT is doesn’t fit properly around the bust…. Or….it doesn’t fit it’s too small” etc. So are they really happy hmmmm not really the conversation is usually tinged with panic and HELP can you make it fit with magic!! So I wonder if it’s really worth the hassle and stress of finding a “so called bargain” particularly a wedding dress because if it doesn’t fit and it needs altering you have to pay market price for a dressmaker like me to correct it and sometimes the alterations are major. I know why people do the whole Ebay thing and I really understand it but in the long run isn’t it a bit of a false economy??!! Wouldn’t it be best to find something in the sale and see what you are buying or look at other ways of stretching your budget for a dress that you want rather than gamble on buying something practically blind and getting upset when it gets here! I know a high proportion of wedding dresses come from abroad (I won’t pick on China) and a lot are good but I am speaking from the brides that I see. So my advice is: You Never Get Something For Nothing!!!! Way up the cost of buying abroad and factor in any changes you may have to make on it. The usual suspects are the bust doesn’t fit, it doesn’t do up at the back, and the length is too long. Find out if you are able to return it if there are any serious problems Possibly have a plan B, just in case!

Big Family = Lots and Lots of Weddings!!!!!!!

It was always a tradition in my family for my mother to make all of our wedding dresses but over time it also became the tradition of other families and friends to ask my mum to make their daughters wedding dresses as well!!

I was nine when my oldest sister got married and on the day of the wedding the house was full of aunts, cousins and friends all taking part in the run up to the festivities. The women would be in the kitchen cleaning, seasoning and preparing food whilst the men would be taking care of the drinks...... or slumped over the bar whilst pretending to be helping!!! At that time it was a real celebration of the marriage as a whole. It really was a time when families and friends came together and for cultures and traditions to be recognised, remembered and upheld.

Coming from West Indian parentage, weddings from my background have become more sophisticated and stylish over the years; a reflection of the times. Wedding venues have moved on from the drafty old, musky smelling church halls and in are the banqueting suites, marquees, castles etc with professional caterers, halls decked out to the nines with balloons and flowers and so on. Don’t get me wrong I’m not adverse to the finer things in life but I do miss the traditions and I miss hearing the banter of stories and jokes from the elders whilst they took part in the planning of the wedding.

Over the years I have been involved in many weddings both within my family and with my clients who come from various walks of life and as such I have picked up lots of information particularly about wedding dresses! I've had brides having panic attacks not knowing which way to turn (planning), I've advised brides who want to mix cultures/styles and need to find a balance (which includes a punkish looking lady whose partner wanted a more traditional wedding!). I've had a few brides faint sometimes due to stress and in one year almost all of my brides were either pregnant or became pregnant whilst their dresses were being made!!! So I think in my next blog (hopefully soon) I'll talk about wedding dresses from a dressmakers perspective, how you should approach a seamstress and what you should be looking for, the difference between buying "off the peg" and bespoke etc!!!!

As its only a couple of days away from the 2012 and I doubt that I’ll have written another blog before then, heres wishing everyone a fantastic new year and may you be blessed with lots of love, health, wealth and happiness.

My Parents

My parents came over in the 1950's and like many of their generation they wanted a better life for their children. They worked very hard in bringing us up with strong principles and ethics and using the skills they had they worked long hours to provide us with a home and a good education.
My mother was a skilled seamstress who taught herself to cut clothes freehand as well as sew. She was very talented and gifted and knew instinctively how to cut and manipulate patterns and fabrics. You may say I’m bias but in all the years I’ve been working with and alongside seamstresses I’ve met anyone who could sew like her. When she came to England she took in sewing and worked from home for a number of years until we were all at school then she went out to work as a sample machinist in various fashion houses. As a child I would watch her as she made clothes for family, friends and clients. She would get me to help with small things, encourage me to practice on my dolls. She bought me a child’s sewing machine, tapestry and fashion design sets. She said it was to help me learn about design and how clothes should fit etc. Mum was mainly about her children with education as a very, very close second.
Both my parents are from an Island called Carriacou in the West Indies. A tiny island but the biggest in The Grenadines!!!! (Very important fact). In England my father worked full time in the post office but outside of work he became a fundraiser for Carriacou. At that time they did not have phones and the only way to contact people was either by letter or telegram (which was usually bad news). So my father would organise dances (Greenwich Town Hall springs to mind) and coach trips to raise money to buy Carriacou their first telecommunication system. It was here that I learnt about business. All of us in the family were involved in helping at these events. At a very early age I would be manning the cloak room taking money, putting coats away and tallying up at the end of the night. Later I would help in the preparation of the food.....there was always food at these events particularly the dances where the family would cook for hundreds of people without really analysing the enormity. We would help in selling tickets to friends and asking others to promote it. Without actually knowing it I think I knew more about profit, loss and balance sheets than anything else before going to secondary school, the learning curve in those "business lessons" were endless but invaluable.

It all started along time ago!!!

Its really strange sitting here writing to.....well no one at the moment!!!! Very strange!!!! Its taken me along time to pluck up the courage to join the 21st century technology with twitter, facebook and blogging etc but after being nagged by several people I thought i'd give it a try and who knows maybe someone might find what i have to say interesting.

Well I suppose the main purpose for me starting a blog was to advertise my business but really when I think about it, my business is really about me; my background, my family, what really prompted me to start the business, what i feel i can give to potential customers, what I feel I can give to others who maybe in business as well as learn ALOT from others. So i've decided that my blogs (I hope) will be a journey.........an interesting journey and maybe if i'm lucky a sharing of thoughts and great ideas.