Friday 31 May 2013

A New Project ! Yippeee

Finally! after all the crazy big alterations this week, that seemed never ending, I have decided to work on a new project.( I need my sanity after all the unpicking !:) and restitching madness.. ;)

I have never use ready-made patterns . I always make my own patterns. Each pattern is like a new baby. I never quite know what I would achieve with the toile or with a flat master pattern which I would alter after draping.(I also copy exisiting dresses by taking out the pattern, there are quite a few ways to achieve this.This project is a pattern taken out from an existing dress)

The  project is a dress and I will put up pictures to show how hard making a dress really is. Its not a very difficult pattern but it needs a lot of TLC at certain stages. With the pret a porter market growing and everything becoming less expensive, I fear that people do not really appreciate how hard it is to make a dress to a high quality of finish.

For now there are a few sneak peeks of the project ...


 O and just to keep you wondering its a reversible dress with a collar and cuffs and a double full circle skirt front and back!!

Monday 27 May 2013

Why getting a dress made is more costly than something off the rack?


There was a time when everyone used to sew and make their own clothes. There was uniqueness in everyone’s wardrobe. That trend has long gone. Now it’s more costly to make something than to buy it off the rack pret-a-porter.

A dress off the rack, even though,has gone through the same processes, costs less. It was made in a factory and parts of it were assembled and made by different people. It costs what its costs as everything is broken down to as efficient and cost effective a manner as possible.

When something is bespoke the process is just done specialised to one person. That dress is cut and made only once.  It’s a unique dress that only you will have in your wardrobe and will fit only you. A toile is made to take out the pattern and make sure the fit is perfect on you.

Pattern made from sctatch


Whereas a factory can make a few thousand dresses in a day a bespoke dress takes several days and sometimes weeks and months to make. Not everyone can fully appreciate why a made to measure costs more but the end result is definitely worth it!



Copied cleint's favourite dress  by taking out the pattern

Friday 24 May 2013

Life Never Has a Dull Moment!




Its so much fun to work with clothes and ..yes.....women. At times it could be tedious but really, its good to work with beautiful fabrics and share stories of all sorts!..from the men in someone's life to the kind of underwear one prefers to wear  I have heard it all ;) ..

I would really recommend being a fitter/tailoress to anyone who wants to be one . Its hard work and crazy hours but its also full of laughter and tears of mirth as well. I get to meet so many different types of people and such a variation of stories Life never had a dull moment!





Saturday 18 May 2013

Impossible is ( nearly ) nothing






 So many outfits are favourite in our wardrobes. Some get out-dated waiting for that special occasion to be worn, but I have a solution. If they are worth the money recycling them into fresh looks is not a bad idea. Even if someone has gained (or lost ) weight it’s all doable . If you want frills or cuts or peplums ...impossible is nothing. I have even done a wedding dress when I added a lace mount to hide rust marks as it was originally a Vintage bridal dress


 I do so many re-modelling of dresses on a regular basis. It changes something that was once loved and then forgotten to an outfit rediscovered, enjoyed and loved once more.


Wednesday 15 May 2013

Why an estimate cannot be given over the phone ;)

I am often called and have emails on how much something would cost. Although for a straightforward alteration like an ordinary hem shortening or a sleeve shortening a rough estimate can be give out.

 For bespoke its next to impossible ( as a client could be an easy shape or a very difficult shape). Furthermore dresses could be difficult cuts or easy cuts, so for bespoke I often arrange a meeting first as I have to make the dress pattern from scratch.

 The bulk of work I am given, I have found, I cannot give an estimate unless I have seen the item or discussed the pattern with a client.

Every item is made to a different standard of finishing so the cost of every alterations and bespoke(made to measure)  varies considerably.

Just in the case of alterations: I have an example for why I don't give an estimate: Over the phone this would have been just a few inches off the hem and taking in along the side seams and bustling up the train at the back....

Here is the Atlanta bridal dress that needed shortening and grading all along to two sizes down .
 Shortening it required; Unpicking the lace which is mounted with the invisible thread on both sides. It also had three further layers of net and tule underneath as well as lining to be shorten to the right length.
To shorten had to unpick along cut line on both sides .
 The client had lost a lot of weight so all the amount between the red thread marks had to be taken out.
The amount is marked precisely with red or black thread


 Here is the finished result  after the alteration.


Friday 10 May 2013

Not for the faint hearted ... lace dress shortening

People often ask me how I do shortening of a lace bridal dress. I have done massive shortening of lace dresses (upto 5 inches or more!) as unfortunately they never come in perfect length increments to cater to everyone's height.Sometimes the dress has a waist cutline which makes life a lot easier but sometimes you just have to do it the hard way.

If the dress has no cutlines at all ,the trick is to find the narrowest part of the dress. If its a figure hugging dress the best place is just above knee and if its an empire cut line dress then it could be just under the cut-line. Take a picture of the part of the dress where you chose to add the cut-line.
Unpick carefully so the netting does not get any holes. 

Think of an imaginary cut-line that you would put under the lace in order to shorten it, bearing in mind where the zip is placed in the dress.Now start unpicking on both sides of your imaginary cut line this could be in a diagonal on certain dress styles along the back if a zip is present at the back.. but this always varies..(mark it with a thread. I usually mark the amount needed to be taken out with a black thread). Most of  the wedding dresses have lace mounted on the netting with an invisible nylon thread on the outer side and a white thread used in the bobbin.
The extra seam allowance created  after the stitching needs to be cut off .

When you have unpicked sufficient amount of the lace make your cut-line by pining.Tweak the cutline by placing on the mannequin to ensure all is visually symmetrical .Then stitch the cutline as a seam using a nylon invisible thread on one side and a white thread in the bobbin; now cut off any excess fabric keeping the seam allowance 1cm maximum,
 All that is left now is to reattach all your lace pieces looking at a picture taken at the beginning to keep it similar to how it was attached to the dress before the unpicking. The most easy way is to do them by hand as trying to do it by machine is sometimes not possible. Now readjust the side seams according to new hip level if shortening was done above waist.to finish off the dress redo any embroidery needed on the lace.Shorten any other layers of the dress as needed .


I find adopting this method is the best as all the lace dresses I have seen always have heavy beadwork on the hem and the hems are so wide. Shortening through the hem is not an impossible job as I have done that as well if the design cannot accomodate a cut-line,but its an extremely time consuming and costly job.



Here is how the dress looks on the body



Thursday 9 May 2013

Alterations or Bespoke




If bespoke is like a luscious creamy sinfully chocolaty cake alterations are my bread and butter... I cannot exist without them both. 

I must say that I absolutely love love love doing my bespoke projects. At the moment as I work for specialist shops, the alterations have taken over almost completely ...I do have a handful of bespoke projects at the moment but they are going nowhere as I have deadline for the shop clientele. It is regular work so I have to keep it going.

I am trying to work on new patterns and projects all the time but every May the wedding season starts and the Brides and Mums all need outfits to be fitted.

I also make jewellery and do silk painting as well as embroidery  and crochet when I can. Its something I enjoy immensely to be creative and use my training to its full potential .

I am hoping to start on a dress by the end of this month as I need atleast one bespoke outfit every month for my own sanity as alterations are tedious and sometimes the remodelling is so drastic that I might as well have made the outfit from the beginning. 


Here is a link to most of the work projects I have worked on to date
www.tailor-alter.com




For alterations portfolio its
https://www.facebook.com/Zenub.s.qurashis