Plus sizes in the Bridal industry Posted 4/27/15

I Worked in the Bridal Industry and Couldn’t Believe the Size Discrimination I Witnessed There

by xoJane ( ) Sunday, April 26th 2015 at 1:23 pm 

by Autumn Krause
I loved working at a bridal salon in Beverly Hills. I remember, on my first day, reverentially running my fingers over the skirt of an Elie Saab and gasping at a one-of-a-kind Valentino gown.
As a fashion enthusiast, it was my personal paradise. I loved trying on couture dresses that I would never otherwise touch or even see.

Before this, the most expensive clothing item I’d ever worn was a pair of $80 Guess Jeans.

I was immediately seduced by this new world, so much so that it took hindsight to realize what a crazy place it was. Not until recently did I reflect on how wealth, fame, and physical beauty were used as a currency, with one’s value rising with the combination of the three.
The salon was definitely skewed toward that trifecta, as reflective of its geographical position in Beverly Hills. It typically wasn’t bothersome—the salon was there to make money and that was the best way to do it.

A lot of the brides were traditionally beautiful and thin. I was obsessed with this bride’s style and loved working with her. Isn’t that short hair PERFECT?

But one thing that perplexed me was the way plus-sized women were excluded from the experiences offered to their skinnier counterparts. It didn’t make sense to me because they were a lucrative demographic.
To be fair, my salon wasn’t specifically to blame—it was merely reflective of the bridal industry’s attitude toward full-figured women. It basically equated this. Skinny=yay!/Not Skinny=there isn’t much here for you. Through my time there, I noticed, over and over again, the ways the bridal industry fails brides who are larger than a size 16.
Sample Sizes
Designer bridal salons carry one sample of each gown and it is clipped to each specific bride’s dimensions. I was an expert at wielding our industrial-strength woodworking clamps around the zippers of the gowns, molding them to my customer’s body.
The sample sizes were 8-12. But keep in mind. That’s 8-12 in bridal sizes which then translates to streetwear sizes of 6-10. That means plus-sized women couldn’t try on gowns the same way, if at all. I remember once telling a woman,
“So we will need to open up this bust cup through a special order. These seams on the side will come over about three inches.”
I went on, trying to explain to this woman how the B-cup, size 10 bridal gown would look in her proportions. I did my best, trying to help her visualize something that did not yet exist.
Our salon featured about 300 gowns and, out of all of them, there were about 12 in a size 16 or larger. Trunk shows (where a designer sends a curated selection of their upcoming gowns or bestsellers) were even worse. Once, as I unpacked gown after gown for a show, I noticed that most of the sizes were 2-6.

You knew a gown was tiny when it didn’t fit the mannequin.

Some of them were even runway samples, which basically means they were tailored for a professional model (i.e.,: a marvel of nature who is 5’9 and has a 24 or 25 inch waist).
Sometimes brides ordered a gown without trying it on because they loved the way it looked even though they couldn’t put it on. It’s a crazy thing to expect of any bride. Those appointments stand out in my mind. We would sit down together and slowly work through what would suit her figure, personality and style.
Other times, I would hold the dresses up in front of the brides, trying to approximate a sense of how it would look, the same way you would hold up a paper dress on a paper doll. I hated it when the bride’s mother or friend would obsess with finding a flattering gown, often at the cost of the bride’s personal taste. I felt like I failed when a bride settled on a gown solely because she looked skinny in it.
Wrong Perspective on Styling
Consultants tried to skip appointments with heavier brides, simply because there wasn’t much to show them. However, I always admired these women who came to our salon, determined to find a gown despite the challenges. I appreciated them because they were intelligent, vibrant women who were grounded in themselves and their relationships. I have to say it—usually they were nicer than the other brides. And they had great taste.
I actually preferred these appointments. I loved the brides and I learned so much about fashion and body types. For example, most salons will automatically grab the nearest ball gown or A-line for these brides in an attempt to cover them up in tent-like gowns. That, in my opinion, is the completely wrong way to approach plus size brides.
Proportion should determine silhouette, not size. I had a gorgeous green-eyed bride with the blackest hair I had ever seen. She was a size 20 and her figure was beautifully balanced. When she tried on a mermaid gown (which was only possible because the seam was split all the way down the back from a previous customer), and turned to the mirror, she gasped.
“I didn’t know I could wear this!” she said. The gown had ruched organza through the torso and hips and exploded into a profusion of ruffles at the bottom. I slipped a silk flower into her long, wavy hair and she looked like a vintage princess from Spain. I was as awed as she was. And I can promise you this—every eye on that salon was on her, not the other cookie-cutter thin brides around her.
If a bride wasn’t proportional (and super skinny brides were just as often disproportional as others), I marveled at the ways fashion compensated. With the appropriate use of structured bodices, crinoline, and tailoring, any woman could look absolutely exquisite. And that’s the strange thing about fashion. It can be exclusive and inaccessible for many yet, when used correctly, it redefines the figure, playing up strengths and downplaying perceived weaknesses.
Limited Size Charts and Extra Fees
While I loved styling these brides and celebrating with them when they found the one, I dreaded ringing them up. From that point on, I couldn’t hide the fact that the bridal industry is downright cruel to anyone who is a size 18 or up.
First of all, any bride who fell in a size 18 or up would be slapped with a surcharge. This could add anywhere from 10% to 15% to the bride’s order. 15% of a $7500 gown is a whopping $1,125! In what universe is that OK? Yes, it does take extra fabric to make larger sizes, but $1,125 can buy you a plane ticket to Europe.

Even the belts were sometimes too small to fit a bride’s waist. They could be extended. For a fee.

Other times, certain size charts didn’t extend past a size 20. I remember explaining to a bride that the gown she loved wasn’t cut in her size.

This size chart didn’t go past 20.

“You can lose the weight,” her friend immediately interjected. “Just do whatever it takes. This is important.”
I also had a bride who absolutely loved a certain gown but it wasn’t stocked in her size. She ordered two of the same gown. Two.
“Do you feel OK doing this?” I asked her. She nodded and said,
“I know what I want but I can’t find it my size. This is the only way.”
Our seamstress pieced it together into one. It turned out beautifully but it was ridiculous that she had to resort to this, spending double.
Oftentimes, if we called the designer, they would recut a pattern for a bride but it came at an even larger cost. I wondered why the size charts were so limited, especially when they already ran small. Did the designers have a certain image for their gowns? Did they only want skinny girls wearing them? These questions plagued me and once, when a designer came in for a trunk show, I asked him.
“Its fashion, darling.” he replied flippantly. “Just fashion.”
Alterations
The attitude pervading alterations was “She will lose weight.” This was applied to every single bride, no matter her size.
It wasn’t the seamstresses’ faults—in fact, they were loving women who prided themselves on their craft. After seeing brides lose weight time and time again, they delayed alterations so they wouldn’t have to take in the gown twice. So much so that it became a rule: Your gown wasn’t taken in until two weeks prior to your wedding date.
This was fine except it basically assumed that, if you were a good bride, you would actively cut down for your wedding. It boggled my mind. After all, these brides’ partners proposed to them as they were and, theoretically, loved them the way they were.
Despite this, the whole alterations department was structured around the idea of weight loss and it was often perpetrated by the brides themselves. I heard them say these phrases over and over again:
“I have a personal trainer for the wedding.”
“I’m cutting out all carbs.”
“I have time. I can still drop 10 pounds.”
“Take my gown in more. I’m going to lose weight so make it smaller then I am right now.”
ADVICE
If you are a full-figured woman, please know that there are lots of amazing options out there for you and you will look stunning on your wedding day. Here are some things that I hope will be helpful:
1) Go for structured gowns.
Gowns with boning in the bodice will define your gorgeous shape. Thin dresses without internal structure will cling to the form and show every little curve.
2) Don’t automatically get an A-line or ball gown.
Request an experienced consultant who will understand your particular figure. Mermaids can be insanely flattering on plus-sized brides, especially if there is fullness at the bottom to balance the dramatic silhouette. If you do go for an A-line, consider one with a slight dropped waist or slimmer skirt. The idea isn’t to cover you up. It’s to showcase your best assets—and everyone has them!
3) Consider ruching.
Ruching is flattering on everyone. But ruching isn’t one size fits all. Make sure your gown has well-balanced ruching that isn’t too wide. Also, if it draws to one side, go for it! The asymmetry is insanely flattering.
4) Look for silhouettes that define your waist.
Anything that pulls in at your natural waist or lower is flattering. Belts with beaded appliques in the center also draw the eye inward.
(Also: avoid too many pleats in the skirt, gowns with abrupt, horizontal seams. You want a gown that flows beautifully from top to bottom (if there is a straight seam right at the hips or knees, it can widen) shiny fabrics, and overly huge skirts.
5) Finally, MAKE YOURSELF HAPPY.
At the end of the day, don’t get too caught up with rules and the do’s and don’ts. You know yourself. You know your style and your body. Do what feels right to you. The most beautiful brides I’ve seen were comfortable and confident.
Check Out These Designers
Vera Wang — Vera Wang’s gowns are extremely thick and structured in the bodice, more so then many other designers. Her look is great if you like something that borderlines artsy couture.
Maggie Sottero -This designer’s pieces have great mass appeal and a romantic aesthetic. The gowns feature amazing boning and internal corsets to give the perfect amount of definition.

Maggie Sottero is known for her fit.

Wtoo Curves Collection — I personally love how Wtoo’s gowns balance trends and timelessness. The Curves collection is no exception and features stunning gowns for plus sizes.

Allure Women — Allure has an entire line dedicated to full-figured women. I love how the gowns range in silhouette from natural-waist A-lines to beautifully fitted mermaids.
Alfred Angelo — Alfred Angelo does a great job at accommodating all figures at amazing price points. Plus, they definitely get a shout out for having no extra size fees! Other designers should take note.
One to Watch:
Jenny Packham — This designer has always created very thin dresses for thin, small-chested brides. However, Jenny Packham has recently included plus-size brides in her runway debut.

by xoJane

ww.styleite.com/news/i-worked-in-the-bridal-industry-and-couldnt-believe-the-size-discrimination-i-witnessed-there/

Like-minded soul

I read this and felt instantly connected to a like-minded soul!  Enjoy.  ----Katherine

 

5 entrepreneurial lessons from my life as a dressmaker

Erin McKean, Contributing Writer
Sep 16, 2014, 12:35pm CDT

Image provided by Getty Images (Photojope)

Reverb founder Erin McKean is also a prolific sewing blogger. The two have more in common than you might think.

Part of the mythology of the startup entrepreneur is an adolescence spent tinkering. Taking apart small electronics in the garage, building a computer from a kit, assembling a trebuchet in the backyard and scaring the neighbors. Taking things apart and putting them back together again symbolizes the inquisitive, creative, disruptive entrepreneurial mindset, with an additional dose of “I can do it better” arrogance.
Because the world of startup founders is so overwhelmingly male, when we look at an early history of “making” as proof of entrepreneurial destiny, we tend to focus on boys and their toys.
In fact, any sufficiently nerdy activity, if pursued with enough single-minded focus, can prepare you for founding a startup.

See Also

• ​5 principles to thinking like an entrepreneur (even if you work for a large company)
• What Uber's success can teach entrepreneurs
• Do the French need to update their definition of profit?

For me, that sufficiently nerdy activity is sewing. Along with being a tech startup founder, I’m also a longtime sewing blogger and published author of articles about sewing and books about fashion. A lot of what sewing has taught me applies equally well to entrepreneurship.

1. Ignore What Other People Think

When I started sewing back in junior high school, in the depths of the fashion sinkhole known as the 1980s, sewing was deeply uncool. Sewing was what you were forced to do in Home Economics class. In fact, wearing clothes “made by loving hands at home” and therefore being made fun of by other kids is even a sturdy trope of children’s literature.
When you start down the startup path, there is no shortage of people who are willing to tell that what you’re doing will never work, that there are too many other, better options out there, and oh, by the way, you look stupid. Early training in ignoring that kind of feedback is extremely valuable.
Being confident in your ideas – whether you’re working on a new application or a new dress — is essential in realizing your vision. (It’s as important to ignore wrong positive comments as it is to ignore wrong negative comments!)

2. Tweak Until You Get It Right

Often people imagine that sewing a dress is just a matter of finding a pattern, adding some fabric, and emerging from a pop-soundtrack montage a few hours later to twirl in front of the mirror in your perfect garment.
The actual process involves something that’s closer to product development than the ballgown scene in Cinderella. There’s a prototype, which I usually make in ugly (or at least humorous) fabric. I tweak that for fit and other important qualities, such as making sure the pockets are deep enough to hold all my stuff (up to and including an iPad mini). Then I make multiple subsequent versions, each one iterating on some key feature (honestly, usually pockets), until I feel comfortable sewing it up in the (usually expensive) fabric that was my original goal.
In sewing, just as in product design, it’s the folks who expect perfect versions on the first go-round who are the most discouraged when things don’t go to plan. The more comfortable you are with let’s-try-it-and-see, the better things go in the long run.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Let It Go

People who sew have a special word for those projects that are so frustrating, so unrewarding, or so just plain WRONG. We call them “wadders,” as in “just wad them up in the back of the closet and try to forget them.”
It’s tempting to think that you can rescue something that you know in your heart is a wadder with just a little more time, with a little more work, a few more alterations … The truth is, you can’t. Nothing you can do will make something in an itchy fabric completely comfortable. No amount of coaching will help a team member who has radically different goals than the rest of the organization. A product that only gets a tepid “meh” response, no matter how many different audiences you put it in front of, is not a product that will respond dramatically to tweaking.
It can be hard to admit that something you’ve put so much time and effort (and often love) into is destined for the ragbag. But every minute you spend on a wadder is a minute you aren’t sewing something new and rewarding.

4. You Do You

In a startup, it’s always tempting to look around at what everyone else is doing. “Wow,” you think, “startup X is doing great things … maybe we should be trying that too?” Suddenly, pivoting to “Yo for Dogs” seems like a viable idea.
In sewing, there are plenty of people who will teach you how to make a version of whatever’s the hot new fashion, however ill-advised. Leather jeggings? There’s a pattern for that. In the same way that the most successful startup founders aren’t in it to cash in on a me-too idea, the most accomplished seamstresses aren’t merely trying to get a designer wardrobe on the cheap. The highest calling in either endeavor is to create something completely new, something the world wouldn’t have seen if not for your idea. Sometimes that’s a Tetris dress, and sometimes that’s a new take on the dictionary, and sometimes that’s a discovery reader. Sewing gave me the confidence to keep going with my own ideas, instead of producing knockoff versions of other people’s.

5. The Joy of Making

When you get right down to it, sewing is hard work (there’s a reason most fast fashion is produced in sweatshops, in places where people are happy to earn pennies for repetitive, backbreaking labor). Depending on the materials you use and the equipment you invest in, sewing may not save you much money (especially if you factor in the opportunity cost of money-making activities you could have done in the same time). The main reason that people sew, in these days of $2 T-shirts, is because they enjoy it.
Likewise, startups are not (mythology to the contrary) instant tickets to riches and renown. Most startup founders, if they calculated their hourly salaries, would crumple up the paper and throw it away — and then get back to work.
There’s a lot to be said for the psychic paycheck that comes from the joy of making — of taking an idea and bringing it into existence, whether it’s a dress that is exactly what you want, or whether it’s an API that lets other people build what THEY want.
I hope that somewhere out there is another teen bent over a hand-me-down sewing machine, cranking out the nth iteration of her own idea, learning all the skills of inventiveness, persistence, problem-solving, and joyful creation that my years bent over my own sewing machine have taught me. I hope that when she launches her own startup, she’ll let me invest!

Erin McKean is the founder of Reverb , a news discovery app for the iPhone and iPad, and the online dictionary Wordnik.com. Previously, she was the editor in chief of American dictionaries for Oxford University Press. A lexicographer by training, she is also the author of several books, including "Weird and Wonderful Words" and "The Secret Lives of Dresses."

At a Wedding, You Are What You Wear By JOYCE WADLER of the New York Times

 I thought this was funny, but poignant.  All Mothers of the Groom will relate!  Enjoy!--Katherine

I’m going to a wedding this summer, which means once again I am dealing with the sleeve problem. You ladies of a certain age know what I am talking about. There comes a time in your life, even if you have a personal trainer and are taking your meals in the gym, when the muscles and skin on your inner upper arms give up. It’s as if they’re saying: “Oh, the hell with it. Where’s the bar?” They’re just hanging off the bone, exhausted.

I’m feeling pretty buff these days. I’ve lost 20 pounds (I don’t think I’ve mentioned that for two columns), I’ve been training for a bike trip and I still cannot find a dress for an afternoon wedding. The cutest dresses are sleeveless, and I don’t feel I can wear them unless I get a pair of five-pound weights and do repetitions three times a day. I envision my shopping list: 1) sleeveless cocktail dress; 2) weights. This doesn’t seem right.

I don’t like the sleeveless dresses with the little bolero jackets either. The chutzpah of this is appalling: We’re going to sell you something you can wear only if you cover it up. That will be $700. I do understand how these dresses are supposed to work, though. You wear the jacket at the ceremony, then you go to the reception and have a few snorts and toss if off because you have ceased to care.

My only choice, if I insist on sleeves, seems to be to go to the mother-of-the-bride favela on the outskirts of the bridal department and get a long-sleeved garment in navy blue or — shoot me if I ever do this — lavender. I’m not sure what to call the style of these dresses, but if you’ve ever seen those things people put over their toasters, you have a general idea. They might as well have the words “Boring Matron, Has Not Had Sex in Eight Years” emblazoned in sequins.

The plus side, I guess, is that at least I am not the mother of the groom, or, as she is referred to on wedding sites, the MOG. I have had friends go through this, and it is a whole other kind of hell because they need to get outfit approval from the bride’s family. Here is how the wedding planning site The Knot puts it: “Per general etiquette, the MOB is to buy her wedding day frock first and then notify the MOG in a friendly, nonthreatening format.”

I used to think being a bridesmaid was bad, but that is nothing compared to the abasement of being the mother of a groom. Here’s how her shopping experience works:

She sees a dress she loves, she takes a picture, and she sends it to the mother of the bride. The mother of the bride looks at the dress, realizes it’s way more sophisticated than the rag she’s picked out for herself, and texts the mother of the groom:

Gorgeous, but that burnt sienna conflicts with the blackened orange cocktail napkins we’ll be using for the after-party. Don’t hate me, but could you possibly try to find something else? I only ask because I know one day you will want to see your grandchildren.

No detail of the MOG’s outfit is too small. You might think that in a $75,000 wedding in which the bride is decked out in 40 yards of tulle, bearing down on the guests like an 18th-century battleship in full sail, no one will notice the shoes the groom’s mother is wearing, particularly because by the time the bride and her mother are through with her, she will be wearing a navy suit cut like a shoe box. (Navy is not merely the suggested color for a mother-of-the-groom outfit, in some Southern states it is law.)

The MOG may not always hear directly from the MOB on smaller matters of dress, but, just as in the Gestapo, there is a chain of command. The mother of the bride will talk to the bride, who will talk to the groom, who will call his mother. The MOG, who by now is such a nervous wreck that she’s dissolving 1.5-milligram tablets of Klonopin in her morning coffee, will sense something is up because her son will be making this call from a business trip in Dubai.

Hey, Ma, I got a call from the woman who will decide how often we visit when you are in the old-people’s home, and she said you haven’t said a word about your shoes. The wedding is only six months away. No big deal, but could you text her the picture the minute you get off the phone? Otherwise, we’ll be spending every Thanksgiving with her parents.

I went through something like this myself when I was a maid of honor in the late ’60s. The style for weddings then was aggressively anti-establishment; the bridal party was not bound by deadly tradition. My friend the bride, who was following a strict health-food regimen of eight to 10 diet pills a day to maintain a Twiggy-like figure, was going to be wearing a white crochet minidress that fell a good six inches below her behind. I had been scouring Greenwich Village shops for several weeks trying to find something that went with it. This was difficult because, really, nothing went with it.

I had my doubts about the marriage. The groom was bisexual; he was also high-strung, although after weeks of trying to find the right thing to wear, who among the bridal party was not? Anyway, I finally found an understated gray and white dress that couldn’t upstage a nun and got the bride’s approval. Then I got an innocuous pair of white high-heel sandals to go with the dress. Then I got a call from the groom.

“You bought WHITE SHOES!” he screamed. “You’re RUINING my wedding! ONLY THE BRIDE WEARS WHITE!”

He was not such a stickler for tradition on the honeymoon, where he and his wife engaged in a three-way with a fellow whose interest, according to what the bride told me, was focused entirely on the groom. This was also what it looked like in the Polaroids.

It will not surprise you to learn that this marriage did not last. I like to think it had nothing to do with my shoes.

Say "YES" to the dress???? Read this and find out if that dress is right for your alterations budget.

 
April 22, 2013
It's getting warmer and greener outside, and people are coming out of their winter doldrums, which means formal events are soon to follow. Oh yes folks, wedding/prom season is upon us once again. So here we are again with the latest installment of How to Spot Quality: The Bride/Prom Queen Edition.
One of the most common phrases we hear in the studio is "these alterations are costing almost as much as the dress!" Well if you got your dress for a bargain, there is often a reason... and many times that reason is what stands between you and a custom fitted garment. In order for clothing to be made cheaply, it must be made quickly, and on a massive scale.
This is not to say you need to spend a grand on a perfectly made-for-you dress every time you need to attend a formal event. There are, however, many immediate indicators for how expensive your alterations will be, and you can decide from there whether you really want the dress. Think of it as an emotional as well as a monetary investment, not unlike purchasing a new car. You want to check out all the features and quirks of the vehicle before you buy; you wouldn't just walk off the lot with the first flashy red sports car you see just because you look really good next it. You would want to know things like the MPG, how expensive the tires are to replace, and whether any parts are currently on recall, so you don't find yourself at the mechanic in two months giving over your vacation money to fix all those little unseen problems.
This same logic can be put toward a dress, and there are a few key things to keep in mind when considering your purchase (or your bridesmaids' purchase.)
CHIFFON
We all love the drape and flow of chiffon, but let me tell you it is a pain to hem, and it can quickly get expensive. The most prominent issue with chiffon is when it does something called "jump" after it has been hemmed. This often occurs overnight or in the hours between hemming and pickup, in cases when several inches have been trimmed off. With the weight of those trimmed inches off, the fabric can bounce back up or sag down in a different way than it was when the hem was marked, making an uneven hem. And then when the hem has been evened out after it has jumped, jumping can even occur again if the garment has not had enough time to hang undisturbed and properly get used to gravity at its new weight.
This is common because almost all floor length dresses made in a factory are purposely made several inches longer than even the tallest person would need, partially to ensure the dress will be floor length for anyone, but mostly because it is a lot faster and easier to indiscriminately cut hems without having to worry about whether they are straight or even. Which brings us to...
HEMS
How many hems are in your dress? Unless you are looking at an unlined sheath dress, you have at least two hems. If you have a chiffon overlay, tulle between your shell and lining, and/or multiple layers on your shell, those are all separate hems. If your dress hem is more than 75" around, that usually costs a little more. Chiffon hems can cost a little more as well, due to the issues described above. Just because it is one dress does not mean your seamstress is only taking it up once. Count your hems, and multiply your estimate by that many. And the opposite of hems are...
SEAMS
Do all your seams line up? Seriously, take a close look, because it is quite possible that they don't. Another common victim of factory-made garments are seams, especially at the points where several seams meet. If you have a patterned dress the likelihood that the seams will not match up increases tenfold. There is also a keen possibility that the side seams and/or waist seam are not even or in the same place on either side. If your seams do not match up in a way that flatters your body (and everyone is different; know what works on you and makes you feel beautiful) my recommendation is that you RUN AWAY. If the pattern doesn't match and it bothers you, there is nothing that will salvage that dress after you notice it. Run away!! You could almost get a custom garment with the amount of taking apart and remeasuring and putting back together differently that is required to fix an uneven seam on a formal garment, because it usually has so many...
LAYERS
How many layers are in your dress? your shell is one layer, but then you may have an overlay, and lining, maybe some interfacing, and likely some boning in the bodice. All of that has to be taken in evenly, and if there is boning that has to be removed and then stitched back in. Modern bodices have a good deal of structure to give the silhouette we all think of when we think "bridal" or "prom," and in order to have structure you need several layers to create the stiff skeleton and then put the softer decoration on top. And if that decoration includes...
JEWELS/BEADING
Now we're really cooking. I love sparkles as much as the next person, maybe even more. But if you find yourself falling in love with a beaded bodice, do absolutely everything in your power to ensure that you purchase one that fits. Taking in a jeweled or beaded bodice requires hand-stabilizing each bead along the new seam line, individually crushing the beads inside the new seam allowance, and often (though not always) taking in the entire seam by hand. Hand stitching is a specific and extremely time consuming (not to mention more physically demanding) art, so the more hand stitching is required, the higher the alteration price. Speaking of taking bodices in...
ZIPPER
Where is your zipper? Is it on the side or the back? If it is on the side and the bodice needs taking in, save yourself some grief and move on. It is impossible to take in a bodice with a side seam zipper without removing and repositioning the zipper, much to your wallet's chagrin.
Alright ladies (and gentlemen) when you are out shopping for a formal dress and you are looking for the perfect fit with the perfect price tag, please take this advice to heart. While it may be easy to buy a gorgeous dress off of the clearance rack, it is not always so easy (or cheap) to alter. If it's the dress of your dreams, we are happy to alter it for you, but if you don't want to be the next victim of "my-dress-cost-less-than-these-alterations!" syndrome, be prepared to pick up your garment and investigate it! Remember: chiffon, seams, hem, layers, jewels, and zippers! Good luck!!

Pinterest.com is a site I regularly browse for inspiration and ideas.  So when a new client brought me her jean shorts to alter, I was totally aware of the look she wanted having seen the idea on Pinterest.  Here is how it turned out !   We added lace to the right front and left side above the pocket.  She was thrilled with the results.  
 Bring me your ideas, and let me execute them for you.  A project like this is lots of fun!

June 2012

June 2012

Alterations are the largest sector of what makes up Katherine's Design and Alterations.  That being said, when I get a creative design project from a client, it confirms the reason the business was started in the first place, that is, as an outlet for creativity and joy.  
     This spring, a client brought me her mother's wedding gown to create an heirloom piece for her twin sons' baptism.  The expense of baptismal gowns prompted us to think of making a blanket for each son using parts from the original wedding gown.  The photo above is the finished product.  I was able to cut off all the lace from the gown and the veil to use on a white bridal satin left over from another job and backed it with a white flannel.  Using the lace I bordered each blanket with the veil lace and had only three inches to spare!  Whew!  I then used the lace that was on the organza sleeves and on the center front of the bodice to add on a diagonal, and used one of the satin ribbon ties on each blanket.  In order to differentiate one blanket from the other, I embroidered the child's name and baptismal date on the back flannel corner.  
    I received a phone call from the grandmother of the twins last week expressing her great satisfaction and joy at seeing the two blankets.  She said she received many compliments from her friends and relatives at what a wonderful idea to have the blankets made and the beautiful craftsmanship.  (her words, not mine)  

Embroidery on back side

  You would be amazed at the amount of time it took to design and construct them.  I thought it might take 1 1/2 to 2 hours each, but it ended up more like 4 hours each!  Definitely a labor of love for the art.  I hope you enjoy seeing them and that it prompts you to re-purpose something YOU have in your wardrobe!

Portland--a mecca for fashion fabric enthusiasts!

October 2011


I just got home from Portland, OR where I was attending the annual Association of Sewing and Design Professionals conference. While I was there, I took a class in advanced draping techniques that was so fast-paced I wasn't sure I could keep up. It was great fun to see how the couture designers achieve the looks they produce with all the twists and turns off the cloth. I look forward to our Wisconsin chapter meeting where I will demonstrate what I learned to those members who did not get to the conference. You all know, you learn more when you teach than when you learn it initially, right? We also took a bus tour of the major fabric stores in Portland. What a mecca for fashion fabric enthusiasts! We all thought we had died and gone to heaven. The quality and variety of fabric at price points we thought HAD to have been a mistake sent us into heightened elation.
Another class I took was called "Sew Much Style" by Nancy Nix-Rice. Nancy is a professional colorist and wardrobe consultant who was teaching us to "see" how color in your clothing affects how others perceive you. I was fortunate to get an appointment with Nancy the next day to do a full color analysis so when I did my fabric shopping, I would make choices that flattered my coloring. It was interesting to find I had several pieces along on the trip that, when combined with some new jewelry and some really cool, thin shoulder pads, several acquaintances remarked at how nice I looked! I was amazed that such small changes could make such a profound difference! I get so enthused at learning so many new things that I can put to use on my client work...so give me a call...let's see what we can design for YOU!