When you want a custom garment, remember this!

Custom clothing requires time for planning, design, fabric sourcing, pattern drafting, not to mention the sewing. Your dressmaker must also take her other client projects into consideration when scheduling for your project.  It is a good rule of thumb to secure your designer/dressmaker at least 6 weeks in advance of your date requirement for your finished garment.  If you can plan even farther in advance, secure her 90 days in advance!

Some designers and dressmakers can even be booked up to a year in advance, so if you call them at 90 days you may not be able to secure them for your design.

If you are planning to have a custom made garment, do not think 'off-the-rack' pricing.  The labor for designing and constructing a garment is time intense!  Most designers are creating every stitch of your garment themselves, or perhaps with the help of one person.  They are most often making a pattern designed to your measurements and personally selecting fabrics and trims on your behalf.  Many times, your designer is hand finishing the interior of your garment with delicate, precision hand sewing to hide hem and facing stitches.  An endeavor like this is not assembly line sewing, so you should plan your budget accordingly.

In my studio, a custom garment or costume is priced starting at $450.  But, the cost can and will increase depending on the fabric selections and design details of your particular project.

So, shop smart.  Have a relatively good idea of what you want when you approach a designer.  Know your budget and stick with the plan once it is developed.  Making changes in the middle of a project will lead to additional cost in fabrics & labor that will skyrocket the cost of your project and could create deadline problems, as well.

If you keep these things in mind, you will be a happier client and your designer or dressmaker will treat you right!

Change and Growth!

Well, another whirlwind year of constant changes as I watch my business grow and morph into what it was meant to be!  After clearing my workload and making time for the kind of work I really want to do, I found myself working on ice skating costumes and historic era iconic dresses for a film!  This is the kind of work I love!

I attended the Create Denver Expo and attended some really great sessions on branding your business and social marketing, which inspired a lot of thinking about the next steps for me.

Earlier this Spring, I learned that my lease would not be renewed in my current space.  I was devastated for about 24 hours.  But, it really is true that when one door closes many more of them open up before you!  I will be moving into an incredible space at the end of July when my current lease expires.  I can't say anything more about this space just yet, but all of the amazing details will be coming soon!

In the meantime, I continue taking work and students in my current space.  I am considering the re-branding of my business and what that would mean.  I am looking for some opportunities for funding to buy that embroidery machine that my little business needs to help it grow.  And I have plans to start using this blog as an educational site for my students and clients.  So, there is lots of good stuff happening and I look forward to sharing with some of you as I move into the next phase!

See you all at the Grand Opening!