How to Make a Dress

How To Make a Dress

Dressmaking is not an easy task. Creating a fashionable piece of clothing requires skill, fashion intuition and a genuine desire for quality, style and uniqueness. d’Italia Exclusive Designer Fabric has been providing the dressmaking and fashion industry with high quality, genuine pure silk fabric for years. The store has a dressmaker referral system which is an optional add-on to any fabric purchased in the store. d’Italia’s affiliates in Australia’s dressmaking industry is of the highest calibre, and most of them specialise in the type of dresses and gowns made.

Here are some tips:

Q: Are your optional dressmakers/seamstresses/tailors/couturiers good and are they expensive?

A: All members of our team of experts available on a referral basis are of an excellent standard, and we are extremely confident in their quality of work and expertise. Not only to we scrutinise them for fundamentals such as the quality of their work, we also expect them to be able to design and to communicate well with customers, in a professional manner. We monitor our customers' feedback on their work and professionalism regularly, as approximately 95% of our regular customers employ their services on an ongoing basis. Remember, many of our regular customers come to us to have most of their wardrobe made to fit, as they have trouble finding suitable clothing off-the-rack. This involves a significant outlay on the cost of our quality fabric. These customers rely on our referrals, and as such our reputation is on the line in a indirect sense. This is why we must have ultimate confidence in the expertise of our referral team! Considering their work is of the highest standard, their prices are surprisingly reasonable and very much affordable. Due to an exclusive arrangement whereby d’Italia refers all customers them, these ladies deliberately work from their own professional studios (so there are no overheads here at d'Italia), so their fees are maintained at a very much lower rate than other quality seamstresses in Melbourne who are either on a salary or operating from a shop front.
Fees charged include the initial consultation, pattern-making, calico mock-ups (where necessary), at least 2 to 3 fittings, and the final finishing.

Q: Do customers need to know exactly what style they want before meeting with a dressmaker, and do they need to provide a pattern?

A: Not at all – our dressmakers' experience makes them an excellent source for suggestions. Customers only need have a basic idea of what they are after, as the dressmakers' studios have many fashion books and pictures to help with ideas, plus they all store images of past creations on their computers. It is usual for them to sketch designs until you both come to a mutual understanding of exactly what will be created. Our dressmakers make their own patterns, regardless of whether they are making something from a sketch, from a photo or copying an existing garment - so it is completely unnecessary to take patterns to them.
What we stress to customers is that a design is often best left to develop. It is easy for us to calculate know how much fabric is required for a basic design, which will qualify you for a referral to a dressmaker. After the making of the garment has commenced, there are many stages where the design can be tweeked along the way - so you will end up with a completely unique and individual design, custom-made for you! Although this requires a fair amount of faith in the dressmaker's talents, it is often the most creative way to make something amazing. After having "settled in" with a seamstress by having had a number of garments made by her in the past, many regular customers eventually trust their dressmaker to help them create styles individually for them. A personal relationship develops between customer and dressmaker - one based on trust and understanding