Remote made to Measure

This is a service I provide in which I make bespoke clothing for people who are in a remote location from where I am and therefore not available to attend fittings.

I accomplish this using the post and whatever means are available to communicate. The process of doing this happens in several stages the first stage is agreeing a style the second is acquiring measurements, the third is the fitting stage, the final stage is completing the garment.

When I’ve made these types of clothes in the past, the customers have come to me with a style they already know they want and it has been down to me to interpret their idea into a pattern.

To draft a pattern, I require measurements and I will let the customer know which measurements I require and this will depend on the garment(s) being made. If a customer already knows her measurements, that’s really helpful but definitely not essential, so I do provide comprehensive directions on how to take measurements.

Once I’ve drafted a pattern, I will make a toile or a dummy of the garment in an inexpensive fabric like calico or synthetic crepe (something that mimics the properties of the actual cloth) and post the toile to the customer to try.

I do provide explicit directions on how to fit the garment so the customer can do it with the assistance of a friend or family member or if the customer has skype, I can do a virtual fitting using the image provided through a camcorder, either way I will still require a third person to be there as an extra pair of eyes to see things I may not be able to see and as a pair of hands to do any marking or pinning.

Once the garment has been fitted to my satisfaction (depending on the success of the first fitting, additional fittings may be required), I will make the finished garment.

Probably the most requested garment to be made this way is the shift dress, second to that would be the shift dress with a matching jacket. When making the latter, I would start the project by making a toile of the dress and once I know the dress fits, I would begin work on the jacket, since the jacket pattern is based on the dress pattern.

Over the years, I’ve made plenty of dresses, shift dresses in particular and know the areas that tend to be the key fit areas and how to make sure those are properly addressed at the fitting stage to achieve a perfect fit.