Here’s more helpful advice from Karen Tierney at Studio Trousseau…

Finding a good seamstress is like finding a ‘good’ anything…doctor, car mechanic, masseuse, architect or piano teacher… It can be hit or miss so it’s good to start this process early. For alterations, at least 4 to 6 months before your wedding date if possible. Timing depends a lot on what needs to be done.  I’ve had to wait months to get fabric that I’ve requested from the manufacturer of a gown so it was perfectly matched.

There are as many different levels of craftsmanship as there are people so, again, it’s good to do your homework. The way people find my service is word-of-mouth and through a few stores that I do business with. Since much of what I do is restoration of vintage wedding gowns, the shop that refers brides to me is also a museum of lace and textiles called ‘Lacis.’  If you are ever in Berkeley, California check out this amazing store. They have many vintage wedding gowns and many supplies for brides, including the best selection of historic fashion books you could ever find in one place…as well as an abundance of other wonderful things. It’s like going into your grandmother’s attic…the grandmother who use to be the Grand Dam of high society…theater…or a collector of very cool stuff.

Everyone has a different idea about what sort of experience they want with a seamstress/dressmaker. It’s a bit difficult for me to be totally objective about this because I do this sort of work and I’ve made certain choices about how I do business based on my professional experiences, personality, standards … and the response I get from the brides I work with. I realize that not everyone wants or needs the level of attention that I give. So with this in mind, here is a list of options that you can pursue.

1. If you have a great relationship with your local laundry, you can ask them to do it.  I hesitate to recommend this option (I fully realize that there are exceptions) because I’ve had to repair so much damage done by cleaners. So as a rule, I tend not to recommend them.

2. Businesses that advertise as alteration specialists. Check out their references on Yelp and Angie’s list.

3. Ask at local wedding gown salons. They usually have dressmakers that they work with.

4. Nice clothing stores or the high end clothing sections of department stores sometimes have outside vendors they work with and are willing to give out their names.

5. Unique shops like the one I mentioned above, have people they work with.

6. If you get a vintage gown, a shop or dealer that sells them might have or are seamstresses.

7. Ask your mom, sister, friends and great aunt Peg who they have worked with.

8. Talk to other brides in your area that you know.

9. Ask the other wedding related companies like wedding planners, hair stylists, or photographers if they have a recommendation. I recently went to an open house for a wedding location that was featuring all of the vendors they use and they wanted me to be apart of the services they offered.

10. Wedding trade shows often have seamstresses represented.

11. My favorite option would be fine fabric stores. They typically keep a file of good seamstresses. This is an option that would yield someone who would probably give you personal attention and have fine craftsmanship.

These are in no particular order and I’m sure there are more, but this is a good start.

Angie’s list and Yelp are good resources to find out what kind of experience others have had with each business. They seem to be the next step past word-of-mouth. All in all it’s been my experience that the best relationships really are from personal recommendations.

Now, when you find a few that you like, I think it’s best to take the time to go and meet with them personally with your dress. There is usually no charge for the first meeting with a seamstress. You are going to be entering into a pretty close relationship with this person over many months so you need to feel really comfortable and you can’t know this without meeting them face to face. This gives you a chance to see their studio, look at their portfolio, ask how they keep track of their time and run their business. Are they professional but easy to talk to? Are they thoughtful, focused on you and have ideas and options to offer?

In all fairness, you can’t really ask them to give you a cost estimate over email or on the phone. You may ask their hourly rate, get a sense of their personality and ask for references if you don’t already have them, but that’s about it. Every dress and every body that goes into it are different. It’s impossible to determine what has to be done and how long it will take until you see the dress on the body.  Even then, you can only give a ballpark figure. Dresses with a lot of internal structure, like strapless gowns with built-in corsets, sometimes have 4 to 6 layers that also have to be taken a part, altered and reassembled so it looks and feels good. A seamstress can’t know this until they actually open up the gown. Retro fitting (as I refer to it) is often more complex than making the gown originally because putting it all back together correctly requires a lot of hand work. I charge for time and materials because working with a bride is a process and the projects tend to grow as we go along.

There are a lot of ways to work with a seamstress too. You can work with them getting advice on questions you may have before you get a gown. They may have questions that you wouldn’t think to ask. An example: does the gown have any extra fabric that comes with it?… especially if the gown is smaller than you. If they are design oriented, they can help you make a choice between gowns, and give you ideas about what to wear with them. This goes past just being a seamstress and you should be willing to compensate them for their consulting time.

The Bridezilla question: I’ve had many people ask me if I have had any ‘bridezillas’ and I have to say no. All the brides that I have worked with are very polite, respectful and appreciate the fact that I am going to play a big part in making them look their very best on their wedding day.

The most difficult brides I’ve worked with are ones that can’t make a decision and after hours of back and forth emails and phone calls, they decide to do something else altogether. So being prepared and willing to make choices is always a more efficient way to go about this process for all involved.

I’ve discovered something very special about being someone’s seamstress/dressmaker. It’s a very sweet and close relationship and we get to know each other very well. It’s very positive and happy and I try to put that kind of energy into the work.  Many brides are pretty stressed out with all the wedding plans, but when they come to me, I want the dress to be the least of their worries and leave here feeling good and wearing a big smile.  Perhaps this is an assumption on my part, but I would like to think that all brides would want this sort of experience.

As a closing note:

I’ve seen this over and over…on the day of a bride’s final fitting when they come up the stairs to my studio and see their completed gown on the dress form, it’s usually very emotional because when the dress is finished, suddenly it all becomes very real.  So check to see if they have a tissue box handy!

Karen’s Next Post: Options and considerations for the gown that is too big for you.

About: Karen Tierney of Studio Trousseau specializes in restoration, alterations of vintage to modern wedding gowns, custom gowns and corsets in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a background in historic costuming, Karen can offer many options to make the gown unique to you using attention to detail and traditional french tailoring.

Karen is a regular contributor to the PreOwnedWeddingDresses.com blog.  You can find all of her expert advice in our Alterations section.

I was thrilled when I was introduced to Karen Tierney from Studio Trosseau a few weeks ago.  She is an expert dressmaker in the San Francisco Bay area whose specialty is resizing contemporary and vintage wedding gowns.

Karen has graciously offered to share her years of experience  and provide advice and tips for preowned wedding dress buyers and sellers.

Karen’s first post starts -  appropriately – at the beginning.   How to correctly take your measurements.  Here’s her advice.

“You have fantasized about what you want your dress to be for a long while, but now it’s time to get down to the business at hand. There are a few things you need to do before you go shopping for that perfect gown. One very important bit of information is to know your body size.

It’s very common for people to have misconceptions about the size of their own bodies but when you are considering paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for a wedding gown, it’s time to do a reality check. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had brides come to me in tears with a gown that is the wrong size wondering what can be done to ‘make’ it fit. Some I can help, but for others I sadly have to tell them to send the gown back and get a different size. The most important lesson: To circumvent many problems, take accurate measurements of your body. Better yet, have someone else do it for you.

For buyers:
If you have a favorite bra or even better, the undergarment that you intend to wear (this is sometimes difficult until you get your gown), or you have a strapless spanks or corset that you don’t mind spending an entire day in, put that on and take your measurements.

Always use a flexible measuring tape like one you can buy in a fabric store. Put the tape around the area tight enough just to stay in position. It’s better to be a little loose than too tight. The tape measure should be parallel to the floor for all the measurements.

For the bust: Place the tape measure under the arms, across the back and across the largest part of the bust.

For the waist:  Contrary to popular belief, the ‘waist’ is NOT around you at your belly button or across your hipbones. All the young brides and ballerinas I work with go into a panic when I put the tape around their natural waist…which is the smallest part of their torso. The fashion industry uses the natural waist as a base line measurement.  Can you imagine the gown you would get if you gave the belly button measurement as a waist? It’s usually about 6-8 inches bigger. Not good.

For the hip: According to many sewing standards, the ‘hip line’ is equal to 9” below the belly button. Every body is different and if you happen not to fall in the ‘average’ range, you could be way off. Measure around the largest part of your hip…or not so delicately…your butt.

For  sellers:
Same rules apply. Since you are the one who wore the gown you should know where the largest part of the bust and hips and the smallest part of the natural waist fall on the dress. It’s not an exact science but you can do this a few ways. Much depends on the style of the gown and you might have to use both methods to get all the measurements.

Put on the undergarments that you wore for your wedding, try on the dress to make sure it still fits well, then take the dress off and take measurements over just the undergarments exactly as I described for a buyer.

If the dress no longer fits, lie the dress out flat and use a measuring tape to measure across each area, then double the amount. For example, if the waist measures 14 inches across when it’s flat, the waist measurement is 28 inches… and so on. The bust may be a little trickier especially if it has a lot of internal structuring as with a strapless gown. For this, put the start of your measuring tape on the left side of the back closer (zipper?) and carefully trace it around the largest area of the bust line to the right side of the closer.

Some things to consider:
I mentioned ‘industry standards’ …well, in terms of having standards between one design house to another, there are none so don’t depend on this.  Just as an example, if I go to H&M, I wear a 10. If I go to Ralph Lauren, I wear a 2 or 4. Go figure! So don’t go by the size that you think you are or the size you typically buy. Take honest measurements and make sure the seller is giving you the dress measurements and not a number assigned by the manufacturer.

If you are prone to have dramatic shifts in your weight, or you are on a fitness program to loose inches and pounds before the wedding, it’s hard to say how to purchase a dress. Maybe it’s a realistic goal you set or your best guesstimate but, be sure to let your dressmaker know this. They usually have many projects in-house at any given time and this lets them know when to block out the time to do your alterations, which should be closer to your wedding date.

Next, in deciding what is going to fit you best, you have to consider the gown. For example: if you are looking at a gown that has an empire waist (the skirt falls from directly under the bust) then the bust measurement is the most critical, so you should try to fit your bust measurement.  If the gown has a very small waist, then the waist measurement is most critical…you get the idea. It’s good to communicate with the previous owner if they are willing. They can tell you a lot about how the gown fits.

Finally, if you get a gown that works over your largest measurement, it’s far easier for a dressmaker (and less expensive) for you to make something smaller than it is to try to make it bigger.

Good luck and if you have any questions about taking measurements, please send them to me!

Next Post: Shapes of bodies and shapes of gowns. Doing your research on what will look the best on you.

About: Karen Tierney of Studio Trousseau specializes in restoration, alterations of vintage to modern wedding gowns, custom gowns and corsets in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a background in historic costuming, Karen can offer many options to make the gown unique to you using attention to detail and traditional french tailoring.