A day in the life of a bridal seamstress
As you can imagine, the job description of a Fairy Godmother, is quite a lengthy document. I thought you might like to know what goes on when I am in seamstress mode. Now that we are open, our days will have quite a different structure to them. Previously, we held fittings and consultations all across the week, but now, I am having to be a little more strict with my time as we see effectively four wedding seasons rolled into one! I think I will be less Cinder’s Fairy Godmother, and more Feisty Tinkerbell … Where do I get those fabulous pom pom slippers??? My day starts with a huge cup of tea and a great playlist, then we open the doors!
While the rest of the team start with the cleaning (yes, we hoovered before we left last night, but glitter is airborne!), I busy myself with the diary. I need to remind myself who we have booked in and which stage of the process they are in. Fitting days are full on, we have everyone booked in back to back with only a small window for sanitisation between each, so it needs to run like clockwork. I take a quick glance at the emails to check that there haven’t been any changes to the appointments overnight. Then I head to the sewing room and leave the girls to get on with their day.
So that my day runs smoothly, I like to have all of my dresses on the rail in appointment order, along with any accessories they have already chosen. I then check that I have everything I am going to need on my trolley, 4 different types of pins, scissors, tape measure, ribbon, along with my notebook and pen.
When the first bride arrives, we help her into her dress and then the fitting begins. I can often see straight away, which alterations will be needed, just by looking at a bride and knowing the construction of the dress that she has chosen, but what I don’t know, is how the dress feels. It might sound odd, but that has a huge bearing on how the alterations should be carried out. Preferring to work from the shoulder down to the hem, I begin pinning until we get the exact fit.
Often, we use a first fitting to finalise any accessories you might want to have as it is much easier to see them against your actual dress. If the dress you tried on during your consultation didn't quite fit properly, it can be difficult to imagine how it will look on the day.
Sometimes, there is a break for lunch. If not, a quick cup of tea and a custard cream can work wonders! (Anyone who works at Boo, must have excellent tea making skills. We like to have lunch together when we can, it’s nice to discuss how the morning has gone and it’s usually the time of day when Sophie slips into a dress for a mini photo shoot.
If there is a gap in appointments, I head over to the sewing rail. Here, the dresses are ordered by the wedding date, so it’s easy to know which dress needs to be worked on next. Then I am lost, to the gentle hum of the sewing machine and buried under a sea of tulle petticoats.
Most wedding dresses almost always need a hem alteration. On plain fabrics, this is nice and simple as you work through each of the layers in turn. A lace hem is somewhat more labour intensive, as you need to lift the beadwork (if any), remove the lace trim, shorten the hem and replace everything just as it was … without damaging the base cloth. It does take a while, but it is so worth all of the effort. Other common alterations are shoulder lifts, and a closing of the bust. These alterations are common for girls, like me, who are a little shorter in the body.
My favourite alterations are anything to do with lace. It is such a beautiful fabric to work with and hand sewing is almost therapeutic for me, I love the rhythmic monotony of it, you can really get lost in the moment. I also love those tiny little secret tweaks you can make to a dress that gives it some extra sass, like a strategically hidden dart that exaggerates the curve of your waist, or the addition of cups which transforms your bust into voluptuous pillows (A bride’s words…. not mine.)
After the sewing is complete, it’s time to press and steam. This is the very last thing we do, as it’s not a good idea to over work your fabric. Different fabrics react differently to heat treatments so you have to know when to use the iron and when it is best avoided. We also pack dresses for overseas travel - that is very much a two person job!
As we get into the late afternoon, this is when our second fit and collection appointments happen. These sessions are much quicker than your first fitting and are designed to check that everything is perfect with the work carried out and if any further adjustments need to be made. Sometimes, if a dress needs to be completely resized, we will focus on just the bodice at the first fitting and the skirt on the second. If all is well, we bid you a fond farewell and you get to take your precious cargo home. Collection days often have us in tears, as we hate saying goodbye to our gorgeous brides!
Then it’s time to tidy up, switch off the lights, and get ready to do it all again tomorrow.
