So, you buy a dress on eBay, and it gets to you, and it does not fit. Contrary to the photos, it is at least knee length, the sleeves are plain weiiiiird, and it is not as flattering to the girls as the girls would like. Hey, they spend all week put away in office-friendly attire, at the weekends the girls like to have their time in the spotlight.
Being about as skilled with a needle and thread as I am with neurosurgery (ie- not at all; I did Literature so am not qualified to lobotomise you or anyone else, so don't ask!) I pretty much resigned Weird Dress to the back of the wardrobe. Which was a shame. Its graphic monotone Biba print called out to me every time I opened the door, and I had to remind it "no, Weird Dress, your sleeves are mad and your neckline too matronly!" Which I think upset it somewhat. It lingered there for months, until the boyf (very unfortunately) had occasion to wear a suit; a funeral. He didn't actually own a suit, so went to buy one. But the suit shop didn't have trousers long enough, so they knocked £10 off the suit and sent us to Stitches, where those of the male persuasion can have a pair of suit trews let down and finished for £10, and an hour's wait. Amazing.
A couple of months later, Tea Snob Friend announced her 1960s birthday dinner party. Oooh, I thought, Oooh! So, I sent Weird Dress to be altered. One day later, and £14 lighter, I was wearing a cutesy cap-sleeved, boat-necked, mini-hemmed extraordinary dress. The clever folk at Stitches had even saved the contrast banding on the hem, and re-sewn it onto the new hem. That's what I call seamstressery (even though that's not a word...)
This place is fantabulous. Whether it's a simple trou-down, or multiple alterations to your very own Weird Dress, the Stitches team will sort it out in double-quick time, and for mere pennies. Why would you go anywhere else?! read more