You may already know that I am the owner of the www.findadressmaker.com site, a labor of love, which is very fulfilling to run.

My bird's eye view of the custom sewing and dressmaking industry (mostly in the US) has taught me so much about the potential of this profession, and the type of women (we are mostly women, after all) who choose it.

Word of mouth is powerful.  Negative or positive, word of mouth will bring attention to your business. While word of mouth is  a great way to get new business, even the best dressmaker can find herself with less (or more!) business than she wants at any given moment.  Scheduling a proper workload is difficult for dressmakers.  The flow of clients can be unpredictable, and the variables are many...

The main market for dressmakers (like it or not!), is bridal.  Dressmaking is very specific, careful, skilled work... and  to navigate the bridal market, a dressmaker has to be able to deal with the emotional roller coaster that comes along with doing this type of work.  I'm not just talking about the bride.  There is the mother of the bride, mother of the groom, flower girls, bridesmaids, and the coordination of all of those people in their various locations, challenges (and temperaments) to handle.  Some people are just lovely.  Some people know exactly what they want.  Some people have a positive body image.  Some people are completely reasonable, puctual, and friendly.  Some are none of these things.  A dressmaker has to be prepared for any combination of problems, including her own variables.  If one wants to do this type of work, she has to be sure to keep an ample supply Tums, Pepto and Advil...

Having said that, the general rule of thumb regarding what a bride should be spending, is 10% of her wedding budget on the gown.  Anyone may choose to spend considerably more or less, but it would be best to know what she is really expecting, since, if she wants her gown custom-made, she is buying an invisible product.  The woman who wants a knock-off of the $6000 gown she loves for $1000 is almost guaranteed to be disappointed.  The dressmaker has to make sure she knows that it will likely require a significant downgrade in materials and labor to fit her budget.

Lastly, make sure she knows her options.  The web is full of sites which will help her plan and budget her event.  It can be hard to distinguish good ones from poor qulity ones. I happened upon a good one recently, called  Online Bridal Shows.  While the name is a misnomer in my opinion, it is a well-rounded listing of wedding vendors, with direct contact information.  The great thing that distinguishes the site from the standard "bridal show" is the complete absence of the hard sell.  It is purely informational. Now, that is truly special, since so many directory sites are full of dead links, empty categories, vague descriptions and hurdles to jump to contact the professionals, motivated by pay-per-click advertisers, with no quality control.  This site highlights the need of busy brides to be able to look at their options form their own homes, without needing to meet a million vendors before narrowing down their choices.  Some brides find the appointment and "interview" process fun, but many people are simply more information-oriented.  It is for the latter that it seems the site was specifically designed. 

Another interesting feature is the option to download virtual presentations, like ordering a "commercial" for the vendors you choose.  I would consider this to be an innovative idea, since it does help bring some more information to the event planner(s) or bride.  Since so many brides plan their weddings by committee, this also allows people in other locations to view the same info on their own computer screens.  Nice, huh?