English · Online made-to-measure
There is a step at LAM’S you will almost never see, and it decides whether the dress fits: building the shape in paper first.
Why it takes one to two days
Before we touch the first piece of fabric, we spend a day or two making the shape up in paper, correcting every line until it matches the design you chose. A seam that is a few millimetres off on paper becomes a visible fold once it is in fabric.
And this shape is not taken from a size chart. It is built on your measurements — so when it becomes a dress, the body of it holds where it should hold and releases where it should release.
This is also why we do not take orders that have to be finished in a few days. Skip this step and the dress still gets made, but it fits near enough rather than exactly.
What comes after the paper
Once the paper shape is settled comes draping on the actual fabric. The two steps complete each other: paper gives us the numbers and the cutting lines, and fabric shows us how the real material will fall on that shape.
Who does it
From the paper pattern to the finished dress, the owner of the studio does the work herself. That is also why the sewing schedule is always counted backwards from your wedding date, and why the earlier you write the better.
The pattern is cut for your measurements alone, never from a stock shape, and the dress is sewn exactly to them with no extra fabric left for later alterations — which is why measuring is the most important step. If you are ordering from abroad, how to measure yourself at home shows the eight measurements we need. The dress is made by the owner of the studio herself (who sews your dress).
