Made-to-measure womenswear
Clothes cut to one person's measurements
Maramay USA is a small dressmaking atelier. Patterns are drafted to a single body rather than to a size chart, sewn by hand and machine, and fitted until the garment sits the way it should.
What the atelier does
Four kinds of work come through the door. They share the same method: measure first, draft a pattern, fit the garment on the person who will wear it, and finish it properly on the inside as well as the outside.
Made to measure
A garment drafted from your own measurements. Paper pattern first, then a trial in cheap cotton, then the cloth you chose.
Alterations and refits
Ready-to-wear is cut to an average. Taking in, letting out, shortening or reshaping a shoulder gives the garment back to you.
Occasion pieces
A dress or a two-piece for a date already in the diary, planned backwards from that date so the last fitting is not the week of the event.
Repairs and remaking
Relining a jacket, replacing a zip, or cutting a garment you already own into something you will actually wear again.
How a commission works
Nothing is agreed until you have a written quote and a date. The steps below are the same for a first commission and for an alteration, only shorter for the second.
First conversation
Bring the idea in whatever form you have it: a sketch, a photograph, or a garment you already own. We talk through cloth, construction and the time it takes.
Measurements and pattern
Measurements are taken in person and the pattern is drafted on paper to your body. The quote and the delivery date are in writing before any cloth is cut.
Toile and fittings
A trial garment in inexpensive cotton shows what the pattern does on you. Most commissions need two fittings after that, tailored jackets sometimes three.
Finishing and handover
Hems, linings, closures and a final press. You try the garment on before you take it away, and anything still not sitting right is put right then.
Cloth and construction
Most of what decides whether a garment lasts happens where nobody looks: the interfacing, the seam finish, the way a lining is hung so it moves with the shell instead of pulling against it.
You are welcome to bring your own fabric. If it will not behave the way the design needs it to, we say so before it is cut rather than after.
- Seam finishes chosen for the cloth — overlocked, bound or French, depending on how the fabric frays and how the garment will be washed.
- Interfacing fused or sewn in, sampled on an offcut of your own cloth first, because the same interfacing behaves differently on different weaves.
- Seam allowance left generous at the side seams and the waist on made-to-measure work, so the garment can be let out later.
- Care instructions written down and handed over with the garment, including whether it should be washed at home at all.
Questions we are asked
If your question is not here, write and ask it. A person answers, and the answer is specific to what you described rather than a form letter.
How long does a garment take?
It depends on the piece and on how many fittings it needs. You get a date in writing when the commission is agreed, and we tell you early if that date moves rather than on the day it was due.
What does it cost?
There is no price list, because the cloth, the construction and the hours differ for every commission. You get a written quote before work starts, and it does not change unless you change the brief.
Can you work from a garment I own?
Often, yes. A well-made garment can be copied in new cloth, or opened up and refitted. We look at how it was put together first and say honestly whether it is worth the work.
Do I have to come in person?
For fittings, yes. Measurements taken by someone else are a starting point, not a substitute, and the whole point of this work is the garment being adjusted on the body that will wear it.
What happens at a first fitting?
Bring the shoes and the underwear you intend to wear with the finished garment, since both change the line. Allow about an hour for a first fitting and rather less for the ones after it.
Do you take payment on this website?
No. Nothing is bought or paid for here. This site has no checkout and never asks for card, bank or document numbers, and neither do we by email.
Start with a conversation
Tell us what you have in mind and roughly when you need it. We reply with what is possible, what it would involve and what it would cost.
Request a fitting