Marcelle Designs specializes in Made - to - Order women's apparel with an emphasis on fit and choice.
We offer a unique level of customization, allowing you to express your individual style while overcoming the difficulty of finding clothing that fits well. We have worked hard at developing our patterns with an emphasis on good fit. Each garment is individually cut and sewn to order in your choice of fabrics and colors from our fabric collection. Our use of luxurious fabrics combined with special attention given to details and quality workmanship result in a beautiful garment with superior fit that is a pleasure to wear. All of our garments are offered two ways. The first is in a size range of 0 to 24. Each sized garment is finished to the length of your choice. The second will be coming soon. We will be adding a Made - to - Measure service, with all of the same customization options of our current line. These garments will be made to fit your individual measurements. If you would like more information, our Welcome page, Customization page and Made - to -Measure page explain the benefits of these choices. This page will explain details on the steps we take to improve the quality and fit of our clothing.
Quality Fabrics & Notions
We use high quality, luxurious fabrics for all of our designs. Our fabric collection offers an unusual variety to select from, with looks for every occasion. Our fabric buyer searches for fabrics that are beautiful, high in quality, feel good, and are durable. The same level of care is put into finding the best quality notions to use in our garments. We use invisible zippers, high quality buttons, or fabric covered buttons. All of our linings are cling-free.
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Design & Pattern Details
Our design and development team pays special attention to small details in cut and fit to offer classic cut styles with superior drape and fit to flatter a realistic array of body types. Our patterns are carefully drafted with an emphasis on good fit. Special attention is paid to exactly how and where the fabric drapes so that any fullness or folds fall in a manner that is flattering. If this is not planned, it can result in adding fullness to a silhouette in places that make you look larger (at the hips or tummy, for example). This sometimes requires small but important changes to be made to a pattern which would not be considered in mass-production because it would add slightly to the cutting and sewing time. We feel the improved end result is worth the extra care and time. We also take the time and effort to carefully plan properly for fabric shrinkage. Every fabric, in fact each color of the same fabric, shrinks differently. Not all companies plan for this. You may have experienced trying on the same garment in two different colors and finding that they fit differently. This can be most noticeable in jeans, where the same size and cut often fits differently in blue denim and black denim. All of our fabrics have been carefully tested for shrinkage. Using a state of the art CAD program, we draft a separate pattern for every color of every fabric, and then precisely scale it in length and width for each fabric's exact shrinkage rate. Before we ship your order, we wash or dry-clean each garment to pre-shrink it. This also means that our care instructions have been tested on each fabric by us personally, and we know them to be reliable.
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Pattern Customization & Cutting
Each order is made one at a time by hand by professional artisans in our Massachusetts design studio. We begin customizing your order by making a copy of the pattern exclusively for you. A professional pattern drafter then adjusts it to your specifications, using a state of the art CAD program, before it is sent to the cutting room. This allows us to offer you a customized garment without compromising the cut and drape of the design. Some companies offering customized clothing simply make quick changes when cutting the garment. This can result in a finished product that does not maintain the integrity of the original design. The next step is planning the layout of the pattern pieces to be cut. This is also done using our CAD system, allowing for precision in placing the pieces perfectly on the grain of the fabric. We plan carefully to cut all pieces in the proper direction to make sure there is no difference is shading between pieces. Often in mass-produced clothing, pattern pieces are cut in different directions to utilize every inch of fabric, without regard for the possibility of them appearing to be slightly different colors when put together. This is especially noticeable in fabrics with a pile, such as velvet, or shine, as in silk charmeuse. The pattern is then sent to the cutting room. Our cutter carefully inspects each length of fabric for flaws and straightness of grain before cutting your garment. Garments cut from off-grain fabric will shift and twist as you wear them.
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Superior Workmanship
This same level of care and precision carries into our methods of constructing our clothing. Our production manager has developed our sewing methods with an eye for producing the highest quality garment possible. Everything we make is neatly finished inside. There are no exposed seam allowances. All of our clothing is fully lined. Each button and snap is securely hand sewn and knotted. The stitching will not unravel as it often does on machine-sewn notions. Our invisible zippers are precisely sewn, making them fully hidden in the seam. Unlike other, mass-produced versions, our circle and half circle skirts are hung on a dress form for 24 hours before manually marking and cutting the hem. This eliminates the undulating, dipping hemlines often found in off the rack circular skirts.
We take pride in our work. Please click on the "Details" links throughout our website for a closer look at the details that make a difference. You'll find invisible zippers, covered buttons, and linings and waistbands finished so neatly, you'll want to wear your clothes inside out.
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