the dressmaker
by lisa horak

Clothes. We all wear them. We all buy them. But how often are they less than perfect, fitting just a little to loose here or a little too snug there? And don’t we wish the fabric felt a little better and was more in tune with who we really are?

Fear not, ladies. There is an alternative to ill-fitting, store-bought clothes. There is Victoria Elston, an old-fashioned dressmaker who designs customized garments for any occasion. From her home in Avery’s Creek she creates magic, much like in the fairy tale of Rumplestiltskin in which the miller’s daughter must spin straw into gold overnight.

“I can transform a two-dimensional piece of fabric into a garment that will adorn a woman and help her feel good about the way she looks in a particular circumstance, whether it is work, a party, or a wedding. I have a good eye for what works for a woman’s shape, personality, demeanor, and station in life,” says Victoria.

Victoria can trace her sewing back to the early age of eight, when she realized that her teddy bear wanted clothes. Her mother gave her a small square of cloth. She showed her how to thread a needle, run it through the edge of the cloth, and pull the thread tightly to gather the fabric. Voilà—an instant skirt for a bear to wear. To Victoria, this was nothing short of miraculous!

After the teddy bear’s clothes came clothing for clothespin dolls, followed by–what else—clothing for Barbie dolls. (Actually, the clothes were for Midge, Barbie’s best friend, since Victoria’s own best friend had Barbie.) Midge’s wardrobe was more sophisticated then the teddy bear’s, for by the ripe old age of eleven or twelve, with guidance from her mother and grandmother, Victoria already had several years of sewing under her belt.

“I sewed a great deal when I was young. I used to play alone a lot and entertain myself,” says Victoria. “My mother gave me snippets of fabric, meaningful fabric that came from our lives. I’d make clothes and houses for the dolls and occupy myself for hours.”

But sewing for dolls is one thing; real people are quite another. It was in home economics that Victoria made her first life-size garment—an apron—followed by her first dress, which she remembers vividly as being incredibly difficult for a beginner. “I chose a difficult project with a zipper, cuffed sleeves, and a collar. I still remember it was made of a green calico print.” Victoria quickly observed that what came easily and naturally to her was much more difficult for the other girls in her class.

“I wanted clothes like every other teenage girl had, but we couldn’t afford them. So I began designing and making my own clothes. I did a lot of babysitting and earned my own money and kept myself outfitted as best as those dollars would buy. I was very fortunate that my mother was supportive of my sewing. She would take me to the Woolrich mill each fall and let me pick out whatever I wanted. She’d buy the fabric, the pattern, everything. I can still hear her saying ‘Now we’re not getting any more fabric until you make these clothes.’ And I always did.” Which was a good thing, since woolen garments were essential during the long, cold winters in her hometown of Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Her clothes received praise from her peers, providing a welcome infusion of self-esteem. “People would say that my clothes looked so good on me, that they fit me just right,” says Victoria. “I pursued dressmaking because it felt good and I got good results.”

Victoria moved to Asheville in 1971. Several years later in the summer of 1978, while shopping at Ingles, an older woman approached her. She complemented her clothing and asked if she would sew for her and her sister. Victoria agreed and thus began her 25-year-long career of sewing and designing for other people.

“I consider myself immensely blessed with this talent that was divinely bestowed upon me. The inspiration and ability doesn’t come from me—it comes from a higher source through me, particularly when I’m faced with a difficult project and a very tight time frame,” says Victoria.

Her favorite aspect of her work is creating wedding gowns. “My brides are definitely my top priority because weddings are so magical,” says Victoria. She describes a recent stressful experience in which the bride was very late in getting Victoria the fabric to make her ensemble and frequently missed fittings. Ultimately, at 5:15 on the day of the wedding Victoria drove the dress to the wedding, which was to take place at 7:00. The bride had yet to try on the entire wedding outfit, and Victoria was furiously sewing the finishing touches amid the pre-event chaos. “Fortunately, with weddings things always come together,” she says. “The ensemble fit absolutely perfectly. I’m certain there was divine intervention involved.”

Unfortunately, dressmaking hasn’t always provided Victoria with financial security. “I’ve gleaned office skills over the years, from paper shuffling to data entry, and I’ve always been blessed to have a variety of ‘real jobs.’ But I’ve learned over the years that if you have a creative bent, you need to nurture it or it will eat at your life. Whenever I’ve had to set the dressmaking aside for financial reasons my life sort of crumbles,” says Victoria, who currently works two other jobs to help make ends meet.

In addition to custom design and sewing she has also designed her own inspirations but to a lesser degree of satisfaction. “The female body has always been the same. No idea for how to dress it is new. Fashions are either accepted or rejected, but the ideas are not new.” She also creates costumes for theater, and dance and last year sewed 15 different sized cheerleading costumes in 14 days. “Putting pressure on the project is not the best way to get results. Customers need to know that creativity takes its own time,” says Victoria.

But it is working with women, with real people of all ages, shapes, and sizes that Victoria finds most rewarding. “All of the women who come to me want their clothes to fit just right. People feel more confident and beautiful when they look good in what they wear. It can make all the difference in the world,” says Victoria.
Victoria The Dressmaker can be reached at 828-650-6404.

Lisa Horak is a stay-at-home mom raising two young daughters, Molly and Isabel. She has written for non-profit organizations and is the co-editor of Heart of the Land and Off the Beaten Path, a fiction and non-fiction anthology of nature writing for The Nature Conservancy. She recently moved to Asheville from Washington, D.C., and is currently working on her first children’s book. She can be reached at horak@charter.net.