FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Terms & Conditions
Q. How long is a telephone consultation?
A. I allocate 15 minutes for telephone consultation.
Q. How long is a personal style consultation?
A. Normally 1 hour is sufficient to cover most of the points we will share.
Q. Do you charge for consultations?
A. No, your 1 hour consultations is FREE of charge, if a second or follow up is considered necessary, then a charge of £60 will be required.
Q. Are consultations private?
A. Absolutely. You will have my undivided attention only for yourself.
Q. I am the Bride.How many people can I bring to the appointment?
A. Please bring your most trusted advisers to help you. From experience I find too many opinions can get a bit confusing, so maybe just your Mum or Maid of Honour. The decision is yours.
Q. What do I need to bring and wear for a consultation/fittings?
A. My advise is to wear the underwear, shoes and any other accessories you intend to wear with the garment to ensure the correct fit.
Q. Cancellation or rescheduling of consultation/fittings?
A. Please give 48 hours notice for cancellation or rescheduling of your consultation/fitting. Should you need to cancel a fitting appointment you must inform me as soon as possible. A new fitting will be arranged, but any delay in the completion of the order due to a cancelled/postponed appointment by you is not the fault of Couture Tailoring of Downton, though every effort will be made to
complete the order by the agreed deadline. You can cancel the order, free of charge, at any time during the consultation process. Once the order is confirmed and the deposit paid, the order can be cancelled before construction has started, but will incur an administration fee for the time lost and any toile materials already purchased. You have no rights to a full refund if you simply change your mind as per 'Sale of Goods Act 1979'. If the customer decides to cancel the project at the toile fitting the cost of materials and labour for this will be deducted from the deposit paid. If the customer wishes to cancel the project after the toile fitting she or he will incur the charge for the full cost of the project.
Q. What if I can't attend the fittings?
A. If you are struggling to attend fittings I can travel to you by arrangement. The additional cost of £60 per hour for travel and time will be added to the final invoice.
Should the client be unable to attend fittings, measurements must be agreed in writing and I will make the garments to the measurements provided.
Couture Tailoring of Downton takes no responsibility if the garments do not fit when based on the measurements provided by the clients.
Q. How long do wedding dresses take to make?
A. I usually ask for 5-6 months notice on dress order and especially if the wedding is between May and August.
This is to guarantee I can fit it into my work schedule and get all materials on time.
Q. Why do wedding dresses and garments take so long?
A. The process of making a garment starts with design, sourcing the fabrics and trimmings, pattern making, making a toile which involves about 4 fittings and finally cutting the real fabric.
Some garments like wedding gowns are hand finished. Hand finishing is very much part of the couture look, for example, a house couture finish will result in all layers being finished by hand, not
machine. Expert hand finishing takes longer and looks very different to a machine finish.
Q. What if my weight changes?
A. I will never encourage anyone to lose weight to get into a dress or outfit, but if you were planning on losing weight then I can take your order and leave taking your measurements until nearer the time
3-4 months before the wedding or event you are going to. No responsibility is taken for garments that do not fit correctly if you have gained or lost weight between the final fitting and collection, or
any other reason beyond Couture Tailoring of Downton control.
Q. Can I change the design?
A. You can make major alterations to the design up to, and including, the toile fitting. Once I have started working with the final fabric I cannot alter the main design without the customer incurring
additional costs for extra fabric and time. At each fitting you will sign agreement to any choices or changes made to the design, fabrics and trimmings. Upon collection you will try on the garment
to ensure it fits correctly. Any requests for minor alterations must be made known as soon as possible, as once the garment and final payment have been exchanged, any further work will come at an
additional cost and be completed only when and if possible.
Q. Can I change the fabric?
A. The cost of materials is approximate and is dependent on the choices made by you and the availability of materials. The choice of materials will be made at the toile fitting and agreed in writing.
Every effort will be made to source and obtain the fabrics and trims required by you. Should the exact fabric required be unavailable a suitable alternative will be sourced, on the agreement of the
client. When the materials are bought should you wish to change it the additional cost of the new materials will be added to the final invoice. Changes cannot be made once the fabric has been cut.
Q. Budget?
A. If your budget is slender but your ideas are extravagant or ambitious there are various ways of paring down the cost - from simplifying a design on finding cheaper fabric options to improving an
inexpensive ready - made rather than starting from scratch. Be clear about what you can spend and I can see of there is something I can work out for you.
Q. How do I pay?
A. Itemised quotation will be presented to you once the design and all details are finalised for your garment. For made to measure garments I require 50% non refundable deposit of your estimate in
order to begin patterning, payable after your personal consultation, another 25% before cutting the real fabric after the toile is finalised and the final 25% is due prior collecting your completed
garment. For alterations services, full payment is payable on completion of service. I accept cash, cheque or bank transfer.
Q. Can I get a refund?
A. As all the items I make are bespoke and so cannot be resold no refunds are available on partially made or completed items.
Refunds are not possible as final materials will have been purchased, time allocated to the project and construction started.
Q. What is the lead time?
A. Lead time starts from the date of receiving and clearing 50% deposit, normally 4-6 weeks.
Acceptance of urgent work is at the discretion of Couture Tailoring of Downton, and will attract a premium charge of 25%.
Q. Can I complaint?
A. If you are unhappy at any point, you are advised to contact me in writing to outline your grievances as soon as possible.
I will endeavour to resolve any problems within the parameters of the terms and conditions.
Q. Can I take photos?
A. You are welcome to take photos for personal use during fittings but their use on social media sites must be agreed with me.
I will ask your permission to use images taken during the construction process and photo of you wearing the garment taken upon collection, or provide a photo at a later date, for Couture Tailoring of Downton records and use in the portfolio on the web site couturetailoringofdownton.co.uk. You can request for the images not to be used and published on the website at any time.
Q. Dressing Service?
A. I aim to offer singular garments, designs like no other. With that, may come the challenge of dressing for the occasion. To put your mind at ease, I also offer a dressing service. No matter the event or
location I can be booked to dress you for the event ensuring that all care is taken to ensure the final look for the garment. Quotation for the service and expenses will be presented before hand.
